Navajo Nation-owned company aims to bring 250 jobs to Dayton

Diné Development Corp., with a data science and software focus, would move to the former Entrepreneurs Center facility on Monument Avenue

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

A company owned by the Navajo Nation plans to open a new research and development facility in Dayton that will employ about 250 people within the next several years, according to city of Dayton documents.

Diné Development Corp., which is a family of companies owned by the largest Native American tribe in the nation, plans to invest about $6.4 million into the former Entrepreneurs’ Center building at 714 E. Monument Ave. in Dayton’s Tech Town area, according to city of Dayton development agreement documents.

The former Entrepreneurs’ Center at 714 E. Monument Ave. in Dayton's Tech Town area. A company called Diné Development Corp. has purchased the property and expects to employ about 250 people at the facility. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

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Diné Development Corp. hopes to grow by investing in digital transformation, including data enablement, data science, cloud adoption, cybersecurity and software design, says a release from JobsOhio from November.

“The building will be used as office space and innovation hub to fuel our IT and engineering work in support of new and existing federal defense and civilian contracts,” said Katie von Allmen, senior marketing manager with Diné.

Diné Development Corp. plans to relocate 150 Ohio jobs to the Dayton facility and create 100 new jobs over the next three years, according to the company and city documents.

Dayton has approved giving Diné a $150,000 grant from its development fund; a $150,000 Montgomery County ED/GE grant; and a $188,000 tax increment financing infrastructure grant, says a memo from Steve Gondol, Dayton’s director of planning, neighborhoods and development.

The former Entrepreneurs Center on East Monument Avenue in downtown Dayton. THOMAS GNAU/STAFF

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Diné has an office in Beavercreek that it has outgrown, and the company plans to move into the 36,000-square-foot facility on Monument Avenue in October, said von Allmen, with Diné.

The new facility may be home to resources like software and cloud developers, cybersecurity, program managers, logisticians, analysts, corporate executives and a myriad of shared service personnel, she said.

The new facility will be called the Navajo Code Talkers’ Building.

“The new office space will showcase our rich history with Navajo cultural heirlooms, thematic displays and an Innovation Center to showcase our legacy of technological thought leadership,” von Allmen said.

The facility at 714 E. Monument Ave. was built in 2000 to be home to the Entrepreneurs’ Center, said Scott Koorndyk, president of the center, which relocated to the Dayton Arcade in early 2021.

The building is highly adaptable and it should be a great fit for Diné, Koorndyk said.

The Entrepreneurs’ Center originally was meant to act as an incubator for manufacturing companies, Koorndyk said.

A motorcycle drives by the former Entrepreneurs’ Center at 714 E. Monument Ave. in Dayton's Tech Town area. A company called Diné Development Corp. has purchased the property and expects to employ about 250 people at the facility. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

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“The space worked well, so it was transitioned to an incubator of more general technology businesses shortly after opening,” he said. “So effectively, it’s been a business incubator since it’s inception.”

Diné purchased the building from CityWide development in November for $1.3 million, according to Montgomery County Auditor records.

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