Walnut Creek's Shadelands Business Park Showing its Age

It's a business park that is having trouble attracting business. 

The 240-acre Shadelands Business Park off Ygnacio Valley Road has 2.6 million square feet of mainly office space but a 20 percent vacancy rate. One of the first suburban business parks built in the Bay Area in the 1960s, city leaders are unsure if the park -- which still has major tenants such as Kaiser, Safeway and Del Monte Foods -- will ever again be able to attract enough businesses to fill its buildings. 

"I am concerned that we are waiting for it to come back and it can't," said Mayor Cindy Silva at an April 18 meeting. "There are inherent issues that make it not an ideal business park. Since we have no control over redevelopment ... the longer we wait, the harder it is to get it back on par."

City leaders are grappling with the park's future as they focus on economic development throughout Walnut Creek. And it seems they may see a future where Shadelands could become home to many uses -- think charter schools, a nursery, even a hotel. 

In a good economy, Shadelands does well. But when the economy isn't doing well, it struggles, said Rick Steffens, senior vice president with commercial real estate firm Grubb & Ellis, at the April 18 meeting. The park's challenges stem from it being a secondary market (that doesn't elicit high rents) that isn't adjacent to a freeway or mass transit and is older, he said. 

Steffens said. "You are always fighting that battle to compete with Concord and San Ramon."

Businesses usually choose Shadelands based on price. It rents for about $1.75 a square foot; other areas in Walnut Creek rent for $2.40 or $2.80, Steffens said. He suggests the city look at allowing other uses, such as residential and retail (including mixed use), especially since there are 23 acres of undeveloped land in the park.
"I am not sure that office space is necessarily the end-all for the Shadelands Business Park," Steffens said.
In the past, residential buildings in the business park have not seen much support, but council members now seem willing to look at anything. Silva said she could see senior housing as a good fit, because seniors would be near existing medical offices.
Other city staff members and council members listed ideas such as a winery, charter schools, more medical offices and a hotel. All of these would require land-use changes.
One highly visible undeveloped parcel, owned by Safeway, is at Oak Grove and Ygnacio Valley roads. City leaders suggested this could be an ideal location for retail, such as a nursery or a lumber store.
Safeway representatives were at the April 18 meeting but did not speak. Susan Houghton, a spokeswoman for Safeway, said in an email that the grocery giant is trying to understand the council's vision for the business park and that it was too soon to comment on specifics.
The office park is by no means crumbling. Major tenants have come to the park in recent years, including the Joint Genome Institute, which took over a remodeled Dow Chemical facility, and the Children's Hospital Oakland care center, which opened in 2009.
Council members said the Shadelands discussions are preliminary. Some wondered how surrounding communities would feel about Shadelands becoming less of a business park.
"At some point, we need to think really seriously about a Plan B as it relates to other uses," said Councilman Kish Rajan. "I am not in favor or against anything."
More discussion is certain. In the meantime, council members said they would consider pre-application projects for Shadelands on a case-by-case basis. This is similar to what the council recently did for a former co-op site on Geary Road; that land was designated for mixed-use, but the council changed it to retail so a grocery store could be built.
In the future, the city may create a precise development plan with built-in incentives for Shadelands, similar to what was done in the Mt. Diablo Boulevard-Locust Street specific plan.

Council members also stressed that they don't want to do anything to create an exodus from the park.

"Let's not bury this thing 6 feet under quite yet," said Councilman Gary Skrel. "There are a lot of people that we don't want to leave."

Bay Area News Group-East Bay is based in the Shadelands Business Park. 

Heroku Named #2 on its Annual List of 'Best Places to Work' in the Bay Area

The San Francisco Business Times has named Heroku #2 on its annual list of 'Best Places to Work' in the Bay Area. San Francisco-based Heroku provides the fastest growing and most widely used Ruby Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) available, letting web application developers concentrate on building, deploying and scaling Ruby applications without having to think about servers or system administration. The "Best Places to Work" list comprises a broad cross section of the region's employers across Bay Area counties and is a joint effort of the San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.

 

Employees from almost 500 Bay Area companies participated in an independent, third-party survey that ranks companies based on their employees' ratings of work environment and corporate culture. Heroku was named #2 on the list for companies with 50 employees and under. Heroku received this honor based upon its employees' feedback for the company in a number of areas, including work culture, corporate philosophy, career opportunities, benefits and overall compensation.

Founded by James Lindenbaum, Adam Wiggins, and Orion Henry in 2007, Heroku now has more than 45 employees and has established itself as a leader in cloud PaaS.  In just a few short years, the company spawned from Y Combinator and grew to more than 100,000 customers. It was acquired in early 2011 and retains its own brand and division as a wholly owned subsidiary of San Francisco's salesforce.com. 

The complete results of the 2011 poll were published in the April 22, 2011 issue of the San Francisco Business Times.  To learn more about Heroku and sign up for a free account, visit: http://heroku.com/signup.

About Heroku

Heroku is the leading Ruby platform as a service (PaaS) focused on ease of use, automation, and reliability. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Heroku is a passionate and active supporter of Ruby technologies and cloud architecture. Heroku was recently named to the "Dow Jones FASTech 50 Start-ups to Watch" list, recognized as a Gartner 'Cool Vendor in Application Platforms as a Service' in April 2010, named to the Always OnDemand Top 100 Private Companies, and recognized as a 'Best Products of 2009' and 'Best Platform of 2010" by ReadWriteWeb. For more information, please visit http://heroku.com and http://blog.heroku.com or follow Heroku on Twitter at http://twitter.com/heroku.  Heroku is a wholly owned subsidiary of salesforce.com.

Heroku disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Heroku disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.  Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all.  Customers who purchase Heroku applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available.

