Kiger's Notebook

New stylist to open Roch. salon

Hair stylist Allison Flath has been looking for her vision of the perfect salon atmosphere in Rochester for the past few years.

Now she is opening Hair Evolutions at 4152 18th Ave. N.W., in the Cedarwood Plaza. The O’Hair salon last operated in that spot.

“I hoping to be up and running in first part of January,” Flath says.

She plans to have three to six stylists on staff when the salon opens.

It will focus on the full array of hair styling services at first, but Flath hopes to add more services, such as nail care, in the future.

And what about the environment she hopes to create?

“I’m not saying much about it yet,” Flath says. “People will have to come to see it for themselves.”

Fastenal to buy screw maker

Fastenal, the retail fastener giant based in Winona, is making an addition to its stable of related companies.

A press release rolled out today that say it is buying "certain assets of Holo-Krome..."Holo-Krome, which was founded in 1929, is based in West Hartford, Conn. The deal is expected to close on Dec. 18, according to the release.

Here's a little info directly from the press release:

The sales of this business for the year ended December 31, 2008 are less than 1% of the consolidated sales of the Fastenal organization for the same period.Holo-Krome was organized around what was a revolutionary idea at the time -- the manufacture of socket screws by metal forming, or heading, rather than machining. More recently, the company invented the Thermo-Forged(R) process, which results in fasteners which are more precise, offer greater strength, and afford higher fatigue resistance.

As of November 30, 2009, Fastenal operated 2,357 stores in the United States (all 50 states), Canada (all provinces), Puerto Rico (multiple), Mexico (14 states), Singapore (one location), Netherlands (one location), Hungary (one location), Malaysia (one location) and China (one location) selling to the general public. The Company operates 14 distribution centers located in Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia, Washington, California, Utah, North Carolina, Kansas, Ontario, Canada; Alberta, Canada; and Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Midwest Food Processors group + Convention in Roch.

The Midwest Food Processors Association is meeting for a convention in Rochester this week.

Not sure how many people this has brought to snowy Rochester, but its seems like a pretty big deal.

Here's some details about this group from its Web site:

The Midwest Food Processors Association is the foremost legislative voice of the food processing industry in the Midwest.  MWFPA actively represents and lobbies on behalf of food processors in the state legislatures and agencies in Illinois, Minnesota and WisconsinThe MWFPA has 16 food processor members operating over 100 facilities in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. It also has over 200 Associate Members consisting of firms in allied industries.

From the convention agenda I see what looks like a pretty interesting talk from 11:45 to 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Mayo Civic Center.

Lunch Buffet & Keynote Speaker (Auditorium) Dr. Thomas Price – The Impact of Globalization on American Business

Dr. Price is a Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Professor at the University of Arizona. His extensive experience as a high-level American diplomat in Europe gives him a unique perspective on the impact foreign policy has on American businesses. He will discuss the growing concern around the nation and world with environmental issues and sustainability and how the Obama
In addition he will comment on the European attitude towards food in general and towards GMO’s in particular and how they have profound consequences for American food processors. (Sponsored in part by Lyco Manufacturing, Crookham Co, and Lakeside Foods)

Mayo Clinic linked biotech plans estimated $74M IPO

A Beligum biotech company that licenses Mayo Clinic research and is partially owned by Mayo - Cardio3 BioSciences - is looking to launch an intitial public offering with hopes of raising $72 million, according to speculation in European press.
Cardio3 BioSciences is licensing Mayo Clinic research about "differentiating" stem cells, or turning generic stem cells from bone marrow into cardiac cells. Mayo Clinic Health Solutions' office of Intellectual Properties - which is taking five floors of the new Minnesota Bioscience Center – also owns a portion of the company. 

Cardio3 will pay grants to Mayo for additional research as part of the deal.
Here's some from Reuters on this topic:

Proceeds will fund development of the
group’s lead therapy C-Cure, which has been through phase I of clinical
trials, de Tijd claimed.

Reports made no mention of wh
ere
Cardio3 would list and did not give a timeframe for the IPO, though the
group is expected to be a publicly traded company by the autumn of 2010.

It was established in 2007.
Cardio3 is still 26.0 per cent owned by its founders, while management control 5.0 per cent of the company. 

