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The FedEx hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport is on schedule to open in 2009, and recruiting teams will be looking for workers by next summer, a top company official said Tuesday.

FedEx is also attracting new business to the area already, said David Bronczek, president and chief executive officer of FedEx Express, which represents 75 percent of FedEx Corp.'s business and is responsible for the regional hub here.

PTI's package sorting hub will be similar to the FedEx hub in Indianapolis, which is surrounded by warehouses and businesses, Bronczek told a group of business leaders at the UNCG Business Summit symposium.

Dell, for example, which operates a computer assembly plant in Forsyth County, is the "tip of the iceberg," he said.

Many companies are eager to be near FedEx. For instance, high-end luggage maker Louis Vuitton is sure to locate here, he said.

"They're shipping in high-value container systems and for them it really doesn't matter what the cost is," Bronczek said.

Bronczek, who refused media interviews at the event, said the hub is on target to open summer of 2009.

FedEx wanted to open the hub a year ago, he said, but community lawsuits seeking to block the hub and delays with environmental and noise studies held it back.

"The problem is that we were late," Bronczek told the group. "We would like to have been here two or three years earlier and it's never happened to us before.

"It's hurting your community."

Bronczek said FedEx will set up several permanent recruiting teams for workers.

"The whole system will be set up within the next 12 months," Bronczek.

Jobs will include engineering, finance and legal. The majority of jobs will be part-time hub workers with full-time benefits.

Bronczek told audience members that his company demands that its top executives have international experience, and that takes education in international studies.

North Carolina's universities are not living up to that standard, he said. So FedEx has donated money to UNC-CH to increase international studies programs.

During the question and answer session, Vidyaranya Gargeya, director of UNCG's MBA program, challenged Bronczek about his complaint. He said UNCG has a strong international emphasis.

"Take a look at our curriculum," Gargeya said. "Chapel Hill does not have it. We do."

Bronczek had high praise for the Triad region, however, as a place where governments, business and universities are working together to support companies like his and others.

FedEx will also do its part to improve the region, Bronczek said, with aggressive philanthropy and community involvement.

Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or dbarron@news-record.com