The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun articles from May 2000

The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun archives from May 2000

On the web.
May 5, 2000... Free e-mail programs According to AmericanGreetings.com, 60 percent of adults in the Unites States prefer reading e-mail over snail mall, 34 percent prefer sending an e-mail to making a telephone call and 73 percent use their business...

New condos for Central.
May 5, 2000... A Scottsdale company is planning a major condominium development at Central Avenue and Encanto Boulevard in Phoenix. The project will include 304 owner-occupied condos and 20,000 square feet of retail and office space on the first floor,...

E-haul.
May 5, 2000... How 'Net is changing delivery industry There's a fork in the road to the New Economy that is driving major changes in the trucking business. More Internet purchases need to be sent to home and business door steps, fewer paper documents...

Welborn's exit leaves many gaps.
May 5, 2000... Banker active in community Take a look at Mike Welborn's list of community activities and it's a wonder he's had time to run his bank. But just because Welborn, the chairman of Bank One Arizona and head of the bank's commercial...

ProLink gives golfers good excuse to do business.
May 5, 2000... In this high-tech era, next time you tell your fellow workers you're going .to conduct business on the golf course, you'll really mean it. From a computer screen in your golf cart, you'll be able to: * Make a business presentation to a...

Charting your succession.
May 5, 2000... It looks like a pizza pie, only with a grid laying, across it instead of pepperoni and black olives. But the slices on Stephen Woodworthy's Family Fortune Wheel are potentially much more valuable than pizza. Woodworth, a principal at...

CFO QUALITIES.
May 5, 2000... CFO QUALITIES Other than accounting and finance knowledge, which one of the following qualities contributed most to your ...

Every day becomes a casual experience for most in Valley.
May 5, 2000... Pity the poor corporate fashion police for their lot is a lonely one these days. I remember a few years ago at a previous place of employment I spent hours upon hours meeting with employee teams and HR types trying to figure out just what...

Would you hire these people?
May 5, 2000... Some blunders seen on r[acute{e}]sum[acute{e}]s that are just too good to pass up: * "Skills: Excellent memory; strong math aptitutde; excellent memory." * "Being in trouble with the law, I moved quite frequently." * "Experience:...

Profiles in excellence.
May 5, 2000... Thanks to those who attended our Profiles luncheon last week, which lets us toast the success of all the people who graced our profile pages last year. Among the crowd was Robert Delgado of Hensley & Co.; Ellen Poole of the Arizona Bankers...

Developers taking pick of the crop near Gila Bend.
May 5, 2000... On a map, the vast holdings of Paloma Ranch stretching north and west of Gila Bend resemble a cornucopia, the mythical horn of plenty. In Paloma's case, it is anything but a myth that developers are buying some of the ranch's uncultivated...

Union Hall revamped into first web theater.
May 5, 2000... It was the first performing arts venue in Phoenix and now, promoters claim, it is the first Internet video production facility in the world. Three partners have taken the historic Phoenix Union Hall, a former high school auditorium at 600...

Guan starts art leasing, publishing.
May 5, 2000... Gaun Fine Art Gallery in downtown Scottsdale has two new business ventures in the works. The gallery, established in 1997, is creating art leasing and publishing divisions. It also has brought on Harold Joyce, whose background is in...

Web job leaves executive's parents asking, [Upside down question mark]que pasa?
May 5, 2000... When Fernando Acosta told his parents that he was moving to Phoenix to work for a Hispanic web site, they had no idea what he was talking about. His Spanish-speaking parents could flip through television channels and understand his job as...

Business Journal staffers receive awards in '99 Press Club contest.
May 5, 2000... Three of The Business Journal's editorial staff members won awards in the 1999 Arizona Press Club newspaper contest. In the category for business reporting in non-daily newspapers, Journal staffers won first and second place. Senior...

New manager wants Five-Star status for Wigwam.
May 5, 2000... Ralph Vick sits in an overstuffed leather chair flanked by a large brick fireplace in one of The Wigwam Resort's rustic rooms. The setting and symbolism are appropriate. Vick has a big job bringing new life to one of the Valley's most...

Sampling of Cox digital services to begin in June.
May 5, 2000... Cox Communications Inc. will begin offering a sampling of its high-speed data and digital TV in June to more than 400,000 homes in Glendale, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Tempe, Fountain Hills and Mesa's Dobson Ranch. Cox@Home Express and Cox...

