Posted: October 28, 2011

New businesses & locations

MDR Specialty Distribution has moved to Oakland Industrial Park, at 230 Enterprise Drive in Newport News.

A subsidiary of Venuity Corp., MDR is a medical and supplies distribution company headquartered in Williamsburg. Its customers include distributors, hospitals, health care systems, alternate care locations, surgery centers, group purchasing organizations and home health providers. It also provides technology and consulting programs that aim to improve inventory management and streamline logistics.

Oakland Industrial Park, a 645-acre park that's home to more than 20 industrial, distribution and warehouse companies, is managed by the city's Industrial Development Authority.

MYMIC LLC, a technology services and development company headquartered in Portsmouth, has announced the opening of its National Capital Region office in Alexandria.

According to a company press release, CEO Thomas Mastaglio said the expansion allows MYMIC to provide enhanced support to the Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, particularly the J8 and the Joint Requirements Oversight Council.

Atlantic CommTech Corp., a defense contractor based in Norfolk, has established a new office in Charleston, S.C.

Rick White, a former U.S. naval navigation analyst, has joined the company as business development manager and will support the company's business efforts in Charleston and other markets. Since his reitrement from the Navy, White has supported large defense contractors in business development and program management for SPAWAR Charleston.

Virginia Beach-based Amerigroup Corp. has announced the launch of a pilot program in Texas designed to build upon its maternal outreach efforts. The company, which coordinates services for individuals in publicly funded health care programs, is teaming with Warm Health to provide automated statewide obstetrics assessments to screen for high-risk pregnancies and enhance the current high-risk maternity program in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas.

Warm Health builds relationships between health care organizations and their members through a communications approach that uses outbound, interactive phone, web and text-messaging services.

Principals Edward G. Lazaron, AIA, LEED AP, and Richard J. Fitts, AIA, LEED AP, have announced that The Design Collaborative, Architects has moved to 434 West 21st St. in Norfolk.

Established in 1976, the firm provides a full range of architectural services to the commercial, government and residential markets in Hampton Roads. Among its projects have been La Promenade and Renaissance Place shopping centers in Virginia Beach and Priority Toyota in Chesapeake.

Mergers & acquisitions

Clark Nexsen, an architecture, engineering, interior design, planning and landscape architecture firm based in Norfolk, announced that it has acquired the three offices of Technicon Engineering Inc., a Georgia-based company that provides engineering, architecture design and construction management for government and industrial clients.

With the acquisition, Clark Nexsen grows to nine offices and 550 employees.

East Coast Repair and Fabrication LLC, headquartered in Norfolk, has acquired Associated Naval Architects Inc. of Portsmouth for $3.8 million.

Founded in 1999, East Coast Repair does welding and fabrication for military and commercial customers in the region and nationwide. It has about 600 employees and two other locations - Jacksonville, Fla., and Portland, Ore.

Associated Naval Architects, a shipyard with about 50 employees, provides maintenance and modifications to military and commercial vessels. According to a report in The Virginian-Pilot, by early next year East Coast Repair plans to employ 100 to 200 at the shipyard.

Grants

The Amerigroup Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Amerigroup Corp., has provided a $2,500 grant to the Rx Partnership to benefit the Brock Hughes Free Clinic in Wytheville.

The Rx Partnership is an organization that works to provide uninsured Virginians with access to medication by serving as a broker to access and distribute free bulk prescription medications to 20 affiliated community-based clinics.

The foundation had awarded a $10,000 grant to the partnership earlier this year. This is being dispersed in quarterly installments to support increased access to medications at four free clinics in Virginia.

Two grants have been awarded recently that will assist Norfolk's Hermitage Museum & Gardens in expanding its gardens and environmental programming.

Earlier this year, the Garden Club of Norfolk was granted the Bessie Bocock Carter Conservation Award by the Garden Club of Virginia to construct a rain garden on the grounds of the Hermitage.

Additionally, the Hermitage was awarded a grant of $3,520 from the Virginia Horticultural Foundation to allow the hiring of a seasonal part-time employee to oversee the Wetlands Enrichment Tours, an educational program for public school students about the Hermitage's living shoreline restoration.

Events

Knowledge Information Solutions Inc. of Virginia Beach will present the company's Annual Technology Showcase 2011 on Nov. 3, from 4 to 11 p.m. at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside.