Other investors include the Mayo Clinic with a 30.0 percent stake, Tolefi (9.0 percent) and Technowal (4.0 percent).

Roch.'s semi-pro soccer team - new owner, new name

There are some game-changing moves under way for Rochester’s semi-pro soccer team.

“We’re a 100 percent locally owned team now,” says Todd Penz, co-owner and operations manager of the Rochester Thunder.

Penz, with his father, Dan Penz, bought out the owner of the state professional soccer team, the Minnesota Thunder.

Dean Johnson controlled 60 percent of the Rochester team, which has played one season.

Johnson’s statewide, Twin Cities-based team has been struggling from a number of kicks to the bottom line. That prompted the Penzes to take control of the Rochester squad.

“Now we’re looking at a name change and have other things in the works,” says Todd Penz. “We want the fans to tell us what they want.”

When the team’s Web site re-launches in the near future, expect an option to vote on a name.

No matter what it is called, Penz says to expect great soccer action in 2010.

Training the brain

Just like personal trainers help clients be stronger and faster, a new group — Learning RX — coming to Rochester want do the same thing for people’s brains.

“We do that by identifying and working on the pieces that make up your IQ or your intelligence like attention, memory, auditory and verbal processing as well as logic and reasoning,” says Jennifer Beyst, who is opening the center. “It is brain fitness.”

She hopes to open in mid-January at Suite 107 at 3780 Marketplace Drive N.W. in the Rochester Crossing shopping center. This is the ex-L.A. Weight Loss space.

Between 14 and 16 people are expected to be on staff. The training is one-on-one and available for pre-school children through adults of any age. Most clients that come to Learning RX are students struggling in school with learning disabilities such as dyslexia and ADD/ADHD.

That’s what inspired Beyst to become involved with Learning RX. “It is my personal quest,” she says. She has three children with learning difficulties. “I’ve been through the gamut of options.”

Beyst says independent studies have validated Learning RX’s methods.

Venture founder Jon Eckhoff = New RDA executive director

After weeks of speculation, the Rochester Downtown Alliance has chosen local businessman Jon Eckhoff as its new executive director to replace the retiring Sandy Keith.

“Jon brings many strengths to the position,” says Chris Tatting, president of the Rochester Downtown Alliance. “Primary among them is his passion for downtown Rochester.”

Eckhoff says he met with the RDA board this morning and was notified that he chosen for the job a few hours later. He was one of 40 people who applied for the position.

He recently sold Venture Computer Systems, a Rochester technology company that he founded and ran for 17 years.How does he plan to approach this new position with this organization that has quickly become a strong force for Rochester development?

“My goal in the first three months is going to be to listen to the stakeholders and business owners,” Eckhoff said this morning. “There is already such positive momentum and we want to be careful not to slow that down.”

Eckhoff, a 21-year resident of Rochester, has served as chair of the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce; chair of the United Way of Olmsted County 2009 campaign; co-chair of the First Steps Business Alliance and chair of several committee/reviews of the Rochester School District.

“He exhibits a positive, can-do attitude in all that he does. The Alliance and downtown Rochester will benefit greatly from his energy and vision for the future.” says Randy Staver, chair of the search committee that recommended Eckhoff.Keith, the executive director of the Rochester Downtown Alliance throughout its first five years, will remain on the job until Dec. 31.

Gartner: IBM leads in server revenue in 3Q

IBM's war to control the computer server marketplace continues and it won the revenue battle in the 3Q, though HP shipped more.

It looks like Sun's server program has gone nova and exploded. Maybe it is just changing.

Here's some from the Gartner Research numbers that came out earlier this week.

-------------------

Worldwide server shipments for the third quarter of 2009 dropped 17.1 percent over the same quarter last year, while worldwide server revenue for the same period declined 15.5 percent according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide server revenues totaled $10.7 billion for the quarter, as worldwide servers shipments reached 1.9 million units.

"It is important to put the yearly declines into perspective,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner. “Looking at the third quarter results from the sequential perspective, they showed an increase of 13.8 percent in shipments and 10.2 percent in revenues when compared to the second quarter of this year. That suggests that the market as a whole is showing signs of stabilization as we move toward the end of 2009.”

