North Bay Business Journal

So here we are at half-past spring in 2013. Frost danger is just about over. Both the bulk-wine and grape markets have been active, and tonnage available on the spot market is limited. Most vineyards are reporting two clusters per shoot, as seen last year at this time.

Are we caught in a “Groundhog Day” replay of last year? Well, no, we’re not. Here are two differences.

Carlile Winery & Vineyards has outgrown its Santa Rosa custom-winemaking facility, so it is sort of swapping places with Windsor-based Robert Mueller Winery.

Spelletich Family Wine Company of Napa Valley is moving its operations into 16,180 square feet in the Napa Valley Commons business park in south Napa to fulfill its need for expansion. That’s more than twice the amount of space at its previous location.

Windsor-based Inman Family Wines, maker of Russian River Valley pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot gris wines, hired Mike Sai as marketing director and promoted Michelle Berger to director of direct to consumer sales.

The second North Coast Wine Industry Expo is still seven months away, but organizers say they are more than two-thirds toward the goal of tripling the number of registered vendors.

Many business owners and marketers approach me to ask, “Should I be on Facebook? Should I be using LinkedIn?” It’s never a simple answer because there are many factors that go into the decision to use a particular social tool. Choosing to use a platform for the wrong reasons can doom your plan so I’d like to expand on how one makes that decision.

Novato-based 2K, a video-game publishing label of New York-based Take-Two Interactive Software, is expanding its North Bay development studios for the second time in the past several months, building a Petaluma motion-capture studio. …

Santa Rosa-based HybridCore Homes is garnering orders and building industry accolades for its factory-built room modules designed significantly reduce onsite construction time and trades scheduling. …

Spaceship-like Aptera 2e three-wheeled electric roadsters may begin rolling out of a downtown Santa Rosa industrial facility to buyers, now that the city of Santa Rosa has agreed to allow assembly of vehicles there. …

A nationwide group of BIM users, known as the BIMForum, is seeking industry comments by June 7 on a proposed set of standards for completeness and reliability of the models during design and construction. …

Bank of Marin Chief Financial Officer Christina Cook is leaving the bank. …

American AgCredit returned the largest dividend in its history to its members in 2012, the agriculture cooperative’s first year of positive loan growth since 2009. …

Citing an increase in income-generating assets and new loans, Summit State Bank (NASDAQ: SSBI) reported a 64 percent increase in net income for the first three months of 2013 and declared a larger quarterly dividend. …

AltaPacific Bank’s assets have grown steadily in the year since completing its merger with a Southern California-based bank, ending the first quarter 4.1 percent higher. …

Building a better community is key to the Chamber of Commerce’s success in fostering the growth of local businesses.

One way we focus on our local community each year is by honoring the local heroes who make the Napa Valley an extraordinary place to call home.

For the seventh year, we invited the public to nominate individuals and nonprofit organizations demonstrating outstanding commitment, creativity and leadership to the valley. And their stories remind us why Napa Valley is such an incredible place to live and work.

Gary Heck, owner and president of Korbel Champagne Cellars and Kenwood Vineyards, became an honorary inductee of the Sonoma State University chapter of the Beta Gamma Sigma business honor society last month. …

Amid the rising popularity of a for-credit “Banking and Finance Academy” program operated in partnership with Santa Rosa City Schools, Redwood Credit Union recent took part in a new “Bite of Reality” financial literacy program in San Rafael. …

Dominican University’s Venture Greenhouse incubator and accelerator program will host a “Marinnovation” showcase for innovators and entrepreneurs from Marin County on May 15, with Netflix co-founder and Mill Valley resident Mitch Lowe as keynote. …

On May 10, College of Marin will host a celebration for its recently opened Science, Math and Nursing building at the school’s Kentfield Campus, featuring a lecture by alumnus Adam Steltzner from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars Rover “Curiosity” expedition. …

Stephen Olson, long-time agriculture instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College and a major force behind the college’s Shone Farm programs, has been selected to receive one of the school’s highest honors for staff, the President’s Medallion of Honor. …

VACAVILLE — From WiFi and Bluetooth to the possible harvesting of solar power from space, the humble radio frequency wave is having something of a high-tech heyday.

Vacaville startup RF Biocidics is greening up the processing of fruits, nuts and potentially a wide range of foods by subjecting them to low-frequency radio waves.

