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Report finds IDOT official abused post

May 20th, 2012

The former head of traffic safety for the Illinois Department of Transportation violated state ethics rules by using his position to obtain several free passes to NASCAR events, then lied to cover it up, according to a report investigators released Thursday.

The Office of Executive Inspector General recommended that Michael Stout be fired for requesting the passes from a consulting firm that received grants from IDOT to promote safety. Stout resigned in December while agency officials were reviewing the findings.

According to the report, the consulting firm organizes booths at the annual NASCAR events at the Chicagoland Speedway. IDOT employees distribute information about the importance of seat belt use and how to prevent impaired driving.

As part of this effort, Stout asked the firm to provide him with special passes to events in 2009 and 2010 that would provide access to the track, pit lane and garage area. He told the firm he was requesting the passes for IDOT employees in order to meet with NASCAR drivers and speedway executives and to conduct public relations work on behalf of the state.

But investigators found that several people who received passes did not work for the state. Stout acknowledged he acted dishonestly to get passes for acquaintances or former state employees. But Stout said he asked attendees to wear IDOT T-shirts in order to create a presence for the agency, arguing that constituted official business.

Stout said transportation agency officials had approved of him conducting business at NASCAR races, though they told investigators that they did not give Stout permission to ask for special passes, saying it would be improper.

Investigators said Stout committed official misconduct by requesting the passes and providing them to people who were not IDOT employees and were not conducting businesses on behalf of the state. Stout argued that he was allowed to give the passes to nonemployees because they did not cost the state anything, an idea ethics officers rejected.

Mr. Stout used the influence of his position to obtain the social benefits of gift giving, the report states. Plainly said, Mr. Stout sought to look like a big shot.

Ethics officers recommended that Stout should be fired because of the serious nature of his actions, his attempts to lie about what happened and previous disciplinary action. They passed their suggestion along to IDOT officials on Nov. 7, 2011. The agency asked for more time to review the report on Nov. 22. Stout submitted his resignation Dec. 12.

Stout had worked for the department since 2003. Records show he made more than $114,000 a year.

In his response to investigators, Stout said he disagreed with their findings and had evidence that pleads his case. But Stout said he would not release the information because it would expose state employees and citizens unnecessarily.

He attached his final performance evaluation, which was made just before he left state government. Supervisors said Stout exceeded expectations and helped Illinois traffic safety program become a model for the rest of the nation.

I can say with confidence that I left the Division of Traffic Safety in a far better condition than when I found it over seven years ago, Stout wrote. I will always cherish many of the friendships built over the past seven years. The time to move on has passed.

mcgarcia@tribune.com

Twitter @moniquegarcia

Automotive Varistors provide multiple-strike protection.

May 19th, 2012

AVX Corp.
PO Box 867
Myrtle Beach, SC, 29578
USA

FlexRay Automotive Varistor Series Delivers Jump Start Multiple-Strike Protection for Communication Systems…

Miniature AEC-Q200 Qualified Varistor from AVX Optimized for FlexRay(TM) Communication BUS Systems

GREENVILLE, SC – AVX Corporation, a leading manufacturer of advanced passive components and interconnect solutions, has developed a miniature 0402 varistor specifically for FlexRay(TM) Communication BUS Systems used in automotive applications. The AEC-Q200 qualified Flexray Automotive Varistor Series automotive varistors combine ESD protection with EMI/RF filtering and insertion loss characteristics to protect against transients on high-speed data lines up to 10Mbps.

The Flexray Auomotive Series varistors provide protection during jump-start and are capable of withstanding multiple transient strikes while providing sub-1nS response to ESD strikes. A suitable drop-in replacement for diode protection, the compact Flexray Automotive Varistors Series deliver superior transient clamping.

This Flexray varistor series offers engineers a more robust solution for the faster digital serial bus systems currently being designed into todays vehicles, said Mike Muir, North American product manager at AVX. By accommodating data rates that are up to 10 times faster than current controlled area network (CAN) BUS systems, AVX is leading the way in circuit protection devices for todays most demanding automotive applications. The 0402 case size also demonstrates AVXs ability to meet the need for miniaturization in these critical applications.

