Neda A. Sharifi has joined the Allen, Dyer, Doppelt, Milbrath and Gilchrist firm’s Jacksonville office. She is a registered patent agent and advises clients on intellectual property transactions. She earned her Ph.D. in human genetics and molecular biology from the McKusic-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in 2007.
• The Jacksonville Young Republicans won an award and an election at the annual Young Republican National Convention held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 5-9. The group won “Charitable Event of the Year” for raising more than $5,000 to support Tiger Academy at a joint event with the Duval Republican Party last year. Group President Peret Pass, also chair of the Florida Federation of Young Republicans, was elected assistant secretary of the Young Republican National Federation.
• Journalists from around the world visited Jacksonville the past week as part of the U.S. State Department’s program for emerging leaders. Leaders from the Slovak Republic, Nepal, Kenya, Brazil, Bangladesh, Thailand and Turkey were part of the delegation hosted by GlobalJax.
• Tanner Bishop hired Casey Arnold and Charles Hardage as associates in the firm. Arnold, a former assistant state attorney, practices in the areas of commercial litigation, land use, and white collar criminal defense. Hardage, former law clerk to Fourth District Appellate Judge Dorian K. Damoorgian, focuses on commercial litigation and appellate advocacy.
• Russell Arend, founder of the Institute of Police Technology and Management at the University of North Florida, received the Florida Police Chiefs Association “Wall of Honor Award” for his contributions to law enforcement and the association. Arend, a Baker County resident, began his career in law enforcement at the age of 21 as an officer with the St. Louis Police Department. In 1980, Arend moved to Florida and founded the Institute of Police Traffic Management, which was later changed to the UNF Institute of Police Technology and Management.
• Flagler hired David Hillegas as asset management coordinator and he will be based in the Jacksonville office. Hillegas will conduct market data research, create business plans for Flagler’s assets, complete lease and sales databases, oversee building valuations and conduct deal analysis. Hillegas previously worked with Grubb and Ellis Phoenix Realty Group in Jacksonville.
• Brittany Schnorr has joined The McCormick Agency as a public relations specialist. She interned there in the summer of 2010 as part of her school curriculum at the University of North Florida. She graduated in April. She works with political campaigns, not-for-profit organizations, event planning and graphical solutions.
• Jacksonville-based FIS, which provides banking and payments technology, said Amalgamated Bank of Chicago has signed a five-year agreement for several FIS card-processing and fraud protection solutions.
• IPC The Hospitalist Company Inc. said it acquired Jacksonville-based North Florida Acute Care Specialists LLC, whose co-founders, physicians Mohammad Touheed and Ismael Rodriguez, will remain with the group under IPC as Practice Group Leaders.
• The last quarterly Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce Cornerstone Chair Award was given Friday to The Suddath Companies for Suddath’s corporate leadership. Cornerstone becomes “JAXUSA Partnership For Regional Economic Development.” The chamber’s economic development division has been known as Cornerstone for 20 years, and it succeeded the Committee of 100.