StarBulletin.com

After 125 years, NCR's exit from Dayton rings hollow


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POSTED: Monday, January 25, 2010

DAYTON, Ohio—Every 15 minutes, the chiming bells of the Deeds Carillon mark time's passage in Dayton. Their ever-repeating song reminds the city of its deep connection to NCR Corp., formerly known as National Cash Register, for generations known here as The Cash.

The carillon, a 151-foot tower of limestone and steel, was a gift from a former NCR chief executive and his wife. It sits beside a boulevard named after the eccentric man who founded NCR, not far from other NCR touchstones: an office building here, a former warehouse there, and acres and acres of land.

While those bells tolled one day last June, the company, which specializes in automated teller machines and other self-service devices, announced a “;major investment in innovation and people,”; though not the people of Dayton. NCR stunned the city of its birth with the news that it was moving its world headquarters to suburban Atlanta.

The decision broke a bond dating to 1884, when John H. Patterson began a cash register company here. That bond tightened as Patterson developed a reputation for ruthless dismissals and eccentric benevolence (having employees weighed, for example, to monitor their health); as NCR helped save Dayton from the great flood of 1913; as technological advances and missed opportunities led to gleeful expansion and painful reduction.

It's all just history now, a stipulation in a contentious divorce.

The company said its public goodbye from the safety of 500 miles, in Atlanta, where Bill Nuti, the NCR chief executive, and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue—whose state had promised a lucrative incentive package—posed for photographs. The images galled Dayton, given Ohio's contention that Nuti had sidestepped several invitations from its governor since 2007 to discuss NCR's needs and desires.

Simply put, said Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, the company's behavior was “;shamefully irresponsible.”;

But Nuti said last week that Ohio had been given a fair chance—or, perhaps, fair warning. He also noted that the NCR of today has 22,000 employees around the world, and that by the time of the break-up announcement it had more employees in Georgia than the 1,200 it had in Ohio.

As a result, Nuti said, the practicality of Dayton demanded a hard look. Transportation costs were high, and flights to and from the airport often required “;multiple hops”; for customers and employees. And attracting top talent was a struggle, he said. “;We had a very difficult time recruiting people to live and work in Dayton.”;

True, downtown Dayton is profoundly challenged. And true, its main airport simply cannot match Atlanta's vast offering of nonstop flights.

But Dayton chafes at the backwater implication. The metropolitan region is expanding, the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is booming, and the quality of life might look even better from the rear-view mirror of a car stuck in Atlanta traffic.

In addition, Dayton is within a 90-minute drive of Columbus, the home of Ohio State University, and Cincinnati. To suggest that talent is not already here and cannot be attracted here is “;insulting,”; said Ellen Belcher, the editorial page editor of the Dayton Daily News.

And by the way: Doesn't 125 years count for something?

Fisher, who is running for the U.S. Senate, said NCR had a “;moral obligation”; to give its home state a fair chance. And once the company decided to relocate, he said, it had a second obligation to explain that decision to the people of Dayton—“;to look them straight in the eye.”;

But it seems now that NCR began winking back in 2005, when its new CEO, Nuti, did not move to Dayton as was initially required by his contract; “;Serious family issues,”; he said. While civic leaders did not expect Nuti to make the Monday meetings of the Rotary Club, they soon came to see him as a brash New Yorker harboring disdain for the modest Midwest.

One example: NCR was a dues-paying member of the Dayton Development Coalition, a business-advocacy group, until Nuti took control. After that, Jim Leftwich, the coalition's upbeat president, said, “;It became difficult to reach out to them and hear back from them.”;

Another example: Fisher said that he and Gov. Ted Strickland sought meetings with the chief executives of the state's top companies to encourage expansion and head off problems. Of the dozens of he dealt with, he said, only one never returned his calls: Nuti.

Nuti countered that he had donated a “;substantial portion of personal money to Dayton charities.”; And he emphasized that he has responsibilities throughout the world, and doesn't “;involve myself in many, many locations.”;

Of course, pieces often come together after things fall apart.

In 2007, NCR opened executive offices in New York City, Nuti's home turf. In August 2008, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution later reported, Nuti had a private, half-hour meeting in Georgia with Perdue, who presented him with a golf putter engraved with the state logo.

In February 2009, Lt. Gov. Fisher and other Ohio leaders, fearing that NCR had become a “;flight risk,”; met with company executives at NCR headquarters. Fisher said the group could not get a straight answer about NCR's plans, and his repeated requests to meet with Nuti were denied. One NCR executive, he said, “;acted as if we had asked to meet with the emperor.”;

NCR officials said the meeting was about economic development in general. They also said that Nuti was waiting for the visitors, they were late, he had another meeting—and, well, they just never connected.

Jon Husted, an Ohio state senator, came away from the meeting feeling angry and frustrated. “;They already knew they were leaving,”; he said.

Dayton isn't alone in feeling slighted. Nuti said that he attended a renewable energy conference in New York the month after that disastrous meeting, and during lunch sat next to Strickland—who, he says, not only didn't know who he was, despite his name tag, but never introduced himself.

A spokeswoman for Strickland noted NCR's “;repeated ambivalence”; about meeting with the governor, and said he would have been happy to talk to Nuti about NCR's plans if he had been approached.

In April, NCR officials said, they shared an independent analysis with Ohio delegates that strongly recommended relocation, and asked what the state would do to retain the company—though, in retrospect, this did not afford Ohio much time.

In late May, state officials frantically tried to contact NCR about rumors of the company's imminent departure; the answer was a telling silence. Ohio hurriedly offered an incentive package that was much less attractive than Georgia's, though Ohio officials say they could have matched the rival offer if given the chance.

No matter; time was up. On June 1, Strickland and Nuti finally spoke, by telephone, though, and mostly so that NCR could say goodbye.

NCR is settling its affairs. It is leaving its archives here, as well as a data center that some company workers will continue to run. But of the 1,200 employees who were here in June, more than half have retired, resigned or been released. The company will not say how many were offered jobs in Georgia, or how many accepted.

In addition, NCR sold its headquarters last month; the building will soon be home to the University of Dayton Research Institute. But there is nothing the company can do about the Deeds Carillon, or what thoughts are conjured by the song of its bells.