Daily Business Report-Aug. 26, 2016

The San Vicente Dam, a major reservoir for San Diego County. (Photo courtesy San Diego County Water Authority)

San Vicente Reservoir to Reopen

On Sept. 22 After Eight Years

By City News Service

The San Vicente Reservoir, closed for eight years, will reopen Sept. 22, and boating and fishing permits were scheduled to go on sale Thursday, according to the city of San Diego.

The permits which were to go on sale on the Ticketmaster website, will allow for water activities Sept. 22-26 at the facility. Permits are $8 for adults to fish and $7 for boat launches, plus Ticketmaster processing fees.

The reservoir has been closed since September 2008 to allow the San Diego County Water Authority to raise the dam 117 feet, creating more water storage capacity at the municipally owned facility.

Permits will be sold weekly beginning on Thursdays, according to the website sdfish.com.

The reservoir will initially be open Thursday through Monday each week for fishing and general boating, with water contact activities like wakeboarding and water skiing allowed Thursday through Sunday. That will leave Monday as a fishing-only day.

Reservations will be limited to 110 fishing boat launches and 40 water contact boat launches each day, plus an additional 50 vehicles without boats per day, the website reported.

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NASSCO Gets $511 Million Contract

To Build 2 Container Ships for Matson

General Dynamics NASSCO has signed a contract with Matson Navigation Company Inc. to build two Kanaloa Class liquefied natural gas-capable, containerships with roll-on, roll-off capability.

The contract price is $511 million, which pays for both vessels, according to Matson.

The 870-foot-long containership design provides the capability to transport containers, automobiles, and rolling stock, including trailers. Utilizing proven design standards, the design incorporates LNG-capable main and auxiliary engines.

Once delivered, the vessels will serve a trade route between the West Coast and Hawaii.

Construction of the first containership will begin in early 2018, with deliveries in 2019 and mid-2020, respectively. The ships will be constructed at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego.

NASSCO is partnered with Daewoo Ship Engineering Company to provide its customers with state-of-the-art ship design and shipbuilding technologies. Since 2006, the partnership produced four commercial ship designs for five separate Jones Act owners.

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JPMorgan Chase Awards $600,000

Grant To San Diego-Based Accion

Accion, the San Diego-based microlender, has been awarded a $600,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to support the continued expansion of the agency’s program providing capital to entrepreneurs in Southern California.

The grant will be awarded in two $300,000 installments in 2016 and 2017 and will be used to increase lending activities to grow the loan portfolio across the organization’s four-county territory, as well as help to raise additional loan capital for Accion to serve more entrepreneurs.

Accion has been serving entrepreneurs in San Diego County since 1994, before expanding into Imperial County in July 2015 and Riverside and San Bernardino counties in January 2016.

“Small business owners have identified flexible capital as a critical resource for growth, but they face a shortage of this kind of support,” said Myeisha Peguero Gamino, vice president of corporate responsibility for JPMorgan Chase in Southern California. “Microlenders, like Accion, provide small businesses with the consulting and financing they need to grow their operations. We’re very proud to partner with Accion and enhance their efforts to provide access to the capital and assistance that Southern California entrepreneurs need most.”

“This grant comes at a time of expansion for our organization and will support us in boosting organizational capacity,” said Accion CEO Elizabeth Schott. “We look forward to empowering even more entrepreneurs with these funds, and we are thrilled that JPMorgan Chase recognizes our work in the community to help small business owners achieve their dreams, while creating true economic impact.

“This grant will be instrumental in supporting the expansion of our microlending program to the new counties we serve. With these funds, we will be able to build new strategic partnerships, diversify revenue streams, hire new staff and invest in new technology and systems, so that our organization can increase

the dollars we loan into the community to the entrepreneurs that need it the most.”

Accion enables clients to increase their inventory, buy equipment or raw materials, and pursue new business opportunities. Accion creates access to jobs for local business owners by providing support and access to capital. On average, three jobs are created for every business funded by Accion.

The organization also helps entrepreneurs build favorable credit histories and improve their business skills through resource events, such as the Small Business Boot Camp in San Diego on Saturday, Oct. 1. All of Accion’s events are specially tailored toward the needs and questions of small business owners.

