WEDNESDAY UPDATE FROM DENVERPOST.COM
Northrop Gumman is planning to add 350 relatively high-paying jobs to its Aurora operation, company and city officials announced this afternoon. The aerospace company already employs about 1,000 people locally, earning an average of $80,000. Northrop Grumman also plans to build a 75,000 square foot building.
Several hundred new jobs, paying an average of $80,000, will be announced today at an Aurora economic-development luncheon.
Officials on Tuesday declined to name the company creating the jobs.
Aurora is becoming an economic-development powerhouse in the region given its diversity of industry, including aerospace, defense, biosciences, manufacturing and distribution.
Aurora has added about 1,600 primary jobs a year in each of the last five years, said Dick Hinson, vice president of the Aurora Economic Development Council, which is hosting today’s luncheon. Primary jobs do not include those in the retail or service sectors.
The luncheon, called the Aurora Economic Development Council A-List 2005, is expected to draw more than 1,200 business and government leaders to the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum to celebrate the economic success of the region.
Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., will be honored for his work in economic development.
Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper will present Clark with the A-List 2005 Award.
“Tom has understood better than anybody in Colorado what it takes to create jobs,” said John Shaw, vice president and general manager of luncheon sponsor Opus Northwest LLC. Shaw’s relationship with Clark dates to 1987, when Shaw was chairman of the Southeast Denver Economic Development Council.
Holli Baumunk, vice president of economic development for the Metro Denver EDC, said Clark’s involvement, from the development of Coors Field to FasTracks, earned him the award.
“He’s one of the biggest cheerleaders of our community and has done a fantastic job of making sure Colorado is on the cutting edge,” Baumunk said. “Tom has always been involved in some of the most visionary things that the metro Denver area and Colorado have done.”
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-820-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
