A ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of Broadway Ventures was held Tuesday in the Thad Cochran Mississippi Center for Innovation and Technology (MCITy).

Lee Penton, CEO of the company, opened the ceremony with a prayer. Mayor George Flaggs Jr. welcomed the business to Vicksburg, noting the innovative company’s investment in the community will pay off for generations to come. Warren County Board of Supervisors President Kelle Barfield stated she was glad to see the company moving into MCITy and that the company’s “long standing experience at ERDC and working with the Corps, now moving the administrative office to MCITy offers that opportunity to be that liaison, is exactly the vision behind MCITy.”

“At Broadway, we are committed to providing cutting-edge IT services that not only propel business forward, but also contribute significantly to the advancements in our community and in our nation’s infrastructure projects,” Penton said. “The partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers symbolizes a bridge between the technological forefront and the essential engineering feats that keep our country safe and prosperous.”

Penton said the collaboration is an example of how private and public sectors can come together to achieve success. He pledged to “foster a culture of innovation and education for other businesses” by being an active member of the Vicksburg community
through not just the IT services they offer, but also by providing other businesses with learning and collaborative opportunities.

Broadway Ventures previously built, and continues to maintain, the research and development network for the Engineer, Research and Development Center (ERDC) of the Army Corps of Engineers, according to Penton. He also explained the company works with artificial intelligence, applying it to their work as a “mechanism of being able to enhance the capability of individual workers and companies to operate more effectively.”

In addition to the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Broadway Ventures has also done work for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the U.S. Department of State, the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Air Force.

The company began with a single consultant in 2013 and, in less than ten years, has grown into a mid-tier small business with significant achievements and contracts, Penton said. According to the company’s website, Broadway Ventures also provides cyber security, network communications, engineering support, AI, cloud computing and IT support services. In addition to the new office in Vicksburg, they also maintain an office in Amite, La., with employees working from around the country.