Hotel Duval Signs Shula’s Steak House

News & Notes from around Tallahassee

• Hotel Duval has signed Shula’s Steak House as its anchor restaurant. Named in honor of Hall of Fame Coach Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history, Shula’s 347 will open in March with Monday-Saturday dinner service. Marc Bauer has been tapped as general manager of the new hotel.
• Trusteria.com has launched a user-friendly website on which businesses can search for products and services, post job openings and internships, and search for sponsorship opportunities with nonprofit organizations. Trusteria.com was developed by Michael Campbell, who has been active in greater Tallahassee’s business and financial community for over two decades.
• BB&T Tallahassee President Paul Sullivan and Nan Hillis, president of the financial service company’s Orlando-based East Florida Region, recently presented Florida State University with $3 million to establish several new programs that encourage a thorough discussion of the moral foundations of capitalism, examine the proper role of government in a free-market economy and help train future teachers of economics.
• Popular chain restaurant First Watch plans to open a café in Tallahassee within the next year to offer healthy, freshly prepared meals during breakfast and lunch hours.
• The Florida Division of Alcohol Beverages and Tobacco holds free monthly educational forums for both sellers and servers of alcoholic beverages. The forums cover such topics as spotting false identification and will allot time for questions from attendees. The January meeting will be held at Floyd’s Music Store on Tuesday, Jan. 13, at 4 p.m. For more information, call Lt. Ralph Campbell at (850) 921-1218.
• A new upscale bowling alley, Lane 7, and an adjoining restaurant and bar, jlefty’s, is opening at the Northampton Shopping Center. It will boast 22 bowling lanes, including four private VIP alleys, 30 HDTVs and a menu of gourmet American cuisine.
• Carr, Riggs & Ingram, ranked one of the top four accounting firms in the Southeast and 35th in the nation by Accounting Today, has purchased Betts, Rogers, Schenck & Jones, a Tallahassee CPA firm that traces its roots back more than 50 years.
• Homes & Land is offering its Realtor advertisers featured listings on Yahoo! Real Estate, the top real estate site on the Web, delivering greater value to it advertising partners and increased exposure to millions of home shoppers.
• Mark Bonn, the Robert H. Dedman Professor in Hospitality Administration in Florida State University’s College of Business, was recently inducted into the Florida Tourism Hall of Fame. He is the first educator to receive this distinction.
• Kitty Flynn of Tallahassee has been awarded the 2008 Prudential CARES Volunteer Grants Award for her dedicated volunteer work. The $1,000 award will benefit the American Cancer Society, where Flynn devoted more than 500 hours of service in 2007.
• Thirteen Tallahassee lawyers with the Holland & Knight firm were elected to the 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Receiving the honor are Martha W. Barnett, Elizabeth L. Bevington, Lawrence N. Curtain, Frederick R. Dudley, James M. Ervin, Jr., Stephen H. Grimes, Shannon B. Hartsfield, Jerome Hoffman, Thomas J. Jones, D. Bruce May Jr., Morris H. Miller, Lawrence E. Sellers and Karen D. Walker.
• Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare received the Organ Donation Medal of Honor from the U.S. Department of Health. TMH is one of 373 hospitals in the nation to receive the award for having a donation rate of at least 75 percent.
• Tallahassee’s Digital Harmony Project received an award for Excellence in Bridging the Digital Divide at the ITFlorida Awards Gala. The Digital Harmony Project’s three-year agenda is to bring desktop computers to all sixth- and seventh-grade students at R. Frank Nims Middle School.
• For the sixth consecutive year, O’Dwyer’s has named The Zimmerman Agency the largest public relations firm in the state of Florida. The agency also ranks among the top three industry specialists in the nation.
• The Florida Home Builders Association bestowed its highest honor, The Remodeler of the Year award, upon Tallahassee remodeling professional Ed Dion. As the 2008 recipient, Dion was selected from a total of 15,000 members of the association.
• Out of nearly 100 entries, the City of Tallahassee’s Web site, Talgov.com, was recently chosen as a “Best of Web” winner by the Center for Digital Government. Overall, Talgov.com placed fourth in the national competition.
• Tallahassee Memorial Hospital has been honored with the National Research Corporation’s 2008/2009 Consumer Choice Award for the fourth consecutive year. The award recognizes hospitals that, according to consumer surveys conducted by the NRC, are of the highest quality and image.
• The Tallahassee Society of Association Executives recently named the Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects its 2008 Association of the Year. This is the second time the AIA Florida has received the award in the past three years.
• Kidd Group, an integrated marketing firm, received five first- and second-place awards at the 34th Annual Florida Public Transportation Association Marketing Awards competition. Kidd Group received this statewide recognition for its outstanding work for two Florida transit systems.
• The United Way’s For Young Leaders Only Kickoff recently brought more than 60 young professionals and For Young Leaders Only members together for a conference emphasizing the importance of giving back to the community. Speakers including Monesia T. Brown, Emory Mayfield Jr., Darrick McGhee and Chris Morgan, discussed such topics as advocating for human rights and providing pro bono work for local nonprofits.
• Bud Wethington has replaced Sharon Roush as CEO of Capital Regional Medical Center. Roush resigned to take a position with HCA, the hospital’s parent company.
• The Florida Hospital Association recently announced Mark O’Bryant, the president and CEO of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, as chairman of the association’s board of trustees. Alexander “A.D.” Brickler was also recognized as the 2008 recipient of the association’s Lifetime Heroic Achievement Award.
• GVA Advantis, a commercial real estate company with offices in Tallahassee, Panama City and Destin has two new leaders. Jeff Neal will serve as the company chairman, while Richard Pogue has been selected as president and CEO.