Included in the event will be a charity poker tournament to benefit The Up Center. Entry into the tournament costs $50.

The showcase, which is complimentary, will feature trends in technology and solutions with vendors such as HP, Microsoft, Citrix, Eaton and Ergotron.

To attend one or both events, participants must register at www.kisinc.net. For more information, contact Brenda Phelps at 275-7723 or brenda.phelps@kisinc.net.

The 15th annual Hampton Roads "canstruction" competition to benefit the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia will take place Nov. 9-21 at Selden Arcade in downtown Norfolk.

Eight teams drawn from Hampton Roads architectural firms, engineering firms and universities will create 10X10X8-foot structures out of canned foods. The build-out will take place from 6 p.m. to midnight on Nov. 9 and the judges will announce the winner the evening of Nov. 10.

From Nov. 11 to 21, the exhibit will be open to the public. Then, when the structures are dismantled, all of the food will be donated to the foodbank.

Canstruction competitions will be held in more than 100 cities worldwide. Norfolk's event is sponsored by the Hampton Roads chapters of the Society for Design Administration and the American Institute of Architects.

The Peninsula Institute for Community Health will hold a food-tasting fundraiser, "Fall Food Fete," on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. at the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News.

This will be the first fundraiser for the nonprofit health center, which operates primary care and dental practices in seven locations on the Peninsula and Southside. Its mission is to provide quality health care to the medically underserved community in Hampton Roads. Proceeds from the event will be used for colonoscopies, breast and prostate cancer screenings, and other health services.

The cost is $40 per person. For information or sponsorship opportunities, contact Khalilah LeGrand at klegrand@pich.org or 591-0643, ext. 1141.Donations & service

Science Applications International Corp. announced it will again serve as the corporate sponsor of the 2nd annual Vetshouse Inc. golf tournament on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, at Naval Air Station Oceana Aeropines Golf Club, Hornet Course.

The tournament will raise funds to support Vetshouse, a nonprofit that provides housing, food, clothing, counseling and other assistance to homeless veterans of the U.S. armed forces.

As part of its sponsorship, SAIC donated more than $4,000 to support the tournament's fundraising activities.

For more information and to register for the tournament, visit www.vetshouse.org.

The Lions Charity Foundation of Eastern Virginia, District 24-D, and the Lions Medical Eye Bank & Research Center of Eastern Virginia have jointly donated a Humphrey Visual Field Analyzer by Carl Zeiss MediTech to the Lions Center for Sight at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Each organization donated half the $22,000 cost of the unit.

The device helps in the diagnosis of glaucoma, and can also help in the diagnosis of ptosis, commonly known as droopy eyelids.

Awards & honors

Patient Advocate Foundation, headquartered in Hampton, has received Charity Navigator's second consecutive 4-star rating for sound fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency.

The national nonprofit seeks to safeguard patients through mediation that results in access to care, maintenance of employment and preservation of financial stability relative to their diagnosis of life-threatening or debilitating diseases. It provides personalized case management and pharmaceutical co-payment assistance.

SEO Bounty, an Internet marketing company headquartered in Virginia Beach, was named among the top 20 Link Building SEO Services Firms in the United States by Top SEOs. Additionally, Website Magazine named it one of the Top 50 SEO Firms for 2011.

H&A Architects & Engineers, based in Richmond with offices in Virginia Beach and San Diego, was named the second-best place to work for among multidiscipline A/E firms in the nation by Zweigwhite, published of CE News and Structural Engineer.

Snagajob, a provider of hourly workforce solutions based in Henrico, has been named the No. 1 small (50-250 employees) company to work for in America on the Great Place to Work annual ranking. For the past three years, it was among the top 10 on the list.

The Great Place to Work Institute bases the award on employee surveys, a questionnaire and factors such as credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie.

Great Place to Work is a global research, consulting and training firm.

Inc. magazine has ranked The Pinnacle Group of Virginia Beach in its annual list of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies - the Inc. 500/5000.

Certifications & designations

Inlet Technology of Virginia Beach, an Autodesk technology integrator, reseller and consultant in the architecture, engineering and construction industry market, announced it has earned the new Consulting Specialization designation for value-added resellers from Autodesk Inc., which specializes in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software.