The 33,000 square foot facility will initially employ 65 people and more than 200 within the next two years. Private capital investment for the project is expected to be more than $4 million, with a projected annual payroll of $12 million.

Key among the company’s principle siting criteria were business climate, nurses in the marketplace, socioeconomic factors and time zone considerations.

“Maryland has a highly qualified work force and wonderful quality of life that makes it an ideal location for our [facility],” said Ben R. Leedle Jr., president and CEO of Nashville, Tenn., -based American Healthways. “The state’s accessibility to the Eastern seaboard, along with other important amenities, gives a decided competitive advantage to companies like American Healthways.”

American Healthways programs are designed to help people living with chronic disease and chronic health conditions lead healthier lives and avoid costly trips to the emergency room or hospital.

Highly skilled nurses and clinicians at call centers throughout the country reach out to members to help educate and motivate them to become better self-managers of their diseases.

In the process, American Healthways works to enhance the patient-physician relationship by coordinating the care of its members and bridging the gaps in the health care system.

Cooperation Seals Deal

Thanks to private-public partnerships, GBA was able to give American Healthways access to local businesses, which offered significant savings in relocation-related costs; Howard Community College, which offered a highly attractive training program; and introduced the company to other insurance and health care-related firms so that it could get a first-hand view of what it is like to do business in the Baltimore metro.

American Healthways selected the Baltimore metro because it offered the full range of what the company believed was important, including cooperation between state, regional and local agencies, and a committed business community, said Nick Balog, vice president of central operations for the company.

State and local officials in Maryland work closely with companies, both established and startups, to ensure they have what they need to grow.

The state also believes that technology companies represent the future of its economy.

Columbia-based Tenable Network Security Inc. will receive a $100,000 investment from DBED, allowing it to continue its technology development and exploit its pipeline of business opportunities, said Ron Gula, president and chief technology officer of the company.

Tenable produces an array of security management products designed to give enterprises a dedicated and distributed way to manage network risk and threat information.

The investment is being made through the Challenge Investment Fund, which is designed to assist startup companies in the high-tech sector.

“This early-stage investment is critical,” Gula said.

Another startup company, Qovia Inc. of Frederick, received a $225,000 investment from the Maryland Venture Fund. The investment is the latest round of funding that the company has received from the state, following matching funds of $50,000 in 2002 and a venture capital investment of $500,000 in 2003.

Qovia develops software that monitors and manages Internet telephony systems. Customers include Fortune 1,000 companies, school districts, government agencies, law enforcement agencies, and banking and finance companies.

The company employs than 50 high-tech workers and anticipates hiring an additional 30 by the end of the year.

Maryland Catches a Wave

Incentives from state and local authorities helped convince Worthington Armstrong Venture Enterprises (WAVE) to invest in Maryland. WAVE will consolidate and expand its manufacturing operations in Perryman, moving business from Sparrows Point, Md., and Malvern, Pa.

WAVE, a light assembly/manufacturing company that is a partnership between Worthington and Armstrong World Industries, produces suspended ceiling systems. WAVE produces the metal ceiling grids that can be combined with the Armstrong ceiling tiles.

WAVE will lease about 300,000 square feet in the former Telcobuy Building in Perryman and invest more than $9 million in the project.

The Maryland Economic Development Assistance Fund (MEDAF) has earmarked a $300,000 conditional loan to support site improvements and up to a $200,000 grant to support electrical infrastructure upgrades for the project. In addition, a $50,000 work force grant was also approved.

Harford County will grant enterprise zone tax credits and a technical training grant.

The total investment in Perryman will be more than $35 million and the company will employ more than 200 workers. Startup at the facility is scheduled for later this year, with full operations commencing next year.