LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- CGI celebrated 10 years in the Lafayette community Tuesday morning with state and local leaders.

Over the past decade, CGI's collaborations with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana Economic Development, Lafayette Economic Development Authority and other community organizations have led to the creation of 750 high-impact, high-wage jobs in Acadiana and a continuous pipeline of trained tech professionals moving to and staying in Louisiana.

“CGI is a global I.T. consulting company and so we provide support for federal government clients, state and local government clients, and then commercial entities and essentially what we do is we figure out a way to bring technology to their missions in order to help them achieve better results for their client, for their customers, or for their constituents,” said William LaBar, CGI Vice-President.

LaBar said that back in 2014, CGI announced that they planned to create 400 jobs in the area. Since then, the company has created more than 750 and more than 900 across the state.

“It’s incredible. I've lived in Lafayette for, you know, 24 years and to see, you know, 750 of our employees here today and close to 100 of our community partners honoring the milestone that we're able to celebrate here. It's just a special moment to be a part of," he continued.

LaBar said CGI is helping retain talent here in Lafayette and the state of Louisiana, and attracting talent from outside of the state to come and live here.

“This is a great place to be. We love Lafayette and are excited about the next 10 years,” he said.

Mandi Mitchell, the president and CEO of Lafayette Economic Development Authority, said the economic development authority has a "long and personal stake in the success of CGI."

"It is like watching a family member reach a milestone today. So I'm very excited to be here to celebrate this 10th anniversary of CGI in Lafayette," Mitchell said.

Dr. Joseph Savoie, president of UL Lafayette, said when it comes to Lafayette, CGI promised to invest in the community, to engage in its betterment, and to grow alongside it; which it has done. He said CGI pledged to help the city and region stand out as a hub for innovation, technology, and opportunity and has done that too.

Lafayette Mayor-President Monique Blanco Boulet said one thing CGI does that stands out, that's a little bit different, is building the quality of life in the community from every aspect.

“From that perspective, I have a very high level of appreciation for everything that this company does. You see them out in most all volunteer efforts. You see them in all kinds of forms and fashions. Cleaning our community, building our students, working throughout in an effort to build their workforce but what that means is their workforce gets a really good quality of life," she said.

Moving and looking forward to the next decade LaBar said they are going to continue to grow.

"We work really closely with the university system here and the university system across the state. We have open jobs right now that we're looking to hire for and so we're excited about the growth that's coming there," LaBar said. "I want to inspire more students to pursue careers in technology and help them know that those jobs exist here in Lafayette.”

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