Daily Business Report-March 5, 2019
Aerial view: San Diego Convention Center
Digital signage coming to the
San Diego Convention Center
The San Diego Convention Center is modernizing its approach to signage solutions for meetings, conventions and events. Digital Conventions LLC has been selected as the Convention Center’s official in-house service provider for digital signage. This new amenity will allow event organizers, advertisers and sponsors to have a “turn-key approach” to high-definition video advertising, wayfinding and announcements.
The Convention Center’s Board of Directors voted to move forward with the partnership in October 2018. The five-year agreement took effect on Jan. 7, 2019. The signage is scheduled to be up and running by summer of 2019.
The digital signage, which is slated to begin installation this spring, allows the San Diego Convention Center the opportunity to replace static signage, including banners, overhangs and poster boards, with a modern, visually appealing, real-time messaging platform. Meeting planners can reach customers through a platform that is engaging and customizable in high-traffic areas. Digital signage also improves the Center’s sustainability by cutting down on waste generated from paper and print signs. Digital Conventions LLC has been providing signage for the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. since 2010.
The signage plan will include both static and portable LED videowalls. The main signage displays and will be located in four of the lower lobbies of the facility.
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California’s lieutenant governor given
more power by the current governor
By Dan Morain | CALmatters
Taking advantage of the diplomatic chops of his elected stand-in, Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis as “international affairs and trade development” representative for the world’s fifth-largest economy.
Kounalakis was ambassador to Hungary during the Obama administration, and probably would have received a State Department position if Hillary Clinton had been elected president in 2016.
Kounalakis: “Trade is the most important aspect because so many jobs in California are dependent on exports.”
Among her goals:
- A Mexico trade office, and perhaps others elsewhere.
- More coordination among various state agencies, such as the Department of Food & Agriculture, Transportation, Natural Resources, Visit California, and California Environmental Protection Agency.
More than a fifth of the state’s gross product is attributable to international trade, and nearly 40 percent of the nation’s total containerized import traffic and 25 percent of its total exports come through the Ports of Long Beach and San Pedro, about $2 billion worth of cargo each day.
TBD: The budget for the new office. Whatever it is, it will be more than past lieutenant governors have received, Newsom included. Previous governors have given lieutenant governors no responsibility and less respect, cutting their budgets if they got uppity, and taking away their parking privileges.
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Dr. Anna Hackenberg – Against All Odds
The moment that changed Dr. Anna Hackenberg’s life came in 2017 during a walk with friends on the beach below Torrey Pines State Park. Without warning, rocks tumbled from the cliffs above, crushing Hackenberg, an urgent care doctor, and leaving her paralyzed from the chest down. “Life can change in an instant,” she says. “But don’t stop if things don’t turn out the way you planned.”
Hackenberg’s resilience and positive attitude serve as an example not only for those who have suffered life-altering trauma, but also for anyone who wishes to live a full, rewarding life. Initially, losing physical abilities was devastating to Hackenberg, who had been a competitive athlete her whole life. However, she was determined to find new ways to move with help from the rehabilitation team at Sharp HealthCare.
Hackenberg has been back at work for more than a year treating urgent care patients and even completed a marathon last spring on her hand cycle. She will speak at the Kick Off Luncheon April 1 as part of San Diego Women’s Week sponsored by North San Diego Business Chamber. Women’s Week runs April 1-5. Click here for the schedule.
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Inside Secure closes Verimatrix acquisition
Sale was for just over $138 million
Almost three months after first announcing its intention to buy the content protection specialist, mobile and connected devices security firm Inside Secure has closed its acquisition of Verimatrix.
For 100 percent ownership of Verimatrix stock, Inside Secure paid $138.1 million in cash and an additional amount of $9.8 million set in escrow to cover potential post-closing adjustments and an earn-out, estimated to be $8 million. The final amount of the earn-out will be known in the second quarter of 2019 following completion of year-end audit of Verimatrix earnings.
Inside Secure says that the combined company will create driving force to secure and enable the connected future across a broad range of industries.
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Q Digital Inc. expanding to
Class A office in East Village
3Q Digital Inc., an independent digital marketing agency, will be relocating and expanding its San Diego office to DiamondView East Village in Downtown San Diego.
3Q Digital leased 11,322 square feet on the seventh floor of the 15-story Class A tower located at 350 Tenth Ave. The agency is moving just a few blocks from its current location along Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter. Cushman & Wakefield’s San Diego office represented the tenant in the transaction.
Additional perks offered by 3Q Digital’s new building, which is owned by Divco West, include a skybox penthouse for events and tenant meetings, along with on-site amenities such as Fit Athletic Club, showers/lockers, a variety of restaurants, a flower and gift shop, and bike shop.
