“POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” is the ultimate sellout movie. Detailing how product placement in media and entertainment actually works, this documentary by Morgan Spurlock opens this Friday (April 22, 2011). As you can see, POM get the above the title spot, but what we found most interesting was that Director Morgan Spurlock is running the streets wearing sponsor Merrell, footwear. For once, it’s cool to sell out.
National Molding would like to announce Ian C. Stout as their new National Sales Manager for Military and Commercial products. Ian is a former United States Marine with an Infantry background, so he has end user experience using their products and he understands firsthand how tactical equipment works. Since leaving the Marine Corps, Ian has held positions in several defense sector companies as an independent Security Contractor as well as Applications Specialist, Product Manager and National Sales Manager. He can be reached via email istout@natmo.com.
www.natmo.com
Jeanette Kozwolski at Tactical Gear Blog caught up with Dan Bergeron, tactical gear designer extraordinaire. It’s a great read, and offers good insight into Dan and his perspective on design and the industry in general. I have known Dan since his days at Arc’teryx and I have to say that this is a must read.
Established in 1917, ACW (American Cord and Webbing) is a custom design manufacturer of plastic and metal fasteners as well as elastic and non-elastic narrow textile webbing and cord products. In addition to expanding their custom design and manufacturing facilities to bring all of these efforts under one roof, they have also added two key team members, Wendy Horowitz and Stephan Yardan who will support their custom design product development effort.
Mark Krauss, ACW president, commented, “Providing customers with product solutions that help them meet industry challenges means formulating a highly skilled team that understand business trends, can anticipate customer’s needs and deliver innovative products. Wendy and Steve complement our custom design, problem-solving approach in the best possible way.â€
ACW had this to say about Ms Horowitz and Mr Yardan:
Wendy Horowitz is an expert on specialty fibers for narrow fabric applications. A textile engineer and business development specialist, she has helped ACW enter highly technical, performance driven markets. Her clear understanding of customers’ needs, along with her creativity, has led to the developments of several new product lines. Wendy is also Chairperson of the Safety & Technical Products Division of IFAI.
ACW has had a long standing relationship with industrial designer Steve Yardan. Steve’s design and business understanding has helped ACW co-develop fresh concepts into product realities. As a result, this strategic alliance allows ACW to service customers with in-house, rapid product development followed by production for numerous markets including categories for military use.
The US Small Business Administration South Florida District Office has selected Mark Allen Llano, President & CEO of Source One Distributors, Inc. as the 2011 District, State of Florida and Region IV Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year.
He was selected from a competitive field of several successful veteran entrepreneurs from the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee for his personal efforts and achievements in advocating for and advancing business ownership opportunities among veterans.
Although he is running a multi-million dollar company providing products and equipment to US military bases worldwide, Mr. Llano also frequently donates his time and resources to better help numerous veterans achieve entrepreneurial success. Whether teaching an Entrepreneurship Workshop at Palm Beach State College, sponsoring the Florida State University Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans or serving on the Florida Veterans’ Advisory Council, Mr. Llano has dedicated himself to sharing his business experiences and encouraging veterans to the same level of success he has achieved.
He will be honored for his achievement on May 17, 2011 during the 3rd Space Coast Entrepreneur Summit hosted by Congressman Bill Posey. The event will be held at the Florida Institute of Technology in the Hartley Room on the 2nd Floor of the Denius Student Center.
Congratulations Mark!
After a week long trial, former Army acquisition official Joseph Marak was found guilty today in US District Court in Greenville, North Carolina of 35 counts including one count of extortion and 17 counts each of bribery and receiving a gratuity from a company doing business with a government entity while being an official with said entity. The offenses occurred while Marak oversaw the CASEVAC program that provided medical equipment to the US Army Special Operations Command, headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The charges stemmed from an investigation that was prompted by a lawsuit between S.O.Tech and Skedco concerning alleged violations of Intellectual Property rights. Certain facts were released during this lawsuit that led the Government to pursue an investigation. Right now, we do not know the official status of the law suit.
When asked about their involvement in the case, S.O.Tech’s attorney provided us with this statement.
“James Cragg, the owner of So-Tech, testified as a prosecution witness in the criminal trial of Joseph Marak for bribery and extortion. Cragg testified that Marak, while employed by the federal government, had pressured him to promise Marak a job with So-Tech after Marak left the government, which Cragg refused to do. Cragg also testified that Marak began asking for “royalties” for contracts that had been awarded to So-Tech, a request Cragg also refused. Cragg said that Marak forced him to transfer So-Tech’s patent rights for a medic’s IV pack to its competitor Skedco as a condition for continuing to supply USASOC with other products. Cragg testified that the So-Tech lawsuit against Skedco and Marak in Oregon instigated the criminal investigation and prosecution of Marak in North Carolina by the federal authorities. Other industry witnesses testified for the prosecution as well. Today, the federal jury convicted Marak on all 35 counts of his indictment.”
Look for further details on this story soon.
Every once in awhile we mention the term MRO which stands for Maintenance, Repair, and Operations. ADS Inc has published a great article on MRO, giving some background on what the topic entails as well as a couple of examples of projects they have undertaken. Check it out.
London Bridge Trading Company gets its name from London Bridge Road in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It can be a bit of a mouthful and has been referred to in industry as LBT for years. To help make it easier to find on the web, they have announced their new web domain; LBTInc.com.
LBT CEO Doug McDougal said, “LBT has been in business for 26 years, so it is natural for the company to mature over time. This domain name change exemplifies how our brand is ready for the future.†I have to say, that I personally have been a customer for 20 of those years.
LBT currently offers over 4,000 products and plans to further increase their catalog as the year progresses.
LBTInc.com
