LIMESTONE – A third major employer at the Loring Commerce Centre, the Sitel Corp., announced Monday that 25 to 50 new jobs will be created at its insurance calling center.

Sitel already has a staff of 250 at its Development Drive site at Loring. The new jobs, according to company officials, will increase the $7 million annual payroll by another $1.5 million.

A company official said the new hiring will start as soon as a training program can be set up.

The Maine Military Authority and the Defense Finance and Accounting Systems offices have also announced large numbers of new jobs at the Loring Commerce Center in recent months.

Sitel Loring opened in 1998, about five years after the closing of the former U.S. Air Force base. Company employees both place and receive phone calls at the Loring sales and service site. Good work by the employees at the facility spurred the move to increase jobs in the central Aroostook plant.

Gov. John Baldacci was on hand for the announcement, and he disclosed the number of new jobs at the site.

“You are problem solvers for this company,” Baldacci told a score of employees on hand for the announcement. “It’s your talent that brought this about.

“This is a feather in your hat,” he said. “You are setting the gold standard in the industry.”

Company officials said Loring Sitel’s history brought about the expansion at Loring.

“If this community can support people for more jobs, this facility could double in size,” said Mark Metcalf, vice president of insurance operations for Sitel. “The work force here is good, very good.

“The turnover rate is very good,” he said. “Our people provide customer service, and quality assurance and they do it well.”

The worldwide company has 34,000 employees and will surpass $1 billion in business this year, according to Henri J. Sas, chief operating officer of Sitel North America.

He credited employees like those at Loring for the company’s growth from 18,000 employees just three years ago, when the company was generating $350 million a year in sales.

“Our people on the telephone are our most important assets,” Sas said. “Some of the employees here [at Loring] have been with us a long time.

“The Loring group has a high level of customer satisfaction,” he said.

Metcalf said growth at Loring was a “good opportunity for the company.” He said the growth was a result of the facility’s being one of the premier centers in the company.

Metcalf said he expects to continue to realize growth at Loring in 2006 and beyond.

Carl Flora, president and CEO of the Loring Commerce Centre, said Maine was not even on the company’s radar when he first met with the firm in 1997.

“Since 1998, they have brought a number of very good employment opportunities to Aroostook County.”

Both company officials said it wasn’t a financial problem to enlarge at Loring. The building can house many more employees. They agreed more jobs could come if the work force is available.

Sitel services 54 countries in 25 languages worldwide. The company was founded in 1985 and has grown from $100 million in annual sales to $1 billion since going public in 1995.

The company sells insurance products to both financial and retail customers. Some 20 percent of its employees at Loring are licensed to sell many kinds of insurance products.