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JULY 2011Restoring Environmental Balance; Creating Additional Shovel-Ready Sites EPA Launches Redevelopment of P&LE Railroad Brownfield Site; New Funding for Environmental Assessments at Additional Sites
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Pittsburgh Energy Growth: A Regional BreakdownTraditional energy industries such as coal, natural gas and nuclear continue to drive the Pittsburgh region's energy economy, but the growth of the alternative energy industry, in combination with energy supply chain growth and conservation and distribution systems, strengthens and diversifies the region's energy portfolio. With 277 companies on its roster, natural gas – as an energy industry – has the most companies in the region. Half of these directly perform natural gas extraction activities. Coal has 233 companies in the region, and transmission & distribution has 210. While Marcellus shale activities have been capturing headlines and certainly contribute to energy growth, the region's diverse manufacturing base is attracting newer companies to the region in the wind and solar markets, contributing to their respective supply chains. This analysis shows the strengths of the energy sector throughout the region as well as how the wide range of supply chain industries benefits the entire 10-county Pittsburgh region, not just the counties where extraction is happening. |
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Dick's Steps up Pace of Expansion
"Dick's Sporting Goods is stepping up the pace of its expansion, but the company's chief executive says it's not yet time to follow the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball across the northern border. 'Our expansion will be in the U.S.,' said Edward W. Stack, chairman and CEO of the Findlay retail company." Read more
Wawadoo? Personalized Event Planning for Pittsburgh and Beyond. Hiring!
"Wawadoo's personalized content site provides information on concerts, art galleries, universities, zoos, restaurants, all types of activities on any day of the week or year. And it's Pittsburgh centric. While the site was developed specifically for Pittsburgh, the company plans to expand the service to other cities and partner with others in the space to provide services. Wawadoo recently hired a part-time salesperson for events promotion." Read more
Hiring, SpectraGenetics's Gene-Tagging Tech Moves Drug Development Forward
"Pittsburgh-based SpectraGenetics is successfully selling a proprietary technique to produce full-length, reporter-tagged human and mouse genes that allow researchers to better understand the effect of drug interventions to the body. SpectraGenetics employs four to six full and part-timers in addition to the founders, and plans to hire a sales team in the near future." Read more
Customer Service Center to Add 100
"TRG Customer Solutions Inc. said it will hire 100 customer service and sales workers at its regional headquarters in Findlay Township to serve a Fortune 100 telecommunications client. The additional hires will increase staff by 30% at the center in the RIDC West office park; about 100 employees were brought in last year." Read more
Growing YinzCam Moves to the South Side
"YinzCam, the Carnegie Mellon spinout that offers sports fans action-packed camera angles as a mobile app, is expanding with a new office in the South Side and the hiring of three. Developed by CMU's Priya Narasimhan and her team for Penguin's play during the Stanley Cup playoffs, the company is riding a wave of success across professional sports, from the National Football League – including the Steelers – to the NHL and the NBA." Read More
Software Solution Company Celerity is Hiring 50, Plans to Add More Later
"Business is humming at the Celerity Innovation Center in downtown Pittsburgh. Since the company expanded to two floors of the Investment Building on Fourth Avenue, it has hired 80 people and is looking for another 50 software developers in the coming year." Read more
Drilling Generates 48,000 Jobs
"The boom in Marcellus shale natural gas exploration and production created 48,000 jobs in Pennsylvania during the past 18 months, according to the report by the state Department of Labor and Industry. The state's basic natural gas exploration and production industries – along with an extensive supply chain network and support industry – created the 48,000 jobs from October 2009 through this March." Read more
Shell May Locate Cracking Plant in Region
"Royal Dutch Shell announced last month that it is working on setting up an ethane cracker in the Appalachian region. This would be a world-scale unit – about a million tons of ethylene a year – that would use the ethane extracted from the wet gas areas of the Marcellus Shale as feedstock." Read more
Study: Marcellus Shale Helping Region's Economy
"The Pittsburgh metropolitan area is weathering the recession better than many other parts of the country, partly because of Marcellus Shale production, researchers said last month, projecting that the region's employment numbers will rebound to pre-slump levels by early 2012." Read more
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Exxon Buys Phillips Resources for $1.7B
"Exxon Mobil Corp. bought two Pittsburgh-area natural gas companies for $1.69B, which will give Exxon Mobil access to hundreds of thousands of leased acres of the Marcellus Shale in southwestern Pennsylvania. The June 2 acquisition of sister companies Warrendale-based Phillips Resources and TWP Inc. adds about 317,000 leased acres of the Marcellus Shale to Exxon's portfolio." Read more
$16M Building to House Elliott Group
"Elliott Group is building a $16M office building in Jeannette to consolidate more than 400 office workers into one building and give it room for expansion. Elliott expects to need the additional space as its annual sales increase from $1B to a projected $2B by 2015. With that growth, Elliott likely will hire workers to fill the new building, which will accommodate 500 employees." Read more
Dana Plans to Open New Mine, Focus on Titus Reserves
"Dana Mining Co. of Pennsylvania LLC is planning to open a new coal mine in Dunkard and Greene townships to mine the reserves of its former Titus Mine. It decided to open a new mine to mine the remaining reserves of the Titus Mine rather than mining through abandoned workings. The mine will employ about 60 people and mine using continuous miners." Read more
Marion Center Bank Opens HQ
