A Snapshot of Business Growth and Achievement in Alachua County.
Mike Remer Assumes Service Manager Role
ComputerCare would like to announce that Mike Remer has assumed the daily responsibility of service delivery oversight and management for ComputerCare. As president of ComputerCare, Mike is excited about shifting back to his former role and being able to interact more with current clients on a regular basis.
Part of the reason for this shift is to place an increased focus on service delivery across the board. Some of the areas Mike will initially be focusing on as service manager are reducing response times, resolution times and improving communication with clients. This change is part of ongoing strategic efforts aimed at refining and improving service delivery following a year of rapid growth and expansion. ComputerCare looks forward to the feedback and input from clients as it moves forward with this change over the coming weeks.
Four Teams Advance in 2013 Cade Museum Prize Competition
Four teams have advanced to the final round of the 2013 Cade Museum Prize competition. The Final Four inventions include the X-Finger, an advanced artificial finger prosthetic used by military veterans and children; a Pyrolizer that converts solid waste to energy using advanced thermal technology from Green Liquid and Gas Technologies; a next generation S-QLED display panel that costs 75 percent less and uses 50 percent less power from NanoPhotonica; and Partender, a B2B mobile software as SaaS solution that quickly calculates the volume of liquids in bottles to reduce the time it takes to do inventory from 6 hours to 15 minutes.
The Final Four will make live pitches to a new panel of judges, as well as presentations at a gala event on the evening of May 9 at Santa Fe Fine Arts Hall in Gainesville. Tickets are on sale at cademuseumprize.org.
The $50,000 Prize, made possible by a grant from the Community Foundation of North Central Florida, is named after Dr. J. Robert Cade, the University of Florida physician who led the team that invented Gatorade. The annual competition is an incentive prize for inventors and entrepreneurs in Florida. For the first time this year, many of the semifinalists and finalists will help the Cade Museum teach creative thinking, science and entrepreneurship to young students throughout Florida as part of its Living Inventor Series.
UF SID Martin Biotech Takes Top International Award
The University of Florida’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator was named the 2013 Incubator of the Year by the National Business Incubation Association.
“It’s always special when the University of Florida can say one of its programs is the best in the world,” said David Day, director of the incubator and UF’s Office of Technology Licensing. “Today, we’re the best incubator in the world.”
Statistics back up the award. Incubator companies have attracted more than $1 billion in funding, and successes include the acquisition of incubated companies for $113 million, $98 million and $34 million. Since it opened in 1995, the incubator has had 28 companies graduate out of the facility or be acquired by other companies.
The UF incubator won one of two Dinah Adkins Incubator of the Year awards for incubators with a technology focus, then went on to win the highest award, the Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year for overall excellence. In the process, it topped incubators more than twice its size, such as the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp.
Patti Breedlove, associate director of the UF incubator, said the award caps “a cascade of really good news over the last eight months. We’ve had our best year ever.”
The incubator is a 40,000-square-foot facility located in Progress Corporate Park in Alachua, Fla., and is currently home to nine resident companies and 14 affiliated clients. It produces an average annual economic impact of $100 million for Alachua County.
FRONT STREET COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE GROUP HIRES NEW ASSOCIATE
Front Street Commercial Real Estate Group announced the hiring of Caleb McDow as an associate director. McDow’s addition bolsters Front Street’s initiative to grow its commercial brokerage presence within Gainesville and other North Central Florida markets.
“We are thrilled to have Caleb join our team to help us expand our commercial brokerage business in the markets we serve,” Nick Banks, Front Street Commercial Real Estate Group Managing Director, said. “Caleb’s unique background and his passion for learning will further enhance the level of service we offer our clients.”
After graduating from Auburn University with a degree in business administration, McDow spent nine years in the US Navy flying the F/A-18 Super Hornet. Caleb is currently pursuing a master’s of science in real estate at the University of Florida, and he will graduate in May 2013.
“I am extremely happy about joining the team here at Front Street and staying in Gainesville,” McDow said. “This position gives me exactly the type of opportunity and experience that I’ve been hoping for, and best of all, I know that I’m going to love going to work every day.”
Nanotherapeutics Awarded Defense Department Contract for Advanced Development and Manufacturing of Medical Countermeasures
Nanotherapeutics, Inc., announced it has been awarded a Department of Defense (DOD) contract to establish Medical Countermeasures Advanced Development and Manufacturing (MCM ADM) capability dedicated to meet the needs of the DOD. The MCM ADM capabilities established by Nanotherapeutics will allow the DOD to more efficiently and expeditiously develop MCM to protect and treat military populations against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) attacks and outbreaks of naturally occurring emerging and genetically engineered infectious diseases.
