By Kristen Gerencher
MarketWatch
Health care makes up about a third of the business at Language Line Services, which provides telephone-based interpreting services for $1.50 a minute on average. Its president, Louis Provenzano, said the company serves more than 170 languages by staffing interpreters in 18 time zones who are available to customers by phone or sometimes video at all hours. More than half its staff is based in the U.S.
Despite the recession, the company continues to grow, Provenzano said. Spanish drives 70% of the U.S. business volume, and Mandarin Chinese is the second most in-demand language. It’s not just acute-care facilities and emergency rooms that are calling for help. New customers are coming on board in the area of preventive care, disease management and needs related to the pandemic H1N1 flu virus, he said.
“No matter which side of the fence you sit on immigration, there’s a fundamental complexity in terms of the demographics of this country,” Provenzano said. “One of every five citizens speaks another language other than English.”
Read the full article at MarketWatch
Author: ow_admin
Zicam Addicts (and Shareholders) Were Ripped-Off
By Kathy Kristof
moneywatch.com
Los Angeles lawyer C. Dana Hobart, who had been using Zicam for years, was skeptical about the reported dangers. The FDA had said that it had received 130 reports that the products could cause a loss of smell, but gave few other details when warning consumers against using it.
Hobart speculated that if the claims were credible, they’d likely lead to lawsuits. He decided to dig up the suits to see what evidence backed the ban on his favorite cold product. He wasn’t amused by what he found. The FDA’s warning that Zicam could lead to a loss of smell was based on “junk science” claims that were thrown out of court 10 times, he said.
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Olmstead Williams Communications celebrates first anniversary
Clients, reporters, friends and employees gathered at the Napa Valley Grille in Westwood last Wednesday to celebrate the first year of Olmstead Williams Communications, a business-to-business public relations firm born this past September. The champagne and artisan chocolate affair was a great success, topped off with a book signing by Susie Norris who just released “Chocolate Bliss” through Random House/Celestial Arts.
Susie Norris, left, artisan chocolatier and author of 'Chocolate Bliss,' just out from Random House/Celestial Arts, shares cacao nibs (perfectly roasted cocoa beans separated from their husks and broken into small bits) with Anne Reifenberg, center, of Bloomberg News and Robbin Itkin, right, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson, as John Hanley, also a partner at Steptoe, looks on. Olmstead Williams Communications provided complimentary copies of the book which Norris signed during the agency’s one-year anniversary, billed as its “Chocolate Anniversary,” at the Napa Valley Grille in Westwood last Wednesday.
Starting a company as the country headed into a recession has proven to be a smart decision for Tracy Williams, president and founder of OWC.
“Entrepreneurs will tell you a recession is a great time to start a business, and they are right,” Williams said. “From negotiating leases and payroll services to office furniture and computer hardware and software, we have taken full advantage of recessionary pricing. In addition, as a tech savvy group, we saved money with outsourcing all of our data storage and exchange server functions into cloud computing platforms and created our Web site using content management software and blog services which make updates easy and inexpensive.
“But I must say that it was the good will of so many people I’ve worked with over the entirely of my career that really set us on a successful path. Clients, a great referral network of people who wanted to see us succeed, and photographers, event planners, even our lawyer, banker and accountant were instrumental in our success. Much is owed to these friends.”
Williams and her staff gave thanks to those friends during the party which was billed as the firm’s “Chocolate Anniversary.”
(L-R) Leslie DaCruz, executive director of communications and marketing at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering; Beth Karmin and her husband Ken Karmin, president and chairman of Ortho Mattress; Bill Allen, president & CEO of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC); and Tracy Williams, president and founder of Olmstead Williams Communications, celebrate the one-year anniversary of the business-to-business PR firm with more than 65 colleagues and friends during an event at the Napa Valley Grille in Westwood last Wednesday.
Robert Ward, novelist; Jon P. Goodman, PhD., President, Town Hall Los Angeles; Christian Williams, writer/producer and husband of Tracy Williams; and Farida Fattouhi, President, Reality2 LLC.
(L-R) Sharona Justman, Step Strategy Advisors; Cheryl Calhoun, CBIZ; Julie Lytle; and Sara Feinbloom, filmmaker/documentarian.
(L-R) Jay Cooper of Greenberg Traurig and wife Daurice; Tracy Williams; AnnMarie Newman and film composer husband, Thomas Newman.
