Member news: October 2022
25th anniversary of IdeaFunding celebrates milestone with 25 AZ companies advancing to final round competing for over $50,000 in prizes
IdeaFunding has played a significant role in the entrepreneurial landscape for 25 years and is Southern Arizona’s largest and longest entrepreneurial conference and pitch competition. Over the past two months, early-stage startup companies from all over Arizona have participated in several rounds of company pitch presentations at IdeaFunding, which is part of the TENWEST Festival co-led by Startup Tucson and the University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI). Read more >>
Girls Get IT event encourages local high school girls to pursue information technology careers
With a goal of introducing high school girls, primarily from across the East Valley, to the many career possibilities in the field of Information Technology (IT), the fourth annual Girls Get IT event takes place from 8:30 am to 1 pm, Nov. 4, 2022, at Scottsdale Community College. Geoscientist, explorer, space artist, and astronaut Dr. Sian Proctor is the keynote speaker. Read more >>
Phoenix-based on-demand hospitality staffing app launches in Cleveland
Qwick, the leading on-demand labor marketplace for hospitality Businesses and Professionals is now available in Cleveland. The company, which recently ranked #32 on the Inc 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America, is now serving 23 U.S. cities with its expansion into Ohio. Through Qwick, food and beverage pros can now match with local shifts at restaurants, event venues, caterers, stadiums and more in real time. Read more >>
Honeywell Aerospace wins contract to provide engines for UK military helicopters
Honeywell Aerospace has signed a contract to supply 34 of the company’s workhorse T55 engines for the United Kingdom military. The contract, awarded through the U.S. Army Foreign Military Sales office, will build the latest model of the Honeywell T55-GA-714A engine for the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s fleet of H-47 Extended Range Chinook helicopters. Financial details of the deal were not immediately disclosed. Honeywell (Nasdaq: HON) said the deal is the latest in a longstanding relationship with a close ally. Read more >>
BestCompaniesAZ lists the best companies for millennials
What are millennials? The definition of a millennial varies; however, the consensus is that millennials are born between 1981 and 1996. Most likely, this generation grew up experiencing the 9/11 terrorist attack and the 2008 presidential election. These adults saw the turn of the century and the onset of the digital age. Even more, the majority of millennials felt the weight of the 2008 economic recession. These are just a few milestones that millennials witnessed. Now they’re creating a milestone of their own. Millennials are the largest generation in the U.S. labor force today. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, millennials take up about 44% of the modern workplace. Read more >>
New Penguin Edge IFC6720 platform enables innovation for video content distribution
Penguin Solutions™, an SGH™ brand (Nasdaq: SGH) that provides HPC, AI, and IoT technologies for edge, core, and cloud, today announced the Penguin Edge™ IFC6720 application-ready platform designed to drive networked video content distribution in edge applications. Based on the Qualcomm SDA845 system-on-chip (SoC), the Penguin Edge IFC6720 platform is a turnkey box solution for dual simultaneous 4K displays with concurrent HDMI input and wireless content-sharing in an optimized, reliable and secure digital environment. Read more >>
Yield Engineering Systems partners with Benchmark for global engineering and manufacturing support
Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: BHE), a global provider of engineering, design, and manufacturing services, today announced it is partnering with Yield Engineering Systems (YES) to transfer the manufacturing of the YES flagship product line to its facility in Malaysia, as well as providing engineering and manufacturing support for YES’s upcoming innovative modular wet process systems in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Read more >>
Terkel shares 14 tips for hiring your next developer
What is one tip for a tech startup looking to hire its next developer? To help you hire the best developers, we asked tech hiring managers, recruiters, and tech business leaders this question for their best insights. From understanding the need and talent required to ensuring they can collaborate across all departments, there are several tips that would guide you in adopting best practices in hiring developers that are just right for your tech startup. Here are 14 tips these leaders followed in hiring developers for their tech startups. Read more >>
Sky Harbor receives $194 million from feds for new taxiway
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport will soon start construction on a new taxiway that is expected to cut down the time airplanes spend on the tarmac and could bring more flights to the airport. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, along with U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton and Mitch Landrieu, an adviser to President Joe Biden and the infrastructure coordinator for the White House, announced Tuesday that Sky Harbor will receive $194 million over the next five years to build a new taxiway. Read more >>
GitKraken launches free Git certification for software developers at October tech conference
