The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun articles from July 1996

The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun archives from July 1996

Bringing home the bacon; Arizona chief executives ranked by cost effectiveness.
July 5, 1996... Phelps Dodge Corp.'s high-priced chief Douglas Yearley returned the highest value to shareholders in 1995, earning him the top spot in The Business Journal's "bang-for-the-buck" survey. Yearley moved to the No. 1 spot ahead of some of Arizona's...

Rio Salado finds anchor. (lake)
July 5, 1996... Take a two-mile lake, a 1,000-room convention hotel with a daily parade of ducks, add a pinch of retail, and you've got the makings of Tempe's Rio Salado as it's envisioned to appear by Christmas 1998. But that's just the development along the...

JDA Software Group looks to triple revenue.
July 5, 1996... JDA Software Group Inc. is jumping to the forefront of Phoenix's software industry. It plans to hire 31 people for a total of 270 worldwide and is adding two products that promise to boost revenue from 1995's $30 million to more than $90 million...

Small-biz champion going strong. (Aircraft Gear Corp. director and general counsel Milton D. Stewart)(Profile)
July 5, 1996... Milton D. Stewart's resume is amazing. In his 74 years, he's packed in the creation of a federal grant program that annually doles out billions of dollars to small businesses; time as editor of Inc. magazine; appointments from five presidents...

United Healthcare eyes federal contract; company also launches no-referral health plan for Arizona members.(Focus: Health)
July 5, 1996... United HealthCare of Arizona Inc., which last month changed its name from Metra-Health Care Plan of Arizona Inc., is trying to clinch a contract with the federal government to provide a health maintenance organization to seniors. Most of the...

GumTech Inc. chomping at FDA approval. (GumTech International Inc.)
July 5, 1996... GumTech International Inc. is poised for gum-snapping growth should it receive the nod from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to manufacture over-the-counter drugs in gum form. "We would consider making products that already sell over the...

Tempe firm travels road to Easy Street. (Easy Street Environment pseudo-businesses)
July 5, 1996... Life in the 1990s is tough enough, but for a child or young adult with physical, mental or emotional handicaps, the road to personal success is littered with obstacles. To help clear the path, the Learning Assessment Training Children with...

Fed budget snafu hurts contractors. (government contractors)
July 12, 1996... WASHINGTON - Last year's federal budget impasse has left a billion-dollar swath of economic dislocation across the country, with government contractors shortchanged on work for more than six months. Several Arizona organizations have had...

Samaritan Health restructuring prompts exodus. (Samaritan Health Plan Insurance Corp.)
July 12, 1996... Phyllis Biedess has left her position as president and CEO of Samaritan Health Plan - and is taking two key employees with her. Biedess has joined a parade of people leaving Samaritan Health System while it cuts $100 million in costs and eyes...

Mercy Healthcare lures Biedess to run new medical subsidiary. (Mercy Healthcare Arizona; Phyllis Biedess)
July 12, 1996... Mercy Healthcare Arizona is forming a new company to help health-care systems nationwide blend alternative and mainstream medicine. The move by Mercy's Arizona Center for Health & Medicine is gaining attention from major medical schools, from...

'People guy' registers hotel success. (Resort Suites of Scottsdale General Manager Jim Saunders)
July 12, 1996... "I don't see how you can be in this business if you don't want to make people happy." Taking care of people is what Jim Saunders knows best. As general manager of Resort Suites of Scottsdale, Saunders' priority is making his guests - and his...

Casa Grande courts Mitsui; stung in Texas, Japanese car-parts maker swerves to Arizona. (Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. Mitsui Components Div.)
July 19, 1996... A second major Japanese manufacturing company could be following Sumitomo Sitix Corp. into Arizona, paving the way for additional activity on the part of Asian manufacturers. Mitsui Components, a division of Japan-based Mitsui Mining &...

