Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards

The big news last week was that I attended the annual local Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards ceremony at the Hyatt here in La Jolla. A crowd of 1,000 people cheered on their favorite competitors, and five winners were announced. These five entrepreneurs included:

• Larry Gilbert, Event Network Inc. (Consumer Products)
• Scott Huennekens, Volcano Corp. (Health Sciences)
• Russ Mann, Covario (Emerging)
• Tim Penick, T.B. Penick & Sons (Construction and Facilities)
• Kishore Seendripu, MaxLinear Inc. (Technology)

These winners will go on to the national competition for E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year, with the awards presentation to take place at Desert Hot Springs in November. I’ll probably attend, as I do each year.

J.D. Power Rankings

I would like to note in passing that the J.D. Power 2010 Initial Quality Rankings were released today, and the Ford Motor Company did quite well, achieving a fifth-place ranking. This is up three positions from its 2009 ranking. Lincoln also did quite well, rising 18 positions to number 8 in the J.D. Power rankings. Of particular note is that Ford (and its Lincoln division) is the only American auto company in the top 10, and above the industry average.

Toyota did poorly, dropping 15 spots to finish in 21st place for 2010. Even the Lexus brand was tarnished. The division of Toyota dropped three places, from 1st place to 4th.

I am pleased to see Ford do well in these quality rankings. It has been doing a lot of things right ever since Alan Mulally came to the company from Boeing a few years ago.

Capitol Hill Testimony

I watched the testimony of General Petraeus, Defense Secretary Gates, and other military leaders to Congress with interest. I agree with the military leaders that we should not get out of Afghanistan prematurely, and that we need to keep funding intact.

Regardless of Obama’s desire to exit the country starting in July 2011, we must first make sure our job is done. It appears to me that we have some way to go.

– Bob

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Craig Venter seems to be involved in another breakthrough, reported in the press two weeks ago. He and his team have created the first living cell using a man-made DNA strand. It’s a major accomplishment and has I believe enormous potential for the future, particularly in the area of pharmaceuticals. Knowing Craig, this is just the beginning of something very big.

On Friday two members of the Venter team did ocean sampling from my boat Solutions. They joined our skipper Ron Arnold, Mark Waldschmidt, and me on a trip to Oceanside. We all had lunch at the Chesapeake Fish House for a change of pace.

On Sunday we celebrated with the Henry family at the Beach and Tennis Club. James Henry just graduated from the UCSD Medical School and is an intern at the UCSD Medical Center. I even met his grandmother and grandfather. We all had a very pleasant evening.

– Bob

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I hope you all had a relaxing Memorial Day, and that you took some time to remember the men and women who keep our country strong, safe, and free. It was a busy three-day weekend for me, filled with activities.

Friday was particularly memorable because my son Mark was married to a young woman named Lan. All her relatives and all Mark’s relatives gathered at the Courthouse in downtown San Diego to witness the wedding. Then we all returned to the Beach and Tennis Club where we had dinner. It was an outstanding event.

On Monday evening Betty and I went to Salah Hassanein’s house in Del Mar for dinner. Salah is a key figure in the development of the new Cardiovascular Center at UCSD, and is a very good friend to Betty and me.

– Bob

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I was gratified to note that the Senate recently confirmed the Pentagon’s new cyber-warfare czar, General Keith Alexander, who before his confirmation was Director of the NSA, located at Ft. Meade outside of Washington D.C. The new agency — the United States Cyber Command — will also be located at Ft. Meade, although it will report into STRATCOM in Omaha, Nebraska.

I am convinced that cyber warfare will play an increasingly important role in the country’s future military activities and security. A strong hand at the top of the United States Cyber Command is just what is needed for it to succeed. Although I don’t personally know General Alexander, I suspect he is a strong leader. Hooray for America!

– Bob

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I was recently invited by Bruce Bigelow at Xconomy.com to post some thoughts on what can be done to turn around Detroit’s sinking economy. As many of you know, I grew up in the Detroit area, and I remember what a powerful and dynamic city it once was. The auto industry has certainly suffered the most, and last year the city lost 80,000 manufacturing jobs — many of them related to the industry. If you have ideas for what Detroit can do, I hope you will post them here on my blog, or on the Xconomy.com site.

– Bob

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My daughter Mary Ann Beyster recently brought an interesting article to my attention. The article is about a company in Missouri by the name of SRC Holdings Corporation. The company practices what is known as “open book” management, that is, all employees are given detailed company financial information on a regular basis and taught what all the numbers mean. They also learn how the company’s financials impact the company, their customers, and them personally. In addition, every employee owns a stake in the business. The company seems to be weathering the current economic crisis well and is positioned for an eventual upturn.

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Most of last week I was not feeling well so I stayed home. By the end of the week, my X-rays showed that the walking pneumonia was mostly gone, so I went out on the boat with Ron Arnold and Bob Peters, who is married to an ex-SAIC employee. We went to Oceanside and I managed to handle the extra stress of being out on the water.

This week I’m taking it relatively easy. I’m planning to meet with J.P. Morgan — they manage an investment portfolio for us, including some of our more risky investments. They are doing very well in this environment, which is not an easy thing to do.

– Bob

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