Certegy Heading Down to Florida

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Certegy, the card processing firm for about 2,000 credit unions across the country, has moved most of its headquarters jobs from its facility in the Atlanta, Georgia area to St. Petersburg, Florida. "Moving the corporate headquarters closer to our primary business operation is a natural step for our company and will enable us to execute our business strategies more effectively," said Lee Kennedy, CEO of Certegy. Not all of Certegy's headquarters positions will make the move, the firm also said. The company's global software and development group, corporate accounting, treasury, tax, human resources support and other administrative functions (over 150 positions in total) will remain, Certegy said. Mary Waggoner Certegy's vice president for public relations, said that the firm had pretty much finished the move but had not made the formal announcement until now. She said that the move "made good business sense" considering how much of the organization's day to day operations were conducted in the St. Petersburg area. The firm will maintain its operations facility in St. Petersburg and has leased two floors of the Northern Trust building, a landmark office building in downtown St. Petersburg, for its administrative and executive offices, she said.