U.S. Rep. Martha Roby, R-Ala., will tour CGI Group Inc.’s offices at University Park on Wednesday before speaking with members of the PIke County Republican Women’s association.

Roby’s tour of the CGI facility will begin at 10 a.m. The CGI Center of Excellence has met more than half their commitment for job growth and anticipates bringing a total of 300 new jobs in Troy by the end of 2012.

Roby, as a member of the Education and Workforce Committee, says she looks forward to meeting with Second Congressional District constituents and hearing their concerns with the economy and job growth.

Roby will be joined by Mayor Jimmy Lunsford; John Schmidt, Troy University senior vice chancellor; and Marsha Gaylard, Pike County Economic Development Corp. president.

George Tarbox, director of operations at CGI, said after Roby’s tour of the new facility there will be a round table dialogue with Roby and guests to talk about what CGI is doing in Troy.

“We are continuing to recruit in the area,” Tarbox said. “We’re recruiting both from the Pike County area, as well as from the university system within a 50 mile radius.”

Tarbox expects CGI will reach its committed goal for job growth and believes that CGI is, as Lunsford said recently, that “missing link” the city of Troy was looking for.

Prior to CGI settling in, Chancellor Jack Hawkins, Jr., called the relationship CGI has with the university a “marriage made in heaven” and with the number of IT-type jobs CGI is expected to bring to Troy, that “marriage” is proving to be a veritable bond.

Tarbox says the relationship CGI has here in the area has been extremely beneficial already.

“We’re finding that we’re getting good talent in the area, we are able to fill good roles and that’s allowing us to hire programmer analysts, which are software development roles, as well as business analyst roles that are also involved in IT work,” Tarbox said. “We are bringing on a group of software testers. They will be starting in about two weeks, we’ll bring them on for some training and have them ready to go. It’s really allowing us to fill our business needs with some great talent that’s in the area.”

It is the job growth that CGI will provide that will help bolster the local economy and it’s the reason why Rep. Roby is coming to Troy.

After her tour, Roby will be speaking at a Pike County Republican Women’s meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the American Legion Building located at 212 East Walnut Street.