Dowse said the division will have 130 employees in place in its first 12 months, with the full 230 in place by 2009. Between 30 percent and 40 percent are expected to be relocated from elsewhere, and the remainder will be hired locally. Also, nearly 200 sales representatives across the United States will report to the Ogden office.

The Ogden work force will include senior management, sales managers and sales directors, marketing directors, product managers, customer service reps, technicians and employees in the finance and human resources departments.

"There will be some overlap on the front end and the back end," Dowse said. "Before we officially move to Ogden, we'll probably set up a small operational room to oversee construction and rehab of whatever building we choose, to start hiring people and training them and maybe have them commute back and forth to our three current locations. And when we officially land in Ogden, we'll probably have people from our current locations fly back and forth to train people in Ogden."

Dowse said the company is considering two or three buildings for the division. "We haven't finalized one yet, but they're all in the historic part of downtown Ogden," he said.

Amer considered Portland and other Utah locations for the newly formed division, but Dowse said the work of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey were major factors in Ogden landing the operations.

"Utah just made a ton of sense to us because it speaks to the winter sports industry, starting with the governor. He's really had this vision to make it the outdoor and winter sports headquarters, as far as a state. And the mayor has probably even crystallized that vision even more. His vision is for Ogden to be the mecca or hub of winter sports in the U.S."

Amer also liked the proposal for a gondola to connect downtown Ogden to Snowbasin. Dowse said the idea is "really appealing to us as well. It would be a real cool story to bring customers and industry colleagues into Ogden."

The new division is expected to partner with the Utah Office of Tourism, the Utah Sports Commission and others on marketing and to perhaps host events.

"At the end of day, we have the same interests," Dowse said. "We want more people snowboarding and more people skiing. We just want more people active, so it seems to make sense that we can work well together."

In addition to the Ogden incentive totaling nearly $4.2 million, the Governor's Office of Economic Development Board on Monday approved incentives of $7,935,000 for Amer. One portion is an Industrial Assistance Fund grant of up to $2.5 million. The company will receive $300,000 upon signing a building lease in Ogden and the start of build-outs; $300,000 for moving the Suunto headquarters; $400,000 for moving the Atomic headquarters; $500,000 for moving Salomon's headquarters; and $1 million for the first 200 jobs.

The company also will receive a tax rebate of up to $5,435,000 over 10 years.

The company must commit to keep operations in Utah at least 10 years, and the new employee salaries must average at least twice the Weber County median. GOED board documents indicate the average salary will be $67,983, which is 316 percent of the Weber County median.

The state can recover the IAF grant if the division headquarters is not open for business by Jan. 1, 2009, or if the new state revenue over the life of the project "is insufficient to justify the combined incentive grant-

ed."

GOED documents indicate the expected new state revenue from the Amer operations is nearly $26.5 million over 10 years. New state wages will be about $133 million over that time, and the capital investment is expected to be $3.25 million.

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E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com