Eleven seats on the Centre City Advisory Committee -- the planning group for Downtown -- are up for election on Oct. 27 and 28. Candidates for the seats must file applications by Oct. 21. The available seats include residential owner occupants, residential tenants and business and property owners from the East Village, Little Italy and Core/Columbia neighborhoods. Two additional seats are available for representatives of civic and cultural groups. Candidate and voter registration forms may be obtained online at www.ccdc.com/ccac, or at the Downtown Information Center in Horton Plaza or by calling Brandon Nichols at (619) 533-7182.

A meet-the-candidates event and voting will take place Oct. 27 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Downtown Information Center. Votes also can be cast from noon to 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 28 at the Downtown Information Center, the Art Academy of San Diego at 840 G. St. and The Firehouse Museum at 1572 Columbia St.

Candidates must be at least 18 years of age and one of the following: residential tenant, residential owner occupant, business owner, property owner or designated representative of a charitable or civic organization.

U.S. Bank has signed a long-term lease for 27,000 square feet of office space in La Jolla Commons, the recently opened, 13-story, 300,000-square-foot office tower in University Towne Centre. The Hines project is the first multi-tenant office building in Southern California to achieve LEEDR Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The bank in April 2009 will relocate its existing UTC retail branch to a 3,200-square foot space on the ground floor. The bank signed a 10-year lease for nearly 24,000 square feet on the tower’s third floor for administrative office.

The Paul Hastings law firm signed a lease for 55,600 square feet of office space in La Jolla Commons earlier this year.

***

Don Mitchell, former first v.p. in the San Diego office of CB Richard Ellis, has joined Cresa Partners as a managing principal. Mitchell has been a landlord broker, representing San Diego high-profile office developments, including the 450,000-square- foot Liberty Station Office District in Point Loma.

Mayor Jerry Sanders will discuss his vision for San Diego over the next four years at a special luncheon of the San Diego Taxpayers Association on Oct. 14. It will be held at noon at the Kona Kai Resort and Spa, 1551 Shelter Island Drive, Point Loma. To attend, call the Taxpayers Association at (619) 234-6423 or visit sdcta.org.

Stephen M. Couts has been appointed CEO, president and director at Biocept Inc., replacing Gordon F. Janko, who resigned. The company also announced the appointment of Edward A. Dennis as director.

Coutts has 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnical industries. He was most recently director of pharmaceutical development at Cypress Bioscience Inc. and a principal at Alembic Biotech Consultants. He was previously president and COO at Triad Therapeutics Inc. and spent 11 years as executive v.p. for R&D at La Jolla Pharmaceutical. Coutts holds a bachelor’s degree from SDSU, a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a master’s degree from New York University.

Dennis is professor of chemistry, biochemistry and pharmacology at UCSD School of Medicine. He received his bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Volcano Corp., maker of products for the diagnosis and treatment of coronary and peripheral artery disease, has relocated its corporate headquarters from Rancho Cordova in Northern California to San Diego. The new headquarters is located in Carmel Valley and houses corporate executives, marketing, finance, accounting, corporate human resources, legal and catheter engineering. The company intends to expand its operations in San Diego in the future. The company’s core research and development, manufacturing, operations, quality and local human resources functions will remain in Volcano’s facilities in Rancho Cordova.

Volcano received its initial venture capital financing from San Diego-based Domain Associates in 2001 and went public in 2006. Volcano has grown its revenue over the four-year period ending Dec. 31, 2007 at an annual growth rate of 29 percent. For the first six months of fiscal 2008, the company recorded revenues of $78.1 million, a 32 percent increase over the first six months of fiscal 2007. Volcano currently has now has more than 800 employees. T

Science Applications International Corp. has been awarded two contracts by the Army Aviation and Missile Command to provide modeling and simulation support to the Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center. The contracts have a ceiling value of $160 million.

San Diego-based PriceSmart Inc. has agreed to acquire properties in Panama and Costa Rica to build new warehouse clubs and to develop adjoining commercial centers. The property acquired in Panama City will be used to relocate its existing club, known as the Los Pueblos Club. The new warehouse club will open in fall 2009. PriceSmart acquired property in Alajuela, Costa Rica, where it plans to build a warehouse club -- its fifth in Costa Rica -- to open next year.