Ken Guzzo Announces Bay Area Non-Smoking Center's "Giving Back" Program for 2011

Owner, Ken Guzzo, announces Bay Area Non-Smoking Center's "Giving Back" program for 2011. Guzzo will be donating 10% of his time (two days a month) to help young adults, age 24 and under, stop smoking for free. He is also offering a 50% discount to local police officers and firefighters who want to quit smoking.

"Smoking not only takes an enormous toll on the body over time, but also on a person's self esteem, time, energy, bank account, and so much more," says Guzzo. Most of Bay Area Non-Smoking Center's clients are in their 40's, 50's, or 60's by the time they see Guzzo. And by that time, most are very weary from the burden and filled with shame and regret, according to Guzzo. Stating that financial times are tough now, especially for young people just starting out, Guzzo will be donating his time this year to help young people free themselves from the toxic cravings before their lives are defined by those cravings.

While Guzzo will not benefit financially from these sessions, he will require young individuals to write a short email describing why it is so important to them that they quit smoking. Guzzo will also require a donation of any amount to one of four local charities. "I require these two things because when a client "pays it forward" their success rate remains high, and their system feels good about accepting the gift. By requesting that a donation be given to one of four identified local charities, Guzzo also helps to amplify the number of people who benefit in the community from Bay Area Non-Smoking Clinic's Giving Back program.

The Bay Area Non-Smoking Center also wishes to honor local first responders who risk so much for the community. Active local police officers and firefighters can stop smoking for half price in April through June of 2011. "In these times we need to help each other rather than waiting for government to do it for us," says, Guzzo. "We can make our community a better place one life at a time."

The Bay Area Non-Smoking Center helps people stop smoking and lose weight using a unique hypnotic and neurological process. Click here for a video on Guzzo's advanced techniques. 

The bay Area Non-Smoking Center is a division of Ken Guzzo Enterprises. The clinic is located at 2940 Summit St., Suite 2D, Oakland CA 94609. To learn more about this program visit www.NonSmokingCenter.com or call 1-800-635-8150.

‘Best Place to Work’ for 4th Consecutive Year

EPIC (Edgewood Partners Insurance Center), a retail property, casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage, has been recognized again as a “Best Place to Work in the Bay Area” by both the San Francisco Business Times and the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal. EPIC has been similarly honored through a survey of their Bay Area team members each year since the company was founded in 2007. 

 

“Receiving this recognition is very exciting because it highlights the passion, energy and enthusiasm of our people,” said Mary Smith, director of human resources for EPIC. “We feel strongly that happy, engaged, productive team members, who are challenged by and enjoy their work, will deliver the superior level of client service excellence EPIC is committed to providing. We believe this is a significant reason for the rapid growth of our company and the satisfaction and loyalty of our clients. It is clearly a primary driver of our success.” 

The confidential survey was administered online by Quantum Workplace and included questions that gauged how happy employees are with their work culture, management practices, benefits and overall compensation. This year, employees at 301 companies operating in 12 counties around the Bay Area were surveyed. Of this total, only 125 companies received “Best Places to Work” recognition.

“Though we are pleased and proud to receive this recognition, surveys like this help us to better understand how we’re doing in building a world-class, ‘people-first’ culture that is unique in our industry,” notes Dan R. Francis, EPIC co-founder and CEO. This award is an affirmation that our people value the vision set forth at EPIC, of creating a ‘work life balance’ and helping each other achieve excellence every day.”

About EPIC (Edgewood Partners Insurance Center):
Founded in 2007, EPIC is a new and innovative California-based retail property and casualty, and employee benefits insurance brokerage firm. The company provides a unique equity ownership opportunity and has created a values-based culture that attracts and retains top talent, fosters employee satisfaction and loyalty and sustains a high level of customer service excellence. 

The fastest growing brokerage in the state, EPIC now has nearly 300 team members operating from eight offices across California (Los Angeles, Orange, Irvine, Folsom, San Francisco, San Mateo, Petaluma and San Ramon) and in Baltimore, MD.

With nearly $60 million in revenues, EPIC ranks among the top 50 retail insurance brokers in the United States and is the 5th largest privately-held broker in California. For more information please visit www.edgewoodins.com .

The Role of Charter Schools in Public Education is a Hot Topic these days

The role of charter schools in public education was a hot topic Thursday at the Oakland Education Forum, which drew more than 50 educators, parents and concerned residents at the newly built 81st Avenue Branch Library.

The daylong forum, hosted by the Oakland Tribune, the Bay Area Business Roundtable and the Prescott Joseph Center, centered around four distinct areas: the role of charter schools in K-12 education, the future of regional higher education, and with a crippling $26 billion budget shortfall looming, the role of the private sector and philanthropic organizations in continued education funding across the state. 

An afternoon session focused on the question of what is working. 

A lively panel discussion on the role of Oakland's more than 30 charter schools dominated the morning session. Charter schools use public funds, are non-unionized and have fewer rules. Some have gained national recognition for their success in producing quality education and high numbers of university-bound graduates. But their prevalence in Oakland has also caused concern among many who see their growth as unfair competition to a poorly funded and overstressed public school system.

"Charter schools are like people. Some are good, some are great and some are bad and should be closed," said James Willcox, CEO of Aspire, a California network of charter schools. "We look at ourselves as a small player on a big team."

But Betty Olson-Jones, president of the Oakland Education Association, declared herself "not a fan" of charter schools, and blamed them in part for diverting attention away from a much-needed discussion about how to address systemic changes that would benefit all students, particularly African-American and Latino students who generally fare worse on test scores, graduation rates and basic proficiency scores than their white peers.

"Charter schools tend not to be equitable," she said. "By law they can't discriminate, but they find ways to do so."

Longtime Oakland activist Oscar Wright, 87, said it's critical for the school district to give students the same opportunities regardless of their race and background.

"We need to level the playing field," he said.

