Daily Business Report-June 2, 2016
Rear Adm. Nora Tyson, commander of the Navy’s 3rd Fleet. (Navy Times Photo: MC2 Brian M. Brooks/U.S. Navy)
Vice Adm. Nora Tyson to Serve as Task Force
Commander in World’s Largest Maritime Exercise
U.S. Vice Adm. Nora Tyson, commander of the U.S. 3rd Fleet based in San Diego, will serve as the combined task force commander in the world’s largest maritime exercise June 30-Aug. 4 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California.
Twenty-seven nations, 45 ships, five submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel will participate in the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Vice Adm. Nora Tyson was the subject of a July 20, 2014 feature article by Elizabeth Fox in StyleBlueprint. Click here to access the article.)
As the world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. The U.S. Pacific Fleet is hosting the exercise.
RIMPAC 2016 is the 25th exercise in the series that began in 1971. The theme of RIMPAC 2016 is “Capable, Adaptive, Partners.” The participating nations and forces will exercise a wide range of capabilities and demonstrate the inherent flexibility of maritime forces. These capabilities range from disaster relief and maritime security operations to sea control and complex warfighting.
The relevant, realistic training program includes amphibious operations; gunnery, missile, anti-submarine and air defense exercises; counter-piracy operations; mine clearance operations; and explosive ordnance disposal and diving and salvage operations.
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San Diego Convention Center Major Events in June
• Competitor Group — Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Expo, June 3-4.
• WorldatWork Total Rewards 2016 Conference & Exhibition — June 6-8.
• Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Annual Meeting — June 11-15.
• AVID Summer Institute — June 21-23.
• Esri User Conference — June 27-July 1
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Vista Industrial Park Sold for $7.5M
La Mirada Drive LLC has purchaed the Thibodo Ranch Business Center — an industrial business park in Vista — for $7.5 million. The seller was Thibodo Ranch LLC.
The park is comprised of 30 individual units situated on a 4.63 acre lot. Built in 2005, the 53,572-square-foot center offers modern amenities, including 26 on-site cameras, tropical landscaping, and wet bars in units. Each unit is equipped with fire sprinklers, HVAC in office areas, and its own private restroom. The park is at 2330, 2332, 2336 La Mirada Drive.
Lee & Associates represented the buyer and seller.
Oceanside Industrial Building Sold for $3.5M
Investment company Coastal Investment 2 LLC has purchased a freestanding industrial building in the Rancho Del Oro Technology Park in Oceanside for $3.5 million. The seller was GRT Properties LLC.
The 30,809-square-foot multi-tenant business park is located at 4168 Avenida De La Plata. The project consists of 16 individual industrial/flex suites ranging in size from 1,700 to 3,000 square feet.
Lee & Associates represented the buyer and seller.
Cognitive Medical Systems Partners
With Halfaker for $22.3 Billion Contract
Cognitive Medical Systems, a San Diego-based company specializing in health IT software, announced that it has teamed with Halfaker and Associates on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation program, a multiple-award contract with a ceiling value of $22.3 billion.
Cognitive will help the Halfaker team to provide clinical informatics and clinical decision support services to the VA under the T4NG program, which is anticipated to be the preferred method for the VA to purchase IT solutions during its 10-year duration.
“We are excited to work with Halfaker, who share our commitment to innovation in federal health care,” says Douglas W. Burke, Cognitive Medical Systems president and co-founder. “We have partnered with the VA since our company’s founding and we look forward to extending our work with them through the T4NG contract.”
Parkinson’s Association in Partnership
To Offer Psychotherapy Practice
The Parkinson’s Association in San Diego is partnering with Doctor of Psychology Joseph Pando to create a psychotherapy practice focused exclusively on treating the common non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. This specialty counseling program is a first of its kind in the United States, and is available to people with Parkinson’s, their care partners and family members, according to the association.
Support groups are a valued emotional outlet for people affected by Parkinson’s disease; the Parkinson’s Association facilitates about 25 of them throughout the county. Behavioral health counseling can further enhance quality of life for the 40,000 San Diego County residents affected by this neurodegenerative disease that has no cure.
The Parkinson’s Association offers internships to pre-licensed therapists who get to learn about Parkinson’s non-motor symptoms and the effective, research-based strategies for managing them from professional licensed counselors like Pando. These interns also treat patients, providing up to six sessions for $10 a session, and will even provide counseling in patients’ homes.
Cubic Subsidiary Unveils 2
Mobile Virtualization Servers
A Cubic Corp. subsidiary has rolled out two virtualization servers designed to operate in space-constrained, rugged or tactical environments.
DTECH Labs‘ new Mobile Modular Micro-Secure Enclave servers M3-SE-VSVR-P and M3-SE-VSAN-P are built to support hyper-converged infrastructure and multiple small-form-factor virtual machines, Cubic said Wednesday.
Mike Barthlow, vice president of secure networking at Cubic’s global defense segment, said DTECH developed the mobile servers to help organizations address mission requirements.
M3-SE-VSVR-P and M3-SE-VSAN-P are powered by Intel’s Xeon and Core i7 processors with up to 32 gigabytes of random access memory and up to 20 terabytes of data storage capacity. Cubic said both servers were tested and implemented as part of a strategic U.S. government program.
