Verizon Wireless call center to open Sept. 4

Director expects to have 1,300 on staff in a year

The new Verizon Wireless call center and state headquarters in Huntsville is expected to take its first official customer call on Sept. 4, the day after Labor Day.

The 152,000-square-foot call center is under construction in Thornton Research Park and, when fully staffed, will house 1,300 employees, including customer service representatives and supervisors, technical support staff, government customer service teams and corporate sales employees.

"By this time next year, we should have all 1,300 on board," said Jeremiah Knight, who has been named director of the Huntsville call center. The first group of Huntsville center employees hired will start training July 16, Knight said. This group of 150 customer service reps will undergo six weeks of training in a temporary recruiting and training center, then have a 12-week "nesting," or transition, period.

Benefits, such as medical and dental coverage and tuition assistance, "begin on day one," Knight said.

The company is recruiting for the second training class - to include 200 employees - which will start Sept. 10. That training session will be held in the new Verizon Wireless building.

Knight will manage all aspects of customer service, including technical support, customer retention and quality service delivery.

He comes here from the Charleston, S.C., call center, where he has been director since it opened in 2004. He joined Verizon Wireless in 2002 as director of the company's Morristown, N.J., call center.

Before he joined Verizon Wireless, Knight held a number of customer services, sales and engineering positions with companies including Procter & Gamble and Ford Motor.