North Bay Business Journal

NAPA — Sixty-four percent of registered nurses at Queen of the Valley Medical Center who voted on Tuesday whether to affiliate with the California Nurses Association, an affiliate of National Nurses United, chose to do so.

NAPA — Napa Valley hosted 2.94 million visitors in 2012, generating $1.4 billion in direct tourism spending, and more than three-quarters of them come for dining and wine tasting, according to results from two studies released Thursday.

Health insurance brokers, employers and individuals are all eagerly awaiting full-scale implementation of the California Health Benefits Exchange, a centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act, but it’s still anyone’s guess as to what it will look.

While details of what the exchange, also known as Covered California, will look like have emerged recently, a key piece of just how effective it will has not yet been determined: the monthly premiums for plans that will be offered to individuals and employers.

FAIRFIELD — Partnership HealthPlan of California, a nonprofit that administers Medi-Cal benefits in six counties, said recently that it is looking to fill 100 positions over the next 12 months after expanding significantly further into Northern California.

Unemployment rates across the North Bay in March dropped several percentage points, and Sonoma County had its best year-over-year job growth in 12 years, according to state figures released this morning.

NOVATO — Registered nurses have reached a tentative contract settlement with Novato Community Hospital, a Sutter Health affiliate, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United announced today.

SAUSALITO — One year after launching its Inside Connections for job seekers on Facebook, Glassdoor is looking to innovate further.

Voting began last week in the long-running battle for union control at Kaiser Permanente facilities throughout California, with some 45,000 workers set to choose — for the second time in nearly three years — between rivals Service Employees International Union’ United Healthcare Workers West and the National Union of Healthcare Workers.

Employers large and small are bracing for the full implementation of health care reform, but smaller businesses with at least 50 employees are especially anxious when it comes to a key question: do they provide benefits for full-time workers or pay a fine for each full-time worker not covered?
The employment sector could stand to benefit, particularly staffing agencies already adept at providing leaner workforces for employers in a number of industries, employment experts said.

Unemployment rates across the North Bay dropped in February, in some counties by more than a full percentage point, as the January holiday lull in hiring gave way to positive growth in a number of industries, according to preliminary state figures released Friday.

Five of the six North Bay counties added 13,900 jobs over 12 months.

Unemployment rates across the six North Bay counties ticked up in January, according to state estimates released Friday, a rise attributed to staffing reductions after the year-end holidays.

PETALUMA — A key outcome from the recent Manufacturing Trade Fair Feb. 20 was that a majority of exhibitors had jobs ready to be filled, with more on the way.

I mentioned in a previous column that we all have a tendency to wear blinders about certain aspects of our jobs or businesses, usually that which we regard as uncomfortable or distasteful. But sometimes we fail to see something because it is completely unthinkable.

As human resources professionals, we are champions for creating success in our organizations through the best deployment of our people. In this role, one of our greatest desires is to have supervisors and managers think about their staff as valuable, strategic resources. How can we help our supervisors and managers identify and build the strategic value of their employees? How can we ensure that our supervisors and managers have the human capital they require to achieve great things? Creating and implementing a human capital management review process within your organization is one way to accomplish this task.

PETALUMA — The first North Bay Manufacturing Trade Fair and Jobs Expo, held on Feb. 20 at the Sequoia Business Center, attracted more than 340 attendees, including 100 high school students and dozens of candidates looking for jobs.

Spotlight on law firm managing partners, listed alphabetically by law firm name: Patrick Emery of Abbey, Weitzenberg, Warren & Emery, Wendy Whitson of Anderson, Zeigler, Disharoon, Gallagher & Gray, Michael Garcia of Beyers Costin, Arthur Curley of Bradley, Curley, Asiano, Barrabee & Gale, Alan Brayton of Brayton Purcell, John Mackie of Carle, Mackie, Power & Ross, Clay Clement of Clement, Fitzpatrick & Kenworthy, Cynthia Smith of Coombs & Dunlap, Scott Gerien of Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty, Katherine Ohlandt of Farella Braun + Martel, Peter Kleinbrodt of Freitas, McCarthy, McMahon & Keating, John Friedemann of Friedemann Goldberg, Dave Gaw of Gaw Van Male, Michael Carlson of Geary, Shea, O’Donnell, Grattan & Mitchell, Andrew Giacomini of Hanson Bridgett, Jessica Karner of Keegin Harrison Schoppert Smith & Karner, Bill Arnone of Merrill, Arnone & Jones, Anne Hernandez of Mullen & Filippi, James Parrinello of Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor, Michael Watters of O’Brien Watters & Davis, James Sell of Parton Sell Rhoades, Leslie Perry of Perry, Johnson, Anderson, Miller & Moskowitz, David Feingold of Ragghianti Freitas, Glenn Smith of Smith Dollar, Gregory Spaulding of Spaulding McCullough & Tansil, and Michael Vasquez of Vasquez, Estrada & Conway.

Doug Wright, shareholder in charge of the International Tax Services Group of Burr Pilger Mayer, was selected as a new board member of the Northern California World Trade Center after receiving unanimous approval from current members. …

Brian Pon, a partner in Financial Connections, a Corte Madera-based financial planning and wealth management firm, has been named Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Member at Golden Gate University for 2012. …

Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce hired Steve Lyman as membership sales manager. …

Kim Link has been hired as the marketing project and research support with the Santa Rosa Convention & Visitors Bureau, focusing on special marketing, sales and media projects. …

Kristina Combs is the new executive director of human resources and labor relations at College of Marin. …

Angwin resident Julie Crow-Petersen, R.N., was hired as a flight nurse by California Shock Trauma Air Rescue, better known as CALSTAR. …

Joan Kermath joined Decker Bullock Sotheby’s International Realty in Marin County. …

Veteran Marin real estate agent Rocky Vannucci joined Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage as sales manager for central and southern Marin County. …

Carra Clampitt of Eugene Burger Management Corp. in Rohnert Park has been elected to the statewide board of directors for Laguna Hills-based California Association of Community Managers. …

Kaiser Permanente has earned accreditation for its Santa Rosa Medical Center Family Residency Program, which was developed to attract and retain more physicians to the region in lieu of national shortages.

As North Bay lodging businesses look to the year ahead, most are expressing confidence for continued improvement, with occupancy rates and revenues showing steady gains across Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties.

Several North Bay restaurants and restaurateurs have been nominated as semifinalists in the James Beard Awards, a prestigious national recognition in the food and beverage industries.