However, there is compelling evidence that charter schools, when run properly, can excel where other schools may not. Steve Sexton, founder of East Oakland's Lighthouse Community Charter School, pointed to a recent graduating class from which 95 percent went on to a four-year university. Of those, 84 percent are still enrolled -- a statistic that bucks the state average by a large margin. Sexton argued that the welfare of charter students rested on his shoulders, which gave him an added responsibility.

"If I do my job poorly, I don't exist, and if I'm not doing my job, I shouldn't exist," he said.

Perhaps the most pressing issue for Oakland's educators is how best to address the so-called "achievement gap" between the city's white students, who perform consistently well on standardized tests, and its African-American and Latino students who don't, according to data presented by Arun Ramanathan, a Harvard-educated director of The Education Trust -- West, which advocates for resources to address the needs of students of color.

Ramanathan pointed out that while the achievement gap in Oakland has been steadily decreasing, it is still larger than the state average. The trust recently issued a "report card" in which Oakland scored an F on the gap. In the category of "improvement," however, it earned a B, indicating that recent efforts to address the needs of more students with less money may in fact be working.

"The diversity of our district can pose challenges," he said. "But it can also have benefits in terms of economic growth."

The grim state of K-12 education spills over into higher education, as well. One-third of incoming college students need remedial education courses, according to recent data.

"Forty percent of our students are unprepared for college-level work," said Elnora Webb, president of Laney College. Webb said she has undertaken measures to do away with remedial course work and "embed" more basic skills into college-level work in the hopes of raising the bar. "Remediation is an efficient way of keeping people stuck."

California's budget problems loomed large over all the panels. At Laney College, Webb said she is being forced to "artificially constrain" admissions to cut enrollment by some 3,000 students next year, and that the Peralta Community College District, of which the college is a part, faces a $21 million budget cut, roughly 10 percent of the overall budget. K-12 education faces a similar crisis. One recent study estimated that some districts could face up to $900 in losses per student per year.

"It's an extraordinary loss for students," Ramanathan said.

George Khaldun, chief operating officer for the Harlem Children's Zone, an organization that has been held up as a national model for education reform, spoke at the event.

He said the Harlem program works closely with kids from preschool through college. Counselors call students twice a month to make sure they are on track to earn their degrees. They have 640 students in college now whom they are tracking. 

While the program is well-funded, Khaldun said, "It's not the money," he said, "it's the passion."

Bay Area banks do better in J.D. Power Rankings

If you're a Bay Area bank, you might be reasonably happy. If you're a national bank that does a lot of business here, well, not so much.

This we conclude from J.D. Power & Associates 2011 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, which ranks customer happiness, and unhappiness, with the nation's large and midsize banks. 

While only one California bank - Rabobank, a community bank serving nonmetropolitan areas of the state - is rated "among the best," San Francisco's Wells Fargo, Union Bank and Bank of the West are considered "better than most." Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank does well, but Citibank is merely "about average," while Chase ranked lower, and Bank of America was at the bottom 0f the California heap. 

The rankings, released last week, are based on a nationwide survey of 52,000 customers of banks with at least $2 billion in deposits and 50 branches. Overall, "consumer sentiment toward retail banks appears to have reversed its historical downward slide ... for the first time since 2007," says the study. (sfg.ly/dHv6Uq).

However, Bay Area consumers appeared to be less impressed than the rest of the nation, said Michael Beird, director of banking services at J.D. Powers. "Californians ranked their banks lower than the nation overall, and the Bay Area ranked them even lower than that," said Beird.

Sticking particularly in customers' craw are high and ever-changing fees, slowness of processing transactions, and "in-person interaction," said Beird. "Banks still have a lot of challenges. The main question they need to ask themselves is, does your customer feel valued?"

-- Yes, we value them, said Wells Fargo, responding to the survey. 

"We continue to work and measure customer service internally to understand how we can do an even better job of meeting and exceeding the needs of all of our customers," said spokeswoman Diana Rodriguez.

"We remain committed to putting our customers at the center of everything we do."

Very worthy customers: Quite by chance we received an announcement from Chase that it is committing approximately $2 billion in small business loans to California this year, on top of the more than $2 billion it lent to 44,000 small businesses in the state last year.

Chase should know more where it stands in that respect in the fall, when J.D. Power comes out with its small business banking customer survey.

In the meantime, Chase is moving further up the value chain with the opening of a private banking office in Palo Alto, serving "high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients throughout Silicon Valley and surrounding communities."

We trust the clients will be adequately served.

Reversal of fortune: Did pigs just fly?

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, says the oil depletion allowance is "certainly something we should be looking at.

"We're in a time when the federal government's short on revenues," he told ABC News the other day. "I don't think the big oil companies need to have the oil depletion allowances. 

"They ought to be paying their fair share."

Seeing as the allowances are worth billions to oil companies, we contacted America's second largest, San Ramon's Chevron Corp., for a response.

A spokesman there referred me to the American Petroleum Institute, the industry's chief lobbying group. The institute, in turn, sent me a statement from its chief economist, referring not directly to Boehner's comments, but to similar proposals offered by President Obama, the latest in a letter to congressional leaders on Tuesday.

"This is a proposal borne of desperation that would do nothing to reduce gasoline prices," said the economist, John Felmy. "It would reduce investment in new oil and natural gas projects, cost new jobs and decrease oil and natural gas production.

"Congress has rejected this approach before because this bad policy ... could ultimately reduce revenue to the government."

We presume the statement reflects Chevron's position. Whether the company picks up the lobbying cudgels itself, or has the API take the lead role, remains to be seen.

-- When the British government raised taxes on North Sea oil and gas production, as part of its deficit reduction drive, Chevron CEO John Watson came out swinging, warning of "unintended consequences in terms of where we choose to invest." 

He was referring specifically to Chevron's planned $7.5 billion investment in an oil field off the north coast of Scotland. 

"Chevron produces oil and gas in 26 different countries. ... We choose venues that have the right geologic and fiscal terms," he told the Financial Times. While it's "early days" to consider canceling the investment, "it was very disappointing to see the tax hike."

