Televerde is a global demand generation company based in Phoenix, Arizona that specializes in helping B2B organizations accelerate the sales pipeline. Televerde generates its profits from Penal Labor. The company employs 425 women at five contact centers in the Arizona Department of Corrections and Indiana Department of Correction. On average these women are paid less than one dollar per hour for their work in Arizona and less than twenty-five cents per hour in Indiana. Using this business model, Televerde has generated more than $8 billion in revenue for its clients.
History
Televerde was founded in 1994 by Ronald Bell and Charles Monroe. James Hooker acquired the majority of the holding company, Pegasus Research Inc. in 1995 and served as president and CEO until he retired in November 2018. The company's business model began as a partnership with the Arizona Correctional Facility for Women. Its first headquarters was a former Best Western hotel located in Phoenix with five employees working in a single-wide trailer on the grounds of Arizona Center for Women. In 1998, the company moved to their current headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, and acquired IBM and Microsoft technology firms as their first two clients. In 2001, correctional resources transferred to the Arizona Department of Corrections at Perryville Correctional Facility and with this move, Televerde opened up two contact center locations within the facility - Santa Cruz and San Pedro units. In 2005, the Citrus contact center opened at Perryville, followed by the Lumley contact center in 2007. In 2009, the first sales development team was created at Televerde's corporate location. In 2012, another expansion added the Triumph contact center at Perryville. In March 2015, the Rockville Correctional Facility contact center opened in Rockville, Indiana. Global expansion began in May 2015. The Latin American headquarters opened in Córdoba, Argentina, where the company originally white labeled through Affinitas, offering marketing and sales services branded as Televerde. The company then opened the European headquarters in Glasgow, Scotland in April 2016 followed by an Asia Pacific office in Melbourne, Australia in November 2017. In January 2018, Televerde had paid an undisclosed amount to former employees who had filed a class-action lawsuit for unpaid overtime. The case was initiated in late 2016 after an employee was terminated shortly after creating awareness of unpaid overtime.
