Olympics: Two Bay Area Women Help Power U.S. Eight Boat into Rowing Final

Two Bay Area athletes helped the U.S. women's eight crew to victory in its opening race Sunday, setting up a finals showdown with Canada in what shapes up as one of the top events of the Olympic regatta.

Cal grad Erin Cafaro of Modesto and Stanford product Elle Logan contributed to the Americans' winning time of 6 minutes, 14.68 seconds on Dorney Lake. Runnerup Australia was more than six seconds behind.

The U.S. team is unbeaten the past six years. Cafaro and Logan both rowed in the Americans' 2008 Olympic gold medal boat.

In Thursday's final, the Americans will duel powerful Canada, which won the other opening race in 6:13.91.

"It was a strong first race," American rower Taylor Ritzel said. "It's always nice to finally just feel the race ... and get a race under our belts. Can't wait for the final now." Canada, which lost by three hundredths of a second to the U.S. in a recent World Cup regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, finished nearly a length ahead of Romania in a slightly quicker time of 6:13.91 in the second heat. That was the final race of the day, ending just before thunder and lightning rumbled over the course.

"It's going to come down to the last stroke," U.S. coxswain Mary Whittle said.

Elsewhere, Lafayette's Anthony Fahden and the U.S. men's lightweight four boat won its repechage race in 6:00.86 to advance to Tuesday's semifinal.

Livermore native Julie Nichols and partner Kristin Hedstrom placed third in their first-round heat of the women's lightweight double sculls and will try to stay alive in a repechage race on Tuesday. Hedstrom and Nichols, a Cal grad and PhD student at UCLA, crossed in 7:08.46.

Olympic and world champion Britain made a timely return to form in the men's lightweight double sculls to seal a morale-boosting victory against rival New Zealand in the heats.

Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase started the year as one of the host nation's leading gold-medal hopes but appeared to lack fitness. They slumped to disappointing sixth-place finishes in the last two World Cup events, in Lucerne and Munich.

Wells Fargo Insurance Names Bob Volkel Head of Bay Area Operations

Continuing to expand its leadership team and invest in resources to better serve its Bay Area customers, Wells Fargo Insurance(1) - part of Wells Fargo & Company WFC -0.63% - has appointed Bob Volkel to lead its Bay Area operations. In his role, Volkel will lead the Insurance Brokerage and Consulting sales and service teams who offer a wide array of products, services and consulting in the areas of employee benefits, and property and casualty insurance. He will manage the San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Carlos, Scotts Valley and Walnut Creek offices across the Bay Area. Volkel will be based in San Carlos and report to Rich Lane, Regional Managing Director for Wells Fargo Insurance's Northwest Region.

"The Bay Area is an extremely important market for Wells Fargo Insurance and we will continue to invest in the resources and talent to best serve our customers," said Lane. "As we continue to enhance our business structure, we anticipate job growth that will create some outstanding career opportunities for a number of talented insurance professionals, both within and outside of Wells Fargo Insurance."

"We are committed to growing our team and investing in strong talent like Bob who will support our continued growth in the region and within the industry as a whole," added Lane. "Being part of Wells Fargo provides us with a tremendous market advantage that simply doesn't exist elsewhere."

"I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to lead our Bay Area team," said Volkel. "We have a tremendous number of talented, customer-focused team members who will continue to address our customers' insurance needs and support our future growth in this very important market."

Prior to his new role, Volkel was co-head of the national practice for Wells Fargo Insurance's Executive Benefits and Retirement Plan Services. Before joining Wells Fargo, he was Executive Vice President and leader of the Employee Benefits Division of ABD Insurance and Financial Services.

Ranked the 5th largest broker in the world and part of Wells Fargo & Company, Wells Fargo Insurance has an unparalleled level of financial stability and depth of resources to serve both the financial and insurance needs of its customers. For more information on career opportunities with Wells Fargo Insurance, visit https://employment.wellsfargo.com

About Wells Fargo Insurance

Wells Fargo Insurance(1)is the fifth largest insurance broker in the world. With 160 offices in 36 states, Wells Fargo Insurance provides solutions for a wide range of customers, including retail consumers, high net worth individuals, small businesses, as well as middle market and large corporate customers. The 7,200 insurance professionals of Wells Fargo Insurance write $20 billion of risk premiums annually in property, casualty, benefits, international, personal lines and life products.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company WFC -0.63% is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.3 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs, the Internet (wellsfargo.com), and has offices in more than 35 countries to support the bank's customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 265,000 full-time equivalent team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 26 on Fortune's 2012 rankings of America's largest corporations. Wells Fargo's vision is to satisfy all our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially.

McClurg Capital Corporation Selected For "Largest Securities Firms In The Bay Area"

McClurg Capital Corporation of San Rafael, CA has been honored with a recognition by San Francisco Business Times in its selection of "Largest Securities Firms In The Bay Area."

