$1B area firm leaves region, moves headquarters to Miami

NAPLES — ACI Worldwide, one of the largest electronic payment software firms in the world, is leaving Naples, its headquarters for the past eight years, and moving to Miami. 

The publicly-traded company made the announcement in a Nov. 10 virtual/webinar call with Wall Street analysts. Executives, including Chief Human Resources Officer Tony Dinkins and President and CEO Odilon Almeida, say the move is for several reasons, including savings on office space, recruiting senior leaders and accessing international clients. On cost, Dinkins says the company will take about 25,000-square-feet in the Miami financial district, down from the 50,000-square-feet it occupies on Kraft Road in Naples. The downsizing is part of a broader move at ACI use less office space during the pandemic.

“We will have greater access to markets, customers and investors and greater access to additional world class talent,” Dinkins says on the call. “It will be easier and more convenient to access international travel and transportation and most importantly, we will be in the gateway to the world and increasing business opportunities.”  

Almeida, in answering a question from a Wall Street analyst on the move, says “we have business in more than 80 countries and we are very far from an international airport in Naples. And not only airports, but we recently brought two new talented people to the team, (Chief Revenue Officer Alvaro Monserrat) and Tony, and I can tell you that it was much easier to convince them to work in Miami than in Naples, and I think that will be the case going forward.”

“We are very excited about this move,” adds Almeida, named CEO in March. A former top executive at Western Union, Almeida replaced Phil Heasley, who ran ACI for 15 years and announced his retirement in late 2019.

ACI's software processes some $14 trillion a day for more than 5,000 customers, including some of the largest financial institutions and retailers in the world.

ACI was founded in Omaha, Neb., in 1975 and was based there until 2006, when it moved the headquarters to New York City. In 2012 it moved again, this time to Naples, where three of the top six executives had homes.  As of 2019, the company had about 100 people working out of its Naples headquarters.

In 2016 ACI company embarked on a multimillion-dollar expansion project at its Naples headquarters, committing to add at least 57 jobs — doubling its local payroll — in exchange for more than $400,000 in cash incentives and tax refunds. In a statement at the time, Florida officials said the subsidies were necessary to keep the local jobs and add new ones because ACI had discussed expanding instead to Nebraska, where it maintains an office.  

ACI had $1.01 billion in revenue in 2019.