Daily Business Report-Aug. 25, 2017
Now in its fourth year, Hera Venture Summit is spurring conversation and action among female founders and funders on a global scale
Hera Labs Brings Hera Venture Summit
to San Diego for Women Entrepreneurs
Speakers from as far away as United Arab Emirates will take part in Hera Labs’ Hera Venture Summit on Sept. 16 — an event aimed at connecting female business founders and funders. Discussions will center on trends in the area of global startups. University of San Diego will serve as the backdrop for the event, which takes place from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Notable speakers include:
- Elissa Freiha, angel investor and founder of WOMENA, a Dubai-based angel investment platform. An active angel investor with more than 28 investments between North America and MENA, she was named to Arabian Business’ 100 most powerful Arab women in 2015and 2016 as well as the 100 most influential Arabs under 40.
- Vicki Saunders, founder of SheEO, an effort by a group of female investors to finance, support and celebrate female entrepreneurs. Saunders was named one of the 100 most influential leaders of 2015 from “EBW – Empowering A Billion Women,” alongside Marissa Mayer, Melinda Gates, Sheryl Sandberg and Michelle Obama.
- Andrea Guendelman, CEO of BeVisible LatinX, a career-building platform molded to the needs of the LatinX community.
“We aim to grow a culture where women think of themselves as investors,” says Dr. Silvia Mah, founder of Hera Labs. “Now in its fourth year, Hera Venture Summit is spurring conversation and action among female founders and funders on a global scale.”
During the summit, San Diego women will get the chance to showcase their products. Three local businesses will pitch their products or services, and audience members in teams will review due diligence packets and “invest” $1M in “Hera dollars,” to one, two or all three pitch contestants. The winners will receive startup advisory services from SEED San Diego and exclusive mentoring from SmartMoney Startups.
“A byproduct of this event is putting the spotlight on startup talent coming out of San Diego and the CaliBaja region,” said Mah.
The cost of the event is $199 before Sept. 1, $219 before Sept. 16 or $239 day-of. Register at heraventuresummit.com.
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Qualcomm President Leaving
Amid Licensing Battle with Apple
Times of San Diego
Qualcomm announced Thursday that its president, Derek Aberle, a 17-year veteran of the San Diego-based wireless giant, will leave at year’s end. Aberle’s departure, effective Dec. 31, comes as Qualcomm is embroiled in legal battles with Apple over royalties for chips used in the iPhone and with regulators in several countries.
“On behalf of the executive team, I want to thank Derek for the vision, creativity, dedication, and judgment he brought to the company and wish him all the best in the future,” said Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm.
Mollenkopf said that under Aberle’s leadership, Qualcomm’s QTL licensing division had “significantly grown in both revenues and profits.” He added that “the company is well positioned to build on Derek’s record of success and continue to deliver solid results in the future.”
The announcement came after the close of stock markets in New York, and the company’s share’s were largely unchanged in after-hours trading.
“Over the past 30 years Qualcomm has invented the core technologies that have enabled the mobile revolution and made all modern smartphones possible, I am very proud to have been a part of that tradition of innovation, and of all that we’ve been able to accomplish during my tenure,” said Aberle.
Qualcomm said executive vice president and QTL division president Alex Rogers, who has run QTL since March 2016, will report directly to Mollenkopf during the transition.
Rogers joined Qualcomm in 2001 and has since held various leadership positions at the company. During his tenure leading QTL, Rogers helped conclude key licensing agreements in China and has been involved in numerous IP and regulatory matters.
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UC San Diego’s $1.1 Billion in
Research Funding Sets Record
The University of California San Diego received $1.160 billion in sponsored research support in FY2017 (July1-June 30), a 3 percent increase from FY2016’s total of $1.126 billion. This marks the second consecutive year in which UC San Diego broke its own previous record. Overall, the university ranks 5th in the nation in sponsored research.
Funding to UC San Diego from federal agencies neared $693 million, with the biggest contributions coming from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation. $398 million came largely from private industry awards as well as the State of California. $69 million of the funding was raised from private research gifts.
