Daily Business Report-Oct. 18, 2019
Julie Su, secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, right, speaks with an attendee at a career grant event in Newport Beach. (Photo by Robert Durell for the James Irvine Foundation)
California’s labor chief wants the jobs of the
future— and she wants them to cut inequality
Julie Su wants the world’s fifth largest economy to remain a global juggernaut. To do so, California’s labor secretary acknowledges, the state will need to position its workforce for the jobs of the future — a catchall term that encompasses not only the promise of innovation but also the dystopian threat of even worse income disparity.
Economists project massive upheaval from disparate forces such as automation and an aging population. California’s challenge, as Su sees it, is to roll with those disruptions while making sure jobs here continue to pay a living wage, offer worker protections and accommodate working families.
In short, she wants the future of work to bridge today’s wealth gap. A labor and civil rights attorney — and past recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant — Su has been leading the Future of Work Commission alongside Chief Economic Advisor Lenny Mendonca and Senior Advisor on Higher Education Lande Ajose. They have been hosting meetings across the state with the goal of coming up with a new social compact for workers.
Meanwhile, Su — whose full job title is secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency — has committed to a new future of work department to execute the commission’s findings and recommendations.
Sue spoke to CalMatters about the commission’s goals and how she plans to enforce California’s own recent workplace disruption, the new worker classification law known as AB 5. Click here to read the Q&A.
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San Diego’s Power Digital Marketing
acquires Factorial Digital Inc.
San Diego-based Power Digital Marketing Inc. announced the acquisition of Factorial Digital Inc., a nationally-recognized growth marketing and SEO agency with offices in New York and South Carolina. Factorial’s service offering and team will become fully integrated with Power Digital, a technology-enabled, full-service digital marketing agency that helps brands grow online presence and scale revenue.
The acquisition of Factorial represents the joining of two complementary digital agencies with strong core values alignment, creating a bicoastal force for online marketing with the expansion of services and deeper technical horsepower and now one of the fastest growing private agencies in the country, according to Power Digital.
Factorial Co-founder and CEO Corey Eulas and Co-founder and COO Sasha Dagayev founded Factorial in 2015.
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Two finalists named for community
college district chancellor
Two finalists have been named for the position of chancellor of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District. They are Lynn Ceresino Neault, vice chancellor of Student Services at the San Diego Community College District, and David Potash, president of Wilbur Wright College, a community college on the northwest side of Chicago,
Chancellor Cindy Miles will retire from the district at the end of the year after 11 years at the district’s helm.
Open forums for the campus communities and the public will be held where the candidates will be introduced and undergo question-and-answer sessions. The public forums for Neault are set for Monday, Nov. 4, from 10-11 a.m. in the second-floor atrium of the Health and Sciences Complex, Building 34, at Grossmont College, and from 3:15-4:15 p.m. in the Samuel M. Ciccati Theatre in the B Building at Cuyamaca College. The public forums for Potash are set for Tuesday, Nov. 5, from 9:30-10:30 a.m. in the second-floor atrium of Building 34 at Grossmont College, and from 2:45-3:45 p.m. at the Samuel M. Ciccati Theatre at Cuyamaca College.
Both candidates are veteran administrators in higher education.
Neault has served nine years at her current post as vice chancellor and in a number of prior roles with the San Diego Community College District, where she began working as a graduate student in 1983 as an administrative analyst in Institutional Research.
Potash brings more than 20 years of higher education administrative experience. He was appointed president of Wilbur Wright College, one of the seven City Colleges of Chicago, in 2013.
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Largest annual gathering of landscape architects
and allied pros coming to San Diego Nov. 15-18
The largest annual gathering of landscape architects and allied professionals in the world is coming to San Diego’s Convention Center, Friday, Nov. 15–18.
The conference will feature:
- Over 300 speakers and experts, discussing a variety of subjects including climate change and resilience
- Field sessions to nearby landscape-architecture projects.
- An EXPO with all the latest in digital technology, urban design, outdoor environments and more.
- Free general closing session devoted to the challenges of climate change and viable steps toward a clean-energy future, with internationally recognized keynote speakers.