The Flexray Automotive Varistor Series has the lowest specified leakage current available on the market. The low profile 0402 varistor features a fast response time to ESD and can withstand 1000 successive strikes of ESD at 8kV per IEC 61000-4-2.

The Flexray Automotive Varistor Series has a lead time of nine weeks. AVXs Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) is available upon request.

For more information contact AVX at One AVX Boulevard, Fountain Inn, SC 29644; by calling 864-288-4523; or on the Web at www.avx.com.

About AVX

AVX Corporation is a leading international supplier of electronic passive components and interconnect solutions with 24 manufacturing and customer support facilities in 15 countries around the world. AVX offers a broad range of devices including capacitors, resistors, filters, timing and circuit protection devices and connectors. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:AVX).

2ed Venue Opening for Traveling Smithsonian Exhibit "Between Fences"

May 19th, 2012

Guam – The Guam Humanities Council has announced a special Guam tour of Between Fences, an exhibition from the Smithsonian Institutions Museum on Main Street program.

The Council has been working with historian Christine Taitano DeLisle, PhD to develop a Guam focused companion exhibition and associated programs entitled I Kelat The Fence: Historical Perspectives on Guam’s Changing Landscape.

The Council has partnered with the Agana Shopping Center to present the second venue and programs on the tour.

The exhibit opens to the public at 5:00 PM on Saturday, May 19, at the Agana Shopping Center with a special presentation of local artwork called Artistic Responses to the Fence.

The program schedule for the second venue is as follows:

o SATURDAY, May 19, 5 PM – Exhibition Opening, Artistic Responses to the Fence
o SATURDAY, June 2, 2 PM – Children’s story and activity hour
o SATURDAY, June 9, 5 PM – Film and Discussion event, Waiting For Superman
o SATURDAY, June 16, 8:30 AM – Nature walk to Hagtana taro gardens, show time 8 :15 AM at the Hagatna Mayor’s Office parking lot
o THURSDAY, June 21, 6 PM – Intangible Fences – Cultural Perspectives on Disabilities panel discussion
o SATURDAY, June 23, 5 PM – Film and Discussion event, Noho Hewa
o SATURDAY, June 30, 5 PM – Closing event, Reading the Fence poetry night

READ the release from the Guam Humanities Council below:

Second Venue opening for Between Fences a Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition

The Guam Humanities Council is pleased to announce the special Guam tour of Between Fences an exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution Museum on Main Street program. Fences, a dominant feature in our lives and in our history, are more than functional objects, they are powerful symbols of security, industry, agriculture, and land ownership. Built of hedge, concrete, wood and metal, the fence skirts our properties and is central to the American landscape. The way we define ourselves as individuals and as a nation becomes tangible in how we build fences.

The Council also worked with historian Christine Taitano DeLisle, PhD to develop a Guam focused companion exhibition and associated programs entitled I Kelat The Fence: Historical Perspectives on Guam’s Changing Landscape. The local exhibit explores the relations between Chamorros and fences from a historical, political, and cultural perspective. It moves from the iconic, the familiar and tangible, to the less familiar and intangible, to the unforeseen and unexpected effects of fences. Just as fences are intended to mark boundaries around what one owns, and who or what belongs where, fences and walls can be – and most certainly have been – scaled, transgressed, and circumscribed, as much as they have been respected and honored. Fences and walls, then, have the power to convey new social and cultural formations and possibilities.

The Council is partnering with the Agana Shopping Center to present the second venue and programs on the tour. The exhibit opens to the public at 5:00 PM on Saturday, May 19, at the Agana Shopping Center with a selection of local artwork and artist presentations entitled Artistic Responses to the Fence. The exhibit will run from May 19 through June 30, with a weekly schedule of related programs.

