Area Development
Ernst & Young, one of the world’s largest business-services organizations, plans to invest $4.35 million and open a 125-member office for executive assistants and other shared professional functions in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.

The office will house members of the firm’s expanding National Executive Assistance Team, which supports EY partners across the country, as well as creative and digital services employees. The firm hasn’t yet signed a lease but intends to locate in Louisville’s Central Business District, hiring its full complement by mid-2018, Governor Matt Bevin’s Office said.

“We were very impressed with the level of talent in Louisville and commend efforts by the city, state and local learning institutions to grow the talent base even more aggressively and in new areas,” said Brent Summers, EY’s Americas enterprise support services leader. “That, along with Louisville’s affordability and quality of life, were important factors in our location decision. We are also excited to be locating our new center in the downtown area. There is so much new development and energy. We think it will be a great environment for our new team.”

To encourage the investment and job growth in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority in February preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $1 million through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the agreement term through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets. In addition, the firm can receive resources from the Kentucky Skills Network.

David Calzi, Managing Partner of the existing Louisville office of Ernst & Young LLP, said, “The firm has been a proud citizen of Louisville and Kentuckiana since we opened our local practice in 1923. We couldn’t be more pleased that our leadership recognized the desirable facets of our community, and decided to expand our presence here when it had so many other cities to choose from,” Calzi said.

“We are delighted to welcome EY’s professional service center to Kentucky and we are grateful for their investment,” said Governor Matt Bevin. “Kentucky is quickly becoming the destination of choice for corporate and shared-service centers, thanks to our skilled professional workforce, high quality of life and low business operating costs. We are confident that EY’s Louisville-based, executive support team will be able to effectively serve their executives across the United States.”

“Today is an exciting day for Louisville as we welcome a major new division from EY. This latest location of executive support functions continues to solidify Louisville’s position as a market leader in the global business services sector,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “Our future is bright thanks to companies like EY that recognize Louisville as a growing and dynamic city with an educated workforce. We are thrilled to welcome this newest EY location to Louisville and look forward to more opportunities to partner with this global industry leader in the future,” said Mayor Fischer.