DTECH Labs, a business organization within Cubic’s global defense segment, builds deployable communication platforms for the government, military, emergency response and commercial sectors.
San Diego Student Wins Honors
At California State Science Fair
Brian Xia, an 11th grade student at Canyon Crest Academy in San Diego, won Project of the Year honors for his Senior Division project at the 2016 California State Science Fair May 24 in Los Angeles.
Xia’s project was titled “Single Molecule Based Transgenerational Therapies to Extend Healthspan and Prevent Multiple Aging Related Diseases.” He took home a $5,000 prize.
The Science Fair’s presenting sponsor was Northrop Grumman Corporation.
Oceanside Selected as Backdrop
For New TV Series ‘Animal Kingdom’
Oceanside was chosen as the site for a new TV drama, “Animal Kingdom,” a crime showstarring Ellen Barkin and Scott Speedman. Currently in production, the show will highlight Oceanside’s beach town scenery and character, while also boosting — according to officials — the city’s economy through spending and job creation.
“After years of losing market share to other states, TV series are returning to California thanks to recently expanded funding that provides incentives for keeping production in California,” said Amy Lemisch, executive director of the California Film Commission. “Scripted TV series are especially important to the economy since productions can provide jobs to skilled crews for many years over the life of a series.”
“Animal Kingdom” producers estimate that the show will spend nearly $500,000 in Oceanside during filming of season one. This includes spending at a wide variety of local businesses such as hotel rooms, restaurants, activities and shops. The show also plans to hire nearly 250 locals as extras.
“The overwhelming response to our recent casting call was a sign of how little filming has been done in the region in recent years,” says Llewelyn Wells, producer. “We expected 150 and had over 900 applicants.”
In addition to providing a financial boost to the region, “Animal Kingdom” producers are supporting the Oceanside community through a partnership with Friends of Oceanside Parks and Recreation, a nonprofit organization that raises money for youth recreation scholarships. The show presented the FOPR with a $6,000 donation and has featured the nonprofit’s logo on production vans.
Visit Oceanside officials are also hopeful that beautiful images of the city — the wooden pier, the beach strand, popular local shops and restaurants — will encourage more visitors to set their sites on Oceanside.
General Atomics Increases
Predator Endurance to 37 Hours
Times of San Diego
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems in Poway announced Wednesday that the latest model in its Predator series of unmanned aircraft had flown for over 37 hours in a test.
A Predator B “Big Wing” version flying out of Palmdale was able to launch, climb to an operational altitude, loiter, conduct reconnaissance maneuvers, and land safely after 37.5 hours. This was a 10 hour increase over the previous model’s endurance.
“This long-endurance flight demonstrates Predator B Big Wing’s game-changing potential for providing life-saving persistent ISR [Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance] in support of U.S. and coalition warfighters,” said David R. Alexander, president of aircraft systems at General Atomics.
“Our company continually strives to extend Predator B’s already impressive endurance further, pushing the aircraft’s capabilities to its full potential,” he added.
The new model’s wings are 13 feet longer than the standard Predator B and incorporate greater internal fuel capacity, significantly increasing the aircraft’s endurance.
The United States and its allies are using unmanned aircraft in many parts of the world to battle terrorists, with recent strikes in Pakistan, Libya and the Sudan. This ongoing battle was recently popularized in the movie “Eye in the Sky.”
General Atomics Extends Partnership
With Fokker on Predator Landing Gear
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. and GKN Aerospace’s Fokker business unit, a leading Dutch aircraft systems and components manufacturer, announced that they will collaborate to produce and support landing gear systems for Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper RPA systems. Fokker is GA-ASI’s Dutch in-country partner.
GA-ASI and Fokker have been working together for several years to offer Predator B to the Dutch Armed Forces. Predator B exceeds the Dutch Air Forces’ requirements for persistent remotely piloted Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems.
GA-ASI and Fokker are evaluating a joint research project to design and develop the next generation of advanced composite landing gear for Predator B. The landing gear may be leveraged by current Predator B customers to include the U.S. Air Force, Royal Air Force, Italian Air Force, French Air Force, Spanish Air Force, U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Customs and Border Protection, NASA, and soon others.
Personnel Announcements
Scripps Research Institute Names
New Chief Operating Officer
The Scripps Research Institute has named Richard A. King, formerly president and CEO of AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., as chief operating officer.
King will be in charge of operations on both campuses, including finance, facilities, human resources, research services, sponsored programs and business development. King has held senior leadership roles in a variety of life sciences commercial operations. Most recently, from 2010 to 2015, he led AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company developing new pain medications.
Prior to AcelRx, King held positions as president and general manager of Tercica Inc., a biotechnology company (later sold to the Ipsen Group) developing a treatment for children failing to grow, and as executive vice president of commercial operations at Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc., a firm developing and commercializing prescription products to treat chronic cardiovascular, metabolic and respiratory diseases.
Douglas Bingham, who previously held the role of TSRI’s chief operating officer, will continue to serve as part of the executive management team as executive vice president and general counsel.