The program schedule for the second venue is as follows:

o SATURDAY, May 19, 5 PM – Exhibition Opening, Artistic Responses to the Fence
o SATURDAY, June 2, 2 PM – Children’s story and activity hour
o SATURDAY, June 9, 5 PM – Film and Discussion event, Waiting For Superman
o SATURDAY, June 16, 8:30 AM – Nature walk to Hagtana taro gardens, show time 8 :15 AM at the Hagatna Mayor’s Office parking lot
o THURSDAY, June 21, 6 PM – Intangible Fences – Cultural Perspectives on Disabilities panel discussion
o SATURDAY, June 23, 5 PM – Film and Discussion event, Noho Hewa
o SATURDAY, June 30, 5 PM – Closing event, Reading the Fence poetry night

The tour will continue to two other venues through these venue sponsors:

July 14 – August 16, Palm Village, Harmon Loop Road, Dededo, provided by EC Development
August 23 – September 22, Isla Center for the Arts, University of Guam Museum on Main Street (MOMS) is a collaboration between the Smithsonian
Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and the different humanities councils in the 56 states and territories, which are eligible to host a MOMS exhibition tour. With support and programmatic assistance from the Guam Humanities Council, supplemental exhibitions are created with their own objects, stories and programs that celebrate Guam’s unique cultural heritage and inspire community pride.

The I Kelat Exhibit and the Guam tour of Between Fences is made possible thought a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Between Fences is the third Smithsonian Institution exhibition hosted by the Guam Humanities Council, the first being the debut tour of New Harmonies:Celebrating American Roots Music, and the second, Key Ingredients – America By Food.

For more information about the local tour and exhibit, contact the Council at 472-4461/0 or email Monaeka at monaeka_ghc@teleguam.net. To learn more about and Museum on Main Street and Between Fences check out www.museumonmainstreet.org.

To learn more about the I Kelat exhibit and programs visit guamhumanitiescouncil.org

Galston: It’s Official, Obama’s Trying to Win the West—Not Ohio

May 18th, 2012

When Lyndon Johnson endorsed path-breaking civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s, he knew that he was irrevocably changing the Democratic Party. As he was affixing his signature to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he reportedly remarked to an aide that he was signing away the South for 50 years. President Obamas decision to endorse gay marriage may yield a similar outcome by weakening beyond repair his partys links with less educated, socially conservative white voters.

(For the record: what follows is a purely political analysis, not a critique of Obamas decision on the merits. Many years ago, after sustained reflection, I decided that there were no arguments against same-sex marriage that I could regard as compelling, and Ive publicly stated that conclusion more than once.)

Early last year, I noted that Obamas political advisors were tilting toward what I called a Colorado strategy for the reelection campaign. Their focus was on an emerging new Democratic majoritya coalition of young people, minorities, unmarried women, and upscale professionals. This tilt would come, I noted, at the expense of the Ohio strategymy shorthand for an effort focused on retaining support from white working class voters.

To be sure, this tilt toward Colorado as the electoral template was intended as a matter of emphasis rather than a flat-out rejection of Ohio alternative. After all, Obama won both Colorado-type states and Ohio-type states in 2008. It seemed reasonable to suppose that he could fortify the Partys new beachhead in the Rockies without jeopardizing his standing in the heartland, the traditional key to presidential contests.

The issue of gay marriage will test that optimism. Consider Ohio. The most recent Quinnipiac survey, conducted before the gay marriage announcement, showed the presidential race tiedObama 45, Romney 44. (Adding Rob Portman to the Republican ticket moved the race to a dead heat, 45 to 45.) If the prospect of gay marriage antagonizes older conservatives more than it mobilizes younger liberals, Ohio could shift back into the Republican column.

Or take North Carolina, one of the two rim-South states that the 2008 Obama campaign wrested from the Republicans. The state just passedby 61 to 39 percenta constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage. This suggests that about one-fifth of Obamas winning 2008 coalition disagrees with him on the issue. Its hard to know how many of these voters will regard the presidents support for gay marriage as a deal-breaker. But common sense suggests that it is likely to be more than enough to swamp Obamas 14,000-vote victory of four years ago.

