Business News Online

Ambassador Barbara Barrett, appointed today as interim president of the Thunderbird school in Arizona, is not your usual dean appointment.

Given that Thunderbird used to be a US aircraft base, it is perhaps fitting that she was the first civilian woman to land in an F/A-18 Hornet on an aircraft carrier and has trained as an astronaut – she was the backup spaceflight participant for the Soyuz TMA-16 flight to the International Space Station.

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IN Business School News

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• IE professor put in charge of Spanish finances
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On the diplomatic front she was senior advisor to the US Mission to the United Nations and US Ambassador to Finland.

Her management expertise includes being president and chief executive of the American Management Association, as well as being the first female chairmen of the Thunderbird board.

She will replace Thunderbird President Ángel Cabrera, who last month announced he had accepted the role of president at George Mason University, in Virginia, at the end of April.

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In 2011 it was Sony, Epsilon, and U.S. government sites among those who had fallen victim to computer hackers.

With the New Year under way, word comes from Israeli officials that the country’s stock exchange and its national airline had their Web sites paralyzed on Jan. 16 by a Middle East hacker network. While officials said the sites did not contain sensitive information impacting both trading and the safety of passengers, there were concerns nonetheless. And given that Israel is a security-focused country, it comes as no surprise that these recent cyber-attacks have left officials looking for improved ways to protect such information. El Al Israel Airlines reportedly took down its Web site after a hacker warned that the site was being targeted by a number of individuals who are pro-Palestinian. Meantime, a spokesperson for the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange reported that the site was inundated by electronic requests that brought it to a crawl, however it was still operating. T

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PRI Productions headquarters in San Marco gives a sense of Mardi Gras, ancient Egypt opulence and a crowded stadium cheering the Jacksonville Jaguars.

But as far as PRI owner Randy Goodwin is concerned, the display floor showcases his companys diversity at handling big events, ranging from company parties to inaugurations of some of the biggest names in politics to handling many of the Jaguars functions.

What began as Presentation Resource Inc. in 1994 has proliferated into the go-to party guys. They have all the goodies for the biggest celebrations, and PRI handled the inaugurations for Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown and Gov. Rick Scott in the past year.

For Goodwin, 48, the business has taken off more than he could have expected as he now employs about 80 people and pulls in about $6.5 million in annual revenue, including services at SED Event Rentals, which he owns across the street from his offices at 1819 Kings Ave.

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That’s it:  Internet Cafes!  Coffee houses!  Meeting spots!

Here’s the logic.  When the economy is down, adults go back to school to learn more so they can get better jobs.

So colleges, city colleges, universities, tech schools, etc., all get really crowded.

Most internet cafes are located near such places of learning.  Ergo, more business.

At least that is what my local no-name coffee house proprietor told me.  I tried to get a nice cup o’ on Sunday, and every single coffee house I visited was so crowded that I couldn’t get in the door.  Jammed. Waitin Read more…

Producers and others from the pig supply chain have been urged to take part in the annual confidence survey carried out by BPEX.

Questionnaires have just gone out to farmers, vets, retailers, civil servants and the allied industry and the survey should provide a vital snapshot of the industry and how confidence has changed from previous years.

It also asks whether people think BPEX is meeting the needs of the industry and gives respondents the opportunity to suggest what the organisation should do, head of communications Andrew Knowles said.

Anybody who would like to take part but has not received a questionnaire can do so via the BPEX website.

Australian banks will slice thousands of jobs to shore up profit, investment bank UBS predicts.

The big banks are likely to scrap 7000 jobs over the next two years as lenders cut costs that account for 58 per cent of expenses to offset the weakest credit growth since World War II, according to UBS.

Lenders will reduce total staff numbers by 3.9 per cent to 172,000 from 179,000, UBS analysts said in a note to clients. Those figures dont include ANZ’s Asian staff, they said.

The focus on employment costs at banks mirror the challenge faced around the world by lenders battling slower revenue growth amid weak household and business confidence. ANZ is preparing to cut as many as 900 jobs in coming months, the union that represents bank workers said last week.

We expect the banks to be heavily focused on their cost bases, the UBS analysts said.

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