Stewart Enterprises Expands Workforce, Creating 115 Jobs in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
09/02/2020
The company also plans to make a capital investment of approximately $600,000 to convert existing office space for the new personnel. Some of the new corporate office functions coming to Jefferson Parish represent a recapturing of jobs from overseas, Louisiana Economic Development officials said. Beginning with employment of 81 new people in 2020 and 2021, the company plans to ramp up to the full project employment of 115 new jobs by 2023.
“Our New Orleans team has demonstrated strong performance in providing essential finance and accounting support for our company and our team of 24,000 associates,” said Senior Vice President and CFO Eric Tanzberger of SCI. “We are pleased to expand our operations in Jefferson Parish and Southeast Louisiana and look forward to welcoming new associates to the SCI family.”
LED, the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission and Greater New Orleans Inc. jointly participated in discussions with SCI about the project. To secure the expansion, the State of Louisiana offered the company a competitive incentive package that includes the comprehensive workforce solutions of LED FastStart, the state workforce program, along with a $200,000 performance-based grant to offset the costs of building improvements. In addition, SCI plans to utilize Quality Jobs Program incentives.
In addition to the state incentive package, the Jefferson Parish Council is providing a local performance-based incentive of up to $300,000, paid in installments over four years, to further offset the costs of building out and equipping the space for the new jobs. The company will receive the full incentive amount to the extent it is able to meet annual job creation and job retention targets, as well as a Jefferson Parish residency requirement for a percentage of new positions filled.
“Service Corporation International is the industry leader for funeral products and services, with deep roots in Jefferson Parish and New Orleans,” Governor John Bel Edwards said. “We honor the heritage and success of the Stewart family with this expansion project, while also celebrating SCI’s recognition that Louisiana is a smart choice for growing its corporate office, accounting and customer service operations for the future.”
“Through this project, SCI will bring more than a hundred domestic and overseas jobs into Jefferson Parish,” said JEDCO President and CEO Jerry Bologna. “We are ideally situated to support this and other reshoring opportunities, due to our strong infrastructure and dedicated workforce that allow us to support back-office operations of this sort. We are grateful to SCI for recognizing Jefferson Parish’s potential and continuing to invest in our community.”
Founded in New Orleans in 1910, Stewart has had a presence in Jefferson Parish for over 100 years, according to LED. After acquiring Stewart seven years ago, Houston-based SCI retained over 130 corporate jobs in Jefferson Parish. As part of this project, the company is retaining an existing workforce across Louisiana that has averaged 600 employees during the past year.
“GNO Inc. is excited to onshore these professional jobs to our region,” said President and CEO Michael Hecht of Greater New Orleans Inc. “Our team has worked in partnership with Louisiana Economic Development and JEDCO to help SCI understand the particular combination of cost savings and talented workforce that they will have access to here in greater New Orleans. SCI in Jefferson validates our strategy of bringing great jobs back to the New Orleans region.”
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