State Farm opened its Research and Development Center in Champaign in 2005 not only as a research resource but also as a place to develop and recruit future employees with skills the company needs.
The center has succeeded “beyond our wildest dreams,” Greg Hayward, State Farm Assistant Vice President, and actuary, at a celebration of the center’s 10-year partnership with the University of Illinois.
In 10 years at the University of Illinois Research Park, the Research and Development Center has grown from seven student interns and three full-time staff to 80 interns and 13 staff.
In the past decade, a total of 750 interns have worked on 1,500 different projects.
By the Numbers
- 7 – Student interns in the first group hired at State Farm’s Research and Development Center
- 80 – Student interns now at State Farm RDC
- 750 – Student interns that have worked at the Center during its 10 years of existence
- 1,500 – Projects worked on by RDC interns in the last decade
- 2,000 – Square feet occupied by the Center when it opened
- 20,000 – Square feet currently occupied
Reprinted with permission from The Pantagraph. Originally published on April 24, 2015.
Learn more about State Farm Research Development Center here.