New homebuilder arrives in style with Mesa project.
May 5, 2000... A newcomer in the Valley's luxury home market is arriving in style. Hawaii-based Schuler Homes' first project in Arizona is Madrid, a 144-home development with prices ranging from $300,000 to $425,000. The northeast Mesa development...

Business leaders keeping eyes open on land use near Luke.
May 5, 2000... Although there isn't any hint of closing Luke Air Force Base in the near future, Valley business leaders are concerned enough to listen to experts in land-use planning. That's why members of Valley Partnership asked for a briefing at the...

Big business experiments with venture investing.
May 5, 2000... Technology companies such as Microsoft, Amazon.com and InfoSpace long have made venture investing part of the way they do business. Now many of the largest, old-school manufacturing and finance companies are also jumping on the venture...

High Internet values major factor in buying bonanza.
May 5, 2000... A convergence of factors in 1999 produced an unprecedented number of mergers and acquisitions totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in California's Silicon Valley alone. Coming together to spark the biggest M&A year in history were the...

Scottsdale's chamber hosts growth forum.
May 5, 2000... The Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce will host a debate May 26 on the most hotly contested issue affecting the community: growth. The Citizens Growth Management Initiative and Growing Smarter Plus each offer plans for safeguarding. Arizona's...

Business grant widens PV college's e-biz offerings.
May 5, 2000... Paradise Valley Community College received a $153,380 grant to help small and mid-sized businesses learn about international trade and e-commerce The two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Business and International...

A homey partner.
May 5, 2000... NationalContractors.com, a Mesa-managed site that matches contractors to construction work, has received so many project postings that the business decided to form a partnership with another site in order to refer work. NationalContrators...

Virtual advice.
May 5, 2000... Retailers have taken to the Internet as another promotional venue. Now a group that counsels those retailers has embraced it too. Retail Advisors, a Mesa consulting business, launched a web site, www.retailadvisors.net, where members can...

Growing in number.
May 5, 2000... Luce Online, a news monitoring service that helps businesses keep track of what is reported, added 3,500 media outlets to its tracking list. The monthly service, CyberClipping, now reviews nearly 1,000 daily and community newspapers, and...

Phoenix ranks first.
May 5, 2000... We knew start-up growth in the Valley was contagious and near epidemic levels, and here's more fuel to add to the fire. A Pennsylvania economic research group, BizMiner, ranked Phoenix as the city with the most successful young businesses....

E stands for Eco.
May 5, 2000... EcoTech Technologies, Phoenix, launched a web site, www.ecoplanet.com, to sell, promote and support environmentally safe products. The portal site retails items such as solar-powered garden lights and features an Eco-Job Database, an...

Boutique online.
May 5, 2000... A 13-year-old Biltmore Fashion Park boutique now is online, too, at www.suzannes.net. Known for its collectible dolls, teddy bears, bunnies and Santa Clauses, Suzanne's started an e-commerce site in response to its already-global...

In the chef's kitchen.
May 5, 2000... Interactive Sites, a Scottsdale-based web-site design firm, recently finished a site for chef du jour Wolfgang Puck and his popular restaurants nationwide. The site, www.wolfgangpuck.com, allows visitors to take virtual tours of his five...

Time to change.
May 5, 2000... Technological advancements nave rendered 14-year-old PC Week as outdated -- or at least the name is. Recognizing industry change, the techie's trade magazine unveils a new name, EWeek, on May 8. The publication has-gradually altered...

Lewis & Roca keeps eyes locked on Miranda case.
May 5, 2000... Though he's not there fighting the merits of the 1966 landmark Miranda vs. Arizona case that occurred more than 34 years ago, Lewis & Roca attorney John Frank still, is watching the proceedings with great interest. Frank represented...

CEO pays a visit.
May 5, 2000... Bank One's new chairman and CEO, James Dimon, paid a visit to more than 2,000 employees in Arizona last week. The former president of Citigroup Inc. flew into Phoenix April 25 and had dinner with Bank One's local managers. On the 26th,...

New service.
May 5, 2000... Johnson Bank has started offering a new benefit in which small-business owners might be particularly interested. In early April, the Wisconsin-based bank put its check-imaging technology into place, which digitally records an optical, image...