One thing is clear: Obamas decision aligns the Democratic Party with the demographic future of the country. Young adults overwhelmingly support gay marriage, and theyre sure to win the fight by outliving their older adversaries. The only question is whether the future is now. Theres reason to believe it may not be: In 2008, Obama received 20 percent of the conservative vote, accounting for about 7 percentage points of his overall 53 percent share of the popular vote. (By contrast, McCain received only 10 percent of the liberal vote, accounting for only 2 points of his overall share.) Conservative democrats, in other words, provided the decisive margin in the last electiona margin that its not clear can be compensated for with additional liberals.

Ron Brownstein recently reported that Obamas senior advisors see the announcement as essentially a political wash, one that changes the composition of the presidents support but not its overall level. If a single national vote decided presidential elections, this would be a significant claim. But because presidential elections are an aggregate of state contests, the location of support also matters. Alas, as I look at the shrinking roster of swing states, I find it easier to foresee electoral college losses than gains.

William Galston is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution an a contributing editor forThe New Republic.

Steady Increase in Automotive Production Drives the Global Automotive …

May 18th, 2012

GIA announces the release of a comprehensive global report on Automotive Component Outsourcing markets. The global market for Automotive Component Outsourcing is projected to reach US$1.0 trillion by the year 2017. Growth will be primarily driven by healthy increases in the production of passenger cars and commercial vehicles and increased transfer of component design, development and manufacturing responsibility from OEMs to suppliers. Margin pressures faced by OEMs in developed markets bode well for outsourcing opportunities in low cost developing countries in Asia-Pacific.

San Jose, California (PRWEB) May 10, 2012

Follow us on LinkedIn – Globalization has played a critical role in the development of automotive component outsourcing by encouraging OEMs and their suppliers to develop and define new international division of labor. The trend has also been partially fueled by the international re-location of auto demand from mature developed countries like North America, Europe and Japan to emerging markets such as, Brazil, India and China. With OEMs adopting a produce where you sell strategy as is reflected by the growing number of supplier and OEM partnerships and shifting of manufacturing plants to overseas markets, opportunities for component outsourcing has been on a commensurate rise. Also, protectionist policies of governments in developing countries that impose constraints and incentives on auto trade and manufacturing coupled with cross border labor cost differentials have been encouraging complete end-to-end outsourcing of component design, development and manufacturing. The growing magnitude of outsourcing by auto OEMs still continue to result in power shifts in favor of suppliers.

In the upcoming years, growth in automotive component outsourcing will continue to be encouraged by the competitive need to cut time to market, given its potential to help OEMs steal a march on competitors. In this regard, outsourced manufacturing of automotive subsystems will rise in importance given its key benefit which is reduction in total time required to develop, manufacture and launch a new vehicle. In other words, reduction in lead times and higher execution speeds will help enhance the flexibility of OEMs to rapidly adjust to changing external market stimulants, giving them increased levels of new product development abilities. As the automotive industrys clockspeed continue to accelerate, cutting down on the traditionally long Concept-to-Car time will emerge to be the sharpest competitive edge for automakers in the upcoming years. And outsourcing in this regard is poised to benefit. As a case in point, the growing electronic content in an automobile, of late, has pushed the automobile industry into a more dynamic environment characterized by rapid change, and this thereby has pushed outsourcing into a tool to stay on top of the opportunities.

In this regard, given the relatively higher clockspeeds of automotive electronics than in comparison with engines and transmissions, outsourcing of automotive electronic subs-systems is growing in popularity. With electronics taking over more and more of a cars controls, and with it the consumers preferences as well, traditional electronics manufacturers are now joining the automotive supply chain as OEMs increasingly outsource electronics and related hardware and software components of the vehicle. Another major factor governing the outsourcing trend in this space is the fact that shorter lifecycles associated with electronics make OEMs unwilling and hesitant to invest knowledge, technology and capital in dedicated facilities, which run the risk of being underutilized as technologies evolve and processes improve. Outsourcing in this regard takes the uncertainty out of the equation.