Announcing a special recognition appearing in the July, 2012 issue of San Francisco Business Times published by American City Business Journals. McClurg Capital Corporation was selected for the following honor:

"Largest Securities Firms In The Bay Area"

A spokesperson from McClurg Capital Corporation commented on the recognition: "This is quite an honor for us. The fact that San Francisco Business Times included McClurg Capital Corporation in its selection of 'Largest Securities Firms In The Bay Area,' signals that our constant efforts towards business excellence are paying off. We are proud to be included in this recognition."

About McClurg Capital Corporation: a short profile by and about the honoree:

According to David McClurg, the firm's founder, "The best financial plan is to make more money for our client. Many financial advisors sell a complex plan rather than superior investment performance. And performance is the more important of the two. The planning process by itself is not productive unless it is profitably implemented. McClurg Capital does both and that is what has made us grow."

Following the publication of McClurg Capital Corporation's selection for San Francisco Business Times's Largest Securities Firms In The Bay Area list, American Registry seconded the honor and added McClurg Capital Corporation to the "Registry of Business Excellence(TM)". An exclusive recognition plaque, shown here, has been designed to commemorate this honor.

For more information on McClurg Capital Corporation, located in San Rafael, CA please call 415-472-1445, or visit www.mcclurgcapital.com .

This press release was written by American Registry, LLC with contributions from McClurg Capital Corporation on behalf of McClurg Capital Corporation and was distributed by PR Newswire, a subsidiary of UBM plc.

American Registry, LLC is an independent company that serves businesses and professionals such as McClurg Capital Corporation who have been recognized for excellence. American Registry offers news releases, plaques and The Registry(TM), an online listing of over 2 million significant business and professional recognitions. Search The Registry(TM) at http://www.americanregistry.com .

Contact Info: McClurg Capital Corporation Phone: 415-472-1445Email Address: invest@mcclurgcapital.com

Tampa Bay Area 'Business for Sale' Q2 Data Trends

If you want to buy a business in Tampa, the current median asking price is exactly $180,000. That’s down from a year ago, at the end of Q2 2011, when the median asking price for businesses in Tampa was $184,000.

But the sales potential of the businesses for sale is up. Q2 listed businesses in the Tampa area had median revenue of $312,000, up from $307,538 at this same time last year.

Those are some of the latest findings from BizBuySell.com of Q2 data on what small businesses are selling for in Tampa Bay. The data is based on 685 Tampa-area businesses listed at BizBuySell.com.

The median cash flow — the money that comes out of the business over the course of a year — is $80,000, versus median cash flow of $78,710 last year. Also, business owners in the Tampa Bay area will typically ask for, on average, a revenue multiple of .82 (changed from .94 year over year) and a cash flow multiple of 3.03 (changed from 3.29 year over year).

Listings in local datasets include businesses listed by local brokers, as well as "for sale by owner" listings that have been listed by the business owner without the assistance of a business broker. That data is used to generate local statistics because there is an adequate sample size for local listings, whereas there may be fewer closed transactions reported to BizBuySell.com for any given local area, the company said in a statement prepared for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

On actual sales, BizBuySell analyzed 66 closed transactions in this market in Q2. Businesses sold for a median sale price of $99,000. On average, this is 0.85 of the asking price, the data shows. These businesses had median revenue of $261,206 and a median cash flow of $64,316. Business buyers paid on average 0.50 times revenue and 2.26 times cash flow.

Showcasing Tampa's Appeal, Potential

At long last, the wait is over. It's been more than two years since the Tampa Bay area was selected to host the 2012 the Republican National Convention.

Today, the Forum and the Tampa Convention Center are being ceded to the exclusive control of the Tampa Bay Host Committee and the Committee on Arrangements to begin the build out and other preparations to lower the opening gavel for the convention less than 50 days from now.

In parallel to the build out and other logistics, the host committee is continuing to promote and highlight the Tampa Bay area and work to ensure the convention is a phenomenal success in August.

In addition to fundraising and working the logistics, the host committee has been working diligently to showcase the Tampa Bay region from an economic development perspective.

Recently, the committee announced it is developing an economic development series in conjunction with Bloomberg, L.P. The series, which will be held during the week of the convention, will promote the Tampa Bay area and Florida as an optimum location for business, investment, recruitment and innovation, among other things.

This economic development series is the first of its kind in the history of a presidential nominating convention and will break new ground. You will be hearing and seeing more about this initiative in the coming weeks. I believe it will become a model for future host cities to replicate.

Having lived here nearly all my life, I know that Tampa and Florida have numerous key benefits for business, including, a favorable tax climate, a relatively low cost of living, dynamic research facilities and excellent weather.

I believe that any individual or company looking for a new locale in which to do business will no doubt discover that the Tampa Bay area has a great quality of life and will provide an excellent return on investment from a variety of perspectives.

