Toastmasters International will sell its headquarters building in Rancho Santa Margarita and move to Denver in 2018, according to reports.
Members attending the group’s annual international convention in August in Washington, D.C., passed a proposal to lift a requirement that its headquarters be based in California. More than 97 percent of delegates supported the decision to move, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Toastmasters Chief Executive Daniel Rex, who called the move “deeply emotional,”said the costs of operating in Orange County were a major consideration in the move. The company employs about 180 people.
Toastmasters reportedly already has several potential sites in Denver and will likely buy property.
“When you look at the availability of workers, when you look at the cost of commerce and real estate, this is something that makes sense,” Rex told the Times.
Toastmasters, which aims to help members improve their speaking and leadership skills, was founded in Santa Ana in 1924 and has had its headquarters in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, since 1990.
The nonprofit group has more than 345,000 members in nearly 16,000 clubs spanning 142 countries with its highest growth been outside of North America, with expansion to Cameroon, the Dominican Republic, Gambia, Malta and Tanzania.
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