Daily Business Report-July 2, 2015
t hePortfolium – a social platform that allows job seekers to share their extracurricular experiences (alongside traditional resume and portfolio materials) with hiring companies. The company is one of 15 receiving global business prizes.
15 San Diego Companies
Win Global Business Prizes
Fifteen San Diego companies were named Wednesday to receive the MetroConnect Prize — a $10,000 award to each of them to assist them with developing international business opportunities.
The MetroConnect Prize is managed by the San Diego Regional EDC and presented by JPMorgan Chase.
The 15 companies are:
AirStrip, a wireless health/health IT company.
Applied Membranes, a water membranes manufacturer
Aventyn, a digital health company
Bounce Composites, a sports manufacturing company
Cypher Genomics, a life sciences (genomics) company
Edgewave, a cybersecurity company
Entra Health, a digital health company
IriSys, a life sciences company
Portfolium, a software company
Robo 3D, a 3D printer manufacturer
Total Communicator Solutions, a wireless analytics company
VAVi Sport & Social, a sports and social networking company
Verve Mobile, a mobile analytics company
VisionTree Software, a health IT/health software company
Wearable Sensing, a life sciences (neuroscience) company
“We hope the MetroConnect Prize program will enable these local firms to spend time in their target international markets, so they can visit suppliers and potential customers,” said Brennon Crist, head of JPMorgan Chase’s Middle Market Commercial Banking group in San Diego. “In time, their export efforts could lead to job creation and growth of the San Diego economy.”
With more than 85 percent of global growth through 2019 projected to occur outside of the U.S., global engagement is a big opportunity for many American cities, such as San Diego, said the program sponsors. According to the Brookings Institution, San Diego has the 17th largest economy in the U.S. in terms of GDP, but ranks 61st in terms of export intensity.
In March, Mayor Kevin Faulconer, San Diego Regional EDC and others launched the Go Global San Diego initiative, designed to help San Diego businesses attract foreign customers and investment and target key metro markets, including London, Tokyo, Stockholm and other major global cities. The MetroConnect Prize was announced as a transactional way of helping companies reach more customers, thus translating into economic gain and job creation for the region.
Click here to read the backgrounds of the 15 companies selected.
San Diego Attorney Judy Clarke to Receive
Ninth Circuit Court’s John Frank Award
Nationally renowned criminal defense attorney Judy Clarke has been selected to receive the 2015 Ninth Circuit John Frank Award, which recognizes an outstanding lawyer practicing in the federal courts of the western United States. The award will be presented on July 13 during the opening session of the 2015 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in San Diego.
Clarke has spent almost all of her 38-year career doing public defense work, often serving as lead defense counsel in numerous high-profile capital cases. She represented
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Olympic park bomber Eric Rudolph, child-murderer Susan Smith and Tucson mass shooter Jared Lee Loughner, all of whom escaped the death penalty. Most recently, she represented Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was found guilty and sentenced to death for his part in the Boston Marathon bombing.
Clarke practices law in San Diego with her husband, attorney Thomas H. “Speedy” Rice. Since 2002, she has participated in the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project, operated by the Office of Defender Services in the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. The project provides learned counsel and other resources to assist the federal courts, federal defenders, and appointed counsel in connection with matters relating to the defense function in federal capital cases at the trial level. She has been a visiting law professor at Washington and Lee University since 2006.
Clarke was a trial attorney with the Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc., from 1978 to 1983, when she became executive director of the organization. She left in 1992 to join the newly established Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho, serving as executive director there until 2002. She is a past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Comic-Con to Stay in San Diego Through 2018
A long-awaited deal to keep Comic-Con in San Diego through 2018 is expected to be announced this morning by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer. The new agreement between the city and Comic-Con International follows months of back-and-forth negotiations that hinged on the willingness of dozens of local hotels to hold the line on their room rates, which tend to soar when the always sold-out convention is in town. A news conference is scheduled for this morning when the mayor and Comic-Con will make a “special announcement.”
The pop culture confab, which will get under way next week, is under contract to remain in San Diego through next year. The city has been trying since last year to secure a commitment from organizers to remain in San Diego for 2017 and 2018, despite a failed effort to expand the city’s bayfront convention center. So important is the Con to the city that the mayor himself intervened in negotiations to persuade hotels to meet Comic-Con’s request that they keep their room rates affordably priced.
— San Diego Union-Tribune
MTS Awarded $31.9 Million for Light Rail
Vehicles and new Courthouse Trolley Station
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) has been awarded $31.9 million from the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program that will be used to purchase eight new light rail vehicles to increase capacity on the trolley system, and for a new station serving the 22-story San Diego Central Courthouse being built on C Street.
“The addition of the light rail vehicles will ease overcrowding on the trolley, making it more attractive and comfortable, the new rail station will serve the expanding court complex, which is a major destination for employees and jurors,” said MTS Chief Executive Officer Paul Jablonski.