So far, the British government has stood firm in the face of pressure from Chevron, and other oil companies operating in the region. So far.

Insurance Giant Humana will Hire an Additional 130 People in Tampa Bay Area

Insurance giant Humana keeps adding employees in the Tampa Bay area, announcing Wednesday that it will hire an additional 130 people locally in coming months.

Humana said it is expanding its Humana Cares unit, which serves chronically ill insurance customers. The Louisville, Ky.-based company said the employees will be added by July at the Humana Cares national care center, located in the Carillon business park in St. Petersburg.

It will add an additional 47 people in other locations, bringing its new round of hiring to 177 people in all locations. 

Humana has been expanding its Humana Cares division rapidly over the past couple of years. The division opened in early 2009 and expects to have nearly 1,000 employees by summer, the company said.

Jobseekers can visit the company's website at www.humana.com/resources/about/careers.

The Region is Going to be an early Battleground for Facebook & Google

With Facebook Deals launching in the Bay Area on Tuesday, and Google (GOOG) planning to enter the Internet discount deals market here, the region will be an early battleground that may show how incumbent leaders Groupon and LivingSocial stack up against the world's biggest social network and its most popular search engine.

Facebook Deals launched Tuesday as a test product in the Bay Area and four other U.S. metro areas, but the Palo Alto social network says its version of merchant discount offers distributed 

over the Internet differs from its competitors because it is designed to be "social from the ground up."

"We, with this product, are focused on the experience first and the discount second," Emily White, director of Local for Facebook, said in an interview. Some Facebook Deals will not even have a discount attached, White said. 

Early Bay Area offers included $50 tickets to a San Jose Earthquakes game (down from $75) at Stanford Stadium in July where coupon holders get to meet members of the 1994 U.S. World Cup soccer team, paddleboard lessons in Santa Cruz and wine tasting in Mountain View.

"We've done Groupon in the past and we've done some of these other deal sites, and the thing that appealed to us with Facebook was  that it was really an offer to be doing something around your friends," said Dave Kaval, president of the Earthquakes.

Facebook members must opt in to the service, but the News Feed for a large share of Facebook users ultimately will include a notification when a friend buys a deal or shares an offer. In fact, Facebook tells prospective business partners in a manual for the Deals product that it has eight options for merchants to broadcast their deal offers, including the News Feed, email and ads that run on the right side of a user's homepage.

Facebook is not disclosing the revenue split with businesses, although people familiar with the service said the merchant keeps a larger share than with Groupon. Facebook Deals will ultimately go national, but, White said, Facebook is focused on fine-tuning the service first. "We really want to get the product right, and then launch it everywhere."

Less is known about Google's discount deals product. It will be called Google Offers, with a minimum 50 percent discount from the market price. Google Offers will launch first in Portland, Ore., where the Mountain View Internet company has already begun running ads for the service, followed by the Bay Area and New York City.

Analysts say Facebook, and potentially Google, could pose a potent threat to Chicago-based Groupon, in part because of the vast amount of information Facebook and Google have about their users, data that could be used to target deal offers. Facebook also benefits from its 600 million-member network, "a trust-filtered network" where people may pay more attention to a deal offer, said Michael Fauscette, an analyst who follows social media companies for the research firm IDC. He said Facebook's service stands out because of its focus on social experiences.

"That could be pretty powerful because that's not really how the other guys have approached it," Fauscette said. "I think it's got to be something of a threat (to Groupon and other online discounters), but I don't think this is one of those winner-take-all scenarios."

Fauscette is less optimistic about efforts by Google, which tried to buy both Groupon and Yelp, and has tapped rising star Marissa Mayer to lead development of its own product. But not everyone agrees. Google Offers could be integrated into search and the map-based product Google Places, so a search for "pizza" might produce not only a map of pizzerias, but a map of those with the best discounts.

"I think Google could be a strong second in this race," said Jason Hennessey, CEO of Eversparkinteractive.com, an Atlanta search optimization company.

It's unclear what the entry of giants like Google and Facebook will mean for smaller online deal providers.

This newspaper has an online digital deal broker, GotDailyDeals.com, and Jeff Herr, vice president, digital for the California Newspapers Partnership that publishes 34 daily newspapers in the state, said there is a place for local providers.

"It's easy for a business operator to get into a very bad place by doing a Daily Deal that is not well conceived," Herr said in an email. "We live here. Our team is local. And we have for years worked hard to help our neighbors with advertising strategy. That is unique to what we bring to our clients."

Firms Have Paid $350 Million to Buy a Controlling Stake in Bigpoint Games

Two private equity firms have paid $350 million to buy a controlling stake in Bigpoint Games, a German company with a large and growing San Francisco office, from a couple of institutional investors who invested several years ago in the pioneer of browser-based gaming.

TA Associates and Summit Partners, which among other places have offices in Menlo Park and Palo Alto, respectively, are buying a controlling block of shares held by Comcast Interactive Capital’s Peacock Equity Fund, GMT Communications Partners and GE.

Bigpoint founder and CEO Heiko Hubertz will continue to hold a 30 percent interest. Bigpoint opened its San Francisco office about a year ago and has about 100 employees in the city, where it plans to hire an equal number over the coming year, Hubertz said recently. Worldwide, the company has about 700 people.

The company has been selling virtual goods for eight years. Hubertz said revenue is more than $200 million, more than double the previous year, but he would not be specific.

In June of 2008, GE/NBC Universal’s Peacock Equity Fund bought a 35 percent stake in Bigpoint for roughly $40 million on a $110 million valuation. Comcast and NBC merged earlier this year.

Megumi Ikeda, executive director of Comcast Interactive Capital, said the Bigpoint investment produced an "excellent return."

