Daily Business Report: Monday, May 24, 2021
San Diego Business Hub to offer up to 100 small
businesses full suite of digital tools at no cost
In partnership with local tech company GoSite, EDC launched the San Diego Biz Hub, which will offer up to 100 small, service-based businesses a full suite of digital tools at no cost.
Made possible by grants from The San Diego Foundation and Union Bank,
SDbizhub.com is accepting applications from businesses most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic—women, minorities, veterans, and other economically under-resourced groups.
The cohort of 100 service-based businesses (e.g. personal care services, transportation, food service, home repair, small contractors, etc.) will receive GoSite’s web-based tools—which payment and invoicing, bookings, review management, customer communications, template websites and more—free of charge for one year.
“Small businesses face great challenges, made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. GoSite’s mission is to help small businesses adapt and succeed, with technology in hand for them to easily communicate with customers, manage online bookings, accept online payments, generate invoices and drive reviews—all in one place,” said Alex Goode, CEO of GoSite.
PHOTO courtesy of Kelly Sikkema
The ‘grand tour’ Atlantic Ocean water takes around the world
Oceanographers trace where water goes when it leaves Atlantic Ocean basin
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanographyand colleagues have created an estimate of the journey water makes around the world ocean basins using information from more than 1 billion points of data collected over 25 years.
The oceanographers found that random parcels of water will take hundreds or sometimes thousands of years to complete an epic journey back to their points of origin. They also find that a fundamental and much-publicized component of the circulation in the Atlantic Ocean could be more vulnerable to disruption than previously understood.
Scripps Oceanography postdoctoral researcher Louise Rousselet, oceanographer Paola Cessi, and research scientist Gael Forget from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report their results in the May 21 issue of the journal Science Advances. The National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA funded the research.
Grossmont College celebrates completion
of $44 million Performing and Visual Arts Center
Grossmont College celebrated the completion of the Performing and Visual Arts Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 20 for the new landmark structure on the El Cajon campus.
With its dramatic steel and glass exterior and soaring roofline, the $44 million center at the front of the campus will encourage multi-disciplinary collaboration, promising to enrich Grossmont College’s arts offerings and to improve training for students on stage and behind the scenes.
The nearly 39,000-square-foot facility, which broke ground in 2017, will serve as an instructional and performance venue for the theater, dance and music programs, and also is the new home for the Hyde Art Gallery. Funded by Proposition V construction dollars approved by East County voters in 2012, the 53-foot-tall structure designed by LPA Inc. is the tallest instructional facility on campus with a 390-seat multipurpose theater replete with one of the largest stages in the county, an orchestra pit and balcony. With dressing rooms, a green room, a costume area and a makeup classroom, it will serve as a learning laboratory for student performers, technicians and designers in the Theatre Arts program.
Alaska Airlines begins three new nonstop
routes from San Diego International Airport
Alaska Airlines has begun began daily nonstop service from San Diego International Airport to New York via John F. Kennedy International Airport and seasonal nonstop service to Bozeman, Mont. via Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport. The airline began seasonal nonstop service to Kalispell, Mont. via Glacier Park International Airport on May 21.
“Alaska Airlines’ new flights to JFK will provide San Diegans yet another option to access the greater New York area,” said Kimberly Becker, president and CEO of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. “We are excited to add more service to Montana, a state that has an abundance of outdoor recreation and is home to several national parks. I would like to thank Alaska Airlines for their continued investment in our community.”
Alaska Airlines will offer nonstop service to Bozeman and Kalispell through Sept. 7. On March 18, Alaska Airlines began year-round nonstop service to Missoula, Mont. With these additions, Alaska Airlines now offers nonstop service to 32 destinations from San Diego, more than any other carrier.
Sweetwater Bicycle Path & Promenade project honored
The Port of San Diego’s Sweetwater Bicycle Path & Promenade project on the Chula Vista Bayfront has been recognized by the American Public Works Association (APWA), San Diego-Imperial Counties Chapter with an Honor Award, a component of the annual APWA awards program that recognizes outstanding individuals, groups and chapters representing the best in public works.
Construction on the project began in September 2019 and was recently completed. Features include a 22-foot wide multi-use path and promenade, native trees, shrubs and ornamental landscaping, a 70-foot long and 16-foot wide steel truss bridge that spans the F&G Street Marsh inlet, benches and overlook areas and ADA-compliant features.
The total construction cost was $5.4 million, $4.8 million of which was funded through the Urban Greening Grant. The project was designed by KTU+A, and constructed by 3-D Enterprises, Inc., both based in San Diego.
Scott Ostrander named general manager
of Kona Kai Resort & Spa on Shelter Island
Noble House Hotels & Resorts Ltd., a hotel ownership and management group, announced the appointment of Scott Ostrander as general manager of Kona Kai Resort & Spa, the hotel group’s property located on the tip of Shelter Island in San Diego.
Ostrander’s other notable hospitality experience includes Greystone Hotels in San Francisco, where he served as the area managing director. Under his leadership, Hotel Griffon, Inn at Union Square, King George Hotel and Creekside Inn in Palo Alto all ranked in the top 10 percent of San Francisco hotels on TripAdvisor.
Jennifer Ostergren named dean of College of Education,
Health and Human Services for Cal State San Marcos
Cal State San Marcos announced the appointment of Jennifer Ostergren as the next dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Services. Ostergren will start in her position on July 1. She will take over from Deborah Kristan, who has filled the dean’s role in an interim capacity since last summer.
Ostergren currently serves as associate dean of student success and academic affairs for the College of Health and Human Services at California State University Long Beach. A faculty member at CSULB since 2003, she has served in a variety of leadership roles, including program director and chair for the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, and most recently as a leading member of CSULB’s comprehensive strategic planning team. She is a CSULB President’s and Provost’s Leadership Fellow (2015-2016) and the recipient of CSULB’s Distinguished Faculty Teaching (2017) and Early Academic Career Excellence (2014) awards.
In 2019-2020, Ostergren served as an American Council on Education fellow at Arizona State University, where she engaged with the president, provost and senior leadership across multiple divisions, including during coronavirus response phases in spring 2020 and summer 2020.
Ostergren is a licensed speech-language pathologist with more than 20 years of experience as a medical-based SLP across the continuum of care.
Petco, PetDX partner to offer canine cancer detection
A San Diego partnership for pups: Petco will offer San Diego-based PetDx’s multi-cancer genomic diagnostic test to customers at 30 of its full-service veterinary hospitals across the country. The local companies aim to expand the pilot to additional vet clinics, reflecting Petco’s emphasis on pet health and San Diego’s oncology expertise.
NICE acquires San Diego-based Mind Touch Inc.
NICE, a provider of cloud and on-prem enterprise software solutions, has announced the launch of CXone Expert, following its acquisition of MindTouch Inc., a San Diego-based provider of cloud-based knowledge management software for customer experience.
CXone Expert is an AI-powered knowledge management solution that reduces friction by projecting personalized content to customers seeking self-service while adding crucial insights throughout the customer journey.
“We face a new breed of next-generation consumers who live in a digital world,” said Paul Jarman, NICE CXone CEO. “They want smart self-service, and they would like to get things done digitally on their own if they can. With CXone Expert, we are helping companies apply smart self-service best practices using AI technology to meet consumer demand for faster, more convenient experiences.”
CXone takes a holistic approach to improving both agent and customer experiences, helping organizations of all sizes modernize and remain agile and resilient in today’s increasingly digital landscape.
