In 2012, the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) worked with 186 businesses adding 8,438 jobs to the Fairfax County economy.

Companies in the professional services and information technology sectors dominated the year’s announcements.

The most prominent announcement during the year came from Intelsat, the world’s leading provider of satellite services. It will relocate its U.S. headquarters to the Tysons Corner area from Washington, D.C., bringing more than 430 employees when it relocates in 2014.

Another high-profile announcement came from TASC, which provides systems engineering and decision-support services to intelligence and defense communities and is adding 494 jobs to the county economy.

“For close to 200 companies to announce the addition of almost 8,500 jobs in 2012, while much of the rest of the Washington area continued to struggle economically, is a testament to the kind of economy that we have worked so hard to create in Fairfax County,” said Gerald L. Gordon, Ph.D., president and CEO of the FCEDA.

“It also is gratifying to see our strategy of diversifying the economic base pay off with companies from many different fields, of all sizes and backgrounds, and from the U.S. and abroad, contributing to job growth here,” Gordon said.

Of the 186 companies, 138 are U.S.-based businesses. Announcements in 2012 came from healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente, adding 146 jobs with the opening of a Tysons Corner medical center; IT solutions provider Carahsoft Technology, adding 109 jobs; and Fulcrum IT Services, an IT services provider, adding 80 jobs.

“Carahsoft has grown from zero to more than $1.4 billion in eight years and as we continue to grow we are pleased to call Fairfax County home because of the access the county provides to a high-caliber workforce and the kind of amenities that help us attract and retain our team members,” said Craig P. Abod, president of Carahsoft. “In 2012, we hired more than 100 new employees to expand our business development, sales, marketing and government contracting resources, and we anticipate hiring more than 150 employees in 2013.”

Seventeen minority-owned or veteran-owned companies are among the U.S.-based expansions. They include OMNIPLEX World Services Corporation, which provides security services to government agencies, adding 325 jobs; DISYS, a minority-owned IT staffing and consulting firm, adding 150 jobs; and Onyx Government Services, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business that provides data management services, adding 25 jobs.

Thirty-one foreign-owned firms announced expansions in 2012, including Volkswagen Group of America (Germany), adding 107 jobs; Newgen Software (India), adding 40 jobs; ASCOM Network Testing (Switzerland), which develops technologies to analyze mobile networks and is adding 11 jobs; and MobileAccess (Israel), adding 15 jobs. Almost 400 foreign-owned firms from 44 companies maintain operations in Fairfax County.