TERIS Hired Ian Bagger as its Director of Client Services for the Bay Area Region

TERIS Bay Area announced today that it has hired Ian Bagger as its Director of Client Services for the Bay Area Region. In assuming this new position for the company, Bagger will build and manage an important group responsible for overall client satisfaction. He brings to TERIS a deep background in litigation and electronic discovery management, following a successful career as a practicing attorney. TERIS Bay Area continues to see a dramatic increase in its eDiscovery business in the Bay Area thus far in 2011, and it counts on Bagger to strengthen the client services offering TERIS's growing business will require. 

Bagger has more than 20 years of professional experience, successfully migrating from an early career as an attorney to become one of the industry's top eDiscovery project management experts. He comes to TERIS from Black Letter Discovery, where he personally managed large-scale electronic discovery projects for AmLaw 100 firms and general counsels of large corporations. While at Black Letter, he also built and led the team of project managers. In addition to serving as an attorney and eDiscovery project manager, Bagger has experience as a professional instructor, having taught preparation courses for students studying for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) for over seven years. 

At TERIS, his responsibilities include:
Consulting on eDiscovery management for large and complex cases
Overseeing the Bay Area Client Services department
Enhancing TERIS's best practices
Designing cost effective strategies for exploiting TERIS's suite of eDiscovery technologies
Ensuring that our clients continue to receive the high level project management that they've come to expect from TERIS 

"Ian has a wide range of professional legal experience that will serve our clients well as Director of Client Services," said Kevin Brooks, Executive Vice President, TERIS Northern California. "Combined with our other recent hires, TERIS professionals now offer a breadth of expertise that adds real value to our clients as we continue to provide five star service in the marketplace. We are excited about the growth prospects for Ian and are confident he will help us continue to improve our clients' experience with TERIS."

Ian is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and received his JD from the University of California, Los Angeles. He also earned a Diploma with Honors from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. 

ABOUT TERIS

Founded in 1996, TERIS provides legal support and sophisticated eDiscovery solutions to corporate legal teams and law firms across the U.S. and internationally. TERIS' staff of over 300 was named one of the top 20 eDiscovery service providers by industry researcher Socha-Gelbmann in 2008. The company has offices in Seattle, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Diego, Phoenix, Austin, Dallas, Houston and Chicago. To learn more about TERIS, visit www.TERIS.com or follow the company on Twitter at Twitter.com/DiscoverTERIS or Facebook (Facebook.com/TERIS). 

Media Contact: David Kaufer, 425-275-8814 (mobile); 206-521-8717 (office) or DKaufer (at) TERIS.com

The Bay Area Chamber of Commerce Picked Up 125 New Members

The Bay Area Chamber of Commerce picked up 125 new members last week during a two and a half day expansion campaign.

Mike Seward, the chamber's president, said current members broke into 11 teams in a friendly competition to recruit the most new businesses.

"It was a fantastic success," Seward said. "It certainly surpassed my expectations. I was hoping that we would get 100 new members."

Between Tuesday and Thursday last week, businesses throughout the Bay City area were offered up to $2,000 in incentives to join the chamber.

Seward said those incentives included several hundred dollars in advertising and the waiving of bank fees. The chamber's membership now stands at more than 900.

Most of the businesses that joined the chamber are small, employing 50 or fewer employees, Seward said.

"It's these kind of great companies in the area who we probably have not asked to join before," he said.

Those that joined during the new membership campaign include Bay City Academy, a charter school slated to open its doors in September; Castaways, a bar and restaurant located at 3940 Boy Scout Road in Bangor Township; and the Kawkawlin River Watershed Property Owners Association.

It was the chamber's first new membership campaign in a year and a half, according to Seward, who added that the success last week has the chamber considering another campaign next year.

"We believe that every single business that's located in the bay area should be a member of the Bay Area Chamber because we're here to represent the business community," Seward said.

Seward said it was too early to say which of the chamber's 11 teams brought in the most new members during the campaign.

But Do-All Inc. President and CEO Chris Girard, who organized the chamber's new membership drive, had an idea.

"Well, there was a Do-All team and they did pretty good," Girard said, laughing. "Overall, I think each team did its part to recruit new members. It was a nice team effort."

Bay Area Business Updates

Tuesday

Green  Area Retired Men's Club: 8:30 a.m. social, 9:30 a.m. program, Brown County Library, 515 Pine St., Auditorium (lower level), Green Bay. Charles Wilson discusses financial smart choices in retirement. (920) 434-4925.

Wednesday

UWGB SHRM Chapter Alumni Event: 6 p.m., The Meadows, 850 Kepler Drive, Green Bay. Dinner and alumni panel for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay's current human resource management students and alumni. Shannon Sutton, (920) 973-0584 or email suttsb22@uwgb.edu.

Friday

RoundUp: Are the Pro's worth the Con's?: 1-4 p.m., Northeast  Technical College, 2740 W. Mason St., Student Center, Room SC128, Green Bay. Don Huber, professor emeritus, Purdue University is a soil scientist who has studied this herbicide and its effects on soil, plants, animals and humans. $15 at the door. Glacierland RC&D, (920) 498-5568.

Saturday

Effective Internet Marketing: 6-8 p.m., Brown County Central Library meeting rooms, 515 Pine St., Green Bay. Registration requested, (920) 448-5825.

Saturday-May 21

Diverse Community Leaders Workshop: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. April 30, May 7, 14, 21, Howe Resource Center, 526 S. Monroe, Green Bay. Email sherry@HoweResourceCenter.org for an application.

May 3, 10

Start Your Own Business workshop: 6-9:30 p.m., Business Assistance Center, NWTC Campus, 2701 Larsen Road, Green Bay. Sponsored by the Green Bay Chapter of SCORE. Topics include business planning, business insurance, marketing strategies, accounting and taxes, legal issues, and financing. $45 for both sessions or $30 for one. www.greenbayscore.org/scheduled_workshop2.html; www.greenbayscore.org/downloads/SCOREbrochure11_May.pdf.

