he winds of recession have blown hard across the Missouri landscape. More than 77,000 jobs were lost during a recent 19-month period, and state employment is at its lowest level since April 1998. Joseph Driskill, state director of economic development, says the rebound will need to come from the same manufacturing sector that has let those people go, but in a new guise.
        "We believe we should move our efforts more toward what we call technology-based economic development," he said this past fall, calling on improvements in work force education, research and incubators to help further that mission.
        As if to illustrate his hopes, while some may be waiting for the closed doors to re-open, others are charging boldly through new gates of opportunity.

K.C. At the Bat for Headquarters

A trip across Missouri on I-70 is as good a method as any to witness how the national landscape subtly shifts from the river valley of the mighty Mississippi to the rolling hills and then endless plains of Kansas and its neighboring states. However people choose to divide the country into regions, there can be little doubt that the atmosphere gets decidedly Western in Kansas City, which has become a headquarters outpost in recent years.
        Among the newest on the block is Fidelity National Information Solutions, which will add 147 jobs to its current 83 in deciding to locate its divisional headquarters in 40,000 sq. ft. (3,716 sq. m.) of space here. The metro was chosen over sites in Minnesota, Michigan and California.
        "Kansas City was the only community under consideration that fit all of our location, transportation, quality of life and work force needs," said Mark Spraetz, senior vice president of MLS Operations for the company.
        That same equation led to the decision by insurer Liberty Mutual to locate a US$84-million, 100,000-sq.-ft. (9,290-sq.-m.) data center in Kansas City, to be staffed by 42 people. The operation will be based in an existing facility, but additional acreage has already been obtained in order to grow. The Boston-based company located a sales office in the city in 2001. Officials said Kansas City won out over a Dallas location for the project, in part because it not only had a ready site, but space to accommodate long-term growth.
        "The support we have received from the city and other local government agencies and organizations will permit us to have the facility up and operational in record time," says Terry Conner, chief information officer for Liberty Mutual. The firm is just one of many insurance companies to call Kansas City home.
        But centers of every stripe find the country's center magnetic. In mid-January, MasterCard announced it would locate a $50-million back-up data center in Kansas City, which beat out 18 other locations for the honor. Previously located in a New York City suburb, the operation, due to start up later this year, will begin with a staff of 30.
        "MasterCard has found an excellent business climate in Missouri, and we have been enthusiastically welcomed to Kansas City," said Jerry McElhatton, senior executive vice president, MasterCard International Global Technology and Operations, in making the announcement. "We are looking forward to opening this important facility and becoming part of the Kansas City business community."The Kansas City site will be a co-processor with the company's nascent $130-million campus in St. Louis, allowing for immediate redirection should either system experience problems.
        "MasterCard is committed to providing virtually 100-percent availability of our processing functions to our financial institution customers and our cardholders," McElhatton explained. "This standard requires a back-up center that supports our need to duplicate key functions of our primary data center, and provides industrial strength power and telecommunications. The site in Kansas City meets all of those requirements, and is within a comfortable driving distance of our primary center in St. Louis."