Governor Susana Martinez announced that IT company Wildflower International, the largest woman-owned business in New Mexico, will create 81 new jobs in Santa Fe. These new jobs will include IT, engineering, management, and customer service positions, ranging in salary from $18 an hour to $150,000 annually.
"We're proud to see home-grown technology companies like Wildflower succeed - right here in New Mexico," Governor Martinez said. "It's home-grown businesses like Wildflower that make up the backbone of our efforts to grow and diversify our economy, and we're going to continue doing all we can to help these companies thrive."
Wildflower will receive $75,000 in Local Economic Development Act funding to renovate a building to accommodate its growing workforce. LEDA helps businesses expand and attracts new companies into the state. Nearly zeroed out when Governor Martinez took office, she fought to grow this important tool to more than $56 million.
"We are honored to have the opportunity to expand in our home state and continue to offer good jobs," said Kimberly deCastro, founder of Wildflower International. "With LEDA funding, we can grow Wildflower even more in the years to come."
Founded in 1991, Wildflower International currently employs 80 workers and provides IT products and services to the federal government and its contractors. Wildflower has been the recipient of the New Mexico Top 25 Women-Owned Businesses Award for the past eight years.
"New Mexico has an incredibly skilled high-tech workforce that makes us ideal for IT businesses like Wildflower," said EDD Cabinet Secretary Jon Barela. "We've made our state much more competitive for these jobs and will continue to do more to help expand local businesses, as well as recruit new companies to New Mexico, in information technology services in addition to other sectors."
The New Mexico Economic Development Department is also working with Wildflower to assist them in applying for Job Training Incentive Program funding, which helps companies hire and train more New Mexicans as they grow. New Mexico's JTIP has been recognized as one of the most successful in the country.