EDUCATION
Marshall B. Ketchum University Provost Morris Berman will receive the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry at the association’s annual leadership luncheon in Boston in June. The academic leadership organization promotes and aims to achieve excellence in optometric education. The award is based on Berman’s “exceptional leadership, outstanding contributions and exemplary commitment and dedication to [the association] and optometric education,” according to the association.
Four University of California-Irvine faculty and one alumnus will be inducted in October into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Cambridge, Mass.-based group recognizes academic, business and government leaders. Faculty scheduled to be added to its roster include Erwin Chemerinsky, founding dean of UCI’s law school; R. Benny Gerber, chemistry professor emeritus; Margaret Gilbert, professor and chair in moral philosophy; and Steven White, a physics professor who’s focused on quantum mechanics. UCI alum Yusef Komunyakaa was also elected to the academy. He won a Pulitzer Prize for poetry collection “Neon Vernacular.”
HEALTHCARE
Allergan Plc bought Topokine Therapeutics for $85 million and certain milestone payments. Allergan is based in Dublin for tax purposes and keeps its U.S. headquarters in New Jersey while maintaining an aesthetics medicine hub in Irvine. Topokine is privately held and based in Boston. It develops topical treatments for subcutaneous fat. Among its products are an ointment that treats under-eye bags and a gel for topical reduction of laugh lines. Both are in trials.
MEDIA
Digital First Media appointed Henry Williamson to oversee sales strategies as vice president of advertising at The Orange County Register to “lead the planning and execution of sales strategies to drive growth and keep clients [and for] training, coaching and developing sales teams,” the company said. He’s based at the Register’s headquarters in Santa Ana and will also help guide its community involvement and daily business operations as general manager over print and digital efforts. He’d been senior director of digital sales at Digital First’s Los Angeles News Group, which became Southern California News Group when Digital First bought the Register and the Riverside-based Press-Enterprise on March 31 (see related story, page 1; OC Insider item, page 3).
SERVICES
Irvine-based architectural design firm MVE & Partners promoted Matthew McLarand, formerly a senior associate partner, to principal. His father, Carl, founded MVE in 1974. Matthew will focus on high-rise residential and commercial design, mixed-use and commercial work in China, and projects in downtown Los Angeles. MVE ranks No. 5 on the Business Journal’s list of architecture firms with operations in OC.
TECHNOLOGY
Wireless services and products provider CalAmp Corp. moved from Oxnard to Irvine. Its top executive and other corporate personnel were already based here. Its stock is traded on the NASDAQ exchange. CalAmp has increased revenue 22% annually since 2011 through the expansion of Internet of Things and software service offerings. It reported sales of $250.6 million in the fiscal year that ended in February 2015.
OTHER
U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker named Port of Long Beach Chief Executive Jon Slangerup to the department’s advisory committee on supply chain competitiveness. He’ll serve on a 45-member committee that advises the U.S. president on issues regarding the movement of goods and freight. Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, was also appointed to the committee. Slangerup and Seroka have worked to create policies to increase shipping speed and reliability.
The Busch Family Foundation in Irvine gave $15 million to Catholic University of America, news reports said. The Washington, D.C.-based university’s School of Business and Economics will be renamed for husband and wife Tim and Steph Busch. Tim is founder and chief executive of Irvine-based Pacific Hospitality Group, which owns and runs hotels, including Balboa Bay Club and Balboa Bay Resort in Newport Beach. The foundation’s website said it supports community and education projects that align with Catholic teaching. Catholic University said it’s the biggest gift in its history.
