Daily Business Report-June 29, 2020
Maya Madsen, owner of Maya’s Cookies, saw orders surge in early June. (Photo courtesy of Maya’s Cookies)
Local Business Success Stories
Maya’s Cookies sees 10,000 percent spike in growth
In the midst of a wave of support for Black-owned businesses, San Diego-based Maya’s Cookies saw orders surge to a 9,990 percent increase above previous levels. Owner and founder Maya Madsen was able to bring back her furloughed staff and hire 20 additional part-time employees to help fulfill vegan cookie orders.
The vegan gourmet cookie company — sold online with nationwide delivery, at farmer’s market and in select retailers in San Diego — was hit hard in the pandemic. Steady at about 20 orders per day, the pandemic climate forced Madsen, owner and founder, to furlough about half of her seven employees.
But on June 2, which marked the eighth day of protests since George Floyd’s death, the company turned a corner. The company started to see order surge with 2,000 orders in one day, a 9,990 percent increase over previous levels.
Madsen attributes heavy demand to the momentum around Black Lives Matter movement and a historic concerted and concentrated effort to buy from Black-owned businesses like hers. “I decided th use this spike to give back to my community in the form of jobs as well as supporting charities directly related to the movement,” said Madsen. “It is a trickle-down effect and I am happy to be a part of it.”
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San Diego County Water Authority
board adopts rate increases for 2021
The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors has adopted a rate increase of 4.8 percent for untreated water and 4.9 percent for treated water in calendar year 2021 for its 24 member agencies.
The board told its staff to return in September or October with any further opportunities to reduce the 2021 rate increases, such as a decrease in rates set by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California or the acquisition of federal or state economic stimulus funds.
Rate increases are driven by reduced water sales, higher rates and charges from MWD and continued regional investments in supply reliability. The adopted rates are 30 percent lower than proposed last month following refinements by the staff.
In 2021, the Water Authority will charge its 24 member agencies an all-in municipal and industrial rate of $1,474 per acre-foot for untreated water, or $68 more per acre-foot than they currently pay. Charges would be $1,769 per acre-foot for treated water, or $83 more per acre-foot than in 2020.
Actual figures will vary by member agency, and each member agency will incorporate costs from the Water Authority into the retail rates it charges to residents, businesses and institutions. (Note: An acre-foot is about 325,900 gallons, enough to serve the annual needs of 2.5 typical four-person households in San Diego County.)
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Artiva Biotherapeutics raises $78 million
San Diego’s Artiva Biotherapeutics has raised a $78 million Series A round to develop an off-the-shelf, safe, effective cell therapy that can treat hundreds to thousands of cancer patients from a single donor. The funding will cover the costs of the trial, and support two more efforts to target other cancers.
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San Diego’s life sciences workforce
among state’s largest and best-paid
San Diego’s 68,000 life sciences workers are the best paid in Southern California – the average San Diegan working in life sciences makes $130,000 per year, according to Biocom’s recently-released 2019 report. In total, San Diego’s life sciences industry generates about $41 billion in economic activity and helps to support 175,000 jobs
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General Atomics demonstrates automatic takeoff
and landing enhancements for MQ-9A Reaper
As part of the ongoing U.S. Air Force contract for MQ-9A Reaper modernization, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. demonstrated three expanded Automatic Takeoff and Landing Capability enhancements that provide the MQ-9A with a dramatic increase in operational flexibility. One enhancement enables the MQ-9A to land at an alternate or “divert” airfield in which no Ground Control Station is present, and under satellite communication control. The second enhancement expands the cross-wind limits of the MQ-9A. The third increases the maximum landing weight for normal and emergency landings.
“All three enhancements provide MQ-9A aircrews with increased runway options, as well as expanded weather tolerances that greatly improve mission flexibility, operational availability and time on station. It will also lead to a substantial reduction in aircrew,” said company president David Alexander.
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NAVWAR tests cybersecurity technology
for the USS Gabriel Giffords
ExecutiveGov
Naval Information Warfare (NAVWAR) Systems Command in San Diego has tested a technology made to equip the USS Gabrielle Giffords littoral combat ship with bolstered cybersecurity and backup connectivity. The Commercial Cellular as a Transport (CCaaT) test aims to demonstrate the ship’s cyber readiness outside the continental U.S., the U.S. Navy said.
CCaaT provides the Independence-variant ship connectivity via 4G LTE technology to establish an alternative connection in the event of satellite communications failure. The technology also allows technical personnel to remotely address issues amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The initial results from OCONUS testing are positive in showing how we can leverage commercial technology to get the fleet important cyber software updates quicker and more reliably,” said Nick Freije, technical director of NAVWAR’s Fleet Readiness Directorate.
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SDSU’s Center for Military History
welcomes new director Gregory Daddis
Gregory Daddis joins the San Diego State University College of Arts and Letters history department this fall as the new director of the Center for Military History (CMH) and as the first USS Midway chair in Modern U.S. Military History.
The appointment follows a nearly year-long, national search. In June 2019, during a joint news conference aboard the USS Midway, the USS Midway foundation announced a $3 million, five-year pledge to create and fund the endowed chair position in U.S. military history at SDSU.
With this appointment, SDSU is the only public university on the West Coast with an interdisciplinary program in modern U.S. military history.
Daddis, who grew up in New Jersey and later attended West Point, holds an M.A. in history from Villanova University and a Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served as chief of the American History Division in the Department of History at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point for five years, and his most recent post was at Chapman University, where he was the director of the nationally recognized War & Society graduate program.
“San Diego has the largest military community in the free world, and Greg Daddis is a wonderful addition to the SDSU team doing research and teaching on military-related issues,” said Ed Beasley, chair of the SDSU Department of History.
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Synergyy One Lending
announces management buyout
San Diego-based Synergy One Lending announced management buyout of the company’s distributed retail channel and the Synergy One brand from Mutual of Omaha Mortgage. The terms of the acquisition were not announced.
The MBO was led by industry veterans Steve Majerus, CEO, and Aaron Nemec, president. Synergy One has quadrupled its loan production in three years, breaking into the top 100 retail mortgage lenders in 2019 ranked #53 in Scotsman’s Guide.
“Aaron and I are sincerely grateful for the opportunity to lead Synergy One into the future. Our confidence in our team and our collective ability to execute couldn’t be higher,” said Majerus.
Nemec, who previously served as Synergy One’s national head of production and previously held the same position at Guild Mortgage and Academy Mortgage, said: “This acquisition enables us to more aggressively pursue our pipeline of opportunities and to continue to evolve our operational and sales platforms in building a fintech-enabled company that aligns our team with the experience our customers demand.”
