Corporate Report: August 23

Popper and Co. digital health officer joins World Economic Forum group
Popper and Co., a Sarasota-based mergers and acquisitions advisory and specialty consulting firm to the life sciences industry, announced that Paul Sonnier, its head of digital health strategy, has been named a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Digital Health.

The council brings together experts from the health, information technology and telecommunications industries, governments and academia to improve health and health care through information and communication technologies that create, aggregate, exchange and use health and personal data.

Sonnier is best known for founding the Digital Health group on LinkedIn, which now has more than 19,000 members. He is also one of nine judges in the XPRIZE Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE and a mentor at Blueprint Health, a New York City-based health care business accelerator.

Yara opens new diesel-exhaust fluid plant to supply Midwest and Canada
Tampa-based diesel-exhaust fluid (DEF) producer Yara North America Inc. has launched DEF production and distribution capabilities at its plant in Belle Plaine, Canada. The plant will increase Yara's capacity to supply fleets and retailers in the Midwestern United States and throughout Canada.

Heavy-duty transportation fleets and retail outlets use DEF to comply with the emissions standards from the Clean Air Act of 2010. As a result, DEF demand in North America continues to increase, with consumption expected to reach 204 million gallons in North America by the end of the year. Integer Research, the leading DEF market analyst, predicts this will double to 402 million gallons by 2015, and the U.S. is expected by many to become the largest DEF market in the world.

In May, Yara improved its coast-to-coast network of DEF storage terminals with the opening of a facility in Chesapeake, Va.

Shumaker, Loop Tampa partner name vice chair of bar group
Michael Robbins, a partner in the Tampa office of Shumaker Loop & Kendrick LLP, has been appointed vice chairman of the Corporations, Securities and Financial Services Committee of The Florida Bar. Robbins has served on the committee for more than 15 years.

Corbelis expands Estero office with two new officers
Newton, Mass.-based national developer Corbelis has hired Dennis Church and Phyllis Britton for its new Southwest Florida office in Estero.

Church has been named vice president of community development. Most recently, he served as president of Community Development Advisors.

Britton was named the company's new director of operations. Britton worked for 12 years for Bonita Bay Group and for seven years with Boran Craig Barber Engel Construction Co.

The Southwest Florida team's immediate focus is the development of Corbelis' new Fort Myers community, Lindsford (formerly known as Waterford Landing). The first phase of the 600-acre community is currently under development with initial lot deliveries expected in the fourth quarter.

Kirk Pinkerton attorney joins state bar ethics committee
Sarasota-based Kirk-Pinkerton P.A. attorney Tom Shults has been appointed to the Professional Ethics Committee of The Florida Bar. The committee answers ethics inquires from bar members and publishes formal advisory opinions to guide lawyers in interpreting and applying the ethics rules regulating Florida attorneys.

Shults is the former chairman of The Florida Bar Code and Rules of Evidence Committee. He is a board-certified civil trial lawyer and a shareholder in the firm.

Head of Charlotte County's Supertrak completes Economic Gardening course
Punta Gorda-based Supertrak is the first company sponsored by the Charlotte County Economic Development Office to complete the Florida Economic Gardening Institute's (GrowFL) Economic Gardening course.

The economic development office along with Enterprise Charlotte Economic Council recently partnered together with GrowFL, an entrepreneur support organization based at the University of Central Florida, to develop a local program designed to assist second-stage companies in examining their core strategies and assisting them with market expansion and sales growth.

Jeff Turner from the University of Central Florida's Office of Research and Commercialization provided the training to Supertrak's president, Tom King.

“To be a successful CEO, you must take the time to work on your business, rather than just work in your business,” Turner says in a news release. “The strategic research engagement with GrowFL helped Mr. King improve how he manages his time and processes at Supertrak for a more streamlined operation.”

Supertrak manufactures heavy-duty trenchers, mechanical citrus harvesting equipment, custom utility trucks, cable retrieval equipment, monorail work tractors, and vegetation management equipment.

This year, the Enterprise Charlotte Economic Council has committed to fund three scholarships to qualifying businesses, with three to nine employees, who wish to participate in the program.