Monday is Mark Shore’s last day at the CACVB

Mark Shore, Director and CEO of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau (CACVB) since 2001, leaves his position on Monday, March 31, moving on to serve as Executive Director for the Williamson County Convention & Visitors Bureau in Franklin, TN.

As noted in a news release on his departure, during Mr. Shore’s tenure he made significant impacts within the community, reflecting the increasingly important role of tourism as an economic development stimulus for the local community. Mr. Shore also worked with the Charlottesville Regional Tourism Council and the CVB Management Board in 2003 to create a single unified advisory board and a designated funding mechanism for the CACVB based on lodging tax collections.

Mr. Shore additionally spearheaded the marketing effort which in 2006 brought our community the new tourism theme, Pursue Charlottesville. Many might recall the former brand, So Very Virginia. Then again, many might still not even be aware our community has a tourism brand.

The CACVB Advisory Board will assist the City Manager and City Human Resources department in securing Mr. Shore’s successor. No timeline has as yet been established for a replacement.

Darden annual Career Transitions workshop June 16-18

UVA’s Darden School of Business will be hosting its 15th Career Transitions workshop June 16-18, 2008 at the Dolce Hayes Mansion in San Jose, CA. This year materials about the workshop note that it has been expanded and revised to focus on both life and career transition issues. “Whether you are in your 30s and facing today’s changing job market, in your 40s or 50s and facing mid-career decisions, or older and simply challenged by what to do with the second half of your life, this workshop offers you a time, a place and a process to tackle these issues.”
All University of Virginia alumni and their spouses/partners are invited to attend. All participants must have at least 10 years of work experience. The workshop fee is $2,095 ($1,895 for registrations before May 1), which includes tuition, room, board and all workshop materials.
Additional information, including recent testimonials and the registration form, may be viewed by visiting Darden’s “career transitions” web site. For more information, contact Darden’s Alumni Career Services office at (434) 924-4876 or alumnicareerservices@darden.virginia.edu.

Gary Henry, GF Henry & Associates, named Chamber 2008 Volunteer of the Year

Gary F. Henry, founder and principle of GF Henry & Associates, today received the 2008 Chamber Volunteer of the Year Award from the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce. The award was bestowed at the Chamber’s annual Commonwealth Breakfast.

“Gary Henry just maybe our area’s most focused advocate for support and nurturing of, technology businesses – and – a regional business and civic environment that welcomes and encourages strategic technology enterprise,” said Mary Loose DeViney of Tuel Jewelers, 2007 Chairwoman of the Chamber Board of Directors and Chair of the 2008 Chamber Recognition Awards Committee.

A news release from the Chamber notes that Mr. Henry has a particularly powerful interest in “lighting up” young people to the excitement and wonders of science. He has been involved with the Virginia Piedmont Regional Science Fair for more than 20 years. As a winner of the international science fair competition as a youth, this organization has had a great impact on Mr. Henry’s life. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Virginia Piedmont Regional Science Fair’s Board of Directors and as Fair Director. In this role, he spearheads securing sponsors, judges and awards for the event and helps marshal all of the resources that make the Fair possible for 300 of the region’s students each year. At the Chamber, in addition to his service on the Chamber Board of Directors, Mr. Henry volunteered to spearhead the Chamber’s computer, information and telephony technology overhaul.

Fasten your financial seatbelt, Thomas Barrack says; the volatility will continue

STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS —Expect the volatility that has socked financial markets for the past several months to continue unabated, Thomas Barrack Jr., the founder, chairman, and chief executive office of Colony Capital, a private equity real estate company headquartered in Los Angeles, told the Principal Investment Conference at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“We’re in the middle of a pendulum swing, and we’re not exactly sure where it’s going,” said the keynote speaker at the February 13 conference. “It’s still unfolding. Anybody who tells you they know what’s going on, it’s inaccurate. This is going to be a very volatile 2008.” [Details With Video]

Change in speaker for VA Book Festival Business Breakfast: Roger Mudd

Former newsman Roger Mudd has agreed to be the featured speaker at the Virginia Festival of the Book’s March 26 Business Breakfast, replacing Eric Abrahamson, who had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict.

Mudd was the documentary host and correspondent for The History Channel from 1995 until he retired in 2004. Between 1961 to 1992, he was a Washington correspondent for CBS News, NBC News and the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour on PBS. He won the George Foster Peabody award for “The Selling of the Pentagon” in 1970 and for “Teddy” in 1979 and the Barone Award for Distinguished Washington Reporting in 1990. Business Breakfast attendees will be among the first to hear Mudd talk about his memoir, The Place to Be, due to be released the end of March.

Individual tickets for the event are still on sale.

Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell to speak at Chamber’s annual Commonwealth Breakfast

The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce will host its 2008 Chamber Commonwealth Breakfast at Glenmore Country Club on Thursday, March 20th at 7:30 AM. This annual Chamber breakfast focuses on key Virginia public policy issues. This year, Robert McDonnell, Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia, will be the featured Chamber speaker. Mr. McDonnell, a former prosecutor and member of the General Assembly, will discuss issues faced by the Virginia Courts and the 2008 General Assembly session. The Attorney General also will participate in questions and answers with Chamber members and guests after his remark. RSVP online.

Emerging technologies 2008

Technology Review presents its annual listing of top emerging technologies in various industries in a special March/April 2008 issue. Two interesting examples:

Reality Mining

Sandy Pentland is using data gathered by cell phones to learn about human behavior.

 

Wireless Power

Physicist Marin Soljacic is working toward a world of wireless electricity.