From the diversity of its cities to the quality of life found in food, recreation and natural beauty, Alabama is proving to be a sweet home for corporate and regional headquarters.

Whether they are homegrown companies, those with leaders who have ties to the state or companies that discovered Alabama’s attributes through other operations here, some of the biggest names in business now have corporate or regional headquarters in the state.

Economic developers aim to have more.

“Regional operations and corporate headquarters are an important target in our strategy that we call Accelerate Alabama,” said Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield. “Alabama is and can be attractive to companies from all over the U.S. who are looking for another home. And it doesn’t have to be necessarily their national corporate headquarters, but a lot of companies today want a regional footprint with their regional operations. Those are great fits for us here in Alabama.”

Among the diverse list of companies with headquarters operations in the state are banking companies like Regions Financial Corp., manufacturers like Kamtec and SSAB, communications equipment giant ADTRAN, software firm McLeod, grocer Aldi and internet innovators like Shipt and Lake Home Realty.

Having a headquarters in a community means having the decision makers there as well.

“To understand the impact of corporate and regional headquarters you don’t have to look any further than those companies that are already in Alabama,” said Greg Barker, CEO of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama. “In addition to the jobs and careers they provide directly, these are also the leaders that make decisions about vendors or suppliers, as well as decisions about community or philanthropic investments.”

When SSAB announced plans to move its head office from Illinois to Mobile in, SSAB Americas President Chuck Schmitt said the relocation put leadership closer to its successful steel mill in nearby Axis.

“Mobile is a growing community with a booming economy; we are excited to expand our presence in the area as a trusted employer and community partner,” Schmitt said. “Moving our team to Mobile will ensure that our senior leaders and support staff work in closer proximity to our front-line operations, where key decisions are made for our business and customers.”

Alabama native Bill Smith founded Shipt and Landing and chose Birmingham as home to both. In the case of Landing, Smith started the nationwide network of fully furnished apartments in San Francisco and moved the headquarters to Birmingham.

“As a Birmingham native, relocating our headquarters and expanding our Alabama team was a natural transition,” Smith said in making the Landing announcement.

In the case of Shipt, Smith started the online personal shopping company in Birmingham in 2014 and had a number of options for where to base it after retail giant Target acquired it in 2017.

“Shipt was founded and has flourished in Birmingham, and we would not have reached the success we have today without the continued support of this community,” Smith said in announcing Shipt would remain and grow in the Magic City. “As a rapidly growing technology company, we feel fortunate to be able to offer an avenue for creating highly skilled jobs within Birmingham.”

Aldi opened its new regional headquarters and distribution center in Loxley because of the strategic advantages Alabama offers.

The reasons for choosing Alabama and even a specific city or community can vary. Thankfully, Alabama has a number of different options to offer various businesses.

Patrick Murphy, vice president of Alabama Power’s Mobile Division, said having a corporate headquarters means more to a community than a nameplate on a building.

“With corporate headquarters, when you get the decision-makers for the companies in your community their involvement is going to be a little bit different than if they have an operation or a manufacturing plant,” Murphy said. “They get involved with the arts typically, they get involved in education, nonprofits, charitable giving, as well as get really ingrained in the community when that kind of leadership has a presence.”

Tony Smoke, senior vice president of Marketing and Economic Development at Alabama Power, said getting decision-makers to visit the state is usually a huge selling point in getting them to move a headquarters here..

“You need corporate headquarters because it provides you with the leadership team for the corporation and also diversifies Alabama’s economy,” Smoke said. “Alabama has excellent quality of life, so the opportunity to get them in for them to see what living in Alabama is like, most of the corporations we bring in, they love it here. It’s kind of like a best-kept secret.”

That secret is getting widely known as more international companies make investments in the state and become ambassadors for what they find in Alabama. Add to that the growing number of out-of-state students attending colleges and universities in Alabama, which increases awareness and helps shape perceptions.

Officials have said the next goal is to help retain many more of those students. One way to do that is to offer them opportunities with the kind of companies they find elsewhere.

It all works toward the goals of elevating the state, diversifying its economy and job base and creating high-paying professional jobs.

Birmingham is looking to build on its reputation as a steel manufacturing financial and health care hub and add to that entrepreneurship, biotechnology and life sciences. Mobile has the port, chemical industry and aerospace to build from but also has a growing steel, shipbuilding and manufacturing presence. Montgomery, too, has aerospace along with automotive and other benefits of being the state capital. Huntsville is a key city for the defense and aerospace industries with automotive and technology as other key industries.

University-centered cities like Tuscaloosa and Auburn have their own offerings, as do smaller cities like Anniston, Dothan, Talladega, Jasper, Clanton, Enterprise, Troy and more.

From the different attributes of the larger metro areas to the special feel found in smaller communities, Canfield said there is a good chance a company can find what it is looking for as a base of operations in the state.

“We’re creating great results and those results are really creating interesting patterns of unique talents from across the state,” he said. “So companies can kind of pick and choose regions around the state based on the diversity of the workforce and the types of skills they have and they can determine where the best fit is.”