GitKraken, the world’s leader in premier Git tools for software developers, has just announced that it will launch a free Git certification at the organization’s GitKon tech conference this month. GitKon is a unique, virtual conference taking place on October 11-13, 2022. Last year’s inaugural event attracted more than 4,000 global registrants. This year’s conference will feature 36 sessions from 39 expert speakers from notable tech companies like GitHub, GitLab, Microsoft and VS Code, Atlassian, Amazon, and more. Read more >>
September 2022 TechCast | Strategic analysis: Using technology to stay adaptable
The September 2022 episode of the Arizona Technology Council’s AZTechCast podcast featured experts including Julie Gable, CEO and founder of BusinessWhys; Bob Interdonato, general manager at Lumen; and Melati Lee-Parker, founder and CEO of Macroscope Studios. These leaders joined Karen Nowicki, president and owner of Phoenix Business RadioX, and Bianca Buliga, director of marketing and communications at the Arizona Technology Council, in discussing how to successfully conduct strategic business analysis and prepare for an unpredictable business environment. Read more >>
Starting off strong: Provost challenge
One of our favorite traditions at University of Advancing Technology (UAT) is kicking off each semester with the Provost Challenge. The Provost Challenge, hosted by UAT’s Provost Dr. Dave Bolman, is a unique opportunity for new students to dive right into creating, building and innovating the day they step on campus. During CONNECT (UAT’s new student orientation), students are separated into groups, allowing them to get to know one another as they familiarize themselves with campus. In just two weeks, the teams conceptualize, design and build out an entire project. Each semester students are given a few elements to incorporate into their builds—this is mostly for fun because who doesn’t love a theme? This year’s elements included Warhammer 40k, Artemis and memes. Read more >>
Mesa and Tucson to get a slice of $1 million in DoorDash gift cards to help the hungry
Mayors across the country, including in Mesa and Tucson, are partnering with DoorDash on a new initiative to combat food insecurity. The food delivery company will split $1 million in gift cards between the two Arizona cities and 16 others around the country. DoorDash also will provide food access data on the city or local food organizations. The partnership could expand Project Dash, its “social impact program” that helps deliver food from the banks to homes. Currently, the program partners with Sahuarita Food Bank in Pima County and St. Mary’s Food Bank, Resurrection Street Ministry and Solari, Inc. in Maricopa County. Read more >>
Boeing sells Apache helicopters to Poland, expands Mesa operations
Aerospace and defense giant Boeing secured a contract to produce 96 Apache helicopters for the Polish Armed Forces as the company scales up its manufacturing capabilities in Mesa, Arizona. Mariusz Błaszczak, Poland’s Minister of Defense, announced September 8th that the Central European nation had selected Boeing Defense, Space & Security to be its partner for the KRUK Attack Helicopter Program, an initiative started to replace the currently “outdated, Soviet-designed Mil Mi-24 fleet.” Read more >>
Qwick named 32nd fastest-growing company in the U.S., reaches 500,000 shifts filled by hospitality pros
Qwick, the leading on-demand labor marketplace for food and beverage businesses and professionals, celebrates reaching 500,000 shifts filled across 23 U.S. cities, totaling more than 3.4M hours worked by hospitality pros. The innovative staffing platform, which was started in 2018 to bring prosperity to the hospitality industry, also achieved a growth rate of 10,032% over the past three years landing it at #32 on the Inc. 5000 list of fast-growing private companies in America. Read more >>
Small business awards: Micro-sized company winner — The PMO Squad
After Joe Pusz struggled to find outside consultants willing to work in project management for a bigger company, he started The PMO Squad, a boutique project management consulting firm, in 2013. As the firm approaches its 10-year anniversary, its growth and evolution keeps Pusz, the company’s president, confident about its potential. “It feels like we’ve been validated, that there’s a need for what we provide in the industry,” he said. Read more >>
Raytheon, Northrop Grumman awarded hypersonic missile contract worth nearly $1B
A partnership between Raytheon’s Missiles & Defense division and Northrop Grumman has been awarded a nearly $1 billion contract to develop the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) for the U.S. Air Force. The air-launched HACM will be the first of its kind, and the $985.34 million contract calls for the two companies to design, develop and deliver the missile by March 2027. The project is part of a joint initiative between the U.S. and Australia called the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment, or SCIFiRE. Read more >>
Business technology leader Moruga Inc. names new chief operating officer
Business technology leader Moruga Inc. has named Kelly Brake as Chief Operating Officer. Previously serving as Moruga Inc.’s Vice President of Operations, Brake brings more than two decades of senior management experience to the role, also serving in senior executive roles at Venicom and NetFusion Services. Brake was the co-founder and vice president of a highly successful network consulting firm, InLynx, where she forged its strategic vision and operational goals, managed IT procurement, and maintained critical vendor relationships. Read more >>