Ex-Official’s Drive in China Leads to Torture Inquiry

May 17th, 2012



CHONGQING, China — Police officers here are being investigated over whether they used torture and other questionable methods to obtain evidence during a so-called anticrime campaign overseen by Bo Xilai, the deposed Chinese leader who for four years ran the party machinery in this fog-shrouded western metropolis.

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The review of police actions was revealed in interviews with a lawyer in Beijing and a person in Chongqing with ties to police officials. It appears to be part of a deeper critical look at Mr. Bo’s reign in Chongqing and could be used to further tarnish his reputation.

The investigation, which has not been previously disclosed, formally began April 25, when Liu Guanglei, a top Chongqing party official in charge of the politics and law committee, said at a gathering of mid- and senior-level police officials that any officer who had tortured suspects during Mr. Bo’s campaign should admit to doing so. Mr. Liu told the group that if an officer were found later to have committed torture but had not been forthcoming, then the officer would be severely punished, according to the person with police ties, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the scandal surrounding Mr. Bo.

Mr. Bo’s campaign, called “strike black” or “smash the black,” was rolled out in June 2009 to great fanfare and engineered by Wang Lijun, a police officer from northeast China whom Mr. Bo had installed as the police chief here after he became party secretary in late 2007. Mr. Bo and Mr. Wang said the campaign was aimed at destroying crime gangs and their supporters in Chongqing, but critics and some people convicted during that time say the campaign was at least partly a cover to tear down Mr. Bo’s enemies and undermine private entrepreneurs.

But any inquiry into Mr. Bo’s actions before he was removed from his party chief post in Chongqing in March and suspended from the 25-member Politburo in April could become a tricky issue for senior party officials. Though Mr. Bo is being investigated by Beijing for “serious disciplinary violations,” officials looking specifically at the anticrime crackdown must tread carefully because several of China’s top leaders made a trip to Chongqing around the time of the campaign and publicly praised Mr. Bo for his efforts.

Xi Jinping, the vice president who is expected to replace Hu Jintao as the president of China, praised the crackdown and toured a museum exhibition dedicated to the campaign when he visited Chongqing in December 2010, according to a report at the time by Xinhua, the state news agency. The report has since been removed from Xinhua’s Web site.

With Mr. Bo’s purge, some victims of the “strike black” campaign, known as “da hei” in Chinese, have begun speaking publicly about being tortured, denied their rights and forced to endure horrendous prison conditions. Before he was taken into custody, Mr. Bo publicly defended the campaign, and many people here say Chongqing benefited from it. Nearly 4,800 people were arrested over 10 months.

“The gangs were bullying ordinary people,” said Qi Guoping, a resident. “The businesspeople were protecting them and trampling on poor people.”

A law professor at Chongqing University, Chen Zhonglin, said the problems of “da hei” had been exaggerated. For one thing, he said, law enforcement officials had brought in lawyers from across China to ensure defendants had proper representation. “I’m not saying there were no problems during the ‘da hei’ campaign,” he said, “but they weren’t as serious as in other places.”

Mr. Liu, who ordered the police inquiry, had been the police chief before Mr. Bo replaced him with Mr. Wang. Mr. Liu once worked under Mr. Hu, China’s top leader, and was said to be one target of a widespread wiretapping campaign run by Mr. Bo and Mr. Wang.

Some people persecuted during “da hei” were lawyers trying to defend those facing criminal charges. One lawyer in Chongqing who represented Gong Gangmo, a motorbike mogul, has told friends he was detained by the police for 30 days and regularly beaten. The lawyer was recently approached by police officers with a stack of large photographs and asked whether he could identify the policemen who had tortured him, according to the Chongqing resident with police contacts.

Mr. Gong was also represented by Li Zhuang, a Beijing lawyer who was sentenced by a Chongqing court to 18 months in prison for suborning perjury. Mr. Li’s case became a rallying point for liberal Chinese who criticized Mr. Bo for undermining the legal system. Mr. Li said in a telephone interview that he had heard about the warning to police officers who used questionable methods during “da hei,” though there was no sign yet that courts were reopening cases.