May 5

St. Norbert College Women's Enrichment Series: "The Face of Peacebuilding in the 21st Century": Noon, Hendrickson Dining Room, F.K. Bemis International Center, SNC, De Pere. Presenter: Robert Pyne. $18. Amy Sorenson, (920) 403-3165 or amy.sorenson@snc.edu, or visit www.snc.edu/president/womensenrichment.

May 7

Rotary Club Shipyard Tours: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. in Sturgeon Bay. Learn about Sturgeon Bay's shipbuilding industry at Palmer Johnson Yachts, Bay Shipbuilding and Great Lakes Yacht Services, all on First Street, Sturgeon Bay. Start the tour at any facility. Guided walking tours offered at Bay Shipbuilding and Great Lakes Yacht Services; self-guided walking tours at Palmer Johnson Yachts. Proceeds benefit The Rotary Club of Sheboygan's local youth programs, projects and activities. $12 adults, $6 ages 11-17, free age 10 and younger. Ben Rikkola, (920) 743-4949.

May 10

Start Your Own Business workshop: 6-9:30 p.m., Business Assistance Center, NWTC Campus, 2701 Larsen Road, Green Bay. Sponsored by the Green Bay Chapter of SCORE. Topics include business planning, business insurance, marketing strategies, accounting and taxes, legal issues, and financing. $30. www.greenbayscore.org/scheduled_workshop2.html; www.greenbayscore.org/downloads/SCOREbrochure11_May.pdf.

May 17

OSHA Update for Residential Construction Class–Fall Protection Standards: 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m., PRO-Build, 3400 S. Ridge Road, De Pere. OSHA compliance including fall-protection changes effective June 13. Sponsored by Brown County Home Builders Association in affiliation with the Wisconsin Builders Association Foundation. Approved by Wisconsin Department of Commerce for four continuing education credits toward the Dwelling Contractor Qualifier Credential. Julie Yelle, (920) 494-9020, Ext. 104, www.wisbuild.org.
10 Steps To Successful Project Management: 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Holiday Inn, Fond du Lac. Sponsored by American Society of Training and Development-Northeast and Southeast Wisconsin chapters. (800) 731-7488 or james@jbassoc.biz

May 18

National Board Certification information session: 4:30-6 p.m., UW-Green Bay, 1965 Room, University Union. Speakers: Connie Wolf, Middle Childhood Generalist and Dr. Ron Jetty, WEAC Teaching and Learning Consultant. Open to teachers and counselors interested in professional development Sponsored by The Institute for Learning Partnership and Wisconsin Education Association Council. Free. Juliet Cole, (920) 465-5555.

Aug. 8-12

Spanish Immersion for Professionals: UW-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay For customer service representatives, call center employees, hospitality workers, social workers, bankers, teachers and health care workers. $395 noncredit instruction; $625 two undergraduate credits in Spanish; $975 for two graduate credits in education. Register by July 25. Information/registration: www.uwgb.edu/outreach/sip/ (920) 465-2775 or (800) 621-2313.

Bay Area Biotech Executive Dr. John Curd Died

Longtime Bay Area biotech executive Dr. John Curd, who helped shepherd the Genentech cancer drugs Herceptin and Rituxan through clinical trials and most recently was president and chief medical officer of Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc., died unexpectedly Wednesday at his home.

Curd, who joined Threshold (NASDAQ: THLD) in October 2007 and oversaw the Redwood City-based company’s clinical development work, apparently died of natural causes, the company said. He was 65.

“We are very much in shock and frief by this sudden loss of our colleague and friend, and our immediate thoughts go out to John’s family,” Threshold CEO Barry Selick said in a prepared statement.

Threshold is entering a pivotal Phase III trial with a treatment for soft tissue sarcoma. The same drug, TH-302, is being looked at in multiple trials, including one for advanced pancreatic cancer.

Curd’s death is not expected to have an impact on Threshold’s planned or ongoing clinical trials, the company said.

Before coming to Threshold, Curd was president and chief medical officer of Novacea Inc., senior vice president of development at Maxygen Inc. and executive vice president at VaxGen Inc. He also cofounded Cyterix Pharmaceuticals Inc.

At Genentech from late 1991 until June 1999, Curd was vice president of clinical development. He directed the clinical development of Herceptin, a groundbreaking breast cancer treatment, and Rituxan, which is approved to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis and, most recently, advanced follicular lymphoma.

“Everyone who knew him loved him,” said Jay “Marty” Tenenbaum of CollabRx, where Curd was a board member and consulting chief medical officer.

Google Offers Has Arrived

Remember back in November when Google tried to acquire Groupon for $6 billion? Well, Groupon declined the deal and left Google hanging, but you didn’t really expect Google to back out of that market completely, did you?

 

Google has had another plan up its sleeve since January. The search engine mega giant has rolled out a beta test of its own daily deals engine called Google Offers, which is currently making its mark on Portland, New York City and the Bay Area.

Just like Groupon, Google Offers users just need to sign up here to receive daily discounts offers on restaurants, spa deals and other attractions in their email inboxes.

See top stories in the WDM Content Network:
• Top Ten Biggest Brands
• Google Video shuts down, YouTube preferred
• Click here to read the latest edition of Business Review USA 

Google has introduced a new element to the coupon subscription game, as Google Offers displays deals on a map and allows users to pick bargains based on location and compare competing deals within the service.

Although the actual offers are not yet available, the beta sign up is indeed live and folks can subscribe and eagerly await the service’s regular emails, which will first hit Portland, then New York, San Francisco and Oakland.

The pool of services in this vein is starting to get crowded—Facebook has launched Facebook Deals to connect users and local businesses with discounts, and Scoutmob, which offers subscribers mobile coupons that don’t require any initial purchase, has expanded to 13 cities with seven more on the horizon.

All this competition can only mean good things for the purchasing public, so keep it coming, guys.

