Tech teams will continue to grow in the second half of the year, according to Robert Half Technology's State of U.S. Tech Hiring research. Nationally, 67 percent of the IT hiring decision makers polled plan to expand their teams by adding full-time employees. In the Tampa area, that number is 64 percent. But finding the right talent won't be easy, with 89 percent nationally and 87 percent in Tampa saying it's difficult for their company to find skilled IT professionals.
Shareholders for both WellCare Health Plans (NYSE: WCG) and Centene (NYSE: CNC) overwhelming approved Centene's $17 billion purchase of Tampa-based WellCare in separate meetings Monday. The companies are working through the 26-state insurance approval process needed to complete the deal and are working with the U.S. Department of Justice, which has requested more information and materials, a news release said.
A Lancaster, Pennsylvania tech company that opened an office in St. Petersburg last summer has a new name. Track5Media LLC dropped "Media" from its name and now is TrackFive. The company builds online job boards and recruitment software for niche industries. The St. Petersburg office is its second location and currently has 25 employees, more than half of them women, a news release said.
Researchers hope a new study from Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital will help pediatricians address the growing obesity epidemic. The study showed that pediatricians and parents may be neglecting healthy-weight kids when it comes to counseling for weight management. Recent health campaigns may have helped providers prioritize the identification and counseling of overweight children, but the data suggested that providers may be neglecting the role of healthy lifestyle behavior counseling in healthy-weight children as well as obese children, according to an abstract of the study published in the journal Childhood Obesity.
Arrive to Pride in style. PSTA is offering free rides on all buses and routes on Saturday in honor of Pride. As the largest Pride Festival in the state of Florida, and the second largest in Southeast, St. Pete Pride brings over 250,000 people to town. Avoid the parking disasters, surge pricing Ubers, and ride the bus for free.
The Tampa-St. Pete area remained first among the metro areas in Florida in job demand in May with 60,032 openings, according to a statement from Gov. Ron DeSantis. The metro area also continues to rank first in the state in demand for high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations with 19,726 openings in May 2019. Local employers added 27,500 new private-sector jobs in the last year and the unemployment rate was 3.1 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from a year ago.
The Tampa Bay Rays have settled a dispute with Centerplate Inc., a longtime stadium concessionaire, according to Law360. The Rays filed suit against Centerplate, their former concessions vendor, for breach of contract in 2017, WTSP reported. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed before U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. in Tampa signed an order dismissing the case with prejudice on Wednesday.
Compass Self Storage has acquired a self-storage center at 12700 Walsingham Rd. in Largo. Compass, a member of the Amsdell family of companies, plans upgrades to the property to bring the latest technology offering to customers, including smart locks and high-definition video. Separately, Jiffy Lube franchisee South Bay Lube acquired a four-bay store at 9420 Ulmerton Rd. The location is currently open and operating under Jiffy Lube Multicare, with renovations continuing to take place in the coming weeks.
Ken Burdick, CEO of WellCare Health Plans (NYSE: WCG) in Tampa, and Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of KnowBe4 in Clearwater, are among the winners of Glassdoor’s Employees Choice Awards. The awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback. Burdick ranked No. 92 among 100 CEOs from large companies, with a 91 percent approval rating. Sjouwerman had a 98 percent approval rating, and was No. 8 among 50 CEOs from small and medium-sized businesses.
AmeriLife, a Clearwater firm that develops, markets and distributes insurance products, has new credit facilities providing up to $395 million. The refinancing was over-subscribed, a news release said. That allowed AmeriLife to raise additional capital that will be used to fund future acquisitions and pay a special dividend to equity holders. It also attracted a broader group of blue-chip lenders to the firm and reduced the cost of capital, the company said. J.C. Flowers & Co., a private investment firm, has been the majority owner of AmeriLife since 2015.
Spectrio, an in-store marketing firm based in Oldsmar, has acquired Media Distribution Solutions in Plano, Texas. Small and mid-sized businesses use MDS’ on-demand custom video to distribute their content online, on social media, on television and through other digital distribution channels. With the acquisition, these companies can leverage Spectrio’s in-store digital platform to deliver their content inside their location, a news release said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Major Gen. USAF (Retired) David Scott has joined the board of directors of United Cannabis Corp. (OTCBB: CNAB). Scott has served as a member of the company’s advisory board since 2017 and said in a news release that he’s observed how the company’s cannabis and hemp-derived products help people with pain and sleep disorders. Scott lives in Tampa, where he operates three small businesses and promotes community development within the Ybor City National Historic Landmark District.
