Whitney National Opens Operations Center, Adds 60 IT Jobs
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Not bad for tough national economic times.
In July 2009, Whitney National Bank opened a brand-new operations center in downtown Prattville, complete with 60 employees who will earn a combined total of approximately $2 million in salary each year. The jobs pay $16 an hour to start.
Whitney National invested $7.5 million to renovate a formerly vacant building in the Daniel Pratt Historic District. The building at 124 W. Main St. now houses the Prattville Operations Center and a first-floor bank branch.
“During these economic times, Whitney’s investment into the Daniel Pratt Historic District, coupled with its job growth, could not come at a better time,” says Prattville Mayor Jim Byard.
The operations center oversees a number of information technology functions, including check processing, account maintenance and online updates and backups. Its mission is to ensure that day-to-day operations of all Whitney National Bank branches throughout its five-state coverage area perform smoothly, regardless of severe weather or other disruptive events that could arise.
In fact, severe weather is a big reason why Prattville was chosen for the new operations center. Whitney National is headquartered in New Orleans, and its former operations center there was heavily damaged in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina roared through the Crescent City.
“Geography is a big factor for this move,” says Gene Crane, Whitney National Bank regional president. “This makes us less vulnerable to natural disasters as opposed to being in the coastal areas.”
Whitney National, which was founded in New Orleans in 1883, first arrived in Autauga County in 2001 and now has four local branches, including the one in the Prattville Operations Center building. Altogether, Whitney National has 16 branches throughout Alabama.
“We hope that as we grow, more and more people in Alabama will discover that Whitney is a bank that suits them and their diverse needs,” says Frank DeArmas, Whitney National’s executive vice president in charge of operations and technology.
To help attract the operations center to this area from New Orleans, Prattville and Autauga County officials each contributed $100,000 in incentives to Whitney National. That money has been primarily used to train local residents who replaced former employees who chose to remain in New Orleans.
“Our new Prattville Operations Center is a highly visible symbol of Whitney’s commitment to the market here in the state’s River Region,” says John Hope III, CEO and chairman of Whitney National Bank. “It is another sign that the 125-year-old Whitney is expecting healthy growth in the state as we continue to expand our presence across the South.”
Whitney National Bank’s current service area spans a five-state Gulf Coast region stretching from Houston, Texas, across southern Louisiana and the coastal region of Mississippi, to central and southern Alabama, the panhandle of Florida, and the Tampa Bay metropolitan area of Florida.
Whitney National has assets totaling more than $10 billion.
Story by Kevin Litwin
