Corporate Report: October 19

Coastal Capital Acquisition pursues Lowe's distribution
Earth Surfaces of America Inc. of Naples, a wholly owned subsidiary of Coastal Capital Acquisition Corp., has submitted an application to distribute its terrazzo concrete products, including countertops and pavers through Lowe's Home Improvement stores.

Earth Surfaces currently distributes a number of its terrazzo concrete products through Home Depot Online. It is also pursuing in-store sales with Home Depot.

“We have already expanded our sales force throughout Florida to develop a strong network of licensed contractors, architects, designers and dealers to market our products to their clients and customers,” Tony DiNorcia, CEO of Coastal Capital and Earth Surfaces, says in a press release. “Merchandising our products through the major home improvement chains provides us additional product awareness and distribution.”

Innovative Software Technologies hires Mazzapica for marketing
Innovative Software Technologies Inc.'s marketing division, INTech Ventures Inc. has hired Paul Mazzapica as president.

He was previously chief operating officer for GPS Branding. Mazzapica was also previously CEO and co-founder of Touchpoint Technologies.

“With more than 25 years of sales, marketing and operations experience, Mr. Mazzapica brings the ideal background to drive sales for INTech's wholly owned subsidiary Opt-In SMART,” Peter Peterson, president and CEO for Innovative Software Technologies Inc. says in a press release.

INTech Ventures Inc. specializes in various forms of digital and social media marketing through Opt-In SMART. The company has a proprietary software technology for managing and executing all social media, sales and marketing and e-marketing.

Quarles & Brady promotes Beyer to Tampa office managing partner
The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP has named David Beyer managing partner of the firm's Tampa office. Beyer succeeds Kimberly Leach Johnson, a senior partner practicing in the firm's Naples office and a member of the firm's executive committee, who managed the Tampa office since it opened in 2010.

Beyer practices law primarily as a member of the firm's franchise, distribution and direct sales group. He has extensive experience in organizing and structuring franchise and other distribution programs. He also represents franchisors on technology-related issues, including website development, e-commerce, cybersquatting and channel conflict.

“The firm is thrilled to have David in this position,” John Daniels Jr., chairman of Quarles & Brady, says in a press release. “David has been with the Tampa office since the beginning, and he's very well established in the community, so he will keep the office running smoothly and growing steadily.”

Quarles & Brady LLP is a law firm with more than 400 attorneys practicing from offices in Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; Naples and Tampa; Chicago; Madison and Milwaukee, Wis.; Washington, D.C.; and Shanghai, China.

Tampa attorney, former judge chosen for oil spill appeals panel
Guy Spicola, a 17-year Hillsborough circuit judge and two-term chief judge, has been appointed by the United States District Judge in Louisiana to serve on the class-action appeals panel for claims related to the BP Deep Water Horizon oil rig explosion and resulting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Spicola currently runs his own legal practice at the Law Offices of Guy Spicola in Tampa.

The case is currently the largest class-action suit ever. More than 53,000 claims from Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida have been filed covering billions of dollars.

Bayshore Solutions wins W3s for three website designs
Tampa-based Bayshore Solutions was recognized by the International Academy of the Visual Arts with three W3 Awards for its website designs for Benefit Crossroads, Cushease and The Melting Pot Restaurants.

The W3 Awards recognize the creative and marketing teams behind websites, marketing programs and video work created for the Web.

Bayshore Solutions' custom website design for Benefits Crossroads won a Gold 2012 W3 Award in the insurance category.

Bayshore Solutions received Silver 2012 W3 Awards for The Melting Pot Restaurants website in the restaurant category and the Cushease site in the shopping category.

Valpak debuts business center to track digital coupons
Largo-based Valpak has introduced a new online Valpak Business Center (VBC) for retailers. The new system is designed to allow merchants a way to track every digital Valpak coupon and e-commerce voucher.

The new system is a move by the coupon company to ease business concerns over mobile couponing, including the issue of fraudulent coupon redemption. Valpak says the system should make it easier for retailers to track mobile redemption and return on investment and gather consumer data.

“By offering our advertisers this safety blanket, they can now feel protected, and take the program full circle, closing the loop on information that was previously very difficult to track,” Michael Vivio, president of Cox of Valpak and Cox Target Media, says in a press release. “It provides simplified reporting to monitor their business, and gives them peace of mind.”

The new system not only tracks redemptions, but it also captures purchase data, shows how much the customer spent using the coupon and demonstrates the total value of the customer and transaction.

The new system can be accessed through computers and Android and iPhone mobile apps.

Sembler Co. hires Heard to head Southeast development
St. Petersburg-based The Sembler Co. named Charlie Heard its vice president of development and southeast market leader. He will operate from Atlanta.

Heard's duties consist of pursuing new shopping center development opportunities in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

He has more than 25 years of real estate experience throughout the Southeastern United States working with dozens of development projects for retailers such as Publix, Kroger, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, CVS and Walgreen's and has worked with top-tier retailers on site selection across industry sectors.

“I was initially drawn to Sembler by their reputation in the shopping center industry, spanning 50 years,” Heard says in a press release. “Then I realized how well matched my experience was with their strategic plan for the Southeast region, which is to re-focus on developing traditional neighborhood grocery stores and well-anchored power centers.”

Sembler manages and leases more than 12.5 million square feet of retail center space, including 3.5 million square feet in the greater Atlanta area.

European health care firm opens new Bradenton operations
C4U Technologies, a European IT health communications company, has now launched its United States operations in Bradenton.

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in England, C4U focuses on Web-based electronic communication systems for doctors and patients. It handles 1.2 million patient subscribers and transmits more than 500,000 messages per month.

C4U plans to introduce a patient-only health care portal in the coming months.

Lee County's Yippy Inc. hires former Lycos exec as CEO
Fort Myers-based Yippy Inc. has appointed Edward Noel as the company's new CEO. Richard Granville, the company's previous CEO, has been appointed as the executive chairman of the company's board of directors.

Prior to joining Yippy, Noel served as a director on the board.

Noel has more than 15 years of business experience working with Internet companies. He was previously the chief revenue officer of social and Web video advertising company Alphabird Inc. From early 1999 to November 2011, Noel served as chief revenue officer/chief strategy officer for the search engine and web portal Lycos Inc. He was also the lead negotiator for the subsequent sale of Lycos to Ybrant Digital in 2010.

Blue Sky Solar Group completes navy base solar array
Venice-based Blue Sky Solar Group has recently completed installing a 2 million-watt solar project on the Norfolk Naval Base in Norfolk, Va. Blue Sky worked with Bay Electric Co. to complete the work started this spring. The system consists of more than 8,000 solar panels and will power a significant portion of housing on the base.

Blue Sky Solar Group has also recently secured another contract with the Navy to inspect and maintain solar facilities in Corpus Christi, Texas; Patuxent, Md.; and Anacostia in the District of Columbia.

Started five years ago, the company built two of Florida Power & Light Co.'s largest solar systems before expanding into other states, where the incentives were more generous.

“In the last six months, solar module and balance of system costs have come down dramatically,” David Schroeders, president and founder of Blue Sky Solar Group, says in a news release. “We no longer need rebates to make the financials work. One of the biggest advantages of solar is that it is scalable. Whether their bill is $300 per month or $30,000, the payback and returns are the same.”

Blue Sky Solar Group, a consulting, engineering, procurement and construction provider, and its residential arm QwikSolar have managed solar energy projects in 16 states including 2 megawatt ground-mounted systems, large tracking arrays, solar carports at apartment complexes and numerous commercial rooftops.