Company to benefit work force, charities
By Kate Andrews / Daily Progress staff writer
May 23, 2005

Techni-Pak currently rents out space in the former Technicolor building in Ruckersville. MZM is expected to move in next summer. The Daily Progress/ Rachel Zahumensky

RUCKERSVILLE – For a company that has to keep its business largely to itself, MZM Inc. is quite public-minded.

The Washington-based firm that will soon set up shop in Greene County handles security and intelligence contracts from the federal government, requiring many employees to have security clearances.

“We can’t say too much about what we do,” MZM spokeswoman Karen Theobald said, “but we can talk about our employees.”

Community involvement is a part of the company’s philosophy, carried out through charitable causes, social events and political donations. The firm prides itself on being “patriotic,” Theobald said.

MZM’s political action committee has donated money to many Republican political campaigns, including $10,000 to U.S. Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-Rocky Mount, in 2003.

The congressman, whose district includes Greene County, was instrumental in bringing the company to Ruckersville.

MZM also has given $5,000 to governor candidate Jerry Kilgore, $10,000 to Florida’s U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris and $1,000 to Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle.

The company’s Albemarle County office has sponsored the $12,000 purse for Foxfield’s feature race for the past three years and invites employees and clients to watch the horse races from the tent it sponsors.

“They’re wonderful,” said Anne Brown, marketing director for Foxfield Races. “They’ve supported all kinds of things.”

In the Washington area, the company has given time and money to the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and the Sure Foundation, which assists children in war-torn countries.

Closer to home, MZM is working to find jobs within the company for disabled veterans from the Iraq war, Theobald said. Many are amputees who are recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

Some may come to work in the former Technicolor building in Ruckersville, which MZM will close on June 1. Move-in is set to begin that day, although the company’s sensitive governmental tasks require a checklist of security measures that may delay the beginning of operations.

Theobald declined to disclose the amount MZM paid for the 117,000-square-foot building and 23.8 acres of land.

The company aims to have 200 to 300 employees there by next summer, Theobald said. “We are making a commitment to hire locals.”

MZM as a whole has grown 50 percent over the past three years, when demand for security and intelligence work has grown exponentially. It expects to increase its number of employees from 400 to 1,000 within the next year, including a doubling of the 100 workers in Albemarle.

The company generated $66.1 million in revenue last year and just opened an office in Baltimore. Theobald said MZM is targeting growing communities and has worked closely with Gov. Mark R. Warner, establishing a presence in Martinsville as well as in Albemarle.

Currently the Ruckersville building houses Techni-Pak, a packaging service that has 100 full-time and seasonal employees. MZM plans to honor its contract.

Although the county has appreciated Techni-Pak’s tenancy, it is thrilled to have a new purchaser, said Supervisor Jeri Allen, who represents Ruckersville.

“It was all so devastating,” she said of Technicolor’s departure in 2002, which caused the loss of 750 full-time jobs and about $650,000 in annual taxes. “We’re still feeling the pinch financially from the loss of Technicolor.”

Waynesboro Holdings LLC, a firm connected with developer Coran Capshaw, purchased the building in 2004, but Allen said expectations were low that a business tenant could be found because the building was constructed specifically for Technicolor’s manufacturing needs.

“We’re certainly tickled to death,” said Steve Catalano, chairman of the Board of Supervisors. “Maybe even some of the displaced workers from Technicolor can take advantage.”

Although Allen would not speculate if MZM will have the same level of economic impact on Greene as Technicolor did, she is pleased that most of the logistics and intelligence positions are highly skilled posts. “The jobs are good jobs.”

http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP%2FMGArticle%2FCDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031782870888&path=!news

See http://www.irregulartimes.com/mzmgoode.html

This has been picked up by Talking Points Memo:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_06_12.php#005833

You’re laughably overreaching on this. Let this obvious scandal be exactly what it is —
a serious problem for Duke Cunningham and MZM. But, good God… leave Virgil out of it.

So, Virgil helped bring an MZM facility to Martinsville that will employ over 150 people.
That’s good for that job-hungry part of the state (FYI, there ARE other places in the
Commonwealth besides Cville).

Attempting to villify Goode because Mitch Wade donated to him is like calling Shaq a
rapist because he played with Kobe. But you were almost right… some yellow
journalist will undoubtedly decide that this would make for a great “Let’s Smear
Virgil” campaign.

Leftist politics as usual.

Yeah, that worked last time ;)

Do us all a favor and start your own blog, so that we can not read it.