North Bay Business Journal

ROHNERT PARK — Amy’s Kitchen brought the convenience of frozen vegetarian meals to the grocery aisle 25 years ago, and now the Petaluma-based packaged-foods company wants to do the same for the fast-food drive-through.

SAN RAFAEL — You’ve probably seen the TV spot where an angry ex wife takes a sledgehammer to a red Mustang. The producer of funny commercials for the auto body industry has moved into 31Ten Studios, the former Kerner Optical space, adding artfully destroyed cars to the special effects concocted there.

The Business Journal’s 2013 Wine Industry Conference in April will feature the general manager of Fetzer Vineyards and the architect of its acquisition by a large Chilean wine company as well as insights on North Coast wine-related mergers and acquisitions from two of the largest players in the market recently.

Santa Rosa’s Exchange Bank announced that net income for all of 2012 had risen slightly versus income for 2011, meeting the bank’s projections despite a lukewarm demand for financing from both households and businesses. …

Net income at Novato-based Bank of Marin was up 14.5 percent in 2012 compared to 2011, with $17.8 million representing $3.28 per share, according to an announcement by the bank. …

Year-over-year net income rose 55 percent for Santa Rosa’s Summit State Bank, a period that president and CEO Tom Duryea called “the best year yet in our 38-year history.” …

Citing challenges of a low-interest-rate environment, San Rafael-based Westamerica Bank announced that 2012 net income had slipped 7.7 percent from 2011. …

Bank of Napa, N.A. announced record profit in 2012, with net income up by more than two-thirds from the year before. …

Dixon-based First Northern Bank announced that net income of $4.6 million for all of 2012 marked a 70.4 percent increase versus net income in 2011. …

Total assets as of Dec. 31 were $831.5 million, up $50.3 million — 6.4 percent — compared to one year prior. Total deposits were $730.8 million, up 7.6 percent from the same period in 2011. …

Annual net assets rose 15.82 percent for Santa Rosa’s Community First Credit Union comparing 2012 to 2011, reaching $150.63 million in a period of rapid growth for the lender, according to an announcement. …

In the Jan. 21, 2013 Book of Lists on the Nonprofit Organizations list, No. 44, Extended Child Care, was incorrectly labeled as Community Child Care Council (4Cs) with incorrect contact information. The correct address is 1745 Copperhill Pkwy. #5, Santa Rosa, 95403, 707-545-2402, extcc.org.

While California’s insurance industry awaits the results of recently enacted reforms in the workers compensation world, employer premiums will likely still face upward pressure for most of 2013 as implementation takes shape, insurance experts said.

Partnership Health Plan of California, a Fairfield-based managed Medi-Cal plan, has petitioned the state for further expansion, hoping to include Lake and six other Northern California counties, in addition to the six North Coast counties already in its network. …

Woodruff Sawyer & Co. of Novato is holding an seminar to discuss health care reform for employers, with subject matter including compliance with the Affordable Care Act, the California State Exchange and private exchanges, benefit design strategies, major employer issues for 2014, and other matters. …

Kristina Keck has joined Woodruff-Sawyer & Co. in the firm’s employee benefits practice as account executive, retirement plans. …

Covered California, the state’s insurance exchange set up under health care reform, plans to provide grants totaling $43 million for community groups to help spread the world of the exchange and how it will work. …

Insurance experts have questioned whether the penalty levied on individuals and business for not obtaining health insurance as part of the Affordable Care Act would be enough of an incentive, but a recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that would be. …

In its first month since getting state approval for expansion last fall, Sacramento-based HMO Western Health Advantage said it has enrolled some 750 persons into new employer health plans across Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties.

As full-scale implementation of health care reform nears ever closer, looming heavy on the minds of employers, insurers and health care providers, questions continue to swirl around numerous key issues, with California’s online health exchanges high among the heart-burn causing measures.

After helping to form an industry group for Sonoma County’s advanced manufacturers in late 2011, Sonoma County Building Economic Success Together — BEST — is coordinating a similar gathering of executives from the county’s top players in food and beverage manufacturing that participants hope will spur further growth in that sector.

PETALUMA — Sharing a common vision, the founders of Paragon Label and Vintners Global Resource (VGR) have formed a strategic partnership to provide small-and-medium-size wineries with a package of labels, bottles, supplies and services from a single source.

PETALUMA — More than 40 North Bay manufacturers plan to exhibit at the North Bay’s first industry trade fair to be held Wednesday, Feb. 20, from noon to 6 p.m. at the Sequoia Building located at 5341 Old Redwood Highway in Petaluma.

The beginning of the year is a natural time of transition. Now that the frenzy of the holiday season has passed, it’s a time of re-focusing and getting back down to business. Whether or not you’ve made (or already broken) New Year’s resolutions, this is a good time to re-assess your goals for your business or career and perhaps set new ones. Did you meet your goals for last year? Did your business grow? If not, why? What do you want to accomplish this year? How about in the first 90 days of 2013?

On a recent morning, I headed to a favorite place just down the street to fetch a couple of lattes for my wife and me. Our forebearers would have awakened in woolen underwear, stepped in the dark onto a cold dirt floor, and stumbled outside to chop some wood to start a fire in the cook stove balanced on the rocks outside.

Commercial real estate leases and sales in the north San Francisco Bay Area

The Department of Child Support Services of the county of Napa is one of the top 10 in the state for federal fiscal year 2012, according to the California Department of Child Support Services. …

A coalition of Napa County banks and nonprofit organizations are taking part in a new initiative called Bank on Napa Valley, a countywide program aimed at bringing more Napa families into the financial mainstream by providing access to everyday financial services. …

Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) announced the availability of the Enphase Microinverter System to the Australian solar market in February. …

Mollie Stone’s Markets announced the installation of electric vehicle charging stations at several of its Bay Area locations, starting with Sausalito on Feb. 7. …

College of Marin hired Jonathan Eldridge as new vice president of Student Services. …

Attorney Michael Pfeifer has joined Santa Rosa-based law firm Smith Dollar PC. Mr. Pfeifer will head the firm’s office in Orange. … Also joining the firm’s Orange County office are attorneys Annabelle de la Mora and Libby Wong. …

Buckelew Programs named Steve Eckert, LCSW, as the organization’s new executive director. …

Kim Kaselionis has been named to the governing board of the Women’s Inititative for Self-Employment, a national organization headquartered in Novato, and elected to the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame. …

The Press Democrat appointed Jennifer Williams as director of advertising. …

Blu Homes, Inc. announced that Gary Martell has joined the company as chief financial officer, based in Vallejo. …

Visit Napa Valley promoted Sonyia Grabski to vice president, consumer direct marketing. …

Cline Cellars and Jacuzzi Family Vineyards promoted Keith Morris to vice president and national sales manager. …

Events in the north San Francisco Bay Area of interest to the business community

SACRAMENTO — Shipments of wine to the U.S. hit another record last year, but growth slowed considerably from 2011 as producers turned to imports in a big way to try to meet demand, according to experts at a major industry symposium in Sacramento.