(L-R) Lisa McAndrews; Tracy Williams; and Richard McAndrews, President and CEO, KRW/SESCO Investigation Services.
(L-R): Francine DuBois; and Kamran Pourzanjani, CEO, Bestcovery.com
Author of 'Chocolate Bliss' and artesan chocolatier Susie Norris (second from left) shares a laugh with OWC team members, (L-R) Amy Punt; Ashton Uytengsu; Tracy Williams; and Trent Freeman.
Ernst & Young report shows a surge in the IPO pipeline
New registrants in the IPO pipeline reach levels not seen since Q3 2008
NEW YORK – The IPO pipeline increased to 34 registrants seeking to raise $10.9 billion as of September 30, 2009, up from 28 registrants seeking to raise $7.6 billion at the end of Q2 (June 30, 2009), according to the quarterly Ernst & Young LLP US IPO Pipeline study.
This increase reflects tremendous activity throughout the quarter, including 30 new registrants, 14 companies that went public (including some of the new registrants) and 15 companies that passed the one-year expiration for inclusion in the study. Comparatively, the previous quarter included eight new registrants and 10 companies that went public.
Loaded Propositions; why prepaid cards are a convenient alternative to debit or credit – The Washington Post
By Nancy Trejos
The Washington Post
Consumers are increasingly turning away from traditional bank accounts and credit cards in favor of a different form of plastic: prepaid cards.
Consumers typically buy them from a retailer, load them with money — sometimes from directly deposited paychecks — and use them at checkout counters or to pay bills online. And the cards are advertised with a phrase rarely used by financial institutions since the beginning of the credit crisis: No credit check necessary.
So it’s no wonder that in 2008, consumers loaded $8.7 billion on prepaid cards that carry Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover logos and can be used anywhere, up from about $4 billion the year before, according to Mercator Advisory Group, a research firm that focuses on the payments industry.
Despite the advantages, consumer advocates urge caution because, they said, prepaid cards can come with as many or more fees as credit cards and bank accounts.
Jerry Welch, chairman and chief executive of nFinanse, said that some of the fees have been exorbitant but that it’s only because the industry is relatively new. The nFinanse Visa prepaid card costs $3 to activate, then $2.95 a month for maintenance and $2.95 to reload. There is no charge for customer service.
“There’s a lot of pricing that has been high, but as the market matures, pricing gets tighter, and that’s what’s happening now,” he said.
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A SoCalBio Panel: Protecting and Leveraging Intellectual Property Assets for Biotech Companies
Last Wednesday, members of SoCalBio gathered at the Westlake Village Inn to network and discuss intellectual property matters relevant to today’s biotech companies. Panelists included David Hankin, CEO of the Alfred Mann Foundation for Scientific Research, AnnaMarie Daniels, Vice President of Mentor Biologics, and Michael Wise, partner in the Intellectual Property Group at Perkins Coie. The panel was moderated by Tracy Williams, CEO and President of Olmstead Williams Communications, a corporate public relations firm that specializes in healthcare, life sciences and professional services sectors.
Discussion ranged from R&D perspectives, IP challenges for start-up companies, large corporation focuses and challenges, and the foreign IP landscape. Panelists fielded audience questions ranging from success and failure stories to the costs of obtaining patents overseas.
The Southern California Biomedical Council (SoCalBio or SCBC) is the trade association of the life-science industry in Greater Los Angeles. The mission of SoCalBio is to represent and promote medical device and biotechnology industry in Los Angeles and Orange Counties as well as adjacent communities in the Inland Empire and Gold Coast.
Discussion ranged from R&D perspectives, IP challenges for start-up companies, large corporation focuses and challenges, and the foreign IP landscape. Panelists fielded audience questions ranging from success and failure stories to the costs of obtaining patents overseas.
The Southern California Biomedical Council (SoCalBio or SCBC) is the trade association of the life-science industry in Greater Los Angeles. The mission of SoCalBio is to represent and promote medical device and biotechnology industry in Los Angeles and Orange Counties as well as adjacent communities in the Inland Empire and Gold Coast.
(L-R) Michael Wise, SoCalBio's Ahmed Enany, Tracy Williams, AnnaMarie Daniels and David Hankin
Nearly Dozen Locals Joined Russell 2000 – Orange County Business Journal
By Dan Beighley
Orange County Business Journal
Nearly a dozen Orange County companies have been added to the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks since June as the barrier to entry came down.