New location.
May 5, 2000... M&I Thunderbird Bank has opened its newest location at 3100 W. Indian School Road in Phoenix. It replaces the now-closed 3001 W. Indian School Road office. Thunderbird Bank opened in 1965 and, in 1986, it became a member of the Marshall &...

Hammers replace gavels.
May 5, 2000... A few of the state's most prominent lawyers and judges spent their weekend building homes for Habitat for Humanity at South Ranch, Phoenix. Those in attendance working on some of the 196 homes were Arizona Supreme court Vice Chief Justice...

Air tour suit.
May 5, 2000... The United States Air Tour Associaticrn and several family-owned businesses, have filed a lawsuit as a result of final regulations published in early April to ban air tours over the Grand Canyon. Businesses involved in: the suit include Air...

Food for thought.
May 5, 2000... I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Except Phoenix Bryan Cave partner Frank Placenti. As special counsel to the Independent Board of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., it's important that he keep cool under pressure. Placenti...

New names.
May 5, 2000... LeapSource, Tempe, has named Matt Appel to manage the company's operations centers in Phoenix, and Mike Noble to a key role in business development with a special emphasis on the operations centers. Appel has 23 years' experience in...

BOMEX cracks whip, issues 23 disciplinary actions.
May 5, 2000... The Arizona State Board of Medical Examiners issued 23 disciplinary actions at its April 2 6-28 meeting, bringing the total number of actions to 87 for the 1999-2000 fiscal year. With one meeting remaining, the total number of disciplinary...

Medisphere work to begin.
May 5, 2000... MediSphere Health Partners Inc. of Nashville is moving quickly with its Plans for a women's medical center in Chandler. A ground breaking ceremony is scheduled at 12:30 p.m. May 11 at the southeast corner of Ray Road and Federal Street,...

Aging conference.
May 5, 2000... The Arizona Governor's Conference on Aging is scheduled May 15-17 at Phoenix Civic Plaza. Former Gov. Rose Mofford is the honorary chair of the Arizona Senior Fitness 2000 portion of the event, which will feature workshops, nutrition...

Lawsuit warning.
May 5, 2000... Foundation Health Systems Inc., a Los Angeles-based managed care company that operates Intergroup of Arizona, has been informed by Superior National Insurance Group Inc. that Superior plans to sue. The warning stems from affiliate...

Baby bed.
May 5, 2000... Generations Health Care Products of Scottsdale is launching the sale of an air mattress that allows pregnant women to lie on their stomachs. The Gentle Air Bed, designed by obstetrician/gynecologist Harry Watters, has a recessed area for...

Banner name change.
May 5, 2000... LHS Home & Community Care has changed its name to Banner Home Care and Banner Hospice. The change reflects last year's merger between Lutheran Health Systems and Samaritan Health System to create Banner Health Arizona, which is part of...

Doc writes book.
May 5, 2000... MacDonald Wood, M.D., founder of the Arizona Burn Center at Maricopa Medical Cente. has published a book about the evolution of Maricopa Integrated Health System. From a Pest House to a Hospital to a System; The Evolution of Maricopa...

'Arizona Highways' lures Holden from Moses Anshell.
May 5, 2000... After just tour months on the job, Win Holden has left Moses Anshell for the publishing post at Arizona Highways magazine. He replaces Nina La France, who resigned and took a job as circulation director of Red Herring magazine in San...

Money-back guarantee.
May 5, 2000... Here's an offer you don't hear every day [ldots] Fabiano Communications, a marketing and advertising agency in Scottsdale, is offering a money-back guarantee on its campaigns. If the agency's strategy does not produce agreed-upon results,...

Young generates APS ads.
May 5, 2000... Young Associates Inc., Phoenix, is the advertising agency behind Arizona Public Service Co.'s latest campaign. The television, radio and print ads focus on values the electric, utility shares with its customers: reliability, experience and...

Blue Planet lands exhibits.
May 5, 2000... Blue Planet Design has completed and installed three interactive exhibits at the Carolina Beach State Park in North Carolina. The firm created interactive, touch-screen exhibits and a multiscreen interactive theater that feature information...