“What I can assure you is that unjust cases indeed exist without a doubt, and there are quite a few of them,” Mr. Li said. “Many victims of ‘da hei’ have approached me and want me to help them to seek justice.” Among the victims that Mr. Li has been advising are family members of Li Jun, a real estate mogul who was accused of more than a dozen crimes and was forced to flee China. Thirty-one relatives and colleagues have been jailed. Mr. Li’s wife, Luo Cong, served a one-year sentence for aiding his flight, and his elder brother, Li Xiuwu, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. His nephew is serving 13 years.

Lawyers representing Ms. Luo and Mr. Li have filed appeals in a Chongqing court, according to legal documents.

Many policemen who were not allied with Mr. Wang, the police chief, were also imprisoned during the campaign. Those treated most severely were ones with close ties to Wen Qiang, a former top justice official, who was executed in July 2010 after being convicted of serious corruption. A senior policeman who was released from prison after Mr. Bo’s purge is lobbying for redress and hopes to be reinstated in the police force, a friend of the policeman said. His family had also been detained and persecuted.

“His colleagues are paying a great deal of attention to his case,” the man said.

Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting from Beijing, and Shi Da contributed research.

Five industry leaders join Avison Young’s new office in San Francisco

May 16th, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
John Cashin, John Norton, Jonathan Allen become Principals

Earl Webb, President, U.S. Operations, of Avison Young, Canada’s largest independently-owned commercial real estate services
company, announced today that five commercial real estate industry
leaders have joined the firm’s new office in San Francisco.

The new additions expand Avison Young’s newly-opened 12th location
outside of Canada, and the company’s third California office.

Effective immediately, John Norton, Jonathan Allen and John Cashin join Avison Young as Principals. Melinda Miyagishima joins the firm as a sales and marketing specialist/office manager and Raquel Ledesma becomes sales and marketing specialist/market research co-ordinator. All
five will be based in Avison Young’s new downtown San Francisco office,
which opened April 11, 2012.

Prior to joining Avison Young, all five worked in the San Francisco
office of Cornish & Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank with Nick Slonek, who was appointed two weeks ago as Avison Young’s new Managing
Director for the Northern California region.

“In a dynamic market like San Francisco, it’s vital that our new
operations get off to a strong start. This talented new San Francisco
team will help us achieve that goal and enable us to gain a solid
foothold in San Francisco and Northern California from the outset,”
comments Webb. “All five team members are proven industry leaders who
will help us continue to recruit top professionals from throughout the
region, and further our expansion program in the Western U.S., which we
view as an integral part of our future growth.”

Allen will continue to focus on tenant representation on behalf of his
public and private office clients, Norton will continue to specialize
in agency leasing, and Cashin will continue to concentrate on servicing
both landlords and tenants throughout the Bay Area. In addition, Cashin
will play an active role in the recruitment of young brokers as Avison
Young continues to expand in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area.

“I could not be more excited to embark on this exciting and challenging
journey with this crew,” notes Slonek. “Most of us have worked together
for nearly a decade now, so we know what we need to do to be successful
together. We are truly a team.”

Webb adds that the appointments reconfirm Avison Young’s strong desire
to use its highly profitable platform and its pristine balance sheet to
recruit more senior brokers, executives and administrators to fill the
company’s service-delivery needs in San Francisco and the Western
region, and further the growth of the Avison Young brand nationally and
internationally.

“Avison Young’s commitment to quality service combined with its
strategic plans to build its brand across North America and beyond, and
expand in all facets of the commercial markets, is something I look
forward to being a part of,” says Norton. “Avison Young’s holistic
approach to providing best-in-class real estate solutions creates a
compelling value proposition for our clients.”

“Taking the next steps in our careers with Avison Young is quite an
honor,” notes Allen. “We look forward to reaching the next level of
client service with our new platform and with our esteemed colleagues
across the United States and Canada.”

Adds Cashin: “The company’s vision for growth and its focus on the
client are completely parallel to my goals. Avison Young’s pool of
talent, resources and expertise gives us the ability to provide the
most comprehensive real estate services to our clients.”