For many, being part of the index popular with some investors and analysts can lead to greater visibility, giving them a better shot at raising money from investors.
Five of the 11 local stocks added to the index this year are in healthcare, an industry that has held up better than others during the recession.
The common thread among all is that they met the $78 million market value threshold, which was more than halved from last year’s $167 million cutoff.
The threshold is the lowest in 16 years, a sign of the damage inflicted on companies from last fall’s Wall Street meltdown and subsequent dip this spring, according to Maria Pinelli, Americas director of strategic growth markets for New York-based Ernst & Young LLP.
The Russell 2000 is made up of about 2,000 smaller stocks and is run by Tacoma, Wash.-based Russell Investment Group, part of Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.
The index is readjusted every June.
As of Aug. 31, the average market value of a Russell 2000 company was $860 million. The largest in the group is $2.7 billion.
The 11 local newcomers bring the Orange County contingent of the Russell 2000 to about 30 companies. Earlier members include Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp., Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc., Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. and Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc.
The newcomers are looking to take advantage of their new status.
Major online retailers are sued over use of guided navigation technology – internetretailer.com
“SpeedTrack has done a lot of homework in terms of identifying people it believes are infringing its patent and using its technology for free and profiting off of it,” says Marc Morris of the law firm of Hennigan, Bennett & Dorman LLP, which is representing SpeedTrack. Morris says it is possible SpeedTrack would sue other online retailers that use a similar guided navigation system.
The retailers named in the lawsuit are Amazon.com Inc., No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide; Dell (No. 3); OfficeMax (No. 6); Best Buy Co. and Best Buy.com LLC (No. 10); Costco Wholesale Corp. (No. 14); Hewlett-Packard Co. (No. 16); Systemax Inc. (No. 21); Macy’s Inc. and Macys.com Inc. (No. 23); Overstock.com (No. 29); 1-800-Flowers.com (No. 31); Redcats USA (No. 34); Barnesandnoble.com LLC and BarnesandNoble.com Inc. (No. 41); The Home Depot (No. 43); Nike Inc. (No. 49); Recreational Equipment Inc. (No. 67); Northern Tool & Equipment Catalog Co. (No. 74); Value Vision International Inc., owner of ShopNBC.com (No. 87); Retail Convergence Inc., owner of SmartBargains.com (No. 101); J&R Electronics Inc. (No. 103); and B&H Foto & Electronics Corp. (No. 122).
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OC Firm On Patent Offensive – socalTECH.com
An Orange County firm, SpeedTrack, has targeted Amazon.com, Best Buy, Dell, Costco, The Home Depot, and a slew of other firms over a patent the firm said is being infringed upon by the companies. According to SpeedTrack, the patent–U.S. Patent No. 5,544,360–covers how those retailers return searches for products on their web sites, so that users don’t see “cannot be found” in the results. SpeedTrack said the patent protects a method it calls “Guided Information Access”, which was created by co-founder Jerzy Lewak for its software, which the firm said is used by police departments to sort through criminal records data. The company is seeking damages for the patent infringement. SpeedTrack is being represented by Hennigan, Bennett & Dorman LLP in the patent lawsuit. Hennigan, Bennett & Dorman is the same law firm being used by Joltid, the firm owned by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the founders of Skype, in a lawsuit against eBay over use of peer-to-peer technology in Skype.
Read the article at socalTECH.com
Ernst & Young's Sale, Velghe and Nendick deliver the results of the 58th Annual Primetime Emmys
Andy Sale, Mieke Velghe and John Nendick of Ernst & Young on the red carpet
Last Sunday, Ernst & Young’s Andy Sale and John Nendick delivered the winning results of the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in tuxedos and silver briefcases. Ernst & Young, who has been entrusted with safeguarding the Annual Primetime Emmy Awards tabulations for 18 years, oversees the Emmy ballot process from beginning to end, starting with the nomination phase in June and finishing with the hand delivery of each winner’s envelope to the award presenter right before they go on stage. Sale, head of Ernst & Young’s Pacific Southwest media and entertainment team, says, “Our job is to make sure the right information is confidential and secure. It’s the same skill set as what we always do.” John Nendick is the head of Ernst & Young’s global media and entertainment practice. Mieke Velghe is a senior manager at Ernst & Young.
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