As a result of the Republican National Convention, we have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to market and promote the Tampa Bay-area business community like never before. Florida is home to 16 Fortune 500 companies, one-quarter of which are based in the region.

In fact, the region is home to nearly two dozen companies that each generates more than a billion dollars a year in revenue. All in all, more than 175,000 businesses call the Tampa Bay area "home." In addition, the Tampa Bay-Central Florida combined super region has a gross domestic product of roughly $272 billion, making it the ninth largest economy in the United States.

These are all little known facts that we intend to disseminate to the diverse global audience that will be visiting our great cities next month. Highlighting the Tampa Bay area's small business community has been and continues to be one of the host committee's top priorities.

Earlier this year, registration for the Host Committee's Small Business Network opened to the public. As part of the small business network, businesses that registered in our local area were automatically approved to be featured in our Small Business Network Directory, which was published in May. The directory has been distributed to delegations from around the United States, state-based as well as national corporations and the global media; it is also available online at the host committee's website, www.2012tampa.com.

The directory will help visitors utilize our local small businesses before, during and after the convention.

The committee is committed to doing everything it can to foster economic development for the area and Florida. We are taking deliberate, thoughtful and unprecedented steps to promote the region and the state as a business powerhouse.

We are focused on showcasing the region and the Sunshine State as both a tourist destination and a business destination. On behalf of the 2012 Tampa Bay Host Committee, I look forward to continuing our efforts for the next 42 days leading up to this historic convention.

I know we will succeed in demonstrating to the world that Tampa is one of the best cities in America and, come August, it will no longer be such a secret. The wait is over. Our time to showcase the Tampa Bay area is right now.

Experts Say Bay Area Likely to Remain a Jobs Engine Despite U.S. Slowdown

The Bay Area -- powered by robust hiring in the South Bay and the San Francisco region -- is likely to remain an employment engine despite nationwide jobs trends that increasingly have turned ominous.

"What the Bay Area produces is what is hot in the economy today," said Christopher Thornberg, an economist with Beacon Economics. "Business investments are doing well. Technology is doing great."

Some regions of the Bay Area are likely to outperform others, though, with tech-heavy areas in the lead.

"The South Bay and the San Francisco and Peninsula areas will likely outpace the nation and do well this year," said Jon Haveman, chief economist with the Bay Area Council's Economic Institute. "The East Bay and the North Bay are more likely to track at the national pace."

In the most recent 12 months for which statistics are available, the Bay Area has outpaced the nation in job growth. Bay Area payroll jobs have increased by 2.4 percent, while the United States is up 1.4 percent. The South Bay has the fastest job growth of any region in the nation, with a 3.4 percent increase.

The San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin region is up 3.1 percent in payroll jobs, while the East Bay is up 0.9 percent.

But the pace of Bay Area job growth has begun to slow. Over the first five months of this year, area employers added about 8,500 jobs a month, a steep decline from the average 10,400 jobs added monthly in the final five months of 2011.

"At some point, what is happening nationally could become a drag on the Bay Area," Haveman said.

In two weeks, state officials will release the June jobs report for California, including the Bay Area and other metro regions. Despite the recent slowdown in the pace of job creation, Thornberg said the Bay Area is unlikely to suffer actual job losses in the foreseeable future.

"We see no pervasive threats to the job growth we have been seeing in the region," he said.

Bay Area community banks expand in Wine Country

Rodeno joins Bank of Marin's (NASDAQ: BMRC) 12-member board. During her 40 year career, she was one of the wine industry's few female CEOs, heading St. Supery Winery.

She also has bank board experience, serving for 10 years as a director at Silicon Valley Bank , (NASDAQ: SIVB) which is an active lender to the wine industry.

"Michaela's leadership skills and significant management and board experience will be of great value, particularly as we continue to expand in Napa and Sonoma counties and build our wine and wine-related portfolio, which is one of our highest priorities," saidJoel Sklar, chairman of Bank of Marin.

Last month Bank of Marin expanded its Wine Country lending team with the hiring ofMatthew Bartlett as a commercial lender in Napa. The $1.4 billion bank made a big push into Wine Country with its February 2011 acquisition of Napa-based Charter Oak Bank in an FDIC-assisted deal.

Wine Country banking is highly competitive. Walnut Creek's Bay Commercial Bank (OTCBB: BCML) is also expanding in the market, going up against Bank of America , (NYSE: BAC) Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and several community banks in the market.

Bank of Marin President and CEO Russell Colombo says the bank's lending in Napa Valley focuses on wineries and related businesses, but avoids agricultural financing of land and vines.

"Ag lending is a real speciality with several variables, including mother nature," Colombo said.

Also expanding in Wine Country is Richmond-based Mechanics Bank , (OTCBB: MCBH) the Bay Area's largest community bank with $3 billion in assets.

Mechanics Bank plans to open its second Napa branch in a prominent location. The bank also has a branch in St. Helena.