On Wednesday February 27th we hosted a celebration of the completion of our National Reservation Center with a Grand Opening Event that included an official Ribbon Cutting by Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman. A crowd of over 75 local community leaders including the Tempe Chamber of Commerce, Veolia Transportation and SuperShuttle management, as well as many family and friends attended.

Mark Joseph, CEO of Veolia Transportation North America, and Brian Wier, CEO and President of SuperShuttle International, began the formalities. Brian spoke of the relocation of the reservation center from Phoenix to Tempe and the estimated number of agents that this center will accommodate at the peak of our growth which we estimate to be close to 300. He acknowledged everyone that contributed to the success of this new center.

Mark Joseph spoke of the various Veolia Transportation services that the City of Tempe contracts through Veolia and acknowledged the Mayor in having chosen Veolia as the provider. He further spoke of the global commitment of Veolia Environnement in enhancing the quality of life in cities in its four divisions - water, waste management, energy and transportation. Veolia Transportation engages in the local communities it provides services to by partnering with organizations that reach out into the community and Mark acknowledged Veolia's partnership with Chicanos Por La Causa and introduced Martin Quintana, VP/CFO for CPLC. Martin gave a brief speech on behalf of the CPLC and its community efforts in economic development, education and social services. He went on to say that the success of CPLC is accomplished by companies such as Veolia that contribute resources and he looks forward to the expansion of our great partnership.

Mayor Hugh Hallman was introduced by Mark Joseph, and the Mayor validated the importance of SuperShuttle and the various Veolia Transportation contracts that provide vital services to the City of Tempe. He welcomed Linda Paquin, VP of Reservations and Telecommunications to Tempe, and thought she made a great choice in choosing Tempe to relocate to! He later cut the ribbon that officially signifies that SuperShuttle is now formally a member of the Tempe community.

Linda Paquin shared with the group about the center's capabilities of today taking an average of 7,000 calls daily and when fully staffed the number will be upwards of 20,000 calls a day. A key commitment was to build the facility as "green" as possible in choosing vendors and all furniture throughout the center is green. She thanked all the vendors for their efforts.

She further acknowledged her staff for all their hard work and efforts in making this call center a reality. Two key people Linda specifically acknowledges are both the General Manager of Reservations, LaNell Ferguson, and the IT System Administrator, Denny Lester. These two individuals were critical to the success of the overall project from beginning to end.

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