Daily Business Report: Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022

Small businesses hit hard by labor shortage

Difficulty in hiring is affecting their bottom line

CalMatters

The single biggest challenge facing California small businesses: Labor shortages.

A whopping 98 percent of small business owners in the Golden State say that difficulty hiring is affecting their bottom line, according to a survey released Monday by Goldman

Sachs’ 10,000 Small Business Voices. That’s far more than the 81 percent who pinpoint inflation, the 77 percent who cite supply chain issues and the 70 percent who identify the surge in COVID-19 cases as drags on their revenue.

The news comes as California’s economy shows glimmers of improvement: The unemployment rate fell to 6.5 percent in December from a revised rate of 7 percent in November as employers added 50,700 jobs, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday.

That accounts for more than a quarter of the nation’s overall job gains that month, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue a statement praising California’s “outsized” role in job creation.

But the figures obscure what Michael Bernick, a former EDD director and attorney for law firm Duane Morris, calls a “major storyline” in California: “the disappearing workforce.”

Bernick: “The number of Californians listed as employed — in payroll jobs or as independent contractors — did increase over the month by 116,900 persons. However, it remains 919,800 workers below the number of workers employed in California in January 2020, just before the pandemic.”

TOP PHOTO: A restaurant advertising jobs looks to attract workers in Oceanside on May 10, 2021. (Photo by Mike Blake, Reuters)

Illumina collaborates with National Cancer Center

 Japan to address leading cause of death in Asia

Illumina Inc. and the National Cancer Center Japan have announced an international joint research project that will use Illumina’s high-throughput DNA sequencing to analyse the blood-based genomic profile and clinical information of patients living with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. The study will be known as a part of the Asian Multicenter Prospective Study of Circulating Tumor DNA Sequencing (A-TRAIN).

One of the main research areas of the project is nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a rare tumor of the head and neck which originates in the nasopharynx and has a higher incidence rate in Asian countries. More than 80 percent of new cases occur in Asia, with Southeast Asian countries accounting for 67 percent of the global burden of all cancer. Nasopharyngeal cancer ranked ninth among incident cancers and eighth among cancer deaths in Southeast Asia.

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CamerEye raises $1.1 million to create

safer pools and smarter backyards

CamerEye, a San Diego company aimed at reinventing swimming pool and backyard safety with the first Artificial Intelligence (AI) Smart Fence and safety ecosystem, has just closed the last tranche of its seed-round funding series for a total of $1.1 million. 

CamerEye’s system is designed to detect humans and provide faster distress and near-drowning detection to help save lives. 

Major investors in this seed round include members from San Diego Sports Innovators (SDSI), several venture capitalists, and a multitude of angel investors.

Founder and CEO Sal Reddy, who was a competitive swimmer, holds a Ph.D. in AI and Data Sciences and was part of the founding team at PXiSE Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, which was recently acquired by Yokogawa Corporation, decided to use his knowledge and experience in building AI technology to address one of the biggest problems — water safety.  Reddy and team developed and trained the CamerEye ecosystem for two years pre-launch with more than 30+ beta installations.

Julie Auger appointed executive director

of research operations for The Salk Institute

The Salk Institute announced the appointment of Julie A. Auger to the position of executive director of research operations. Auger will oversee all shared scientific resources at the institute in her new role, including the scientific technology cores, animal research and shared scientific resources. The position reports to the chief science officer for the institute.

Auger has a background in immunology and cell biology as well as directing flow cytometry core facilities. Her experience and knowledge supports the institute’s vision of advancing scientific research and expansion of technology. As a senior staff scientist at the institute, she develops new initiatives and invests in new technologies to keep Salk at the forefront of scientific discovery and meet the needs of Salk’s scientists. 

She brings over 25 years of expertise in the operation and administration of multitechnology, multidisciplinary academic research core facilities. In addition to her extensive background and expertise in flow cytometry and immunology, she has also directed monoclonal antibody production and immunohistochemistry cores.

Benefits strategy leader Erin Chisdak

joins Nava Benefits as partner

Nava Benefits, a health care benefits brokerage leveraging technology and benefits innovation to tackle the rising costs of health care, welcomes benefits strategy leader Erin Chisdak as partner. 

