Daily Business Report: Wednesday, July 28, 2021
San Diego Convention Center going to the dogs
after it reopens for events on Aug. 1
The San Diego Convention Center will go to the dogs shortly after it opens on Aug. 1 following more than 15 months of serving as an emergency shelter for homeless San Diegans and as a housing facility for unaccompanied children asylem seekers.
The American Kennel Club is bringing San Diego’s largest pet event to the city Aug. 14-15. AKC Meet the Breeds will be the first public-facing event held at the San Diego Convention Center since before the pandemic.
This two-day event offers attendees the unique opportunity to meet and play with tons of different dog breeds all while learning about responsible pet ownership and which breed is right for their lifestyle, right from the experts. Throughout the event, guests will be entertained by various activities, dog demonstrations, an interactive area and more.
The Convention Center’s return follows a shutdown of public gatherings that began with COVID-19 state and county health orders in March 2020. More than 150 convention center events were canceled, postponed or turned virtual. According to the convention center’s estimates, those lost events would have produced an estimated economic impact of $2.3 billion and an estimated $50 million in tax revenue for San Diego.
All events will follow California Department of Public Health guidance. Until Oct. 1, people participating in indoor gatherings of more than 5,000 attendees will need to be fully vaccinated or have a negative COVID-19 test result conducted within 72 hours of the event.
TOP PHOTO: The nearly deserted San Diego Convention Center in March. (Courtesy of the convention center)
San Diego organic juice startup Suja Life
acquired by private equity firm
Suja Life, a maker of cold-pressured, organic beverages, announced Tuesday its sale to private-equity food-chain investor Paine Schwartz Partners. The sale price was not disclosed, but Suja has annual revenue of close to $200 million.
The company’s bottling plant is based in Oceanside, was the first juice company to offer organic, cold-pressed juice for under $4 is considered a leader in the organic beverage category. Each of Suja’s products are Certified Organic, Non-GMO Project verified and cold pressured using high pressure to kill any harmful bacteria and preserve nutrition and taste.
The company, which at one point received a major investment from Coca-Cola, is considered a leader in the organic beverage category.
“I’m excited to see Suja achieve so much success after the almost 10-year journey of this amazing brand and I could not be more excited for the next chapter,” said James Brennan, the company’s co-founder.
Nicole Agnew, managing director in Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which acquired controlling interest, said Suja had become a “household brand” prior to its sale.
Mission Healthcare completes acquisition of Tender
Care, Hands of Hope Hospice and Sun Tree Hospice
San Diego-based Mission Healthcare, one of California’s largest home health, hospice, and palliative care providers, announced its acquisition of three new home health and hospice organizations including Tender Care, Hands of Hope and Sun Tree in Utah and Idaho.
Tender Care and Sun Tree provide care in the greater Salt Lake City and St. George communities in Utah. Hands of Hope provides care for the residents of Idaho Falls, marking Mission Healthcare’s first location in the state of Idaho. With these additions, Mission will now care for approximately 6,000 patients daily.
“These teams have built a reputation for clinical excellence and a deep connection to the community, both of which will be essential as we partner to serve even more local patients in need of care,” said Mission Healthcare CEO, Paul VerHoeve. “Additionally, Idaho and Utah are a tremendous addition to the Mission family from a geographic standpoint as we expand into the Mountain West.”
Tender Care, Hands of Hope and Sun Tree will continue to operate under their current brands as a Mission Healthcare Company and will be headquartered in San Diego.
Deloitte acquires Sentek Global’s business
for its services to the U.S. Navy
Deloitte announced it has acquired substantially all the assets of Sentek Consulting Inc. (Sentek Global), a San Diego-based systems engineering and cybersecurity firm primarily serving the U.S. Navy.
“The acquisition of Sentek Global’s business will expand Deloitte’s existing presence in San Diego, while also bolstering our current mission-focused systems engineering capabilities and cyber offerings to other military branches and federal agencies,” said Mike Canning, principal of Deloitte Consulting LLP.
Eric Basu, CEO and founder, Sentek Global, added, “Sentek Global and Deloitte share many common values, not the least of which is providing high quality services and solutions for the agencies that serve our country. We are joining Deloitte to help our government clients solve complex systems engineering and cybersecurity challenges, while also accelerating the scaling of our services for defense, security and justice sector organizations.”
S.D. mayor appoints Hafsa Kaka as
director of homelessness strategies
Mayor Todd Gloria has appointed Hafsa Kaka (pronounced Kay-ka) as director of the newly-established Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department, effective Aug. 9.
Kaka brings more than 15 years of experience in homeless, mental health and social services to this role, which is charged with leading the city’s homelessness strategies, activities and partnerships while working toward Gloria’s ultimate goal of ending chronic homelessness. An immigrant and woman of color, Kaka hopes to address homelessness through an equity lens and with a collaborative perspective.
Most recently, Kaka served as the homeless solutions officer for the City of Riverside where she designed and implemented a program that removed the city’s largest encampment by placing individuals into housing through the collective work of multidisciplinary teams. She also worked on a regional approach to address homeless as homeless services manager for the City of Santa Ana.