Accion works strategically with local partners, such as banking institutions, and nonprofit organizations, like JPMorgan Chase, to support main street businesses, from restaurants and retail shops to home-based daycares and web-based businesses.

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Kratos Defense Gets Contract To Provide

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Launchers to the Army

ExecutiveBiz

A team comprising subsidiaries of San Diego-based Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Safran Electronics & Defense has been awarded a prime contract to provide unmanned aerial vehicle launcher systems to the U.S. Army.

The Madison Research Corp.–Robonic team will deliver two KONTIO launchers to the Army’s Program Management Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Targets Management Office under the contract, Kratos said Wednesday.

The service branch will use the Robonic-built platforms to launch Firejet aerial targets from MRC sister company Composite Engineering Inc.

Alabama-based MRC, part of Kratos’ defense rocket and support services division, provides engineering and information technology services to the government sector.

Robonic, a Safran Electronics & Defense company, manufactures launchers for multiple types of air vehicle and operates a UAV test flight center in Kemijarvi, Finland.

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General Atomics Graduates First

Unmanned Aircraft Flight Crew

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. announced that the company’s new Unmanned Aircraft System Flight Training Academy graduated its first cadre of aircrews on Aug. 12.

“Our first graduates have benefitted from safe, effective, cutting-edge training that will enable them to support flight operations for our global customers,” said David R. Alexander, president of Aircraft Systems. “We look forward to providing the same high-quality training services to our customers’ aircrews to meet their growing demands in the very near future.”

GA-ASI’s North Dakota-based Flight Training Academy now demonstrates a dramatic reduction in the time required to train qualified aircrew, thereby expanding the company’s ability to meet the growing demand for Predator-series UAS and the aircrew required to fly them.

Prior to the academy’s opening in June, training occurred at the company’s California flight operations facilities, where long logistical pipelines stretched aircrew instruction to as long as six months. Today, students can complete their UAS training in as little as two months. Pilots complete 15 flights (36 hours), 25 simulator lessons (59 hours), and 114 hours of academic studies. Sensor operator training time is similar with the exception that slightly fewer hours are required for graduation.

Three pilots were in the academy’s first graduating class. Five additional pilots and six sensor operators will follow shortly. Upon graduation, the new aircrews will join GA-ASI’s approximately 230 qualified aircrews currently deployed around the world.

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Junior Achievement San Diego

To Honors 5 Visionary Leaders

Junior Achievement of San Diego will induct five visionary leaders into the San Diego Business Hall of Fame on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar. The Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding business and philantrophic  leadership over a career span of service in the San Diego community.

The black-tie event will feature dinner, auction and awards presentation for the 2016 Hall of Fame Laureates. All proceeds from the event benefit JA’s misson to impact 75,000 students  by teaching them how to get a job, start a business and how money works.

 The 2016 Hall of Fame Laureates:

• Laurie and Carlee McGrath: The McGraths have been monumental supporters of JA.

  

  In 2008, Laurie and Carlee donated $1million to name the McGrath Family JA BizTown. Thanks to their support, 16,000 fifth graders, each year, are challenged to work together and earn a profit at one of the 21 life-size shops inside the thriving mini-city. The McGrath Foundation has also supported various YMCA centers, by providing a $1-million gift for construction of a swimming pool and enclosure for the Toby Wells YMCA.  The Foundation pledged $2.5 million to the East County YMCA for its new McGrath Family YMCA & Sports Complex in Rancho San Diego.

• Daniel R. Spinazzola, Diversified Restaurant Systems Inc. After graduating from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Spinazzola proved to be

  

  a successful entrepreneur. He worked as an executive for Jack in the Box and then created and founded his own company, Diversified Restaurant Systems in 1986.  A leader in the food service industry, DRS develops and maintains procurement programs for produce and protein serving leading clients, such as, Subway, Food 4 Less, Walmart, and Denny’s.

