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GEICO Direct Expands Building, Hiring Plans

14 April 1998

GEICO Direct Expands Building, Hiring Plans

    MACON, Ga., April 14 -- Between the time GEICO Direct
announced plans for a new Macon facility Jan. 27 and broke ground for it
today, the company decided to increase the building's size by 10 percent to
accommodate 1,000 more employees and raise total employment at the facility to
3,000 by 2004.
    GEICO Direct's regional vice president, David H. Pushman, made the
announcement at today's groundbreaking for the $36.5 million facility at the
corner of Weaver Road and Ocmulgee E. Blvd.  Other participants in the
ceremony included Tony Nicely, GEICO chief executive officer; David Lucas,
state representative; Larry Justice, chairman, Bibb County Commissioners; and
Albert Billingslea, chairman, Macon-Bibb Industrial Authority.
    Even before the new building is completed in March 1999, GEICO will be
hiring for 250 new positions, mostly in sales and service areas.  Currently
GEICO employs 2,150 associates at its office on Ocmulgee E. Blvd.  Once the
new facility is completed, hiring will increase to 500 new associates a year.
The new center will handle telephone calls generated by GEICO's extensive
national advertising program, and provide sales, policy and claim services.
    "We see great hiring potential in the 28 counties in this region of
Georgia and concluded we should build now to accommodate our increased
growth," said Pushman.  "Our Macon complex will be GEICO's largest regional
complex," said Pushman.
    GEICO Direct sells auto insurance directly to the customer and serves them
24 hours a day, seven days a week.  It does extensive national advertising,
which results in more than 10,000 new customers a week.
    Headquartered in Chevy Chase, Md., it is the second-fastest growing
property and casualty insurer in the nation.  GEICO increased its number of
policyholders by 16 percent in 1997 and insures more than 4.5 million autos.
During 1997, the number of GEICO associates countrywide rose from 8,975 to
10,886, and is expected to increase to 12,000 in 1998.
    In January, GEICO announced plans for a $17.3 million expansion in
Virginia Beach, Va., with ultimately 880 employees.  Late last year it opened
a Coralville, Iowa, call center that will have 200 employees by summer, and
opened a new building for its expanding Lakeland, Fla., branch office.  It has
begun construction on a new facility for its San Diego regional office and
will soon break ground for a national mail center at its Fredericksburg, Va.,
regional office.
    GEICO Corporation is the parent company of Government Employees Insurance
Company, GEICO General, GEICO Indemnity and GEICO Casualty, which insure
private passenger automobiles and provide homeowner and other types of
insurance for qualified applicants.  The companies are known collectively as
GEICO Direct.

SOURCE  GEICO Direct