The majority of the funding—nearly $660 million—was earned by health sciences, which includes UC San Diego School of Medicine, as well as Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Academic Affairs earned $284 million, and covers the school’s academic divisions and organized research units. Scripps Institution of Oceanography was awarded over $143 million.
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Trigild Takes Over Management of
Pacific Medical Plaza in Sorrento Mesa
Trigild, a San Diego-based real estate services firm, has taken over the management of more than 240,000 square feet of retail and commercial property. Trigild will now oversee day-to-day management for Pacific Medical Plaza, a three-story, medical office property at 4910 Director’s Place in San Diego’s Sorrento Mesa neighborhood, and Apple Tree Mall, a retail complex at 4 Orchard View Drive, Londonderry, N.H.
Situated on 4.2 acres, the 50,656-square-foot Pacific Medical Plaza is fully leased with tenants including UC San Diego and Perinatology and Surgical Center of San Diego. The nearly 200,000-square-foot Apple Tree Mall is a longtime community hub and houses tenants including Shaws Grocery Store, Lindt Chocolate and GNC.
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Swift Acquires Five Thirty B
in Downtown San Diego
Swift Real Estate Partners has purchased Five Thirty B in Downtown San Diego, a 24-story, 232,936-square-foot office building. Financial terms were not released.
“With Downtown San Diego experiencing its highest historical net absorption in 2016 and a significant decrease in vacancy combined with the continued growth of the downtown population, the Five Thirty B offering attracted significant interest from investors, which created a highly competitive environment,” said Louay Alsadek of CBRE Capital Markets West in a statement.
Founded in 2010, Swift Real Estate Partners is headquartered in San Francisco with regional offices in Orange County, Portland and the Silicon Valley/East Bay. Swift, through its various funds, has purchased approximately 5.5 million square feet of real estate and has over $1.3 billion of assets under management.
CBRE was the investment advisors in the transaction and provided market leasing expertise.
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Scripps Research Institute
Adds 2 New Faculty Members
The Scripps Research Institute announced the appointment of two new faculty members – Alexander Adibekian, who will join the Department of Chemistry in Jupiter, Fla., as associate professor, and Li Ye, who joins the Department of Neuroscience in La Jolla as an assistant professor.
Adibekian, a former member of Benjamin Cravatt’s laboratory, joins TSRI from the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, where he was an assistant professor.
Ye, who joins TSRI from Stanford University, is focused on the transcriptional control of peripheral metabolism through chemical biology and genetic approaches. His current research efforts aim to understand the central regulation of whole-body metabolism, especially in the context of obesity and insulin resistance.
Adibekian and Ye will officially join TSRI’s ranks on Nov. 1 and Jan. 5, respectively.
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SDSU Presidential Search
Committee to Hold First Meeting
The California State University Board of Trustees is beginning the search for a new permanent president of San Diego State University to succeed Elliot Hirshman, who was appointed president of Stevenson University in Maryland.
The first meeting of the Trustees’ Committee for the Selection of the President will be held in an open forum from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 25, in the Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center Ballroom on the SDSU campus. The open meeting will be followed by a closed meeting at 2:45 p.m.
Vice Chair of the CSU Board of Trustees Adam Day will chair the committee. The other trustee members include: Silas Abrego, Lillian Kimbell, Hugo Morales, as well as Trustee Chair Rebecca Eisen and CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White.
Board policy requires the chair of the CSU Trustees to appoint an Advisory Committee to the Trustees’ Committee. The Advisory Committee is composed of representatives from the faculty, students and alumni, as well as a member of a campus advisory board, all of whom are selected by the campus’ constituency groups. Also on the Advisory Committee is a vice president or academic dean from the campus, and a president of another CSU campus – both selected by the chancellor. Both committees function as one unified group.
Over the next several months, the committee will review applications and conduct interviews.
In May, Sally Roush was appointed as interim president of SDSU and will serve in that capacity until the permanent president is appointed by CSU Trustees.
Click here for the names of members of the advisory committee.
