Five years later, DTCC still cranking

If there was one significant gain the Tampa Bay economy could claim after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, it was a decision by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. to open a remote facility in 2005 on the north side of Tampa, far away from its New York headquarters. Five years later, that decision still remains solid.

The financial services company, which handled $1.5 quadrillion worth of securities transactions last year, celebrated its anniversary May 26 with 530 employees donning yellow T-shirts, singing their own rewritten version of the 1980s pop hit “Walking on Sunshine” and enduring the usual spate of speeches from local elected leaders.

Tampa was among two dozen cities considered by DTCC before it chose a 176,000-square-foot building near Interstate 75 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard to house its Southern Business Center. Many of the company's 300 initial workers transferred to Florida from New York, while hundreds more have been hired locally over the years.

Another 50 to 75 jobs could be added to the Tampa center as business expansion opportunities come along. “There's just so much going on with financial reforms right now,” Eric Miller, DTCC's local managing director, tells Coffee Talk.

Don Donahue, DTTC chairman and CEO, flew down for the five-year celebration and told employees and local dignitaries that the company looks forward to maintaining its presence in the Tampa Bay area in a building previously occupied by now-defunct WorldCom.

“We needed a place that would not only appeal to our employees moving from New York, but would also allow us to recruit a knowledgeable work force with expertise in technology, finance, accounting, operations and communications,” Donahue said in prepared remarks. “We needed a place with strong educational resources, a good housing stock, diversity and respected medical facilities. We found all those critical attributes here in Tampa.”

In turn, DTCC has given back to the community over the last five years, says Miller, who has been a resident of the Bay area for the last 18 years.