Personnel chief Burk says Wacker up to 200 workers
Friday, January 1, 1904
Erika Burk, human resources director with Wacker Chemical, speaks about the new Wacker educational building being on Chattanooga State Community College's campus.Name: Erika BurkHometown: Birmingham, Ala.Job: Human resources director for Wacker Polysilicon's Bradley County plantEducation: University of Colorado, bachelor's degree in international relations and German; University of Alabama-Birmingham, master's; University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, doctorateWork: Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc.; Daimler-Chrysler AG, Stuttgart, Germany; Viterra Energy Services; Agilent Technologies; Unum; owned and founded English language training service CleverKids English, which she soldPersonal: Married, two childrenQuote: "This is my third German startup in the United States. It's quite exciting. It's an absolute blast."
Erika Burk says she was Wacker Polysilicon's first employee for its planned new $1.5 billion Tennessee plant.
She's overseeing the hiring of about 650 people who will man the factory making polysilicon for solar power use when it opens in late 2013.
"It's so much fun to give job offers to people, especially in this day and age where so many people are unemployed," said Burk, human resources director for the company's plant going up in Bradley County.
Burk said Wacker is hiring local people for the production jobs at the facility and trying to find them for the professional slots, as well.
"Every week and sometimes on a daily basis, we get emotionally touched by the gratitude and happiness of people who get a job offer," she said.
Burk, who also worked with the ramp up of the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Ala., estimates the Wacker factory will create
at least 3,000 jobs over the next few years when construction and other spin-off slots are included.
"Besides the 650 jobs we'll have directly on our site, there are so many other companies supplying resources for us," she said.
Wacker is up to about 200 permanent employees now, Burk said.
About 50 of them are transplants from Germany who will stay up to four years while the massive factory comes on line, she said.
Americans are being hired to succeed Germans once they return to Europe, the Wacker official said.
Wacker is working closely with Chattanooga State Community College, where its Wacker Institute runs a training program.
Tim McGhee, dean of Chattanooga State's engineering technology division, said faculty have gone to Germany for instruction.
Also, German instructors have come here, he said.
"It's a joint training venture," he said. "It has been very close-knit."
McGhee said the college program has an engineering technology and applied engineering focus.
"It has matched up very well with Wacker," he said.
Burk said Wacker is working on a dual degree program with CSCC.
"I think this is a really, really good step to start reaching our students who are at the high school level," Burk said.
Also, she said, Wacker would like to develop a bachelor's degree program. It would be a spinoff of the chemical engineering associate program at CSCC, the Wacker official said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.