Cristi Cristich, foreground, brings her dogs into the office with her. She is with Sonny, while her partners, John Pollock and Julie Barker, hold Rocco. Her third dog, Vito, also joins them at the soon-to-be-former Cristek headquarters.
The woman who founded and leads Cristek Interconnects said Tuesday that her company purchased a plant in Carson Valley and is beginning operations in Nevada.
“I, personally, am relocating to Nevada,” said Cristi Cristich, CEO, president and the mid-1980s founder of the California company that manufactures interconnects for the aerospace industry and others. She said she plans to come to the Carson City area around Independence Day.
“Your timing is perfect,” she said when contacted and asked about plans previously announced that Cristek would bring some manufacturing and locate corporate headquarters in Northern Nevada. The main holdup was finding a property that fit the company’s needs, prompting some March talk that it could be coming into Douglas County or Carson City.
Cristich said in a telephone interview that a 10,000-square-foot plant on Orbit Way in Minden was purchased from the Bently family, and closure on escrow was late last week. One benefit about the property is that there’s room for expansion, she said.
Cristek, which she said employs 158 people corporation-wide at plants in Anaheim, Calif., and Lowell, Mass., had been headquartered in Southern California.
The Minden plant will employ just a handful this summer as the firm gears up in the new digs, Cristich said, adding that facility improvements are on tap and groundwork is being laid for the new focus and longer-term expansion in Nevada.
When the Northern Nevada Development Authority announced that Cristek was coming, it projected that 90 people will be hired in the area when Cristek reaches full production in the new facility.
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development is authorized to supply $200,000 in Catalyst Funding over 3 1/2 years as Cristek ramps up the plant here and grows to at least 50 employees in Northern Nevada. Cristich also is interested in her new county’s approach to the business expansion.
“We’re going to be counting on Douglas County to be supportive,” said Cristich, noting she looks forward to working with governing officials regarding requirements for improving the new plant to suit her needs.
“It took us a while to find a suitable building,” she added.
Cristek is a supplier for many Tier 1 defense contractors. It provides standard contacts, connectors, and cable and assembly products.