ROCKLAND – The president and chief executive officer of a major financial services company heaped praise on Maine’s work force Wednesday and credited the reception of state and local officials as reasons for locating a new office in Rockland.

Stephen Hooley, speaking at a ceremony that included U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe and Gov. John Baldacci, said Boston Financial Data Services surveyed many different regions in the country for a new site before selecting Rockland.

“We found here in Maine an educated and motivated work force that we could draw on,” Hooley said.

“The second reason we’re here in Maine has to do with all of you,” he said to the officials and business leaders who gathered at the former MBNA building on Water Street.

Hooley said that while the company works with people around the globe, he had never experienced the kind of reception he received in Maine.

Boston Financial, founded in 1973 by State Street Corp. and DST Systems Inc., has grown to a company with more than 3,000 employees.

Since opening the Rockland center in August, the company has put 84 people on the local payroll and plans to have 200 in a year.

Other speakers at the ceremony included Cindy Rock, division vice president for Boston Financial; Bob Hastings, CEO of Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce; and John Richardson, commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

gchappell@bangordailynews.net

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