LITTLE ROCK — PrivacyStar, a Conway based smart-phone application company, plans to hire 30 employees this year at salaries ranging from $50,000 to $100,000, the firm’s chief executive officer, Jeff Stalnaker, said Tuesday.
With the new workers, PrivacyStar, a 3-year-old company, will double its size, Stalnaker said.
The workers will include some customer-service personnel and software developers, Stalnaker said.
The company was incorporated as First Orion, but now does business as PrivacyStar, the name of its popular smart-phone application. PrivacyStar has about 1 million users, and about six weeks ago, began providing service to MetroPCS, the fifth-largest mobile-phone provider in the country, Stalnaker said.
The application helps protect the privacy of mobile-phone users. It allows users to identify and block unwanted callers and even directly file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission for violations of the national Do Not Call Registry, including evidence that a violation has occurred.
“It has been real exciting watching them grow from acouple of folks to where they are today,” said Brad Lacy, president of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce and Conway Development Corp. “I think this proves we have the talent in this state to grow technology companies.”
PrivacyStar hires employees from Arkansas colleges, such as the University of Central Arkansas and Hendrix College, both in Conway.
MetroPCS is not in Arkansas, but provides cellularservice in metropolitan areas such as Dallas and Chicago, Stalnaker said.
“What is happening is that there is a shortage of phone numbers in the U.S.,” Stalnaker said. “So if you were a Metro customer, when you get a new phone number, it is most likely a number that was just turned in three or four weeks ago. Now you’re getting calls for the person who turned that number in.”
Customers were asking MetroPCS for new phone numbers. PrivacyStar provided a solution to block the calls, Stalnaker said. The applicationalso is used to block telemarketers or other unwanted calls or texts.
“The number of requests for number changes [for MetroPCS] has dropped significantly already,” Stalnaker said.
Stalnaker and about half his 30 employees have backgrounds with Acxiom Corp., a Little Rock-based interactive marketing services company.
Stalnaker formerly was president of the financial services division at Acxiom. Charles Morgan, former chairman and chief executive at Acxiom, is chairman of PrivacyStar.
Business, Pages 27 on 03/28/2012