Site preparation is set to begin in May for large shopping center and distribution warehouse projects in Petaluma and Fairfield: 346,000-square-foot Deer Creek Village and 791,000-square-foot Solano Logistics Center. …

Richard Coney, senior property manager in the Santa Rosa office of Keegan & Coppin, and Justin Barton, a property manager in the brokerage’s Larkspur office, earned the Certified Property Manager designation. …

The Northern California Center for Well Being is expanding its wellness services into Petaluma. …

Sausalito-based Sanovas Inc. announced the launch of MicroCam, its micro imaging platform for endoscopic device applications. …

Rick Jones of Jones Family Vineyard and the E. Richard Jones Family Foundation joined the board of directors at Clinic Ole in Napa. …

St. Helena Hospital Napa Valley was recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review with the fifth-lowest rate of serious blood clots after surgery of over 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals in the U.S. …

Ukiah Valley Medical Center’s Family Birth Center has received the IBCLC Care Award by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners and the International Lactation Consultant Association. …

Santa Rosa-based REACH Air Medical Services announced it received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to use its own GPS approaches and routes, directly to hospitals and landing sites in Western Oregon. …

Judging by the recent Impact Marin conference, the outlook for Marin County certainly seems positive: companies are growing and hiring, homes sales are on the rise, and the county just ranked as the healthiest in California.

Exchange Bank announced its after-tax income for the first three months this year was 9 percent higher than a year before, partly attributed to improvements in efficiency and loan quality. …

A low interest rate environment a fierce competition for loans was cited for a decline in first quarter earnings for San Rafael-based Westamerica Bank, with parent company Westamerica Bancorporation announcing net income had fallen 17.6 percent versus the same period last year. …

Terry Davis has joined Santa Rosa’s SAFE-BIDCO as chief financial officer, his latest leadership role in a long history as a North Bay banking executive. …

Kimberly Kaselionis, who served as CEO of the former Circle Bank, has joined her mother, Kit Cole, as an inductee in the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame. …

Shipments of wine directly to consumers from wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties, accounting for 69 percent of such shipments from U.S. sources, last year grew at 8.0 percent and 10.1 percent in value, respectively, helping push U.S. winery-to-consumer shipment value past that of wine exports for the first time, according to a new study. …

Prices of bulk wine imported into the U.S. may decline while global supply is tightening, according to one new report from agrilender Rabobank International. …

San Francisco-based Bacchus Capital Management on Thursday said it provided an undisclosed amount of “significant growth capital” to Madrigal Family Winery in Napa Valley. …

Jackson Family Wines continues its North Coast land acquisitions. …

Healdsburg-based graphic design and advertising firm Firefly Creative has experienced growth in demand from wineries seeking professional photo and video services as well as conversion of their websites to “responsive” design. …

Fetzer Vineyards, based in Hopland, California, hired Ben Byczynski as grower relations manager, North Coast. …

OFFbeat Brands of appointed three new sales executives. …

Employers will increasingly resort to self-funded plans for group health insurance as a result of the Affordable Care Act, according to a new survey of insurance executives by one of the world’s largest re-insurers.

One of the catalysts for investigating Sonoma Clean Power is the potential for economic development benefits of developing locally owned and controlled electricity generation assets. With its goal to purchase 33 percent renewable energy at program launch and ramping up to 50 percent renewable energy by 2018, Sonoma Clean Power would provide a stable market for sellers of renewable energy. This market and ability to sign long-term contracts for the purchase of renewable electricity will stimulate local development of clean power projects. Projects could include solar systems on warehouse roofs, small wind farms or biogas digesters using waste from food processors and wineries.

The Internal Revenue Service has released its annual “dirty dozen” list of top tax scams, highlighting schemes that have proliferated during the current tax season and detailing the ramp-up of its efforts to fight fraud. …

Santa Rosa-based accounting firm Dal Poggetto & Company has three new staff accountants from the Sonoma State University accounting program, with plans to hire a fourth after the completion of an internship at the firm. …

David Homan, MS, CFP, has joined Willow Creek Financial Services, Inc. as a financial adviser. …

The office of California State Controller John Chiang has created a day-to-day tally of income tax revenue as it is accounted for at the capitol. …

It is time once again for the Human Race, and this attorney is still part of it (It’s hard to believe an attorney is human, isn’t it?) I raise money for the American Cancer Society in the annual Human Race, sponsored by the Volunteer Center, being held on May 11 this year. So, why am [...]

A common financial planning “hot button” is worry over the cost of healthcare on a fixed income in retirement. While we cannot predict how much care a retiree will need or his/her actual life expectancy, health care risks can be mitigated by maintaining good health, understanding Medicare and by informed financial planning.

In my previous article, I presented the Cornerstone of Purpose, which serves as the underlying foundation for your business. Sustainable success requires not only a viable business model, but a guiding vision and mission, with congruent and meaningful values. Being a contributing member of your community is also part of long-term business success. The second Cornerstone is Strategies.

SANTA ROSA — Exchange Bank saved millions of dollars last year when it bought back nearly 45 percent of stock sold to the U.S. Department of the Treasury as part of 2008′s Capital Repurchase Program, partially unwinding its own involvement with the national initiative launched to boost capital at banks hit hard by the financial crisis.