Gloria created the Department of Homelessness Strategies and Solutions in June to expand the city’s current capacity and expertise in prioritizing efforts to address homelessness.
West PACE selects Azaria Taber as center director
Officials at Gary and Mary West PACE have selected Azaria Taber as the new center director for the Adult Day Health Center serving San Diego North County participants. An experienced health care administrator, Taber brings with her a passion for developing and managing quality and innovative programs coupled with a master’s degree in health care administration. She has served in multiple health care leadership roles beginning as a patient advocate, to assistant practice administrator, then center director.
“West PACE assists the coordination and care for participants among multiple services,” says Taber. “These include behavioral health, medical care, support for physical therapy and occupational therapy, home care, and more – all to ensure seniors can maintain their independence and live in their own home.”
Taber, a resident of Vista, and holds an MBA in Healthcare Administration and Management from St. Joseph’s College in New York.
Ubersuggest selects Mynul Hoda as new
chief technology officer
Ubersuggest, the global SEO and content platform part of NP Digital, announced that Mynul Hoda has joined as its chief technology officer. Hoda will provide technical vision, architect new strategies, and lead the development of innovative technologies for Ubersuggest.
Hoda brings more than 20 years of extensive experience leading global software development teams in creating, and operating massively scalable, secured and highly distributed Full Stack Software platforms.
Prior to joining Ubersuggest, Hoda served as an executive architect and head of software development where he led the transformation of IBM Cloud into Cloud Native. Hoda has extensive experience in building Cloud Native SaaS and Public Cloud Web Services, most notably a unified data management platform and AI/ML driven analytics platform.
Hoda has helped several very high-profile Fortune 500 customers on their digital transformation journey into the cloud. He strongly believes in AI/ML-enabled fully autonomous systems. Hoda is a business-oriented technologist that uniquely understands aligning company strategy with rapid and agile development execution to scale revenue growth and solve the problems of tomorrow.
Scripps Health ranked No. 1 for orthopedics
and urology by U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report has ranked Scripps Health’s orthopedics and urology programs the best in the San Diego region, and named Scripps among the nation’s best in six specialties in the magazine’s annual “Best Hospitals” list.
The annual U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings, now in their 32nd year, recognize the nation’s top 50 hospitals that excel in treating patients with the most challenging health care needs. U.S. News evaluates hospitals in 16 adult specialties and 10 procedures and conditions in order to determine the ranking. More than 4,500 hospitals are evaluated each year.
“Scripps has a long legacy of delivering outstanding patient care, which continues despite the unprecedented challenges that we faced over this past year,” said Chris Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps Health. “Year after year these rankings are a testament to the deep dedication and exceptional skill of our physicians, nurses and others who are on the front lines of caring for our patients every day.”
UC San Diego Health ranked No. 1 in San Diego
by U.S. News & World Report
UC San Diego Health is ranked No. 1 in San Diego, placing it among the nation’s best hospitals, according to the 2021-2022 U.S. News & World Report survey. The annual rankings are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive care for a variety of health conditions, common elective procedures and complex surgeries.
“Given all that has happened in the past eighteen months related to the pandemic, we are extremely honored to be named as the top health system in San Diego and No. 5 in California,” said Patty Maysent, CEO, UC San Diego Health. “This national recognition is a testament to the continued dedication of our team members to provide superb care to our patients, our community and our region.”
For the 2021-22 rankings and ratings, U.S. News & World Report evaluated more than 4,750 medical centers nationwide in 15 specialties and 17 procedures and conditions. In the 15 specialty areas, 175 hospitals (approximately 3.7 percent) were ranked in the top 50 in at least one specialty.
SBA reaches new milestone in awarding
Shuttered Venue Operators grants
The U.S. Small Business Administration reached a new milestone of successfully awarding over $7.5 billion in Shuttered Venue Operators Grants (SVOGs) to more than 10,000 hard-hit live entertainment small businesses, nonprofits, and venues. The SVOG program is designed to assist in getting the nation’s cultural institutions, which are critical to the economy and were among the first to shutter, back on track.
In approximately seven weeks, the SBA has gone from awarding just over 100 SVOGs on June 10, to more than 10,000 to date, awarding over $7.5 billion in grants, helping venues reopen and stay open. More than two thirds of the awards have gone to venues with fewer than 10 employees, helping the smallest of small businesses – a priority of Administrator Isabel Guzman.
EPA awards $750,000 to UC San Diego to
develop attack against mosquito-borne disease
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $749,887 in funding to the University of California, San Diego, to develop an approach to understand and effectively monitor the dispersal of lab-generated sterile mosquitoes in the Hawaiian Islands. This biotechnology effort has the goal of eliminating the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the vector responsible for dengue outbreaks in the region and for carrying the Zika and Chikungunya viruses.
The grant is part of $3,041,583 awarded nationally to five institutions to develop science-based approaches to evaluate the potential human health and environmental impacts of new biotechnology products.
Beyond the benefits of fighting mosquito-borne disease, this novel technology may also have positive environmental impacts by reducing insecticide usage, which can impact beneficial insects in the region. In the future, these tools could be applied to other Pacific Islands where disease outbreaks occur.
