• The Fourth Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission has been asked to provide Gov. Rick Scott with nominees for the vacancy in the Nassau County Court resulting from the death of Judge Granville Burgess. Those interested in applying must deliver a completed application, plus nine copies and a recent photograph, by 5 p.m. Jan. 18 to:
Henry G. "Chip" Bachara, Chair
Fourth Judicial Circuit Nominating Commission
Bachara Construction Law Group
One Independent Drive, Suite 1800
Jacksonville, FL 32202.
Interviews will be conducted Jan. 31 in the grand jury room at the Judicial Annex in Yulee in Nassau County. Application forms are available from The Florida Bar's website at floridabar.com.
• Three Jacksonville University business students increased The Dolphin Fund, an investment portfolio in the Davis College of Business, with a 22 percent annualized return in the third quarter that ended Nov. 30. JU said the students, comprising head manager Thomas "Trey" Douglas and team members Francesca Yong and Jimmy Murphy, brought the fund up $19,000 in the quarter for a 5.43 percent return, which is annualized at 22 percent.
JU compares that to a Standard & Poor's index return of 0.68 percent, an annualized rate of 3 percent, during the same period.
The three are all varsity golf team members. Their diversified stock choices included Home Depot, AFLAC Inc., Phillips 66, CVR Energy Inc. and Valero Energy Corp.
World Affairs Council competition
The World Affairs Council of Jacksonville announced that Stanton College Preparatory School's team "XAOC" (Greek for Chaos) won the Admiral Jonathan T. Howe Academic WorldQuest 2012 competition Nov. 13 at the University of North Florida University Center.
The council said 40 high-school teams competed. Three teams from Stanton took first, second and third-place medals. Team XAOC will advance to the national Academic WorldQuest competition in April in Washington, D.C., and represent Northeast Florida. The trip will be underwritten by the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville with grant support from BBVA Compass Bank.
Each team consisted of four students competing in the categories of U.S. Economic Competitiveness, Middle East, China, Environmental Sustainability, Current Events and Geography.
A special award was given to Allen D. Nease High School of Ponte Vedra Beach for winning the "Best Team Name" challenge with team "Henry VIII and Half His Wives." Teacher Jacqueline Ashcroft said the students studied the Reformation and Henry Vlll's split with Rome. The team's composition of one male and three females led to the representation of Henry and the three wives who either were divorced or survived, Catherine of Aragon, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Parr. The students were Hanna Benkhraba, Nicholas Cort, Alexandra Luckau and Chloe Lopez Smith.
Crowley announces changes
Jacksonville-based Crowley Maritime Corp. announced changes to its leadership team in its shipping and logistics business lines and the consolidation of commercial marketing, sales, customer care and pricing activities under single leadership. The appointments will be effective Tuesday.
• Frank Larkin has been promoted to senior vice president and general manager of logistics. In addition to managing the entire logistics enterprise, he will oversee U.S. sales, marketing, customer care and pricing for logistics and liner services.
• Steve Collar, who manages logistics, has been appointed senior vice president and general manager of Latin America services. He will be responsible for stateside and foreign operations as well as foreign commercial activities associated with Crowley's liner cargo transportation between the U.S. and Central America.
• John Hourihan, who manages Latin America services, has been appointed senior vice president and general manager of Puerto Rico and Caribbean services. He replaces John Douglass, who will retire Monday after 25 years of service to Crowley. Hourihan will be responsible for stateside and foreign operations as well as foreign commercial activities associated with Crowley's liner cargo transportation between the U.S., Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean, including Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
All remain in Jacksonville and will report to Chairman, President and CEO Tom Crowley.
Crowley Maritime Corp.'s liner services division announced Tony Otero has been named vice president of Caribbean services. He will remain in Crowley's Jacksonville headquarters, and will continue to report to Hourihan.
Crowley Maritime also announced organizational realignments within its shipping and logistics team effective Tuesday, including the appointment of Nelly Yunta to vice president of sales, marketing and customer care, and the promotion of Pete Noyer to vice president of national accounts reporting to Yunta.
Tim Quirk, most recently director of pricing, will assume Noyer's business development role, with responsibility for handling Crowley's Northeast, Midwest and inside sales accounts.