Posted August 31
Apptis Inc.,
a Chantilly-based technology company, signed a five-year
deal to provide IT services to the Social Security Administration
as a subcontractor to MicroTech LLC. Apptis will provide
software, hardware and telecom support to the agency’s
mainframe, network and telecommunications operations.
(Business Wire)
S&M Brand of Keysville chose The King
Agency, a Richmond advertising agency, as agency
of record for S&M’s Bailey’s cigarettes
brand. (News Release)
MeadWestvaco Inc., a Richmond producer of paper
packaging materials, signed Zachry Construction Corp.
of San Antonio, Texas to a five-year deal for maintenance
work at its Covington paper mill. The company said the
move was intended to consolidate and economize several
vendor contracts and had nothing to do with protracted
labor negotiations with the United Steelworkers at the
facility. (The Roanoke Times)
Mobile Satellite Ventures LP,
a Reston-based satellite communications firm, signed
a three-year deal with DialToneServices whereby DTS
will offer MSV’s
services in rural and sparsely populated areas of Texas.
(NR)
Slay Public Relations, a Richmond PR firm, will
refocus its efforts on large national clients served
by its parent, The Martin Agency. Slay, previously
known as Martin PR until 2001, served a number of national
and smaller clients. Revenue from the mix declined and
the internal back move to Martin over the next year may
lead to dropping of the Slay PR name. Several of its
10 employees have already left the firm. (Richmond
Times-Dispatch)
Smithfield Foods Inc., a Smithfield-based producer
of pork meat products, signed a deal with an unnamed
Chinese trading company to deliver 60 million pounds
of Paylean-free pork by the end of December. (PR Newswire)
Sprint Nextel chose CRT/tanaka,
a Richmond public relations company, as the wireless
communication firm’s lead PR firm for consultation
and guidance on Web campaigns and other new media projects. (Richmond
Times-Dispatch)
Posted Aug. 1 George Mason University, the University
of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia
Tech entered into a program with four historically
black North Carolina colleges to double the number
of minority graduates in science, technology, engineering
and math over the next five years. The colleges will
use a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation
to increase recruiting and retention efforts and share
learning and research practices. The North Carolina
colleges are Bennett College for Women in Greensboro,
Elizabeth City State University, Johnson C. Smith University
in Charlotte and St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh. (Richmond
Times-Dispatch)
Performance Food Group Inc.,
a Richmond-based food distributor, signed an agreement
with O’Charley’s
Inc. to become exclusive distributor for O’Charleys
and Stoney River restaurants. The deal is expected to
bring Performance Food $200 million in annualized revenue. (Business
Wire)
The Tennessee Valley Authority, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based
public power provider, made a loan to Snack Alliance
Inc. of Bristol to facilitate expansion of its production
line to manufacture and market a new rice-based chip
product, riceworksTM. The loan is part of
a deal TVA made to provide economic development aid to
the Bristol community after Bristol Virginia Utilities,
a public provider of utility services, agreed to sign
with TVA when its current pact with American Electric
Power expires in January 2008. (News release)
Posted July 30 Albemarle Corp., a Richmond-based manufacturer
of specialty chemicals, increased its ownership stake
in two Chinese joint ventures from 25 percent to 75 percent.
Ningbo Jinhai Albemarle Chemical & Industry Co. and Shanghai Jinhai Albemarle Fine Chemicals Co. specialize in production
of polymer antioxidants used in the petrochemical industry.
The move enhances
Albemarle’s position in growing regional and global
markets for plastics. (PR
Newswire)
Posted July 11 CRT/tanka, a Richmond public relations and marketing
firm, signed Novation, an Irving, Texas-based health
services contractor, for national public relations services.
Another new client, Pri-Med of Boston, a provider of
continuing education for physicians, signed with CRT/tanaka
for strategic planning. (News release)
Franklin Street Marketing, a Richmond-based marketing
services firm, partnered with Warren Douglas, a Fort
Worth, Texas marketing firm. The move gives Franklin,
which has 20 years of healthcare marketing experience,
access to the Texas hospital market to offer strategic
marketing and creative planning. (News release)
Posted July 10
Canon Virginia Inc. of
Newport News, a provider of custom manufacturing services,
will manufacture a compact, desktop 3-D modeler for 3D
Systems Corp. The V-Flash desktop modeler will allow
designers, engineers and students to design and produce
three-dimensional model designs from their home, office
or school work stations. (News release)
Luna Innovations Inc.,
a Roanoke-based technology company, will team with
Intuitive Surgical Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif. to enhance
surgical tools for minimally invasive operations. Intuitive’s computer-operated da Vinci
surgical system is used in many chest, gynecologic and
urologic procedures. Luna’s navigational aids will
allow surgeons better understanding about where da Vinci’s
surgical tools are within the body. (The Roanoke Times)
Northrop Grumman and SAIC agreed to split
its eight-year joint venture AMSEC LLC to allow
the companies to focus on their core strengths. Northrop
will take the ship engineering and technical services,
and SAIC the aviation and combat systems operations.
The AMSEC name and Virginia Beach headquarters will continue
and AMSEC’s 1,000 Hampton Roads employees work
will not be affected. (The Virginian-Pilot)
