Sallie Mae moving HQ, jobs to Delaware

The move is expected to bring hundreds of jobs to the First State.

Lending giant Sallie Mae will move it’s corporate headquarters from Reston, Virginia to Newark, Delaware by March 2011.

The company says the move to Delaware is consistent with it’s recent initiatives to contain costs. Sallie Mae opened offices in Newark in 2008 that focused on the company’s private student loan business.  In a statement announcing the move, Sallie Mae CEO Albert Lord says, “This decision reflects our need to adapt to the massive changes in our business.  We have enjoyed nearly 40 years in the D.C. area; however, the objective is to combine the senior management team in a single location.  Delaware officials helped make these changes as efficient as possible.”  Sallie Mae moved out of D.C. to to the suburbs of northern Virginia in 1996.

To draw Sallie Mae, the Delaware Economic Development Office (DEDO) is recommending that the state provide a grant from the Delaware Strategic Fund up to $3-million.  The amount of the grant will equal three percent of the company’s possible $100-million capital investment at the new site.  The company could also qualify for a state tax credit depending on how many job it creates.  If the company qualifies for the tax credit, that would be applied instead of the strategic fund grant.  The Council on Development Finance will review DEDO’s recommendation later this year.

Through its subsidiaries, Sallie Mae manages $182-billion in education loans and serves 10-million student and parent customers.

The new jobs are the latest in a string of positive employment news for the state.  Recently, the state’s economic leaders have been able to lure Fisker Automotive to the shuttered GM auto assembly plant, and facilitate the sale and restart of the Delaware City refinery.  If both facilities were to remain dormant, the state would have lost hundreds of jobs.  The Markell administration has made an concerted effort to respond as quick as possible to the needs of the businesses who are interested in moving to the state.