IBM held the revenue lead in the worldwide server market for the quarter. IBM’s overall revenue share lead over second-place HP was 1.5 percent for the quarter. Four of the top 5 vendors posted double-digit declines in revenue year over year. However, all of the top tier vendors experienced sequential revenue growth, except for Sun Microsystems.

Table 1
Worldwide: Server Vendor Revenue Estimates, 3Q09 (U.S. Dollars)

Company	3Q09 Revenue	3Q09 Market Share (%)	3Q08 Revenue	3Q08 Market Share (%)	3Q08-3Q09 Growth (%)
IBM	3,383,768,798	31.7	3,856,826,095	30.6	-12.3
HP	3,219,767,761	30.2	3,793,197,226	30.1	-15.1
Dell	1,424,751,880	13.4	1,500,603,160	11.9	-5.1
Sun Microsystems	784,566,516	7.4	1,158,251,731	9.2	-32.3
Fujitsu	550,276,517	5.2	616,753,331	4.9	-10.8
Other Vendors	1,296,196,855	12.2	1,683,452,756	13.4	-23.0
Total	10,659,328,327	100.0	12,609,084,300	100.0	-15.5

Source: Gartner (November 2009)

REMINDER - AM Espresso @ Home Fed's Superior Dr. branch

One last reminder, since I mucked up the calendar listing in the paper earlier this week and could have confused people.

The Rochester Area Chamber's AM Espresso networking event in the morning is happening at Home Federal Bank's Superior Drive branch next to C.O. Brown and near Westfire Grille.

• A.M. Espresso, a morning business networking event, is scheduled from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at Home Federal Bank, 2048 Superior Drive N.W., next to C.O. Brown. It is sponsored by Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce. For more information, call the chamber at 288-1122 or by e-mail to chamber@rochestermnchamber.com.

Home Federal is the host and expect Perkins restaurants to cater it with muffins and coffee.I hope to be there. And I hope everyone gets to the right plac.

Sorry for the confusion.

Fantasy/historical novelist gives Mayo Clinic $2M

This is a little old since this came out earlier this week, but I couldn't resist pointing this out.

As a lover of classic pulp-style fantasy fiction, I consider John Jakes the creator of one of the best swords and sorcery characters behind Conan and the duo of Fafhad and the Grey Mouser.

While best known for U.S. south historical fiction like "North and South," "The Rebels" and "California Gold," Jakes wrote several books  about a character called Brak the Barbarian.

The Brak stories as well many sci-fi, fantasy and noir thriller-style books came early in his career before hitting his groove with historical fiction. His popularity attests to how well he can reach readers with a story.

Jakes is considered one of the best historical fiction authors, but I think he should also be known for his very fun and cool earlier works like When "The Idols Walked," "The Fortunes of Brak," "Tonight We Steal the Stars," "Six Gun Planet," "Monte Christo 99" and "Mention My Name in Atlantis."

 Enough of his biblography, here is the press release about very kind donation Jakes and his wife made to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.
--------------------------------------------

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Family sagas that delight millions are John Jakes's claim to fame, but he and his wife, Rachel, have added a new chapter to that legacy, making a $2 million estate gift to Mayo Clinic in Florida. 

Residents of Sarasota, Fla., the Jakes are long-time patients of Mayo Clinic in Florida, and their gift is in honor of their physician team and an expression of gratitude for their care, which Mr. Jakes credits with saving his life.

"Mayo Clinic has become a vital part of our lives since we first visited in 1990," says Mr. Jakes. The Jakes' estate commitment will help future patients receive the same kind of care that inspired the couple's generosity.

Their gift will create a posthumous fund that supports all areas of Mayo Clinic in Florida's mission in patient care, medical education and research. 

He is the creator of the legendary eight-volume Kent Family Chronicles; the Main and Hazard families of The North and South Trilogy; and the Crowns of Chicago, German-Americans whose stories interweave the history of the 20th century in "Homeland" and its sequel, "American Dreams." His 2002 novel, "Charleston," returned him to the turbulent years of the Revolution and the Civil War. "The Gods of Newport" (2004), dealing with the "queen of resorts" in the age of robber barons, became his 18th consecutive "New York Times" bestseller.