Domino's ads hit air.
May 5, 2000... Creative Dept. has cooked up two ads for Domino's Pizza. A 30-second TV spot and a 30-second radio spot feature original music and the line, "Wherever I am, wherever I go, I order my pizza, from Domino's." The ads air through the end of...

Vista gets interactive.
May 5, 2000... Vista Productions helped steer the recent national marketing blitz by quepasa.com and NetZero. The Phoenix firm developed an interactive multimedia CD-ROM that promoted quepasa's English/Spanish search engine and NetZero's Internet...

The online scoop.
May 5, 2000... Newspaper professionals looking for jobs or employees might want to visit NewspaperTrades.com. The free web site, www.newspapertrades.com, targets editors, reporters, press operators, sales people, and circulation and marketing personnel....

America West lands 18th California flight in fall.
May 5, 2000... America West Airlines announced it will begin new service between Phoenix and Oxnard, Calif., on Sept. 6. America West Express, operated by Mesa Air Group, will provide the twice-daily round-trip flights aboard a deHavilland Dash-8...

Dodge Theatre progresses.
May 5, 2000... A ceremonial ground breaking took place last week for the Dodge Theatre in downtown Phoenix. The venue, projected to open in late summer 2001, will be west of Central Avenue at 400 W. Washington Street. Dodge Theatre will be owned by...

Hot to trot.
May 5, 2000... Gear up and get out of the heat to play golf this summer. Warmer and drier than normal fall and winter seasons have allowed maintenance crews to work steadily on the Prescott Lakes Golf Club in preparation for a June opening. The Hale...

Nicolazzi back with CVB.
May 5, 2000... Julie Nicolazzi has returned to the Tempe Convention & Visitors Bureau as convention sales manager. Nicolazzi will be responsible for marketing Tempe as a destination to meeting planners and conventions. She spent the past three years...

ILX posts best earnings.
May 5, 2000... Phoenix's ILX Resorts Inc., owner and developer of timeshares, announced results for its three months ended March 31. Revenue of $10 million was the highest for any first quarter in the company's history and 14 percent greater than the same...

GC Railway a feat.
May 5, 2000... Grand Canyon Railway has been named a local historic civil engineering landmark by the Arizona Society of Civil Engineers. The rail line from Williams to the south rim of the Grand Canyon was completed in 1901 to haul copper ore from a...

On the road again.
May 5, 2000... Scottsdale-based Royal Tours has quite an offering for motorsports fans. It's selling a package deal to the Indy 500 which takes place May 28. The company specializes in bus tours, most of them departing from the Valley. But this one isn't...

Competition narrows as the telecom giants merge.
May 5, 2000... More than 16 years ago, AT&T was split into seven regional Baby Bells, but analysts say the past four years of mergers between Ma Bell's offspring could restore monopolistic practices that consumers battled for most of the last century. ...

Sideliners score with players in merger game.
May 5, 2000... Just how lucrative can a merger be for those folks busily working on the sidelines? Consider that KPMG LLP nabbed some $43.4 million in Wells Fargo & Co. business last year. The bulk of KPMG's gain -- $30 million worth -- came from...

Advocates seek online privacy laws.
May 5, 2000... As of April 21, web sites must obtain parental consent before they collect, use or disclose personal information about children -- requirements signed into law last year. Privacy advocates now want Congress to make sure online privacy...

Living a dream.
May 5, 2000... A commitment to help grows over the years Like his father before him, Phoenix attorney Danny Ortega never has been afraid of hard work. Not in the days when he was peddling produce door-to-door on the streets of Phoenix. Not when he...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.
May 5, 2000... Advertising Additions at Scottsdale advertising agency GC Promotions Inc. are Debra Hrynyk as art director, Linda Meloni as office manager, Jeff Jones as a production artist and Bandy Giglioni as administrative assistant. Construction...

SunChase gifts 45 acres to Buckeye High.
May 5, 2000... SunChase, the developer of Estrella Mountain Ranch in Goodyear, can walk the talk when it comes to supporting education. The company is donating 45 acres to Buckeye Union High School District for a new school within the master-planned...

Developer on the hunt.
May 5, 2000... The creative developer who pumped new life into Phoenix's historic Royal Palms Hotel and Paradise Valley's Hermosa Inn is looking for a new project. In case you missed it, read the story about Fred Unger in the April 28 issue of The...

