Cedar Rapids business to add 225 jobs

CEDAR RAPIDS - A year after it announced plans for a second location in Cedar Rapids, RuffaloCODY is expanding again and adding 225 jobs in the Corridor.

The 20-year-old provider of strategic fundraising and enrollment management services plans to hire 75 full-time employees and 150 part-time college students in Cedar Rapids and another 1,000 part-time students at additional on-site college and university call centers.

The 75 full-time positions will pay an average $40,000 annually plus benefits and include programmers and writers, according to Al Ruffalo, founder and chief executive officer of RuffaloCODY.

“Over the years, we have continued to grow at double digits and we are pleased to announce in 2010 that we again grew at 10-plus percent,” Ruffalo said. “We will be leasing an additional 7,500 square feet of office space at our Capital Drive SW location near the airport. The company employs more than 3,600 people across the United States and Canada. With the additional employees we are planning to hire, we will employ in excess of 5,000.”

RuffaloCODY also maintains a 27,000-square-foot corporate office on the Kirkwood Community College campus.

Ruffalo said two areas of the business are driving the expansion: on-site management at colleges and universities and enrollment management.

“We have 70 on-site management locations and we expect to open another 25 to 30 this year,” Ruffalo said. “Our enrollment management division continues to grow at 20-plus percent each year. A few years ago, it represented $1 million of our business and now it represents in excess of $17 million.

“Colleges have to recruit and hit their freshman numbers or the financial impact can be pretty severe. They also have to recruit the right mix of students. It's especially important for private schools where it's a matter of tuition-based funding.”

Ruffalo said the expansion on Capital Drive SW will fill the building and additional space will be needed for future expansion.

“We would prefer to stay in that area, which is close to our campus at Kirkwood and the airport,” he said. “Hopefully, we will be back here next year announcing another expansion.”

Dee Baird, president of Priority One, said the expansion is the fifth for RuffaloCODY where her organization has been able to provide assistance.

“We're so pleased that a locally-owned company wth a national presence in their industry continues to experience so much growth and success,” Baird said. “The expansion and new jobs announced today is part of an integrated model that also supports thousands of part-time jobs in 70 locations across the country. More importanly, it supports local college students who need financial assistance to stay on track to meet their educational goals.

“Clearly this model is a ‘win' for the company, a ‘win' for the community and a ‘win' for the individual.”

Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett said the jobs being created by RuffaloCODY provide a real indication that the community is moving in the right direction in terms of economic recovery.

“An announcement of this magnitude is a sign that it's more than a feeling that this community is getting better,” Corbett said.

Corbett said the Cedar Rapids City Council is expected Tuesday night to approve a $100,000 appropriation to support the Entrepreneurial Development Center, which works with small businesses to enhance their prospects for growth and success.