"Marion Center Bank officials ceremoniously opened its new headquarters and branch office in White Township, Indiana County last month. The opening of the new headquarters and branch office – its seventh branch – marks a new chapter in the 105-year-old institution's history. Construction on the two-story, 16,000 SF building began in mid-2010." Read more
Greene County Airport Plans Business Park
"The Greene County Airport in Waynesburg is in the early stages of creating a business park on one side of the 75-year-old airport, near the intersection of Interstate 79 and State Route 21 between Washington, Pa., and Morgantown, W.Va. The 140-acre property will remain open to landings and takeoffs for the handful of small planes that use it. But Greene County wants to take some of that space to create a business park that will take advantage of the county's Marcellus Shale boom." Read more
Official: Region's Life Sciences Industry is Robust, Growing
"The life sciences industry in southwest Pennsylvania is robust and growing, an industry official said last month. There are about 3,200 companies here that manufacture medical supplies and devices, conduct research and produce pharmaceuticals and other health care-related products. They employ 115,000 workers, or about 9% of the region's work force." Read more
The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse Announces Innovative Partnership with University of Pittsburgh Biomedical Engineering Society
"The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG) announced the creation of the Bioengineering Innovation and Commercialization Program (BICP) that PLSG will lead in partnership with the Biomedical Engineering Society of the University of Pittsburgh. The BICP has been established to help expose, educate and implement commercial thinking into both early and late-stage research and development." Read more
Obama Visits CMU, Touts $500M Plan to Reinvigorate Manufacturing
"President Barack Obama called for 'an all-hands-on-deck effort' to reinvigorate American manufacturing in his speech last month at Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center in Lawrenceville. Mr. Obama announced a program, dubbed the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, designed to spur corporate and university cooperation to spread innovative manufacturing techniques throughout the economy." Read more
Pittsburgh is Remade as Steal City: Downtown Booms with New Construction, Rising Office Rents; 'More and More Attractive'
"Pittsburgh, once written off as a dying steel town, has turned into one of the most resilient office-rental markets in the U.S., prompting a flurry of building sales as some longtime owners take profits. Energy companies, moving in to develop Marcellus shale-gas projects, are stoking office demand. Employment is growing in such areas as medicine, education, financial services and computer software." Read more
House Sales in Region Rise in May
"Pittsburgh's housing market has improved over two years ago, based on the number of homes sold and the price buyers are paying for them. The median home price in the Pittsburgh region reached $130,000 during May, up 8.3% from May 2009, according to RealSTATS, a local real estate information service." Read more
Howard Hanna Buys Another Pa. Agency
"Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has expanded its presence in Central Pennsylvania with the acquisition of the B-H Agency in Carlisle, Pa. The Pittsburgh-based company, the largest privately owned real estate firm serving Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia, this year merged with Hopewell Realty in Beaver County and Philadelphia Realty in Philadelphia." Read more
Pittsburgh: Worldwide Economic Powerhouse
"The Pittsburgh region outperforms a number of larger cities – Las Vegas and Cleveland among them – as well as states like Utah and Rhode Island, according to an IHS Global Insight report on the country's metro areas released last month. The Pittsburgh region totaled $115.6B in annual gross product in 2010, according to the report." Read more
Southwest Adds Denver-Pittsburgh Flight
"Southwest added another daily flight from Pittsburgh, this time to Denver. Southwest Flight 2984 leaves Pittsburgh at 4:20 p.m. and arrives at Denver International Airport at 5:50 p.m. MT. On the way back, Southwest Flight 496 leaves Denver at 11:55 a.m. MT and lands in Pittsburgh at 4:55 p.m. Denver marks the eighth city served by Southwest Airlines from Pittsburgh with a total of 25 per day." Read more
Pittsburgh Airport Passenger Traffic Up
"Passenger traffic rose 2% in April compared to a year ago and marked the 13th straight month of growth, the Allegheny County Airport Authority said. There were 680,604 passengers for the month. Nine airlines saw gains in passenger traffic; three others were down." Read more
PNC Nails Canada Bank Deal
"PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. has struck a deal to pay $3.45B in cash and stock for U.S. assets of the Royal Bank of Canada. Announced last month, the deal could include up to $1B in PNC stock." Read more
Job Increases Continue Across Pittsburgh Region
"The region's economy continued to improve in April, with employers adding 14,000 jobs in construction, manufacturing, hospitality and other industries compared to the previous month, the state said last month. Job increases continue to reflect the Pittsburgh area's strength." Read more
West Penn Allegheny Gets Medical School
"West Penn Allegheny officials announced a partnership with Temple's School of Medicine to open a four-year medical program at Four Allegheny Center near the health system's flagship Allegheny General Hospital. About 30 students will be accepted into the medical school's first class, a number that could grow to 50 within five years." Read more
Alcoa Provides $4M for Sustainability Research
"The Alcoa Foundation is creating a $4M program that will fund environmental sustainability research at 15 universities and nongovernmental organizations worldwide. The projects are in materials science, energy, natural resource management/engineering and sustainable design and will be finished by 2013." Read more
Promise Plus Initiative to Benefit from Third Heinz Endowments Grant
"The Heinz Endowments of Pittsburgh awarded Indiana University of Pennsylvania a grant for the third consecutive year for continued support of IUP's Promise Plus initiative. With this most recent grant of $150,000, IUP has received $460,000 total from the Heinz Endowments for this program.