Avison Young’s new San Francisco office is located at 601 California
Street, 5th floor, in downtown San Francisco.

Over the past three years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to 29 offices
in 26 markets and from 300 to more than 900 real estate professionals
across Canada and the U.S.

Avison Young opened its first California office in Los Angeles in August
2011, followed by a second Los Angeles office in December through the
acquisition of Ramsey-Shilling Commercial Real Estate Services, Inc.

Biographies

Jonathan Allen
Jonathan Allen has 13 years of sales and leasing experience in the
commercial real estate industry and joins Avison Young after spending
the past five years with Cornish & Carey Commercial Newmark Knight
Frank. Before that, he worked for six years in the Bay Area with Grubb
& Ellis Company. Allen’s move to Grubb coincided with his move to the
Bay Area after he launched his real estate career in London, England.
Allen’s major clients have included Trulia, Parsons Brinckerhoff,
Sierra Nevada Corporation, San Francisco County Transportation
Authority, KeyBank, Lending Club, and the Consulate General of Canada.
His community participation includes pending election to the Board of
Directors for Wu Yee Children’s Services. A native of England, Allen
holds an honors undergraduate degree in urban land economics from
Sheffield Hallam University in his home country.

John Cashin
Prior to joining Avison Young, John Cashin spent seven years with
Cornish & Carey Commercial, negotiating on behalf of both tenants and
landlords. He moved there in 2004 after three years as a
tenant-advisory expert with Transwestern Commercial Services. Before
joining Transwestern, he helped operate his family’s residential firm,
Cashin Company Realtors, a prominent real estate company in the Bay
Area. Cashin’s clients have included Wells Fargo Securities, Oak Hill
Capital Management, GLL Real Estate Partners, Broadreach Capital
Partners and Sears Corporation. Cashin is a member of the Olympic Club
and Meals on Wheels. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in sociology from the
University of Oregon.

John Norton
John Norton launched his commercial real estate career in England in
1999 before moving to San Francisco to join Grubb & Ellis Company in
2001. Since then, he has specialized in both landlord and tenant
representation in the downtown San Francisco office market, serving
local and national clients. He joined Cornish & Carey Commercial’s San
Francisco location in 2007. Norton currently represents Langley
Investments, Ashforth and GE Pension Fund at 405 Howard Street, and
Kennedy Wilson at 300 California Street. Recent clients include Levi
Strauss, Skyy Spirits, Blurb and New Resource Bank. Norton is a
graduate of the urban land economics school at Sheffield Hallam
University in England.

Melinda Miyagishima
Prior to joining Avison Young, Melinda Miyagishima spent eight years as
a sales and marketing assistant in the San Francisco office of Cornish
& Carey Commercial, of which she was a founding member. A licensed
California real estate sales agent, she supported the downtown office
leasing team and was named Employee of the Year in 2009. Prior to
joining Cornish & Carey, she served as an administrative assistant for
three years at CB Richard Ellis in San Francisco, working with the
project management group and brokerage services. Miyagishima has also
held positions with two well-known architectural firms, Reel Grobman &
Associates and Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, and a small private real
estate firm. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in health and
physical education from Oregon State.

Raquel Ledesma
Raquel Ledesma has 12 years of experience assisting commercial real
agents in San Francisco. Before joining Avison Young, she served as a
sales and marketing assistant at Cornish & Carey Commercial for four
years, supporting the downtown office leasing team. During her career,
Ledesma has handled a variety of tasks, ranging from desktop publishing
to database maintenance. Prior to moving to Cornish & Carey, she served
as an administrative assistant with Grubb & Ellis Company and with
Whitney Cressman Limited (now GVa Kidder Mathews). Ledesma was named
Cornish & Carey Commercial’s Employee of the Year in 2011, Grubb &
Ellis’ Employee of the Year in 2007, and Whitney Cressman Limited’s
Employee of the Year in 2000. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in health
education from San Francisco State University.

In February, Avison Young was named a winner of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies program for 2011, sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC, National Post and Queen’s School of Business.

