Navy Federal's growth from good to great
- October 31, 2014
- / Carlton Proctor
- / community-dashboard
It's axiomatic that big things have small beginnings.
And that's certainly the case with Navy Federal Credit Union's growing — and glowing — presence in Pensacola.
In late 2003, when the Virginia-based credit union opened a small, 60-employee call center in Beulah, even the most wildly optimistic business booster couldn’t have guessed what bountiful things were to follow.
Over the next decade, through hurricanes, an epic housing collapse, a brutal recession and an anemic economic recovery, Navy Federal kept growing and growing.
The credit union quickly outgrew its first building at Heritage Oaks campus on U.S. 90.
Within a few years Buildings 2, 3 and 4 were built by local contractor Bill Greenhut's firm. Within a decade, Navy Federal had invested some $250 million in its Pensacola operation.
Meanwhile, the credit union's employee numbers soared from 60 to 600 to today's robust staff of nearly 4,000.
Over and over Navy Federal's CEO Cutler Dawson and Debbie Calder, senior vice president of the Pensacola operation, said the growth was fueled by the quality of this community's workforce.
In retrospect had Navy Federal stopped growing and not added another employee, or spent another dollar on capital investment, the story of the world's largest credit union — $62.5 billion in assets — in Pensacola would be chronicled as a huge economic success by any standard.
But in April 2013 the long run of positive news out of the company went from good to great.
Dawson announced a breathtaking expansion plan calling for a $1 billion campus expansion with 10,000 employees by the year 2020.
In the intensely competitive, dog-eat-dog world of economic development it doesn't get much better than that.
As a result of Dawson's commitment, Navy Federal broke ground in July on the first of three expansion phases.
The Phase 1 expansion is taking place on 240 adjacent acres the credit union bought in 2011 from the 4-H Foundation, which owned the Langley Bell 4-H Center.
Today, construction crews are ahead of schedule on a $200 million project that will add 1,500 new jobs and add 400,000 square feet of office space sometime in late 2106.
Just when community business and political leaders were basking in the success of the Phase 1 expansion, Dawson flew to Pensacola last week and dropped a bombshell heard statewide.
Dawson announced the go-ahead for Phase 2, a $350 million expansion that will create, 5,000 new jobs in addition to the 1,500 generated by Phase 1.
If the magnitude of Navy Federal's Phase 2 news surprised local leaders, it also surprised Dawson himself.
Everyone, including Dawson, expected Phase 2 to be green-lighted at some point, but not so soon on the heels of Phase 1.
"Yes, I am surprised that our announcement of Phase 2 was made at this point," Dawson said. "It's the result of our rapid growth. We are on track to add some 800,000 new customers this year alone."
Dawson did not give an exact start date for Phase 2, saying only that it may begin at the conclusion of Phase 1, or it may be launched concurrently with Phase 1 construction.
In the meantime, local business and political leaders are working with the Florida Department of Transportation to improve and widen U.S. 90, which provides the sole ingress and egress for Navy Federal’s employees.
Both Dawson and Calder said they have been pleased by the state's responsiveness to the transportation improvements that will be necessary to accommodate the high volume of traffic all three expansions will generate.
Dawson and Calder repeatedly have expressed their praise for the workforce the company has hired over the past decade.
But they also added a caveat that future growth — perhaps even beyond Phase 3 — will hinge on the community's commitment to providing the company a strong workforce that's well-educated and reliable.
Failure to do that could jeopardize Navy Federal's decision on future expansions, they said.
"Don't take us for granted," Dawson said.
With Navy Federal on a clear path toward becoming Escambia County's largest private employer, most community leaders and academics would agree there's little chance of that happening.
The credit union quickly outgrew its first building at Heritage Oaks campus on U.S. 90.
Within a few years Buildings 2, 3 and 4 were built by local contractor Bill Greenhut's firm. Within a decade, Navy Federal had invested some $250 million in its Pensacola operation.
Meanwhile, the credit union's employee numbers soared from 60 to 600 to today's robust staff of nearly 4,000.
Over and over Navy Federal's CEO Cutler Dawson and Debbie Calder, senior vice president of the Pensacola operation, said the growth was fueled by the quality of this community's workforce.
In retrospect had Navy Federal stopped growing and not added another employee, or spent another dollar on capital investment, the story of the world's largest credit union — $62.5 billion in assets — in Pensacola would be chronicled as a huge economic success by any standard.
But in April 2013 the long run of positive news out of the company went from good to great.
Dawson announced a breathtaking expansion plan calling for a $1 billion campus expansion with 10,000 employees by the year 2020.
In the intensely competitive, dog-eat-dog world of economic development it doesn't get much better than that.
As a result of Dawson's commitment, Navy Federal broke ground in July on the first of three expansion phases.
The Phase 1 expansion is taking place on 240 adjacent acres the credit union bought in 2011 from the 4-H Foundation, which owned the Langley Bell 4-H Center.
Today, construction crews are ahead of schedule on a $200 million project that will add 1,500 new jobs and add 400,000 square feet of office space sometime in late 2106.
Just when community business and political leaders were basking in the success of the Phase 1 expansion, Dawson flew to Pensacola last week and dropped a bombshell heard statewide.
Dawson announced the go-ahead for Phase 2, a $350 million expansion that will create, 5,000 new jobs in addition to the 1,500 generated by Phase 1.
If the magnitude of Navy Federal's Phase 2 news surprised local leaders, it also surprised Dawson himself.
Everyone, including Dawson, expected Phase 2 to be green-lighted at some point, but not so soon on the heels of Phase 1.
"Yes, I am surprised that our announcement of Phase 2 was made at this point," Dawson said. "It's the result of our rapid growth. We are on track to add some 800,000 new customers this year alone."
Dawson did not give an exact start date for Phase 2, saying only that it may begin at the conclusion of Phase 1, or it may be launched concurrently with Phase 1 construction.
In the meantime, local business and political leaders are working with the Florida Department of Transportation to improve and widen U.S. 90, which provides the sole ingress and egress for Navy Federal’s employees.
Both Dawson and Calder said they have been pleased by the state's responsiveness to the transportation improvements that will be necessary to accommodate the high volume of traffic all three expansions will generate.
Dawson and Calder repeatedly have expressed their praise for the workforce the company has hired over the past decade.
But they also added a caveat that future growth — perhaps even beyond Phase 3 — will hinge on the community's commitment to providing the company a strong workforce that's well-educated and reliable.
Failure to do that could jeopardize Navy Federal's decision on future expansions, they said.
"Don't take us for granted," Dawson said.
With Navy Federal on a clear path toward becoming Escambia County's largest private employer, most community leaders and academics would agree there's little chance of that happening.
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