Promise Plus – now in its third year – aims to expand on the Pittsburgh Promise, which is designed to help all students in Pittsburgh Public Schools plan, prepare and pay for education beyond high school at an accredited post-secondary institution within Pennsylvania." Read more
Innovator Makes Social Media Marketing a Snap for Small Shops
"Ted Teele was running the nation's biggest giftware wholesale company two years ago when he realized that many of his customers were behind the times … SnapRetail was one of three companies created with Teele's Atlanta-based wholesaler, OneCoast Network LLC, split into three companies on Dec. 31, 2009. Teele boasts that SnapRetail's digital marketing system has an 18-month head start over competitors in the business of helping independent retailers promote products easily on the Web." Read more
Mylan Receives Approval for Generic Alzheimer's Drug
"Canonsburg-based Mylan Inc. said it received the go-ahead from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell its generic to treat Alzheimer's-related dementia. Mylan subsidiary Matrix Laboratories United will start to roll out 5mg and 10mg tablets of Donepezil Hydrochloride, the generic of Aricept." Read more
Carnegie Mellon Team Shoots for the Moon
"William 'Red' Whittaker decided to compete for the Google-sponsored Lunar X PRIZE; his focus was creating the best robotic moon rover … the creation will save millions for Astrobotic Technology (which Whittakers heads as CEO) in its effort to win the $30M Lunar X PRIZE and $6M in bonuses. The first privately funded team to send a robot to the moon that can travel 500 meters and transmit video, images and data back to Earth wins the prize." Read more
Heinz Rolling Out Plant-Based Bottles Used by Coca-Cola
"The Heinz ketchup bottle that asks the question 'Guess what my bottle is made of?' will begin to appear on local grocery shelves and restaurant tables in the next few weeks. The answer: 30% ethanol made from Brazilian sugar cane, and the rest is traditional, petroleum-based plastic. Downtown-based H.J. Heinz Co. said in February that it would start using Coca-Cola's plant-based bottle technology." Read more
New Section of Trail Opens
"A nearly three-mile section of the Great Allegheny Passage in the Mon Valley opened last month, further connecting the trail from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. 'Awesome' was how Linda McKenna Boxx, president of the Allegheny Trail Alliance, described the new asphalt-paved segment stretching from Grant Avenue in Duquesne to The Waterfront complex in Homestead." Read more
K&L Gates, Reed Smith Rise in Vault 100
"Pittsburgh's two largest law firms, K&L Gates LLP and Reed Smith LLP, rose in the annual Vault Law 100 for 2012, a ranking by 16,000 associates at firms across the United States. K&L Gates ranked 57th with a score of 5.441; a year ago, it ranked 59th. Reed Smith was 65th at 4.884, up from 72nd place in last year's list." Read more
Three Pittsburgh Companies Among CIO 100
"Three Pittsburgh-based companies were recognized by CIO magazine's annual survey of the top 100 companies around the world exemplifying the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology. They are K&L Gates LLP, PPG Industries Inc., and PNC Financial Services Group Inc." Read more
PA and Pittsburgh on Top for Tech Grads Finding Jobs, Says Dice Report
"While much of the country is facing a shortage of quality tech talent to meet demand, Pennsylvania is among the strongest states in both jobs and graduates in the technology sector according to the special report, 'America's Tech Talent Crunch' by Dice.com." Read more
Pittsburgh Has the Most Educated Immigrant Labor Force in the Nation
"A new report from Brookings ranks Pittsburgh as having the most educated 'immigrant flows' in the country. Last year, in a separate study, [Dr. Chris Briem at University of Pittsburgh's Center for Social and Urban Research] found that Pittsburgh has the fifth most educated young workforce in the country, ages 25 to 35, finishing beside other intellectual hubs such as Boston, San Francisco and Washington, D.C." Read more
June 6 – Professional Services Business Development Workshop
Hidden strengths and weaknesses of your sales team have an impact on your sales and profits. Nationally recognized business development expert, Sean Coyle, will share how to take advantage of them through real world case histories. Learn the truth about so-called elite performers, and discover the top five things on which sales managers should be spending 85% of their time. From 8-10 a.m. at the Pittsburgh Technology Council, (2000 Technology Drive, 15219). Cost is $25 Member/ $175 Non-Member.