The addition of trolley cars will increase capacity on the MTS Blue and Orange Lines, thereby encouraging more trips via public transit instead of by car. The new Downtown station will reduce train congestion at Santa Fe Depot, allowing for more trips on Trolley, Coaster and Amtrak from there, which can reduce trips in automobiles.
MTS expects to take delivery on the new trolleys and begin construction on the new station by late 2017.
Taxpayers Fund $565-an-Hour Stadium Attorney
The county has finally coughed up the cost of an environmental attorney who’s helping with Chargers stadium negotiations. He’s Michael Zischke, and he’s making $565 an hour. Two other attorneys will make $410 an hour, NBC 7 reports.
NBC 7 adds: “Newly released documents from the City of San Diego show another firm, Barrett Sports Group LLC will complete a financial model review for a potential stadium for $75,000 plus direct cost of travel expenses. One contract for $50,000 will be completed by BSG to look at revenue streams for selling things like luxury suites, club seats and naming rights. A second contract, worth $25,000, will analyze stadium operating expenses and revenues.”
— Voice of San Diego
Eolas and AstraZeneca Partner
To Develop Anti-Addiction Drug
CARLSBAD — Eolas Therapeutics Inc. has entered into a worldwide license and partnership agreement with AstraZeneca on the Eolas Orexin-1 Receptor Antagonist (EORA) program for smoking cessation and other indications.
The EORA program was awarded a Blueprint Neurotherapeutics grant from the National Institutes of Health for the development of the program from the preclinical stage through phase I clinical trials.
The total deal potential is in excess of $145 million. This includes upfront, clinical and regulatory milestone payments. Additionally, Eolas is eligible to receive royalties on commercial sales.
BAE Systems Receives $13.6 Million Navy Contract
The Navy announced that BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair received a $13.6 million contract for the planning and execution of depot-level maintenance, alterations and modifications to update the USS Sterett’s military and technical capabilities. Work will run through February.
County to Consolidate Youth Camps
Plunging juvenile populations are prompting San Diego County Probation to consolidate operations of its two camps for young people — Juvenile Ranch Facility in Campo and Camp Barrett youth facility in rural Alpine. Both camps house male youths.
Probation Chief Mack Jenkins says the drop in juveniles in custody is the result of a number of factors including a significant investment in prevention and diversion programs as well as improved outcomes among youth who have been placed on probation. As a result of these declines, which have been seen across the country, “we’ve determined that we don’t need both camp locations anymore,” Jenkins said. “In an effort to be efficient and cost-effective, consolidation of the two facilities can better provide joint rehabilitation services for both populations.”
Probation’s Juvenile Ranch Facility currently houses about 45 males ranging in age from 13 to 17 years old. Those youth will relocate to Camp Barrett, about 34 miles from Downtown San Diego, said Probation Division Chief Chrystal Sweet, who is in charge of both facilities. The consolidation is expected to be completed by early August. Once complete, Camp Barrett will house approximately 100 male youth, said Sweet. Staff assigned to work at JRF will also shift to Camp Barrett.
County and Cal FIRE Boost
Backcountry Paramedic Service
The San Diego County Fire Authority and CAL FIRE are making a major upgrade to fire and emergency medical response by launching around-the-clock paramedic service at the county’s Intermountain fire station, east of Ramona.
The upgrade is part of an overall effort to increase paramedic capabilities throughout the County Fire Authority’s service area. A new paramedic engine at Intermountain is the sixth that the County Fire Authority has added over the past few years. Other new, County Fire Authority-funded paramedic engines now operate out of the Otay, Jamul, Lake Morena, Pine Valley and Descanso stations.
“This is a big step forward in our backcountry and represents our latest effort to bolster emergency medical services for residents across the region,” said Supervisor Dianne Jacob. “In the past dozen years, the county has invested more than $320 million on fire protection and emergency medical improvements, and bringing paramedic support to Intermountain builds on that.”
A county-funded, CAL FIRE-staffed paramedic fire engine began serving the area 24/7 on Wednesday. New staff positions include a fire captain, two fire apparatus engineers and three firefighter paramedics. This is the first time in history that the station has been staffed at this level.
Personnel Announcements
Cape Rey Carlsbad Hires Food and Beverage Director
The newly rebranded Cape Rey Carlsbad, a Hilton Resort, has hired Clifton Carmody as director of food and beverage operations. A 20-year industry veteran who has worked with numerous trend-setting dining venues, Carmody’s job will be to refine the culinary and entertainment offerings under the new Cape Rey brand and help position the hotel’s ocean view restaurant, Chandler’s, as a coastal-inspired gathering spot.
Carmody’s expertise is a product of a lengthy career working for companies like Eat.Sleep.Drink, the lifestyle company behind stylish, sought after venues in California such as Tower 23 Hotel in Pacific Beach, Padre Hotel in Bakersfield and the emerging LakeHouse Hotel and Resort in San Marcos. He also spent time working with award-winning, celebrity chef Bradley Ogden as director of operations for Ogden’s hospitality group.
