In balloting so secret even the judges won’t know who won, nine finalists are vying for three 2008 “Dealmakers of the Year” honors to be announced later this month by Point Loma Nazarene University’s Fermanian School of Business and Business Center. The school solicits nominations in three categories: Individual, Firm and Opportunity/Event. Last year more than 350 turned out for the inaugural awards event where the dealmakers were urban developer William Jones, The NTC Foundation and Promenade and Market Creek Plaza by the Jacobs Foundation.

This year, nominations were collected from the general public as well as a formal committee that met several times during the spring and summer. Committee members included Dr. Bruce Schooling, dean of the Fermanian School, Joye Blount of Bank of America, Chris Hess of Lusardi Construction, Marion Paul of Junior Achievement, Dana Irby of Bartell Hotels, Randy Ataide, director of the Fermanian Business Center, Eric Jung of Virtus Investments, Stephen Bothwell of Spec Seals Co., Cathy Gallagher, manager of the Fermanian Business Center, Craig Irving of Irving Hughes Co., Fred McCleskey, Union Bank (retired), Craig Van Hulzen of Van Hulzen Asset Management Group, Jane Schmitz of the Academy of Entrepreneurship at Mission Bay High School, Chris Kim of Invitrogen, Jason Venneri, a PLNU MBA student, and Rebecca Pollock of Nielsen Construction.

Ataide, also an associate professor of business, says the nominees represent a diversity of interests and for-profit and nonprofit and private and public organizations and businesses. The committee, he says, was specifically searching for individuals, firms and transactions that engaged in problem solving and leadership that was creative, well-balanced, enticing, positive and also brought personal and professional joy and satisfaction to the participants.

“We are grateful for the hard work of the nominating committee as well as the many citizens and businesses who submitted nominations,” Ataide says. “Each nomination is a value-creator for the San Diego region and well represents the spirit and intent of the Dealmakers of the Year Awards.”

Here’s a look at the finalists:

Firm Dealmakers Of The Year

Networkcar Inc. was founded in 1999 by Diego A. Borrego from a project he entered in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s 50K Entrepreneurship Competition. Networkcar was nominated for its wireless in-vehicle technology that allows companies to remotely monitor the performance and location of their fleet vehicles using a Global Positioning System combined with diagnostic technology. The firm has received several recognitions for its innovation including a 2005 Telematics Update Magazine award for Best Commercial Vehicle Solution and a 2004 Technology Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan for Remote Vehicle Diagnostics.

Borrego Solar Systems, which specializes in commercial, residential and public sector, is being honored as a pioneer of turnkey solar electric systems. Headquartered in El Cajon, the 165-employee firm headed by CEO Aaron Hall has offices in Berkeley, Sonoma, Silicon Valley, Orange County and Boston. The company has a portfolio of more than 800 photovoltaic projects. The company recycles much of the waste from its installations and purchases from green vendors. Hall acquired the company in 2001 from astrophysicist James Rickard. Borrego Solar expects revenue of $60 million this year.

The nonprofit San Diego Renewable Energy Society Inc. is the San Diego County regional chapter of the American Solar Energy Society. The organization is being honored for its efforts to increase the intelligent use of renewable and sustainable energy technologies in San Diego. Its services include educating the public about the benefits of renewable energy, providing expertise for public and government institutions and developing networking opportunities for solar educators, researchers, advocates and business people. Ted Stern is chairman and directors are Grazyna Krajewska, Fletcher Miller, Skip Fralick, Bruce Rogow, Dan Gibbs, Richard Caputo and Jim Svedeman.

Deal Of The Year

Kilroy Realty Corp. is a Los Angeles-headquartered development company with a strong presence in San Diego and Orange counties. Its current development program focuses on the principal submarkets of coastal San Diego. It is a finalist for its development of the $100 million Scripps Clinic in Rancho Bernardo that specializes in elderly care. The company is a proponent of green development. In recent years, it has adhered to LEED specifications in most of its new development projects and achieved gold or silver certification levels for several buildings.

DPR Construction Inc., a national commercial general contractor and construction manager, was nominated for its $530 million, 360-bed Palomar Medical Center West, a project of more than 740,000 square feet that is scheduled to open in 2011. The company is active in San Diego, with developments that include lab and office space for Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., a new office building for Hewlett-Packard and offices for Intuit Inc., Legoland, Genentech, Novartis Institute for Functional Genomics and the San Diego Jewish Academy, among others.

The San Diego County YWCA is proposing to the city of San Diego to permanently house and lead the San Diego Family Justice Center. The volunteer board invested $50,000, hired an architectural team, finance team and a planning team and developed a proposal it says will save the city millions of dollars in the operation of the Family Justice Center. The board says the proposal will save the city $325,000 for each of the next two years and more than $725,000 annually for 10 years, beginning in 2010, for a total savvings of $8 million.

Individual Dealmakers Of The Year

Jay Rains, a partner at DLA Piper, was instrumental in the campaign leading to Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course hosting the U.S. Open earlier this year.

Jay Rains, a partner at DLA Piper, powered the drive that led to Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course hosting the dramatic — maybe best ever — U.S. Open earlier this year. That hole-in-one put $100 million on the local economic impact leaderboard. At high-powered law firm DLA Piper, Rains concentrates on venture capital, strategic partnering, public offerings and, most significantly, mergers and acquisitions. His clients include Qualcomm in its acquisition of Flarion Technologies and Invitrogen, which is incubating a $7 billion merger with Applera. He continues to be instrumental in UCSD’s Connect program to seed the deals that will shape San Diego in the years ahead.

Robert Noble, chairman and CEO of Envision Solar, was on the cover of San Diego Metropolitan in November 2006.

Robert Noble, chairman and CEO of Envision Solar, may be the Johnny Appleseed of solar energy. As founder of Envision Solar, he is out in the field planting Solar Groves. The trademarked name refers to the photovoltaic installations — patches of solar trees — that transform parking lots and structures into sustainable energy producers. (You can take an ecotour of UCSD’s Gilman parking structure to see the results.) Among his other “shady” achievements are carport power packs — like that atop Kyocera in Kearny Mesa — that provide the dual benefits of photovoltaic generation and shaded parking. The Noble mission is to realize the convergence of renewable energy and clean transportation into modern building.

Rear Adm. Len Hering Sr., commander of Navy Region Southwest, commanded the cover of the Metropolitan’s August 2006 issue.

Rear Adm. Leendert “Len” Hering Sr., commander of Navy Region Southwest, is calling on his degrees in meteorology and oceanography, international relations and strategic studies and business management to lead unprecedented collaboration in the region. In doing so, the “Navy Mayor” for San Diego is changing the face of Downtown. He is administering the Port of San Diego’s acquisition of the Navy’s longstanding leased property along Pacific Highway — a keystone in implementation of the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan. Adm. Hering also is directing the transformation of the Navy’s sagging Broadway Complex into a state-of-the art headquarters surrounded by a world-class mixed use development that opens the property to the public.

Breakfast With A Surprise

All the finalists will be honored, and the winners revealed, during an awards breakfast on Sept. 19 at the Kona Kai Resort on Shelter Island. Each judge turned in their votes in a sealed ballot. “This really helps create suspense and surprise at the breakfast,” says Ataide.

More than 25 local businesses sponsor the breakfast with Wachovia Bank serving as title sponsor. “We are very grateful for the continued support we have from the San Diego regional business community, and we are making every effort to make the business breakfast one of the premier business networking events in San Diego,” says Cathy Gallagher, manager of the Fermanian Business Center.

For more information about the breakfast, contact Gallagher at (619) 849-2564 or cathygallagher@pointloma.edu.