Doug Myrland, general manager of KPBS, will retire at the end of the year. A nationwide search for a new general manager has begun. Myrland joined KPBS as the station’s fourth general manager in 1993. During his tenure, KPBS 89.5FM has nearly doubled its audience. The nationwide search will be conducted by NETA Consulting, which recruits senior executives in the field of public broadcasting.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has added a new third route to its 26th annual Land Rover Miramar Bike MS Bay to Bay Tour, a cycling fundraiser Oct. 11-12. About 2,200 riders are expected to peddle either 100 or 150 miles from Irvine in Orange County to the Westfield Plaza Camino Real shopping center in Carlsbad on Oct. 11, and then from the mall in Carlsbad to Mission Bay on Oct. 12. Another 300 cyclists will ride in the new 30-mile ride that starts and ends in Carlsbad on Oct. 11. A minimum donation of $400 is required to ride the 30- 100- or 150-mile route, and the minimum age limit for riders is 12 years old. Registration information is available at www.biketofinishMS.com.

The Women’s History Museum is seeking nominations for the eighth annual San Diego Women’s Hall of Fame. Five women will be selected whose life work has made significant and positive impact on the San Diego community. One woman in each of five categories will be chosen from those nominated by the community and selected by the four Hall of Fame hosting partners of the event – the Women’s History Museum, the San Diego County Commission on the Status of Women, the UCSD Women’s Center and the Department of Women’s Studies at SDSU. Nominations close on Oct. 31.

The categories: Trailblazer -- a woman who paved the way for other women or was first in her field; Empowerer of Women -- a woman who has significantly inspired the people and improved their lives; Creator of Structural Change -- an activist, leader or professional who has created structural change and whose efforts have improved women’s lives or status; Builder of Multi-Cultural Understanding -- a woman who is centrally involved in building bridges and coalitions within the community; Cultural Guardian -- a woman who has kept her culture and history alive.

The five inductees will join 37 other women inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame every year since 2002. The induction ceremony will be March 28, 2009, on the UCSD campus.

Nomination forms are available at the Women’s History Museum at 2323 Broadway, Suite 107, San Diego, by phone at 233-7963, by e-mail at sdwhof@gmail.com or online at www.whmec.org/whof.

THE BANKERS’ NEW BUSINESS MODEL

Whoa. Did that just happen? With the federal government now a financial co-pilot to growing numbers of commercial enterprises, the question is how, or if, your small or mid-sized business-customer base will be affected.

In “The Bankers’ New Business Model: Post-Bailout Expectations For Your Business,” San Diego Metropolitan and the mighty sandiegometro.com will talk with San Diego’s leading lenders, business owners and consultants about how the economy is affecting borrowing decisions and what that means for individual businesses.

The feature article will appear in the same issue as Ranking The Credit Unions, our annual look at the performance of the region’s 29 credit unions that control more than $12.7 billion in assets and services for about 925,000 members. In this feature we also will look at how Wall Street upheaval is affecting Main Street CUs.

In addition to being featured in San Diego’s largest-circulation business publication, your advertisement of a third-page or larger in “The Bankers’ New Business Model: Post-Bailout Expectations For Your Business” will be highlighted at no additional charge at sandiegometro.com, where each edition enjoys some 40,000 unique business readers.

Bottom line: We’ll increase your visibility before San Diego’s biggest pre-screened audience of business owners, and help you grow good deposits and good loans. (For how much we write about banking for business owners; just type “banking” into our search engine at sandiegometro.com.)

By becoming a part of San Diego Metropolitan Magazine, your financial message will be distributed from Oceanside to Otay Mesa, La Jolla to Escondido.

The deadline for space reservations is Oct. 24.

For pricing and information on sponsorships that would place your banks logo on the cover, please contact Gary Shaw at (619) 398-8920, gary@sandiegometro.com; or Debbie Tortora at (619) 398-8923; debbie@sandiegometro.com.

We appreciate your consideration.

ABOUT US

San Diego Metropolitan Magazine and the Daily Business Report are your choice for San Diego business news. If you are a new business in San Diego and need to figure out who's who or a long standing business in San Diego that has something to be proud of; you have a home in San Diego's original business magazine. For $4 a day (21 day minimum) we’ll put a button link to you at the top of the Daily Business Report and leave it in the archives. For $10 a day (21 day minimum) will put a text ad with a link in the middle of the report. E-mail info@sandiegometro.com if you are interested.