The 105-Year-Old Carding Machine Inside Embarrass Carding Mill is a Link to the Past

The 105-year-old carding machine inside Embarrass Carding Mill is a link to the past, but it's also a way forward for a young business owner.

Its iron parts make up the heart of the mill — a business owned by a proprietor 83 years younger than the hulking piece of equipment.

"I love it," said owner Andrea Olson, a 22-year-old quilter who bought the business late last summer. "To own my own  and to be doing something as different as this; there are only a couple left in the state of Wisconsin."

Carding is a specialized operation; an Internet search turns up about a half dozen active carding businesses in .For some, the history and unique nature of the business is part of the lure.

Tom Courtney, who runs Courtney Woolen Mill in Appleton, carries on a business that has been in the family since 1904.

"It's a niche business, and a lot of people don't realize (carding) is around here anymore," he said.

Although most of Courtney's customers come from a 100-mile radius of Appleton, he does business around the nation.

Courtney Woolen Mill has been on the national register of historic places since the early 1990s.

"It's a working museum … and it's just nice to see the old machine still running," he said.

Georgia Mommaerts, a former Green Bay-area resident, ran Quail Hill Carding Co. in Hillsboro for 20 years before selling her business in fall 2009 to a longtime customer.

The business now operates in South Dakota as Dakota Carding & Wool Co.

Prior to running Quail Hill, Mommaerts had been raising sheep and sending the fleece to Iowa for carding.

She eventually bought the carding machine when the owners opted to retire and ran her own business — "quite successfully," she said — for two decades.

"I saw that big old machine, and I just fell in love with it," Mommaerts said. "There is a whole big market out there (for fiber) that people don't even know about."

Nate Michonski, Olson's fiancée, said customers are happy to see a younger couple involved in the business.

"They know it's going to be around for a long time," he said. "Older people that come in say they remember coming in here when they were little kids and their parents would bring them in. They love the fact we're going to keep it going."

A mechanic by trade, Michonski, 31, looks at the carding machine with respect.

"There's a lot of engineering involved in it. Each wheel has to spin at a certain RPM, you have chain and belt upkeep and the gears have to stay clean," he said. "The basic maintenance is still there, like anything else."

Olson — who also sells cell phones for Cellcom in Shawano — said the machine in her shop was taken by train from New York and put on a sled from Clintonville to Embarrass in the early 1900s.

 

Despite the age of Courtney's machine — 1880s vintage — the equipment is reliable.

Michonski said the previous owners, Wayne and Peggy Rindt, explained the business well, and there haven't been many surprises — although it's been busier then expected.

The mill has picked up additional business from the Wausau area after a similar operation there closed, he said.

Word-of-mouth is the main source of advertising for Embarrass Carding Mill .

Olson said there's a regional and national market for her services. A California resident called her about getting a wool quilt refurbished.

"They heard about us at a (Houston, Texas) wool festival," she said.

Doing Business in San Francisco can be Bad for a Company’s Bottom Line

Doing business in San Francisco can be bad for a company’s bottom line, a new report suggests.

Consider this statistic: A business in San Francisco with 108 employees and a payroll of $5.4 million would pay $81,000 a year in annual taxes while the same business in San Jose would only pay $1,800.

That’s just one of the findings in a report by Budget Analyst Harvey Rose released last week. The report, which was requested by Supervisor Mark Farrell, surveyed 20 jurisdictions — 14 cities including San Francisco and six states — to see how those places taxed businesses and what incentives they offered.

According to the report, San Francisco was the only jurisdiction that taxed companies based on its payroll, which includes stock options. That tax is “significantly greater” than other flat taxes levied in 13 of the 20 areas studied by the report. San Jose, for instance, charges $18 per employee for businesses with more than eight employees while San Francisco taxes 1.5 percent of the total payroll.

Meanwhile, 14 of the places surveyed offer at least one type of financial incentive such as tax credits to businesses. San Francisco was not one of them, although it has offered tax breaks to attract businesses to certain areas such as Mission Bay.

While the report didn’t draw any conclusions, Farrell said it showed that San Francisco needs to change the way it attracting and retaining companies in The City.

“Not only are other regions not taxing people, but they’re offering incentives as well,” said Farrell, a venture capitalist elected to the board in November. “They’re investing in the future as cities and regions. I think it’s a good starting point to look at these other regions and see what’s working.”

The report comes out at a time when San Francisco leaders are scrambling to keep tech startups such as Twitter, Zynga and Yelp.

The Board of Supervisors already passed a six-year payroll tax exemption for businesses that move into a blighted area of Market Street including Twitter. The second step, according to Farrell, Mayor Ed Lee and Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, is to eliminate taxes on stock options.

After that, Chiu said, The City should be looking at changing the payroll tax in general. One option on the table is changing the payroll tax to a gross receipts tax, taxing businesses on their profits, not on the number of people employed.

“I ran a tech company for over eight years and I ran for office on the fundamental belief that San Francisco is not an easy environment for companies that are innovative,” Chiu said.

Brian Brennan with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group says that companies that have yet to go public on the stock market are wary of hiring new employees in San Francisco because of the tax restrictions.

“When governments everywhere are all about job production, a tax on jobs seems to be counterproductive,” Brennan said.

As tech booms, many worry about a bust

Efforts to keep technology businesses in The City and grow the Silicon Valley north may be the signal that tech startups are booming in The City.

That sounds familiar to a lot of people who watched the dot-com bust in San Francisco a decade ago. Jennifer Thompson produced the film “American Dream 2.0” about three individuals struggling during the crash.

“One of the things that stands out most in my mind is driving down the streets on Sundays and the sidewalks are littered with homes-for-sale signs,” recalled Thompson, who now runs San Francisco-based production company Green21. “It felt very vacant.”

Deals are once again being made and that has helped the Bay Area recover from the recession, but it’s important to remember that it cuts both ways, according to city Economist Ted Egan. Technology businesses are also the fastest to fall.

