• By TED GRIGGS
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Dec 15, 2009 - Page: 1A

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

The Baton Rouge-based risk management consulting firm that gained national attention by predicting many of Hurricane Katrina catastrophic effects will move its headquarters to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.

IEM will get more than $9 million in state tax breaks and grants from North Carolina if it meets its goals of creating 430 jobs over the next six years, according to North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue’s office. Those will pay an average of $63,000 a year.

It’s unclear how many of those jobs will come from the nearly 200 positions IEM has in Baton Rouge.

Ted Lemcke, IEM’s vice president of technology, said 50 of the corporate support and overhead positions will move by the end of September.

All of the Baton Rouge workers will be offered the opportunity to relocate, Lemcke said, but it’s too early to tell how many will do so.

Adam Knapp, president and chief executive officer of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, could not be reached for comment Monday but issued a statement calling IEM’s decision “disappointing.”

The chamber and the state had been working closely with IEM for more than a year on an “unprecedented” incentive package to make sure the company’s headquarters in Baton Rouge, the statement said.

The deal included financial incentives and “aggressive plans” to address IEM’s concerns regarding its work force needs as well as public-private collaboration on innovation, Knapp said in the statement. Gov. Bobby Jindal, Mayor-president Kip Holden, LSU Chancellor Mike Martin and the heads of many state agencies met with IEM officials during the process.

Knapp said that some of IEM’s needs could not be addressed in the short term, such as access to federal contracts.

But chamber spokesman Mike Odom said the details of Louisiana’s incentive package were confidential. Louisiana Economic Development officials could not be reached for comment.

Lemcke said IEM wouldn’t say which state’s incentive package was superior.

Lemcke said there were a number of advantages to the Research Triangle, such as a larger pool of people with advanced degrees in professional services; a culture of innovation; and North Carolina’s decision to target U.S. Department of Defense and Homeland Security contracts, the core business for IEM.

IEM has an aggressive growth strategy, but the company has been hampered the last four years by the struggle to fill positions, particularly in the information technology specialties, Lemcke said. Having three universities nearby should help with that.