EAST WHITELAND - American Executive Centers moved its Chester County location from the Exton area to Malvern, getting bigger and more high-tech in the process.  The executive suites provider is now located in Brandywine Realty Trust's Valleybrooke Corporate Center at 101 Lindenwood Drive, spending $1.5 million to make the move.

"It was a big investment," said G. Michael Howard, president of American Executive. The reason for the investment: "there is a lot of demand in the (Great Valley) marketplace, a positive pulse."  Its previous location was 102 Pickering Way.  American Executive has a 10-year lease at its new location, home to 56 private offices for on-site clients and a number of virtual clients.

In addition to the real estate, each of the seven American Executive Centers offers information technology support and administrative services that assist established businesses with day-to-day operations. It also offers services for new business development, such as graphic design for a new logo, letterheads or websites, Howard said.  Some clients even use American Services for their FedEx and United Parcel Services drop-offs, Howard said.

In addition to the private offices, the newly outfitted office center has a board room, conference room and a kitchen, all with wall-mounted flat-screen monitors.  While the board and conference rooms, used for high-definition video conferencing, are traditional settings for business meetings, the kitchen offers an informal setting for quick meetings while clients are catching a bite to eat or a cup of coffee, Howard explained.

Clients can use an office every day, once a week, once a year or be a virtual client and never use an office.

The virtual office concept is designed for those who would like access to office space and business services on an as-needed basis.  The virtual offices appeal to businesses of any size. Small businesses benefit from support services while large firms use them to enter a new market with minimal risk.

Clients are provided with such services as personalized telephone reception services, dedicated phone number and voicemail and a corporate mailing address at one or all of American Executive's locations.

Robyn Axner-Davis of Furnan Communications, a client of American Executive who also handles the company's public relations work, said for her American Executive service means "never missing an important call."

American Executive's other locations are in King of Prussia, Radnor, Plymouth Meeting, Bala Cynwyd and Center City Philadelphia and Marlton, N.J.  Companywide, American Executive has 63 employees.

"A lot of thought went into the move," said Anne Senski, vice president of operations at American Executive.  The design of the new office suites is based on three activities, Howard explained.

• Clients need to have a quiet place where they can work.
• They need to be able to collaborate, something that is difficult working by themselves at home.
• They want to be creative, Howard continued. For inspiration, the office is situated in a corporate center with a walking trail.

Services and a quiet place to work are key to Bob Ruffolo, owner of Ruffolo Consulting LLC and an American Executive client.  Ruffolo, the former president of research and development at Wyeth, which was bought out by Pfizer in 2009, retired a few years ago, a big concern for his wife.  "My wife was worried that I'd be under her feet," Ruffolo said, adding that his wife told him, "I love you but we're not buddies, we're not going to hang around together."  Heeding her warning, Ruffolo developed a consulting company to service the pharmaceutical and bio-technology industries, as well as teach classes in pharmaceutical schools.  Ruffolo likes having a office to go to so that if he is not traveling on business he is out of the house during the day. And, he said, he functions better if he has a routine.  The Ruffolos live in a farmhouse in East Vincent. To make a home office would have been difficult and prohibitively expensive, Ruffolo said.  So he went looking for office space to rent, but that didn't solve the problem of administrative support services.

As high-level executive for 30 years, Ruffolo had "people to do everything," he said. "If it needed it to get done, it got done."  Out on his own, "I didn't know how to send a fax," Ruffolo acknowledged. With American Executive's administrative support services, Ruffolo has the assistance he needs, he said.

To contact staff writer Gretchen Metz, send an e-mail to gmetz@dailylocal.com.