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Fox Sports San Diego announces 2019
regular season Padres broadcast schedule
FOX Sports San Diego – in partnership with the San Diego Padres – announced their 2019 regular season broadcast schedule. All 162 regular season games will be televised in English on either FOX Sports San Diego, FS1 or FOX, and will air live on radio in both English and Spanish. Games produced by FOX Sports San Diego will also be available on the FOX Sports digital platforms. In addition, all 81 regular season home games will be televised in Spanish on FOX Deportes San Diego.
Regular season coverage on FOX Sports San Diego begins Thursday, March 28, with the Padres’ season opener against the San Francisco Giants. Coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. with an 90-minute Padres Live pregame show leading into the game. Coverage concludes with a 30-minute Padres Live postgame show.
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ZOLL Medical Corp. acquires
Golden Hour Data Systems Inc.
ZOLL Medical Corporation, an Asahi Kasei Group Company that manufactures medical devices and related software products, announced it has acquired Golden Hour Data Systems Inc. of San Diego, a privately held company that delivers leading solutions for patient charting and revenue cycle management to the EMS market.
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County department offers tsunami
preparedness videography contest
The County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services has a fun contest opportunity this March with a tsunami preparedness theme.
The department is challenging students, either solo or in a team, to make a public service announcement video teaching people how to be ready for a tsunami or respond if one happens. The video judged to have the most effective message will be featured on the County News Center website and on the county’s social media channels during this year’s Tsunami Preparedness Week, March 25-29.
The contest is open to individual students, high school audio/visual clubs, video production and graphic design classes, Associated Student Body teams and more. Entries must consist of original material and be between 30 to 60 seconds long in an MP4 format. No violence, profanity or drug depictions. Students can use any style including animation, stop motion, graphics, or live-action to get the tsunami preparedness point across.
The video must be submitted by March 22. They will be judged by Office of Emergency Services staff, local and state emergency managers, the National Weather Service and county communications staff. A winner will be announced by March 28.
For information on the contest and on tsunami preparedness, click here.
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Commentary
Why Big Tobacco’s investment
in e-cigarette maker Juul
ought to cause you alarm
By Dr. John Maa | Special to CALmatters
For years, I tried to convince my uncle to stop smoking. I watched as he lost one tooth after another from tobacco-related oral health disease. He’d tell me to stop worrying, that he was not one of the people who would get sick from smoking.
In time, he needed urgent open-heart surgery and a valve replacement, spent a month in the hospital recovering, and finally stopped smoking. He became a better statistic – a former California smoker who finally quit and returned to good health.
His story is one example of the power of nicotine addiction. As a general surgeon, I’ve seen others struggle to quit. I worry many more are being addicted today by a different delivery system, e-cigarettes.
There’s an unprecedented epidemic of vaping among teenagers, as recognized by U.S. Food & Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams. The federal government is moving to limit the sale of flavored vaping liquids in convenience stores nationally.
My concern was heightened when the company that brought America the “Marlboro Man” bought a 35 percent stake in the leading vaping company.
First, a little history: In October 2018, Altria, the world’s largest cigarette maker and a source of tobacco-related health harm worldwide, announced it was alarmed by the epidemic of youth e-cigarette use, and would end sales of its e-cigarette product, Mark Ten. It claimed it did not want contribute to “the issue.”
Two months later, Altria made a hedge bet by investing nearly $13 billion in Juul, the market leader in vaping products. In exchange, Altria secured a 35 percent stake in Juul and seats on Juul’s board of directors.
This deal enables Altria to profit regardless of whether combustible or electronic cigarettes ultimately dominate the nicotine delivery market. It also allows Juul to expand its market share.
Now, shelf space reserved for Altria’s Mark Ten product is available for Juul. Altria also can offer Juul global distribution, not to mention its lobbying and legal expertise in dealing with FDA regulators.
Altria members on Juul board of directors have a commitment to shareholders. That will present a conflict of interest in discussions of the necessary research into Juul’s safety that might impact future combustible cigarette sales.
It must have been a rude awakening for the Juul employees, some of whom had begun their careers in tobacco control. They joined the firm to research solutions to end the smoking epidemic, and not to be part of Big Tobacco.
After Altria swooped in, Juul paid $2 billion in bonuses to its employees to persuade them not to leave the company.
In 1998, Altria’s Philip Morris signed on to the Tobacco Master Settlement requiring tobacco companies to pay states more than $200 billion to help cover the cost of tobacco-related disease. California was a party to that suit.
Two decades later, smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disability in America and worldwide. Public health experts understand that it’s a short step from vaping to smoking. That’s why we must act before e-cigarettes hook the next generation to nicotine.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra should work with the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Surgeon General, and the Food and Drug Administration to ensure the Juul-Altria partnership complies with all existing laws, and work to end the vaping epidemic among teenagers. The health of a future generation depends on it.
Dr. John Maa is a general surgeon in San Francisco, maa_john@yahoo.com. He wrote this commentary for CALmatters, a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s Capitol works and why it matters.
