Education Tech Innovator Brings 60 New Jobs to American Tobacco Campus; NYC Company Picks Durham for Talent, Creative Environment

Excerpt from NBC17

Durham - Oct. 05, 2011 -- Wireless Generation, a Brooklyn, New York-based provider of educational software and digital tools for teachers nationwide, will open a new 65-person office in a 12,600 square foot space within Durham’s American Tobacco Historic District.

Approximately 60 employees will be hired from within the Research Triangle, known for its highly educated and technologically skilled workforce. Working with the Durham Chamber of Commerce, the company chose the Bull City in part because it provided the right talent pool to attract and build staff.

In New York, the company occupies a former warehouse in DUMBO, the historic Brooklyn neighborhood that became one of the city's creative enclaves, and it found a similar feeling in Durham’s American Tobacco.  The campus has transformed from a hub of manufacturing to a hub for innovative organizations, many focused on technology, health care and education.

“My top priorities are growing jobs and improving schools,” says North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue.  “Welcoming Wireless Generation to Durham is exciting, both because the company is creating the kind of knowledge economy jobs that North Carolina needs in the 21^st Century, and because the education tools that the company creates are being used in my Ready, Set, Go! initiative."

“The talent in the Triangle area makes it the right place for Wireless Generation to grow,” says Larry Berger, co-founder and CEO of the ten-year-old Wireless Generation.  “As a national company on a course toward expansion, we’re grateful for the support from Governor Perdue and from the local Chamber in helping us find the right community in a state committed to education innovation.”  Wireless Generation’s team will move into the fifth floor of the historic Crowe Building later this fall.  

In Durham, Wireless Generation’s expanding software development team will work on a variety of educational products starting with building a data system for multiple states that will help foster collaboration among teachers and administrators and support student achievement.  North Carolina is among five states piloting this national initiative, known as the Shared Learning Collaborative, to be built with philanthropic support under the auspices of a national group of school administrators.

In addition, Wireless Generation's early literacy assessment tool is being used within North Carolina in a pilot program led by the state's Department of Public Instruction.  It’s designed to provide differentiated instruction and improve reading levels in the elementary grades.

Says Gov Perdue: “These tools for teachers are helping North Carolina’s young people to compete in a global economy by working to ensure that all kids can read on grade level by the time they finish third grade.”

Adds Michael Goodmon, vice president of real estate for Capitol Broadcasting Company, which owns the campus, “American Tobacco strives to be a place where creative companies house their best and brightest to work on breakthrough ideas.  Wireless Generation epitomizes the kind of ambitious, innovative companies that make our campus and region stronger as they improve the ways we live, work and learn.  We’re on the right track, and we’re going to keep pushing.”

American Tobacco recently announced plans for Diamond View III, a state-of-the-art new building connecting the original campus, Durham Performing Arts Center and Durham Bulls Athletic Park.    

Reporters interested in contacting Wireless Generation’s Berger or other company representatives should contact Joan Lebow at 212-796-2207. To speak with Michael Goodmon at American Tobacco, call Billy Warden at 919.412.0630 or Greg Behr at 919.272.5621.

Trained technical professionals interested in working at Wireless Generation’s new American Tobacco office can get more information at www.WirelessGeneration.com.  

About Wireless Generation
Wireless Generation creates innovative tools, systems and services that help educators teach with excellence. With its solutions, educators can easily apply research-based, proven practices toward solving some of the most pressing challenges in teaching and learning. Wireless Generation currently serves more than 200,000 educators and three million students. The company has 500 employees, most in its Brooklyn home, and has several sales offices around the US.  

About American Tobacco
American Tobacco offers one million square feet of premium office space in a historic factory setting bustling with restaurants and businesses. The campus serves as a bridge from Durham’s past as one of the Tobacco hubs of the world to its present and future as a knowledge, science and medical capital.