Company handling more than $6B in payments a year moves HQ to metro Atlanta
Ministry Brands, a software company for tens of thousands of churches and nonprofits, has moved its headquarters to metro Atlanta after decades in Tennessee, the company announced Monday.
The move is the latest in a string of corporate relocations to metro Atlanta announced in recent months, including an AI startup, a health care technology company and Yamaha Motor Co.
Ministry Brands makes technology to help churches and nonprofits manage everything from tithing to background screening to communications, media and event planning.
It had been based in Knoxville since its founding in 1997 but is now setting up a new 6,200-square-foot office in Milton, just north of Alpharetta, as its Atlanta employee base continues to grow. More than 50 employees are based here, as well as much of the executive team, according to Chris Bacon, the company’s CEO.
“What we kind of realized is the makeup of our company from an executive standpoint and from a resource standpoint, talent standpoint, just kept getting bigger and bigger in this local area,” Bacon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“At some point, it became obvious that we’re all driving three hours to get to Knoxville ... so it just made sense,” he said.
Across the globe, Ministry Brands has nearly 700 employees. Bacon said the company will maintain its presence in Knoxville and also has major offices in Oklahoma, Florida, Arizona and overseas in Ireland.
Bacon said a key reason Atlanta was a good fit for the headquarters is the strong financial technology workforce in the region, which is one of the global hubs for payment processing. Along with the other services it offers, Ministry Brands processes about $6.5 billion in payments a year.
“Our ability to do that in a very, very seamless and, frankly, perfect way, is incredibly important for us,” he said. “So naturally, we were winding up with talent without even trying to get it, in the local area.”
The new headquarters will officially open June 23 at One Deerfield Centre, 3 miles north of the Avalon shopping center. Bacon said he thinks the company will add about 50 to 100 new jobs in metro Atlanta over the next three to four years.
About the Author
Mirtha Donastorg is a reporter on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s business team focusing on Black wealth, entrepreneurship, and minority-owned businesses as well as innovation at Atlanta’s HBCUs.
