Mr Drury initiated a programme in 2013 for New Zealand local councils to actively solicit call centres to relocate to the regions.
He wasn't fazed by critics at the time who said he should put his money where his mouth was, feeling no obligation to act until it was "the right thing to do at the right time".
"We have looked at it for a few years and a whole lot of things lined up that it is the right time to do it now. It has always been the intention, it has just been getting the timing right."
More than the 30 new jobs would be announced for the region.
"Some of our teams are looking at clustering together and if we can have other types of teams hosted well, so there may be some internal transfers on top of the 30," Mr Drury said.
The Havelock North resident said he said he won't be spending a lot of time at the new office.
"It is not what I do, but it is good to have a little base I can jump into occasionally and see what is going on."
The local office would benefit Xero with a stable long-term workforce with no downside.
"We operate 19 offices now so we are quite sophisticated now about how we work remotely."
Attracting businesses has long been a strategy of local councils and regional economic development agency Business Hawke's Bay (BHB).
A success was Kiwibank's 2014 decision to establish a contingency Hastings call centre in case Wellington suffer catastrophe.
Napier and Hastings councils secretly competed with each other for the call centre but luring new business is now a pillar of the Hawke's Bay Regional Economic Development Strategy (REDS), with BHB the driving agency.
Launched in July, REDS is a partnership among central government and iwi, councils, businesses and agencies in a strategic action plan for the Hawke's Bay economy and foster more jobs.
Action 6.2 of REDS seeks to attract businesses, investment and migrants.
BHB has identified a lack of a start-up ecosystem in Hawke's Bay and partnered with Napier City Council (NCC) to look at opportunities using programmes such as central government's Callaghan Innovation or through new initiatives.
NCC Economic Development Manager James Rowe said groups working together under the REDS plan "has been hugely beneficial for the region and for each body involved".
"We are all in the same game and we understand the vision," he said.
BHB chief executive Susan White said the focus of the partnership was on helping start-ups and fostering a culture of entrepreneurship. BHB and councils were holding a series of workshops on start-ups to identify gaps and needs in Hawke's Bay.
"A desirable outcome would be for Hawke's Bay to be recognised as a hub for start-ups and entrepreneurs, leading eventually to higher-wage jobs in the region," Mrs White said.
"At the same time Great Things Grow Here has been spending considerable time targeting business people in Auckland and Wellington through two well-supported Think Hawke's Bay events."
Hastings District Council offered Great Things Grow Here as a marketing platform in to the region in 2014, with a central theme a celebration of Hawke's Bay business success, but it was not until this year that NCC embraced it.
Mrs White said there was good interest from people considering the move to Hawke's Bay for business purposes at the Auckland and Wellington events, with the unexpected bonus of some wanting to export Hawke's Bay product.
"Each event featured speakers who had made the move here, such as Kiwibank on the location of its call centre, speaking candidly how the transition had worked well for them."
More Think Hawke's Bay events are planned.
She said BHB continued to work on establishing a nutritional milk-powder industry and was working to showcase Hawke's Bay's for agribusiness at Fieldays next year under the Great Things Grow Here banner.
She said Xero's move to locate a team of skilled people in Hawke's Bay was a considered decision and there were many triggers for businesses to review location.
"Economic pressures in urban environments have been building for a while and those businesses which are open to relocating or expansion will be assessing options," she said.
"A significant amount of work has been done to create the Great Things Grow Here platform and there's a real opportunity to utilise the resources.
"However there has also been the impact of the recent earthquakes on Wellington and for businesses which have been affected they will be concerned with business continuity.
"Kiwibank provides a great example of an organisation that has established contingency within the organisation to manage such an event. We've seen the results of that strategy in action with the temporary location of staff from Wellington to Hawke's Bay."
She said the effect of the Wellington earthquake on businesses and logistics infrastructure such as Napier Port, especially in the lead-up to Christmas, could result in a sudden upsurge in demand for Hawke's Bay commercial property and logistic services.
