August 1, 2014
NVision Solutions Inc. is coming back home to Hancock County. The engineering, software and geospatial company had been in the Stennis Technology Park on Highway 603 until last April when it acquired a marine engineering division located in the Long Beach Tech Park. "We picked up six employees and stepped into a whole new business line with NVision Engineering Services," said Craig Harvey, the COO and executive vice president. Socorro Harvey, his wife, is the president and CEO of NVision Solutions Inc. The Harveys and Don Peyton founded the company in the late 1990s. NVision consolidated its growing operation in Long Beach but the Harveys' goal always was to get back to Hancock County, so they began searching for a suitable location with the help of the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission. "We did not want to leave Hancock County," Craig Harvey said. The Harveys opened the company at Stennis 14 years ago. "We were in the incubator, three of us in a 100squarefoot office for about a year." Now the company has 52 employees and counting. "We expect to be at 100 in the next year and a half," he said. NVision provides a full range of information technology, software design and development, database design and engineering, and GIS and remote sensing services and solutions. It has 40 contracts valued at $25 million to $30 million including option years. Customers include NAVOCEANO, the NOAA Data Buoy Center, FEMA and EPA and the company provides IT support to small local companies NVision and the Port and Harbor Commission are working to get the former Diamondhead Academy refurbished into the company's headquarters for all of its business units. The building has 26,000 square feet, triple the size of NVision's space at the tech park. The plan is to convert the old classroom space into offices, redo the entrance into a reception area and main conference room and create a large electronics lab on the far end of the building. Harvey hopes to be in the new building in early 2016.
"We are honored to have played a part in bringing NVision back home to Hancock County," said Ashley Edwards, executive director of the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission. "Craig Harvey and his team are the embodiment of entrepreneurial success and the work they do has far reaching effects across a wide spectrum of firms in Hancock County and at Stennis Space Center." In fact, Harvey also has plans for the building that could help young entrepreneurs grow their businesses. "One side has its own entrance and we may possibly set that aside as an incubator to provide support for some businesses. We would find some small companies with expertise we could leverage and give them contracts." The Harveys are longtime residents of Diamondhead, which they found by accident when they arrived in South Mississippi. "We made a wrong turn leaving Stennis and got lost," he said. "We drove around Diamondhead and thought this is really nice. That day we signed a lease on a house." After major setbacks to the business from Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, the Harveys made the decision to remain in Hancock County. "It's home now," he said. "We're here because we want to be." Harvey said the move to Diamondhead will mean good things for the city and county. "Several of our employees already are house hunting in Diamondhead," he said.
About Hancock County Port & Harbor Commission
As the county economic development authority, the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission is committed to fostering business investment and job creation. Their focus lies in attracting manufacturing, defense, aviation, and aerospace-related projects to the county. The organization manages the Stennis International Airport and Port Bienville Industrial Park while also providing support to the Stennis Space Center, NASA’s leading facility for rocket engine testing.