By John Jacobs | Executive Vice President

Richardson’s economic development strategy of welcoming quality creators and users of technology produced the two biggest splashes of the summer and early fall months. RealPage, a Software-as-a-Service company that specializes in real estate, particularly multi-family real estate, announced in June that it will be relocating its 2,000-employee corporate headquarters to space in the former Nortel facility at 2201 Lakeside.

GEICO, the acronym for “Government Employees Insurance Company,” is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and has 10 regional headquarters in the United States, with Richardson soon to be one. GEICO is Texas’ fourth largest auto insurance company and the second largest in the U.S. behind only State Farm. GEICO and its ubiquitous Gecko lizard have been in the forefront of the exploding online market for auto insurance. Use of the latest Internet technologies has propelled GEICO’s continued growth. 

However, it’s a little known fact that GEICO has Texas roots. The company was founded in 1936 in San Antonio, Texas, by Leo Goodwin, a former USAA executive. Believing that non-military government employees would also be lower-risk customers, Goodwin moved the company to Washington, D.C., the next year, and the rest is history. After many years of operating as a publicly traded entity, GEICO was acquired in 1996 by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway and became its wholly-owned subsidiary.

Another strategy-backed positive result for Richardson was the addition in October of Yankon Lighting, a Chinese LED lighting products company. In business since 1975, Yankon will make Richardson its second office in the U.S. after establishing a California presence 10 years ago.

Yankon is headquartered in Zhejang, China, and is traded on the Shanghai stock exchange. The company has 1,400 employees worldwide and revenue of over a half billion dollars.

The Mayor’s Office of International Business Development, created three years ago, has been very active in promoting Richardson and its Telecom Corridor® area around the globe. In fact, the REDP recently completed a very successful marketing trip to China, Taiwan and Japan, building business ties with other quality Asian companies.