July 12 – Center for Women's Entrepreneurship at Chatham University (CWE) Open House
Meet CWE's staff, facilitators, and past participants while learning about all of their services for women business owners and women in business. From 5-7 p.m. in the Mellon Board Room at Chatham University, Shadyside Campus. Cost is free, but registration required.
July 21 – Pennsylvania Gas Expo 2011
Explore the floor of over 100 exhibits and listen in on presentations and seminars from public and private industry leaders in the natural gas space, including the Marcellus Shale. Hosted at the Kovalchick Convention Center and Athletic Complex from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sponsored by Renda Broadcasting Corporation, Indiana County Center for Economic Operations and the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex.
July 21 – BioBlast at the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG)
The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG) has a new home! Come and network with your peers while taking a walk through the PLSG's new office all the while getting an opportunity to mingle with some of the life science startups in their portfolio. Presented in partnership with Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and the Pittsburgh Technology Council, from 4-6 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, (2425 Sidney Street, 15203). Cost is $25 Member/$175 Non-Member.
July 21 – Jordon Tax Service Presents ACT 32 Educational Seminars for Employers
Jordan Tax Service, the appointed tax officer for the Allegheny County Central and Southwest will be hosting four educational sessions regarding the upcoming EIT changes which go into effect January 1, 2012. These sessions will be held on Thursday, July 21 at the Circuit Center and Ballroom in the South Side at 6 p.m.; Thursday, August 11 at the Hyatt Place Pittsburgh in the North Shore at 6 p.m.; Thursday, August 18 at the Bethel Park Community Center at 6:30 p.m.; and Thursday, August 25 at the Green Tree Borough Municipal Building at 6:30 p.m.
July 26 – Breakfast Briefing: State of Manufacturing: Challenges and Opportunities
Join Petra Mitchell, CEO of Catalyst Connection, as she discusses the recently released report, State of Manufacturing: Challenges and Opportunities. According to figures she will provide from the study, manufacturing is still the single largest sector of Pennsylvania's economy, making the largest contribution to the gross state product, at 14%. The sector employs more than 500,000, who earn an average annual wage of $53,000, a figure that has increased 24% since 2001. From 7-9:15 a.m. at the Pittsburgh Technology Council, 2000 Technology Drive, Suite 100 (First Floor), Pittsburgh 15219. Cost is $25 Non-manufacturer Council Member/ $175 Non-Member.
July 28 – NAIOP Chapter Meeting: "Harrisburg Insights"
Join State Representative Michael Turzai, House Majority Leader as he speaks at NAIOP's July Chapter Meeting at the Omni William Penn Hotel at 7:30 a.m. There is no charge for NAIOP Members, but RSVP is required. No shows will be invoiced $25.00. Cost is $40 Non-Members.
September 21-22 – 3 Rivers Venture Fair
Registration is now open for the 3 Rivers Venture Fair, September 21-22, 2011, at the Lexus Club at PNC Park. Register on or before August 11 for reduced admission and a valuable gift. 600 private and institutional investors, venture capitalists, lenders and entrepreneurs are expected to attend to discover ground floor investment opportunities in biotech, communications, energy, medicine, manufacturing and more. More than 30 carefully screened, high-potential technology ventures from a five-state region will be showcased at the Fair. Past presenters have gone on to raise more than $300M. To register, visit www.3RVF.com.
October 26 – Pittsburgh Middle East Institute 4th Annual Conference
Join the Pittsburgh Middle East Institute as they host a morning business conference followed by evening keynote lecture with Dr. Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973; the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the nation's highest civilian award) in 1977; and the Medal of Liberty (given one time to ten foreign-born American leaders) in 1986. Dinner is at 6:30 p.m. followed by Dr. Kissinger's lecture at 8 p.m. at the Carnegie Music Hall. Please call 412.995.0076 or visit www.pittsburghmideastinstitute.org for sponsorship information.
Allegheny Conference | Contact Information
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