General Electric Commercial Finance has hired about 20 employees and expects to have up to 80 on board when its new Billings operations center is completed later this year, a company official said Wednesday.

Mark Chernauskas, vice president of global operations for GE, said the company has set up shop in the former Montana Dakota Utilities building downtown. It will continue to use that building until the new operations center, at 3333 Hesper Road, is completed in November.

GE will have 150 to 200 employees hired by the middle of 2009, Chernauskas said. He was in Billings for a joint news conference with Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who announced that the multinational company will receive $1.4 million from two state programs to train workers.

Schweitzer thanked Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., for his role in luring GE to Montana. The governor said he has worked to make Montana more business-friendly during his 3½ years in office. The money available through the training programs helps attract new business to Montana and helps prove that Montana is a good place to do business, he said.

 

Schweitzer used Wednesday's press conference to tout the strength of Montana's economy. He said signs of recession are almost nonexistent in Montana. The state's oil production has grown by 50 percent since he took office. Even coal production, which has been stagnant over the past 20 years, is on the upswing, Schweitzer said.

Montana businesses are adding jobs in biotechnology and information technology, resulting in widespread economic growth, Schweitzer said. "It's not just one sector," he said. "Montana has an economy with a lot of legs under the table."

GE Commercial Finance, a division of General Electric, will use a $1 million Workforce Training Grant to hire and train employees. The Big Sky Economic Development Authority will use $375,000 from the Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund to purchase equipment used for employee training. GE Commercial Finance will provide $7.9 million in matching money.

Chernauskas said the state money is essential for training workers.

GE will pay its workers $16.90 to $22.10 per hour, plus benefits, and managers will make from $58,500 to $260,000 per year.

Chernauskas said work on the new operations center is proceeding quickly. Concrete footings and a floor have been poured. Big Sky EDA, Yellowstone County's economic development agency, will own the building and lease it to GE.

GE Commercial Finance selected Billings as the site for its new operations center last year after examining several Montana communities. Baucus said he began courting GE officials more than seven years ago.

In Billings, GE officials will track leases on the tens of millions of vehicles, airplanes and pieces of equipment used for its business dealings in 100 countries, as well as revolving lines of credit. Schweitzer said the 2005 Legislature boosted funding to the Workforce Training Grant program from $1.4 million per year to $4 million annually.

The Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund, approved by the 2005 Legislature, uses money from the coal tax trust fund to pay for job training. Schweitzer invited Billings-area legislators, even some who had opposed the bill, to join him as he presented two oversized checks to Chernauskas.

Tony Preite, director of the Montana Department of Commerce, said the training programs help create jobs, generate money for the state government and attract investment into Montana. "Montana couldn't have hoped for a better partner than GE," Preite said.