Based in San Diego, Chisdak’s appointment strengthens Nava’s presence in Southern California and bolsters the company’s ability to bring innovative, modern benefits solutions to small and midsize employers across every industry. Erin will be responsible for helping employers contain healthcare costs while improving the employee experience.

Chisdak joins Nava with over a decade of experience spanning benefits consulting and insurance. Most recently, she served as a client executive at Marsh & McLennan Agency, a division of Marsh, where she provided benefits consulting expertise to small-to-midsize employer groups. 

Previously, she held numerous positions at ADP focused on the small employer market. With a unique background across employee benefits, payroll, human capital management technology, alternative funding, and PEO solutions, Chisdak solves pain points for her clients through architecting scalable, creative solutions that drive results.

Downtown Works expands its Carlsbad

coworking spaces by 50 percent

Downtown Works, known in San Diego County for high-design coworking spaces, has expanded its coworking space on 4.9 acres in Carlsbad at 2011 Palomar Airport Road by 50 percent, adding 13 private, sound-proof, furnished offices and more outdoor meeting areas and work stations. Total number of offices now stands at 43.

The contemporarily designed coworking building is designed for remote workers, startups, creatives, and entrepreneurs in North County.  

Downtown Works features state-of-art technology, art and furnishings that encourage creativity, dynamic problem-solving and productivity, and a lot of free parking. Offices, workstations, and meeting rooms can be rented by the month, week, day, or hour. 

USD launches Violence, Inequality and Power Lab

The University of San Diego on Monday launched the Violence, Inequality, and Power Lab (VIP) at the Joan B. Krok Institute for Peace and Justice, a program focused on cultivating cutting-edge ideas that confront power and end cycles of violence. It was previously known as Impact: Peace.

While violence is the outcome of a multitude of factors, in nearly all instances of violence — whether within homes, in cities, at borders, or impacting entire nations — power inequalities and the drive to retain or obtain power is a dominant factor. The VIP Lab will be a space to explore the relationships of power inequalities to violence at a time when, says VIP Lab director Rachel Locke, “we are seeing mass mobilization to end the inequalities, to end the power abuse that has created these systems.” 

San Diego’s Centura Wealth

Advisory expands to Midwest

San Diego-headquartered wealth manager Centura Wealth Advisory is rapidly expanding into new markets. The addition of Roby Kotcamp added Arizona to the firm’s ever-increasing sphere of influence and now, with the addition of Seth Meisler, they are adding Minnesota.

Meisler is an active philanthropist. In 2006, he was recognized by President George W. Bush for his commitment to the community, which included starting an elementary school in Chicago. Today, he serves on the finance committee of the Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School and on the youth education committee of Beth El Synagogue.

Empower Physical Therapy

adds six California locations

Empower Physical Therapy announced the acquisition of ProActive Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine in San Diego. The practice was established with a single clinic in 2006 by founders Jack Pentlarge and Amyn Valji, and has since grown to six locations across the San Diego and North County metropolitan area.

ProActive Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine provides award-winning outpatient physical therapy services using a hands-on, individualized approach. These personalized treatments assist patients recovering from a range of health issues including pain, vestibular problems, joint issues, post-operative conditions, and sports and work-related injuries. 

ProActive currently operates locations in Carlsbad, Vista, Mission Valley, Rancho Bernardo, Carmel Valley, and National City. With the addition of ProActive Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, therapist-founded and -led Empower Physical Therapy now operates 43 clinics across Arizona, California, Louisiana and Texas.

UC San Diego breaks ground on

interior renovations at Geisel Library

UC San Diego’s flagship Geisel Library is getting a much-needed transformation to make the iconic building as inspirational on the inside as it is on the outside. Renovation of Geisel’s 2nd (main) Floor will enhance the user experience by creating modern, collaborative spaces that advance research and learning. The renovations, which are expected to be completed by July 2022, will create an inspiring arrival experience and organize spaces and services in a simplified and intuitive way.

The total footprint of the renovation is approximately 18,700 square feet, which includes the entrance, lobby and main corridor. Of that, 7,800 square feet of employee workspace is being converted to public user space for the new, all-encompassing Service Hub and Active Learning Classroom.

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