International software company expanding to Charleston

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A tech-focused company is expanding its reach to South Carolina. Camgian, a Mississippi-based software company with offices in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Nashville, Tenn., recently leased space at the Charleston Tech Center and has been working closely with the Charleston Digital Corridor to set up a new office and establish connections in the region. 

“We are honored Camgian has selected Charleston for their expansion,” said Charleston Digital Corridor Director Ernest Andrade in a statement. “The decision by Camgian to locate to Charleston is validation that our long-term strategy to provide resources to the high-wage tech industry is smart and fruitful.” 

Camgian specializes in AI- and data-driven software that optimizes business for large- and mid-sized companies. The company was founded in 2006 as a contract research and development firm and has since evolved into a developer for clients in industrial manufacturing, national security and global finance such as Boeing, Bloomberg and the U.S. Department of Defense. 

“We think there’s a lot of growth potential for us as a company in Charleston and in South Carolina, and we’re very excited to be here,” said Gary Butler, Camgian’s founder and CEO. “We want to grow business in the commercial sector, primarily in the industrial-manufacturing sector, and also potential defense business, and we want to create jobs that are supported by that growth.”  

Butler has engineering expertise with a technical focus in artificial intelligence, machine learning, genetic algorithms and wavelets. He’s also a frequent visitor to the Lowcountry. He recently sold his vacation house on Isle of Palms, but he loves the area so much that he convinced his longtime friend Kevin Tingly, Camgian’s vice president of commercial programs, to move here nine years ago.  

Tingly has been working remotely for four years with commercial businesses in Charleston and now looks to lead a team of local engineers in Camgian’s new brick-and-mortar office. 

“When we started thinking about expansion, it became evident really quickly that Charleston was an obvious place to put down roots and grow our business in the Southeast,” Tingly said. “A lot that is to do with the tech talent that has shown up in Charleston, not only organically from the universities but also the influx of tech talent from the Northeast, Midwest and so forth.” 

“Charleston can assist us with our hiring needs which include senior and junior positions, software engineering, artificial intelligence and data science to name a few,” Butler said. 

While data science certainly isn’t a new concept to manufacturing companies in the tri-county area, it is an industry that is closely centered around the West Coast. Camgian’s goal is to be a source for the latest in Silicon Valley innovation in the Southeast, by networking with companies and customizing algorithms that help drive their business forward, and by getting boots on the ground to drive the industry forward locally. 

“It’s very important to us from a culture standpoint that we work organically with our communities,” said Tingley, who underscored the value of working face-to-face with people in their offices and factory floors. 

“Our motivation for moving to Charleston is to take that experience, take that know how in technologies that we’ve been developing in the industrial manufacturing sector in the South, and start engaging with clients in South Carolina,” Butler said.