“The industry is characterized by bigger swings on the whole,” Egan said. “What’s happened as we became more tech heavy is we are more part of that boom or bust cycle.”

There’s a lot of discussion about another dot-com bust, according to Brian Brennan of the Silicon Valley Leadership Institute.

“What I think is, there will always be the possibility,” Brennan said. “The very fact that people are talking about it and raising concerns means that it may not be as big a problem.”

“Sometimes it does feel like the dot-com days,” Thompson said. “People say that all the time and there seems to be an awareness. But it’s exciting.”

Top of the tax heap

San Francisco has the highest business taxes out of 20 areas in a new report. Here’s a sample:

San Francisco: 1.5 percent on payrolls of more than $250,000 and an annual fee ranging from $25 to $500
Mountain View: Annual fee ranging from $30-$100
Palo Alto: One-time fee of $381
San Diego: Annual fee of $125, plus $5 per employee
San Jose: Annual fee of $150 plus $18 per employee over eight employees
Boston: $50 to $75 paid every four years
New York: 8.85 percent of business’ net income, plus other methods
Seattle: Annual fee of $90 plus 0.15 to 0.415 percent gross receipts tax

Source: San Francisco Legislative and Budget Analyst

Best Places to Work in Bay Area Unveiled

The San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal recognized 125 employers Thursday evening as the Best Places to Work in the Bay Area 2011.

The eighth annual Best Places to Work awards recognized the top employees in five categories based on company size. These five employers earned No. 1 rankings: Intuit; Kimpton; Bradley Real Estate; Galileo Learning; and Akraya.

The companies and their stories are featured in a 32-page special section in the April 22-28 issues of the The San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.

This year’s ranking Best Places to Work brought nominations from 301 companies representing employees in 12 counties around the greater Bay Area. Some 187,756 employees at those companies were given multiple-choice surveys that resulted in the rankings reported.

Tampa Bay area - Health Care, Public Relations, Real Estate and Technology News

Health care

Bay Pines VA Healthcare System, 10000 Bay Pines Blvd., St. Petersburg. The facility includes intensity-modulated radiation therapy, varian trilogy linear accelerator and a large-bore CT-scanner. (727) 398-6661 or visit www.baypines.va.gov.

Public relations

JoTo Expreme PR, 411 Cleveland St., Suite 204, Clearwater, announces the addition of Results Physical Therapy to its client portfolio. (888) 202-4614 or visit www.jotorp.com.

Real estate

Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc., One Tampa City Center, Suite 3600, Tampa, announces these lease and sale transactions. Industrial leases: ARA Properties No. 3 Ltd, c/o PLC to P.V.C Medical Center Inc., 1,400 square feet, industrial office/warehouse space, lease renewal, Airport Industrial Park, 5011-N W Hillsborough Ave., Tampa; to Solanes Truce Parts Export Inc., 1,800 square feet, industrial/warehouse space, lease renewal, Airport Industrial Park, 5011 Rio Vista Ave., Tampa; and to Stone International Inc., 1,750 square feet, industrial office/warehouse space, lease renewal, Airport Industrial Park, 5011-B W Hillsborough Ave., Tampa; EastGroup Properties LP to O'Laker's Moving Inc., 6,545 industrial office/warehouse space, lease renewal, Palm River Center, 9207 Palm River Road, Suite 103, Tampa; to Gtech Printing Corp., 48,800, industrial office/warehouse space, lease renewal, Walden Distribution Center, 2501 Willamette Drive, Suite 110, Plant City; and to Shred-It USA Inc., 13,090 square feet, industrial office/warehouse space, new lease, Palm River South, 9211 Palm River Road, Building 1, Tampa. Office leases: KP Holdings Florida LLC/KC Investor Florida 1 LLC/KC Investors Florida II LLC to Yesner & Boss PL, 5,822 square feet, suburban office space, new lease, 9800 Fourth St. N, Suite 402, St. Petersburg; AHC Metro Harborside LLC to MarineMax Inc., 24,893 square feet, suburban office space, lease renewal, Harbourside, 18161 U.S. Highway 19 N, Suite 300, Clearwater; James Buchanan Realty, 15 Street East LLC, to Autopart International, 7,200, other office space, new lease, 4515 15th Street East, Suite 4, Bradenton; Lane Witherspoon & Carswell, the Beaux Arts Installation Group Inc., to FGHP Properties Ltd Partnership, 1,435 square feet, suburban office space, expansion lease, 8607 Benjamin Drive, Northport Buildings IV, V and VI, Tampa; ACP Westshore Place LLC c/o EOLA Capital to James E. Albertelli PA, 3,500 square feet, suburban office space, lease renewal, Westshore Corporate Center, 600 N West Shore Blvd., Suite 410, Tampa; and Tampa Bay Investors LLC to Acosta Inc., 151 square feet, suburban office space, expansion lease, Riverside at Telecom Park, 12470 Telecom Drive, Suites 200 W and 200 E, Temple Terrace. (813) 223-6300 or visit www.cushwake.com

Technology

Bayshore Solutions, 600 N West Shore Blvd., Suite 700, Tampa, announces the launch of Phix.com, for the sleep aid company Phix. Bayshore Solutions provided a customized online shopping cart, and to organize their product offerings. Also, Bayshore Solutions will manage internet marketing, pay per click advertising, social media and secure hosting. (813) 902-0141 or visit www.bayshoresolutions.com

Best Small Work Place in Bay Area

This is an excerpt from the 2011 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area special publication. 

No. 1 (small companies): Galileo Learning

Score: 97.40

Bay Area employees: 65

Business type: Educational summer camps

Headquarters: Oakland

Top Bay Area executive: Glen Tripp

The San Francisco Business Times publishes industry rankings in each issue of the paper and reprints them at the end of the year for our annual Book of Lists. These lists are unique and authoritative source of Bay Area business news