A expert on the social media of President Barack Obama's campaign in 2008 is coming to Durham to speak on how businesses can leverage social media.
Rahaf Harfoush will be the keynote speaker at the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce's 2010 Annual Meeting on Feb. 9, where she will discuss how social media is changing the way people and organizations communicate and conduct business. Attendees can expect to gain knowledge of social media technologies, how to apply technologies to leverage success and the benefits of two-way communication with clients, customers and other businesses.
Harfoush began working as an as an analyst at Don Tapscott's thinktank, where she published papers on the Net Generation, and women and the Web. Harfoush spent three months with the Obama New Media team in Chicago, and recently accepted the position of Associate Director of the Global Cooperation Initiative at the World Economic Forum in Geneva.
The chamber's annual meeting will be held 11:15 a.m. at the Durham Convention Center. To register, go to www.durhamchamber.org. Tickets are $50 for chamber members and $75 for non-members.
Career Briefs
-- Co-founder and CEO of Doe & Ingalls of North Carolina, John Elmo, is retiring, the Durham-based chemical services provider announced recently.
John Hollenbach, vice president and general manager, is immediately assuming the role of president and CEO.
Elmo and co-founder Tom Merrick founded the company in 1986. The company has had double-digit growth and expanded to include facilities in California, Florida and Maryland.
Elmo will continue to be on the company's Board of Directors.
As the new CEO, Hollenbach plans to guide the company as it grows from a regional distributor to a national player in chemical supply chain management.
Doe & Ingalls provides smart sourcing, chemical management and supply chain risk mitigation services for biotechnology and microelectronic companies.
-- Quintiles and Solvay Pharmaceuticals jointly developed and managed a development aliance that has resulted in a 40 percent reduction in time taken for Solvay's clinical studies, according to an in Harvard Business Review's January-February issue.
The full case study, "Managing Alliances with the Balanced Scorecard," described the partnership's strategy map and collaboration scorecard used to track progress.
Co-author Robert Kaplan, a Baker Foundation professor at Harvard Business School, also comments in video clips on why strategic alliances are essential to success in today's hyper-competitive global business environment, the common causes of alliance failures and how Quintiles and Solvay Pharmaceuticals managed their alliance to achieve success.
The study is available for a limited time at www.quintiles.com.
-- Jim Anderson, president of Fuller Land & Development of Cary, was installed as the 51st President of the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange, & Chatham Counties in installation ceremonies on Jan. 11 at Croasdaile Country Club in Durham.
-- Morris, Manning & Martin LLP has hired one attorney for its Durham office and added four other attorneys to its headquarters in Atlanta.
Linnie Causey has joined the firm in Real Estate Development, Residential Real Estate and Energy & Infrastructure Finance in RTP.
In Atlanta, the firm has added one attorney of counsel and three associates.
-- Biogen Idec's facility in Durham's Research Triangle Park was one of five pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities recognized by the international Facility of the Year Awards recently.
The awards were sponsored by ISPE, INTERPHEX, and Pharmaceutical Processing magazine.
The Biogen facility won for Operational Excellence.
-- Durham-based Web design and development company, DesignHammer, has completed a redesign of Carolina Theatre's Web site.
The new site, at www.carolinatheatre.org, has improved navigation and new features, including a comment and ratings feature and a Durham guide.
-- Heather Kellum has been promoted to director of Client Relations for The Leadership Trust in Durham, an organization focusing on leadership and self-awareness development and training.
Send all news items to Business Writer Monica Chen at mchen@heraldsun.com or send a fax to (919) 419-6889.
