MUNCIE, Ind., Oct. 19, 2007—Sallie Mae—the nation’s leading saving- and-paying-for-college company—today received the 2007 Community Impact Award from the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce. The company was recognized for its significant economic contributions and civic achievement in Muncie-Delaware County.
“Sallie Mae has clearly had a very significant impact in our community over the last year,” said Terry Murphy, Vice President, Economic Development for the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance. “Their contributions have come in a variety of different arenas but include: hiring local contractors during the construction period, using local service vendors, hiring hundreds of residents, adding millions of dollars in new payroll to our area, and taking an active role in supporting our local community organizations. Having the presence of a Fortune 500 company like Sallie Mae in our community is profound and will continue to be so in the future.”
The purpose of the award is to recognize a person, organization, or company that has made significant contributions to the economic well being of Muncie and Delaware County during the past year. Award nominees were evaluated based on the following criteria: job creation, capital investment, new payroll, enhancement in community image, community leadership and civic involvement and volunteerism.
Sallie Mae recently marked its first full year in Muncie. The company built out of its facility in 2006, transforming it from a shell building to a state-of-the-art facility. The construction translated into more than $11 million in capital investments and hundreds of additional jobs for local Delaware County contractors. All construction sub-contracts were awarded to state and local businesses.
Sallie Mae originally anticipated filling up to 300 jobs in its first year of operation and an additional 200 jobs in each of the next two years, bringing the total at the facility to 700 by year end 2008. The company is on track to meet that goal.
Sallie Mae Muncie supports the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance, Chamber of Commerce, and Motivate our Minds and holds several blood drives and charitable events throughout the year. The company partnered with Ball State University to launch a management training program that provides an accelerated track to management positions.
Sallie Mae’s Muncie facility focuses on student loan default prevention and is part of Sallie Mae’s Asset Performance Group. Sallie Mae employs more than 3,000 individuals in Indiana.
For more information contact:
Rick Castellano 703/984-5535
SLM Corporation (NYSE:
SLM), commonly known as Sallie Mae, is the nation’s leading provider of saving- and paying-for-college programs. The company manages nearly $172 billion in education loans and serves 10 million student and parent customers. Through its Upromise affiliates, the company also manages more than $19 billion in 529 college-savings plans, and is a major, private source of college funding contributions in America with 9 million members and $450 million in member rewards. Sallie Mae and its subsidiaries offer debt management services as well as business and technical products to a range of business clients, including higher education institutions, student loan guarantors and state and federal agencies. More information is available at
www.salliemae.com. SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.