The contract was granted to Nanotherapeutics as the prime contractor, and its industry partners, after a highly competitive bid process. The ultimate goal for the award is to reduce the overall time and cost associated with the development and manufacturing of Food and Drug Administration approved MCMs.
Headquartered in Alachua, Fla., Nanotherapeutics will integrate flexible, single use, disposable equipment into a new state-of-the-art facility that can provide our military’s national security requirements for MCMs now and in the foreseeable future.
Keith Watson wins BizBash FLORIDA Event Producer of the Year
Keith Watson, owner and president of Gainesville-based Keith Watson Productions, was named Event Producer of the Year at BizBash Florida Reader’s Choice Awards. The winners were announced Wednesday at BizBash IdeaFest South Florida at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center.
Watson was honored as “an individual event producer who has demonstrated an exceptional ability to execute all aspects of technical and creative event production on corporate, association and nonprofit events,” according to the award’s criteria.
Watson draws from his fine arts background and years of special event management corporate experience (at companies like Callaway Gardens, Wall Street’s Bankers Trust and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City) to design and produce specialty events.
He coordinated event design for the Chamber’s Toast to Business, Mindtree’s announcement, and countless community events. Watson is well-known for his customer satisfaction, attention to detail and his ability to put even the most nervous host at ease.
BizBash is a leading event management editorial brand that reports industry news, produces innovative expos and publishes daily and weekly newsletters.
Charles Perry Partners, Inc. (CPPI) awarded $5.5 million contract
The Diversified Projects Division of Charles Perry Partners, Inc. (CPPI) on April 5 was awarded a $5.5 million contract to construct the new state-of-the-art Cade Museum for Creativity + Invention, a 24,000 square foot facility slated to open October 2015, coinciding with Gatorade’s 50th anniversary. To be located at 904 South Main Street, The Cade Foundation’s museum will be a fitting testament to the late Dr. J. Robert Cade, noted professor of renal medicine at the University of Florida, and the lead inventor of the sports drink Gatorade.
Designed by GWWO, Baltimore, Md., the Main Hall will draw visitors in from Main Street and will offer views into and through the museum. Notably, Dr. Cade’s inventions also include: the first shock-dissipating football helmet; a high-protein milkshake used by surgical patients, athletes, and cancer patients; and a method for treating autism and schizophrenia through diet modification. Although he is most remembered for Gatorade, Dr. Cade (1927-2007) was also a true Renaissance man. On the title page of his autobiography, “Freut Euch Des Lebens” (Take Joy In Life), Dr. Cade described himself as a “physician, scientist, musician and inventor.”
Award-winning cleaning company Student Maid expands to second Florida location
Award-winning, Gainesville-based cleaning and concierge company Student Maid Inc. is opening its second location in Pensacola on May 1.
Company founder Kristen Hadeed chose the location after being wooed by a large Pensacola Beach resort realty company that wanted Student Maid to clean its properties on the island year-round. Hadeed was looking to expand, and the city’s sizeable student population and supportive Chamber of Commerce ultimately convinced the Student Maid team to choose Pensacola.
“Our plan has always been to expand to other cities, and we’re so excited about this opportunity in Pensacola.” Hadeed said. “It couldn’t be a more ideal situation or a more perfect time.”
Current Student Maid office manager, Rachel Rowan, who is originally from Pensacola, will be moving to the area as the general manager of the new location. Rowan started with Student Maid when she was a student in 2011, chose to stay after graduation, and became a full-time manager this year.
In Gainesville, Student Maid hires students from the University of Florida, Santa Fe College and local high schools; it plans to employ students from the University of West Florida and Pensacola State College at its new location. The company exclusively hires students with GPAs of 3.5 or higher who demonstrate a knack for customer service and a willingness to go the extra mile.
Hadeed started Student Maid with just four employees in May 2009 when she was an undergrad at UF. Today, the company employs more than 350 students during peak seasons, has served nearly 2,000 customers in the Gainesville area, is recognized as an industry leader, and has been awarded the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leading Women’s Enterprise twice, once in 2010 and again in 2011.
“We want to thank the Gainesville community for helping us grow and for believing in us. We are so lucky to have such a fantastic support system and couldn’t be more excited to grow the Student Maid brand,” Hadeed said.
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