Grant would add more than 1K jobs

JPMorgan Chase & Co., a New York-based bank, submitted a $10 million proposal this month for a state grant that would bring 1,200 jobs to Delaware within the next year and a half.

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell announced on April 13 that the company has applied for the grant to support expansion from the Delaware Strategic Fund, which supplies loans and grants to businesses.

“Chase is making clear its commitment to bring more jobs to Delaware, where we have talented people ready to work to help it succeed,” Markell said in a statement.

Nikki Lavoie, communications manager at the Delaware Economic Development Office, said if approved, the $10 million grant would partially fund the proposed employment expansion. The Delaware Strategic Fund is a state resource that provides grants and loans for companies looking to expand employment in the state, she said.

“They are not only spending millions of dollars in Delaware, but they’re also adding hundreds and hundreds of critical jobs in our financial services industry,” Lavoie said. “That is incredibly important to the state of Delaware.”

New jobs will cover specialties in the professional level including credit card and mortgage services, as well as investment banking and treasury services, said Paul Hartwick, a JPMorgan Chase spokesman.

Hartwick said the corporation’s alliance with the university means that graduates will benefit from the proposed job expansion.

“Chase specifically has had a strong relationship with the university,” Hartwick said. “And our hope is that we’ll increase the amount of talent that’s available and graduating.”

JPMorgan Chase plans to commit $50 million in company money to support job expansion, Lavoie said. The company will need to create 600 jobs before the first funds are granted and the rest will be received as more jobs are created. If the jobs aren’t created or relocate out of Delaware within three years, the state is protected, she said.

“If for whatever reason they default on their employment, then there is a recovery provision to secure that money back to the state,” Lavoie said.

Joyce Henderson, assistant director of employer partnerships at Career Services, said the new jobs will range from executive level employees to management and administrative assistants.

Henderson said approximately fifteen students each semester work on projects through an internship with the bank in the JPMorgan Chase Innovation Center, which opened in October and is located in Purnell Hall.

“If the work performance meets the satisfaction of the representatives and hiring managers, they are normally offered a full time position,” Henderson said. “So really these internships are a pipeline to full-time employment with JP Morgan Chase.”

Junior business major Jason Kushner estimated that 10 alumni from his fraternity, Sigma Pi Epsilon, have worked for JP Morgan Chase in the last five years. He stated in an email message that he worked 15 to 20 hours weekly during his own internship with the company.

“My own experience stems from last spring as an intern at their office in Newark,” Kushner said. “I received the job after getting the tip from a SigEp alumnus.”

He said working with the company was a good opportunity because the bank’s size attracts people from different areas in financial services.

“It was also a great résumé builder and opportunity to get some real world experience,” Kushner said. “JP Morgan is a great brand.”

The company has committed $5 million to support collaboration activities with the university and is the industry founder of the International Institute for Business Analytics, Hartwick said. The institute is a certificate program in the university’s Division of Professional and Continuing Studies that educates students about information technology.  

The university formalized its partnership with JP Morgan Chase in 2009 with the creation of the Global Enterprise Technology curriculum and minor at the university, said Bruce Weber, dean of the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics.

The program educates students about the systems and computer functions the bank provides. Previously, graduates in computer science or information systems were not well versed in large-scale business systems or enterprise technology, he said.

“We’ve tried to fill that gap for the bank,” Weber said. “And the bank has been very supportive and generous towards Delaware.”

He said the Purnell Hall location functions as a JP Morgan Chase office on campus where students can work on projects utilizing the bank’s services. A recent project created a digital archive from paper documents for the King Library and Archives in Atlanta, he said.