Founded in 1978, Avison Young is Canada’s largest independently-owned
commercial real estate services company. Headquartered in Toronto,
Ontario, Avison Young is also the largest Canadian-owned,
principal-managed commercial real estate brokerage firm in North
America. Comprising more than 900 real estate professionals in 29
offices across Canada and the U.S., the full-service commercial real
estate company provides value-added, client-centric investment sales,
leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement
services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and
multi-residential properties.

oEditors/Reporters: please click on link to view and download head shots

http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/Cashin_John%20D.jpg

http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/Norton_John%20l.JPG

http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/Allen_Jonathan.jpg

http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/Ledesma_Raquel.jpg

http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/Miyagishima_Melinda.jpg

SOURCE Avison Young (Canada) Inc.

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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MyDealerLot to Provide Retail Automotive Technology for Mercedes-Benz USA As …

May 16th, 2012

ROSWELL, Ga., May 10, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
MyDealerLot (MDL) announced today that it has been selected to
participate in the Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) Preferred Vendor Status
Program to provide Automated Customer Recognition, Targeted Messaging
and Asset Tracking Systems utilizing RFID technologies. Now,
Mercedes-Benz dealerships will be able to access preferred pricing on
all of MDL’s solutions through MDL’s new Mercedes-Benz microsite at
www.mydealerlot.com/mb .

The Preferred Vendor Program is a carefully selected group of vendors
verified by MBUSA that can provide key benefits to Mercedes-Benz
dealerships such as improved customer service, increased retention and
incremental sales.

“MyDealerLot has considerable experience with the Mercedes-Benz brand
and deploying Automated Customer Recognition, Targeted Messaging and
Asset Tracking solutions that are fully integrated with the core
business systems, including DMS, CRM and Sales Analytics, used by
dealerships. Selection by MBUSA to be included in their Preferred Vendor
Program is a great validation of the value our powerful solutions
provide. Automated Customer Recognition, Targeted Messaging and Asset
Tracking Systems utilizing RFID technologies in retail automotive have a
tremendous future in this industry with multiple points of benefit and
rapid ROI,” said George Cresto, Founder & CEO, MyDealerLot.

“Vendors which have been selected by Mercedes-Benz for Preferred Vendor
Status have been proven in numerous Mercedes-Benz stores to provide the
core demands of our dealerships: increased customer service excellence,
improved CSI, enhanced business processes, and increased revenues,” said
Cai-Ramhorst, MBUSA’s Director of Dealer Business Development.

About MyDealerLot

MyDealerLot helps its customers Optimize Customer Interactions and
improve operational processes through Automated Customer Recognition,
Targeted Messaging and Asset Tracking Systems utilizing RFID
technologies With over 70 installations representing 23 brands, MDL’s
solutions are installed at many of the leading retail automotive
dealerships and groups in the United States.

MyDealerLot systems enable dealers to provide a ‘Ritz Carlton’ level of
services and help connect dealership sales staff to service clients for
fostering enhanced long-term relationships.

Visit
www.mydealerlot.com ,

www.mydealerlot.com/mb
or call 1-888-MDL-RFID (1-888-635-7343) for more information.

About Mercedes-Benz USA

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA), headquartered in Montvale, New Jersey, is
responsible for the distribution, marketing and customer service for all
Mercedes-Benz and Maybach products in the United States. MBUSA offers
drivers the most diverse line-up in the luxury segment with 14 model
lines ranging from the sporty C-Class to the flagship S-Class sedans and
the SLS AMG supercar.

MBUSA is also responsible for the distribution, marketing and customer
service of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Vans and smart in the US. More
information on MBUSA and its products can be found at
www.mbusa.com ,

www.mbsprinterusa.com
and
www.smartusa.com

Accredited journalists can connect with and follow us at:

Media Site:
www.media.mbusa.com Facebook:

www.facebook.com/mbusapressoffice Twitter:

www.twitter.com/MBUSA_News

SOURCE: MyDealerLot

MyDealerLot
Media Contacts
Ken Karegeannes, 770-316-8382
kkaregeannes@mydealerlot.com

Copyright Business Wire 2012

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