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Making Change: LGBTQ Impact on San Diego Politics
In conjunction with the exhibition “LGBTQ+ San Diego: Stories of Struggles + Triumphs,” the San Diego History Center on Nov. 7 will present a panel discussion regarding the impact of the LGBTQ+ community on San Diego’s political landscape. From the early beginnings to today’s significant community leadership, the LGBTQ+ community has fought for, and won significant advances, helping pass laws prohibiting discrimination, as well as working toward the passage of legislation that has made San Diego a national leader in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement.
The discussion features community activists and pioneers Christine Kehoe, Susan Jester, Larry Remer, Georgette Gomez and is moderated by USD Political Science Professor and Political Commentator, Carl Luna.
Reception is from 6 to 6:30 p.m., panel discussion and audience questions from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Admission free for SDHC members and Lambda Archives members, $10 for nonmembers. Click here to register.
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San Diego Rotary presents 4th annual Peace
Award to San Diego History Center and SD Pride
San Diego Rotary presented its 4th Annual Peace Award to the San Diego History Center and SD Pride on Thursday to celebrate their efforts to foster awareness and acceptance of the region’s LGBTQ community.
The San Diego History Center, in partnership with the Lambda Archives of San Diego, brings the first exhibition ever in Balboa Park focused on San Diego’s LGBTQ community. Titled “LGBTQ+San Diego: Stories of Struggles and Triumphs,” the exhibition will run to January 2020 and is curated by noted LGBTQ historian and author Lillian Faderman.
SD Pride festivities have grown from a small grassroots march for equal rights into the largest civic event in the region, with activities that span a full week of celebrating the LGBTQ community. In addition to their annual festivities, San Diego Pride has donated more than $2.5 million to LGBTQ-serving nonprofits and runs multiple year-round education, advocacy and community service programs specifically geared to the region’s military service members.
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Chemists devise efficient synthesis of gingko
tree compound for use as ‘green’ insecticide
Chemists at Scripps Research have invented an efficient method for making a synthetic version of the plant compound bilobalide, which is naturally produced by gingko trees. It’s a significant feat because bilobalide—and closely related compounds—hold potential commercial value as medicines and “green” insecticides.
Ginkgo trees produce the compound to repel insect pests, but it is effectively non-toxic to humans. The method, published in Nature, allows chemists to make and study bilobalide and related compounds relatively easily and much more affordably than previously possible.
“This process demonstrates how inventing the right new chemical reactions allows quick access to complex natural compounds,” says Ryan Shenvi, professor in the Department of Chemistry at Scripps Research. “Now we can access bilobalide and the chemical space around it, much of which might have even better properties.”
The ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba) is considered a living fossil. Closely related species lived on Earth 270 million years ago, before dinosaurs, and managed to survive subsequent global cataclysms that extinguished the dinosaurs as well as most other kinds of plant and animal.
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Model home grand opening Saturday
at Latitude at Rancho Tesoro in San Marcos
The public is invited to attend Brookfield Residential’s model home grand opening of Latitude at Rancho Tesoro in San Marcos on Saturday, Oct. 19. There will be model home tours and guests can visit the resort-style recreation area called The Bungalow.
The grand opening event will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Latitude is a gated community of townhomes, located at 914 Blackstone Lane in San Marcos, within the master-planned community of Rancho Tesoro. Priced from the mid- $400,000s, Latitude offers four different floor plans ranging from 1,243 to 1,933 square feet with up to three bedrooms and a combination of up to two baths and 1.5 baths to two half baths, large master suites, flex spaces, dining rooms, dens, family rooms and covered decks and porches for extended indoor-outdoor living space.
Guests can also take construction tours of the neighboring community, Skyhaus by builder partner California West that will deliver additional townhomes in early 2020.
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Tri-City Medical Center earns
advanced stroke care certification
Tri-City Medical Center has earned Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center (TSC) certification from The Joint Commission, in collaboration with the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, making it the first hospital in North County to earn the certification.
Tri-City Medical Center earned the TSC certification by meeting rigorous standards for performing mechanical endovascular thrombectomy (EVT), a specialized surgical procedure that saves lives by removing blood clots from the brain during an ischemic stroke. Tri-City Medical Center becomes just the 36th hospital nationwide to earn this elite certification.
To be eligible for the certification, the hospital was required to meet strict criteria that include performing EVT on a minimum of 15 patients per year and the capability to perform EVT around the clock, seven days a week. By exceeding these criteria, The Joint Commission has certified Tri-City Medical Center’s ability to rapidly treat stroke patients through EVT.