• Bob Taylor & Kurt Listug, Taylor Guitars. With a list of clients that reads like Grammy award-winners, the entrepreneurs behind the Taylor Guitars brand have reach the pinnacle of professional success. What makes the founders different from most executives is their dedication and compassion to give back, not only to the San Diego community but to the citizens living in the African country of Cameroon. Based in El Cajon, Taylor Guitars was founded in 1974 by Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug and has grown into the leading global builders of acoustic guitars.   oday, the company employs over 900 people in the United States and across the globe.

In January 2014, the U.S. State Department honored Taylor Guitars with an Award for Corporate Excellence to honor the company’s transformative work in the ebony trade and in the lives of those employed at its ebony mill, Crelicam, in Cameroon.

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Actor Jason Mitchell to Receive Rising Star

Award from San Diego Film Festival

The San Diego International Film Festival produced by the San Diego Film Foundation announced that actor Jason Mitchell will be the recipient of The Rising Star Award for 2016.

The award will be presented Sept 29 at The Night of the Stars Tribute at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla. Now in its 15th year, the San Diego International Film Festival will run from Sept. 28 through Oct. 2 in San Diego.

The Rising Star Award recognizes an actor whose early work exhibits significant promise and critical acclaim while taking on challenging film roles. Mitchell has achieved critical acclaim for his role portraying the iconic “Eazy E” in Universal’s 2015 biopic, “Straignt Outta Compton,” directed by F. Gary Gray. He won the African American Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as sharing nominations with his fellow cast mates for Best Ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Critics’ Choice Awards.

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San Diego to Host 2nd Round

Of World Baseball Classic

By City News Service

San Diego will serve as a host city for the World Baseball Classic next year, and the finals will be in Los Angeles, Major League Baseball announced Thursday.

Second round games will take place at Petco Park March 14-19.

“The World Baseball Classic highlights the diversity and global appeal of our game, and it’s an honor for the San Diego/Tijuana region to once again host the second round,” Padres president Mike Dee said.

The championship rounds of the inaugural tournament in 2006 were held at Petco Park, as was the second round of the 2009 event.

The semifinals and finals will be at Dodger Stadium on March 20-22. It will be the second time the facility has hosted the concluding games.

The World Baseball Classic’s first- and second-round format will be round-robin pool play, with each team playing the others in their pool once. The top two teams in each of the four first-round pools will advance to the second round.

The U.S. will be in Pool C at Marlins Park in Miami along with the defending champion Dominican Republic, Canada and Colombia.

Other host cities for early round games are Miami; Guadalajara, Mexico; Seoul, South Korea; and Tokyo, Japan.

Ticket information is online at www.worldbaseballclassic.com.

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Personnel Announcements

Tiffany Lynch Takes Post with MS Society

Tiffany Lynch has joined the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s San Diego-based Pacific South Coast Chapter as director of emerging events.

Lynch’s first assignment will be to oversee coordination of the 15th annual Southern California Challenge Walk MS, a three-day, 50-mile walk along San Diego’s coastline, from Carlsbad to Downtown San Diego, Nov. 4-6.

Lynch’s mother Maria was diagnosed with MS in 1998. Her mother also previously served for about 10 years on the local chapter’s board of directors. “This is very personal for me,” said Lynch.

Lynch has 15 years of management experience with nonprofits. Prior to joining the National MS Society, she was with the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and Alzheimer’s San Diego. She also worked at Qualcomm Inc. and Time Warner Cable, where she directed community relations and the employee grants program.

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Allesandra Lapadula Joins BNBuilders

Allesandra Lapadula has joined BNBuilders as senior project manager.

Lapadula brings extensive experience managing multiple complex construction projects simultaneously. She joins the firm as it doubles operations in San Diego this year.

Lapadula has 17 years of experience in construction. She spent numerous years handling complex projects at Stanford University, including the $160 million Huang Engineering Center and Nano Center for Science and Technology, the LEED Platinum Yang and Yamazaki Environment and Energy, the Knoll Historic and Seismic Renovation, and The Clark Center.

With BNBuilders, Lapadula will be working on the Spectrum Vertex Pharmaceuticals project developed by Alexandria Real Estate which starts in early October.