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Miami U., Cincinnati Financial, AK Steel county’s top employers

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By Chelsey Levingston, Staff Writer 1:10 AM Sunday, April 24, 2011

Butler County’s updated list of largest employers shows new employee counts and swaps of some companies at the top of the list.

Butler County Department of Development updated its list of 34 largest employers last month. Miami University of Oxford is still on top, but its number was adjusted from 4,250 to 3,400 employees to account for only full-time equivalents, said Mike Juengling, Butler County director of development.

Miami has offered a $10,000 retirement incentive for people already eligible to retire and who do so by June 30, according to university spokeswoman Claire Wagner.

Due to an updated count of AK Steel Holding Corp. employees, not necessarily changes in employment levels, AK Steel’s new total this year of employees is really approximately 2,400 at its steel plant in Middletown and corporate headquarters in West Chester Twp., not the 3,100 total employees cited by the list before. Denise Hamet, Middletown acting economic development director, says AK has 2,100 full-time equivalent employees there. Alan McCoy, AK spokesman, said there’s another 300 to 350 people in West Chester Twp.

That moves AK Steel to the third largest employer in the county from second place behind Cincinnati Financial Corp. of Fairfield, which has 2,900 local employees, according to the list and the company.

Joan Shevchik, Cincinnati Financial spokeswoman, said the company is excited about the future.

Cincinnati Financial President and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Stecher said the following in a statement about its current position:

“We’re ready to be a very strong competitor. Over the past two years, we have expanded our operating territory and agency force, improved our technology, enhanced our product line and raised the level of expertise we offer to customers.”

Other changes high in the list are actually due more to changes in staffing levels. After three rounds of layoffs last year, BAE Systems’ Platform Survivability business in West Chester Twp. moved from the number six spot last year with 1,500 employees to the 11th spot this year with 1,000 employees. The company said the most recent layoffs last September were because of the loss of some key contracts, leaner defense budgets and a challenging global economy.

GE Aviation’s West Chester Twp. operations moved up the ranks to fill the sixth spot by adding 275 employees, per the county list. Barb Wilson, West Chester Twp. spokeswoman, said the company started operating in West Chester Twp. last year, with a lot of employees reassigned from Springdale.

“They’ve been gradually filling the building,” she said.

The rest of the top 10 list is made of public sector and nonprofit organizations including Butler County government, Lakota School District, The Fort Hamilton Hospital, Hamilton City Schools, Mercy Hospital Fairfield and Fairfield City Schools.

Middletown’s largest employer of 1,879 people is Atrium Medical Center, but it’s in Warren County. On Warren County Office of Economic Development’s list, which the office said hasn’t been updated yet this year, Atrium is third largest.

First quarter earnings releases

Three of the largest companies headquartered locally will release first quarter earnings this week.

AK Steel puts out its quarterly financial report before the New York Stock Exchange opens Tuesday. An earnings conference call 11 a.m. Tuesday can be accessed at its website, www.aksteel.com. For the full year 2010, AK had a net loss of $128.9 million, according to AK.

Cincinnati Financial plans to release its results Wednesday after the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, according to the company. Its conference call is 11 a.m. the next day and can be heard from online at www.cinfin.com/investors. The Fairfield company reported total net income last year of $377 million.

First Financial Bancorp, with more than 300 employees in Butler County according to the company, also delivers financial results Wednesday. First Financial Bank is based in Hamilton.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.