Will cook for tours.
May 5, 2000... Maracay Homes president Dave Bessey is using culinary open houses May 6 to lure visitors to his condominium project, Stonecliffe at the Foothills. Cooking and grilling demonstrations will be, in three models by Maggie Moo's Ice Cream,...

Arizona developer sees new use for old California mall.
May 5, 2000... An Arizona developer. is buying a 40-year-old mall in the Sacramento, Calif., area and turning it into an entertainment center. Arizona Partners of Phoenix, a retail investment company, is buying the center from UBS Asset Management, a...

Kaufman and Broad sprout buildings across Valley.
May 5, 2000... As busy as homebuilders are across the Valley, one of the busiest appears to be Kaufman and Broad. The company is opening new communities in east Mesa, Gilbert and west Phoenix. Its Mesa development, at the corner of Hawes and Medina...

Oil cost effects touch many sectors.
May 5, 2000... SPECIAL TO THE BUSINESS JOURNAL Consumers who have to dig deep into their pockets at the gas pump aren't the only victims of skyrocketing oil prices. The steady, steep rise in the price of oil also is having a pronounced, trickledown...

WHO'S WHO.
May 5, 2000... Joan Borter Executive director Arizona Masonry Guild Years with organization: 9 Organization's current major projects: Increasing public awareness of the capabilities of masonry products in commercial and residential...

Home-based agency toasts 2 years of help.
May 5, 2000... May marks the two-year anniversary of the Home-Based Business Council started by consultant Janet Drez and Tom Gunn, director of the Arizona Small Business Association. The 120-member group offers educational and networking opportunities...

Archived advice.
May 5, 2000... Family Business Magazine has taken its expert advice online at www.familybusinessmagazine.com, where visitors can search a 10-year archive on an array of issues. The magazine regularly covers topics such as how to set compensation, manage...

Focus: G2 furniture.
May 5, 2000... A new small-business magazine recruited Adam Goodman, general manager of G2 Office Furniture Market, for its inaugural cover issue. MyBUSINESS is published by the National Federation of Independent Business. A feature story on creative uses...

One man's trash [ldots].
May 5, 2000... Bowman finds niche in used computer parts The Bowman Group: Buys and sells used semiconductor parts. Parts are purchased from refiners and recyclers who have contracts with large computer makers such as Compaq and IBM to properly...

What was the turning point for your business?
May 5, 2000... Robert McGrath Chef/owner Roaring Fork, Scottsdale If anything it's getting to that 18month point; we're two-and-a-half years old. There seems. to be such a high mortality rate in the restaurant business, I think the industry...

Hiring independent contractors.
May 5, 2000... What should I keep in mind when hiring independent contractors? The 1995 White House Conference on Small Business ranked the need for clarification of the independent contractor definition as the No. 1 concern for small business. This...

E -biz highway drives tech capitalization.
May 5, 2000... The following is the second in a series of five articles by the Arizona Society of CPAs dealing with how businesses can make the most of technology. Electronic business is about more than using e-mail or researching industries online. ...

Small business magazine teaches effective operation.
May 5, 2000... The 13th edition of Small Business Success targets entrepreneurs who want to learn how to more effectively operate their businesses. The magazine addresses a variety of issues: * Using partnerships to stretch promotional dollars. *...

Web Site Review.
May 5, 2000... Site summary: Access LaserPress is a commercial digital printing company. Ken: I am not a big fan of the "welcome" page concept so I could find no real reason for the animated (a k a dancing baloney) entry page. The box that allows...

E-mail etiquette: Putting your best foot forward.
May 5, 2000... I've noticed recently that my e-mail count has reached approximately 50 messages a day and is growing. Incidentally, the national average is 31 per day. Some e-mails are spam that get automatically deleted without a second glance....

Look in mirror for answers about customer loyalty.
May 5, 2000... I went to the first-ever Charlotte Hornets game in the fall of 1988. They played the Cleveland Cavaliers. About 25,000 screaming fans watched the Hornets suffer a humiliating defeat. But the fans loved every second of it. The Hornets set...

ACUTE-CARE HOSPITALS.
May 5, 2000... ACUTE-CARE HOSPITALS Ranking: 1999 net revenue Rank Telephone 2000 Hospital name [1] ...