Education
University of California-Irvine is ranked No. 31 on Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s list of full-time master’s in business degree programs. The Paul Merage School of Business came in below University of California schools in Los Angeles, No. 11, and Berkeley, No. 19, and the University of Southern California, No. 21. Bloomberg ranked 85 MBA programs in the U.S. based on information from recruiters and graduates on satisfaction with the program, employment expectations, job placement and starting salary.
A team made up of students from University of California-Irvine; Chapman University; Irvine Valley College; and Saddleback College won second place in the engineering contest at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon in Irvine. Teams competed from five countries on two continents to design, build and operate affordable solar-powered houses.
Energy
Duke Energy Corp., one of the nation’s largest electric utility providers, took a majority stake in Irvine-based Phoenix Energy Technologies on undisclosed terms. Phoenix makes software that helps companies manage energy usage. It said it will continue to operate independently with its established management team.
Healthcare
Irvine-based Quality Systems Inc. sold the hospital software division of its NextGen Healthcare subsidiary to Reston, Va.-based QuadraMed Affinity Corp. for an undisclosed price. Quality makes software that doctors and dentists use to manage their practices. QuadraMed makes healthcare software used mainly in hospitals, health systems and related facilities. Selling the hospital unit “enables Quality Systems and NextGen Healthcare to focus on our core ambulatory business, which includes one of the largest installed bases in the industry,” Chief Executive Rusty Frantz said.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission halted trading of shares in Allergan PLC, whose Botox and eye drug hubs are in Irvine, for about 15 minutes Wednesday on news involving rival Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. Valeant’s shares also fell after short-seller Citron Research raised questions about how the Canadian drugmaker records its sales, including the use of an unaffiliated specialty pharmacy. Shares in Allergan and other drugmakers were affected by the news, although the companies weren’t named in the report. Allergan said it doesn’t rely on unaffiliated specialty pharmacies to distribute its products.
In other Allergan news, former company executive David Crean will be managing director of the life sciences investment banking group of San Diego investment bank Objective Capital Partners. He was a director of corporate business development for Allergan from 2003 to 2010, working on its Botox, Juvederm, Latisse, and Aczone product lines, according to his LinkedIn profile. Crean is also chief business officer for early-stage diagnostic testing company Amydis Diagnostics in San Diego.
Hospitality
Newport Beach hospitality management company Unique Hotels & Resorts added an equity partner and launched a new company, Karas Lifestyle Hotels, to buy and manage properties. Eric Prevette and Carlos Lopes, managing directors of both companies, brought on Murray Holland, previously with an investment banking firm in Dallas, to start Karas. Prevette was president of Irvine Co.’s resort properties division from 2001 to 2007. The Unique name will be folded into Karas. The new company wants to own four-star hotels that will take the Karas name.
The 157-room Shorebreak Hotel in Huntington Beach hired new management staff following its purchase this year by a Bethesda, Md.-based real estate investment trust. San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants named Brent McNally the hotel’s general manager, Gene Smallwood director of sales and marketing, Blake Brissette-Mathias head of food and beverage, and Damon Kelly chef at the Shorebreak’s Zimzala Restaurant & Bar. The hotel sold in March for $58.5 million, or $373,000 per room, to DiamondRock Hospitality Co., which brought on Kimpton to manage it.
Transportation
The Orange County Board of Supervisors named Barry Rondinella director of John Wayne Airport, effective Nov. 13. He replaces Alan Murphy, who retired in February. Rondinella had been director of operations for Los Angeles World Airports since 2010 and has worked at other airports in California. His contract is for one year at a salary of $200,000, about the same as Murphy’s base pay of $198,903. County spokesperson Jean Pasco said the one-year contract “aligns with other employees’” annual reviews. She said Rondinella could earn a longer term deal when the contract expires.