Premier nabs $15 million HMO contract. (Premier Healthcare of Arizona's contract with Arizona Health Care Financing Administration; health maintenance organization)
July 19, 1996... Premier Healthcare of Arizona has won a Medicare contract to provide health-care coverage to Arizona seniors, a deal that could boost Premier's revenue by $10 million to $15 million by the end of the year and even more in the future. The...

St. Jude merger wins Valley jobs. (merger between St. Jude Medical Inc. and Cyberonics Inc.)
July 19, 1996... Medical-device maker St. Jude Medical Inc. plans to gobble up a Texas company that makes other medical products, and move its headquarters to Scottsdale. St. Paul, Minn.-based St. Jude Medical also is bringing 200 manufacturing jobs to...

Golf club manufacturers looking to trap fakes.
July 19, 1996... Fairway fakes are forcing golf club makers, including Phoenix-based Karsten Manufacturing Corp., to tighten their grip on patents and trademarks. Most consumer industries are competitive and the golf business is par for the course, said Thomas...

Software CEO displays doggedness. (Joanne Carthey of NetPro Computing Inc.)(Profile)
July 19, 1996... Joanne Carthey is well-respected as the CEO of the growing software firm NetPro Computing Inc., but her husband describes her as a cross between a poodle and a bulldog. She balances being determined and genteel, explained her husband, Randy...

Pair creates vacations on trails less traveled. (Off the Beaten Path Inc. owners Pam and Bill Bryan)(Keys to Emerging Business)(Company Profile)
July 19, 1996... For those who find a week of dog sledding the ultimate vacation or want to try being real-life "City Slickers" on a Southwestern dude ranch, Off the Beaten Path is making tracks into new terrain. Off the Beaten Path is the brainchild of Bill...

Iridium project beams into Tempe. (Motorola Inc.'s Iridium personal communications network based in Tempe, AZ)
July 26, 1996... Global communications are about to blast off - and the North American gateway is in Tempe. With financing finally in place for Motorola Inc.'s long-touted Iridium personal communications network, construction has begun on a 20,000-square-foot...

3,000 hotel rooms check into Valley. (Valley of the Sun, AZ)
July 26, 1996... Hotel development is reaching a feverish pitch in the Valley, and some developers say the torrent of activity has to be nearing its peak. By most accounts, the Valley will welcome more than 3,000 new hotel rooms in the next 12 to 18 months....

Tower sold? Dial vague. (Dial Corp.'s plan to sell Dial Tower on Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ)
July 26, 1996... Let the divesting begin. Maybe. The Dial Corp appears to be moving ahead with plans to rid itself of Dial Tower, the mammoth, copper-colored, corporate landmark on Central Avenue in Phoenix. But whether the company is selling an interest in...

US West 'Value' card ditched, workers next. (US West Inc.'s discount program called Your Value Card)
July 26, 1996... Fifty-eight employees will be out of a job when US West Inc. pulls the plug on its discount program called Your Value Card, introduced in the Valley last September with a splash of highly visible ads and mass mailings. The discount program was...

Expanding Prescott title firm relocating to Valley. (Capital Title Agency; Valley of the Sun, AZ)
July 26, 1996... Capital Title Agency Inc, a title insurance company based in Prescott since 1981, is breaking into the Valley market with plans for 10 offices and at least 50 jobs - plus it is relocating its corporate headquarters here. And the Phoenix move...

State's new employment act said to favor big-biz. (Arizona Senate Bill 1386, also known as the employer protection act)
July 26, 1996... Dubbed the "employer protection act" by attorneys who defend the little guy, Arizona Senate Bill 1386 took effect July 20. The new law favors big business, say attorneys who defend employees in wrongful termination, sexual harassment and...

Transport company moving to the future. (Advantage Transport Inc.)
July 26, 1996... Everyone wants this or that kind of tomato or potato. At certain times of the year, Florida is shipping tomatoes to California - and California is sending tomatoes to Florida. Matt Steckner and Steve Noble of Phoenix-based Advantage Transport...