After 10 years as evening news anchor at KUSI-TV and a nearly 40-year career in broadcasting, Allen Denton has retired. His final KUSI newscast was Feb. 27.
Highly respected in the KUSI newsroom, Denton joined the station in 2009 after working in San Jose and San Francisco. He began his career in 1981 in Bowling Green, KY, and then made stopovers in Evansville, IN, Knoxville, TN, Spartanburg, SC, Louisville, KY, and Charlotte, NC.
He is a three-time Emmy award winner. His first Emmy was for co-anchoring a live broadcast of the 1995 Breeder’s Cup Race from Churchill Downs. He also won Emmys for his coverage of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and a documentary about the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Denton could not be reached for comment, but station sources said he requested no attention be given to his retirement. Still, KUSI weathercaster Mark Mathis introduced a humorous goodbye video on the Feb. 26 newscast.
Solve a World Problem in 48 Hours at ‘San Diego Service Jam’
A group of marketing professionals, including web designers, graphic artists and various advertising industry creatives, are banning together for “San Diego Service Jam,” a service-oriented event on the last weekend of March. The group will meet at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 29, at the New School of Architecture, 1249 F Street, with the goal in mind of creating and publishing a new service in less than 48 hours. The ending time is 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 31.
The event is part of Global Service Jam, a worldwide event that has been held annually over the past 10 years. It will be San Diego’s first time to participate and the only Global Service Jam event in California this year.
On Friday evening, after this year’s theme is revealed, the group will break into teams and start working to identify and understand a real-world need, discuss prototype concepts and deliver a solution by Sunday afternoon. The same activities will be occurring over the same weekend in more than 100 cities, organizers said.
Grace Rieger and Brian LeDuc, San Diego Service Jam organizers, are looking for more participants. They’re looking for people to serve as volunteer team mentors, topic coaches and “flash talk” speakers. Involvement can include sponsoring meals or a team of “jammers,” share supplies, skills and talents or other in-kind donations to power the event, or attend as a coach, speaker, photographer, volunteer or participant. For more information, visit www.designforwardsd.com.
Carlsbad’s Raken Hires its First VP of Marketing
Raken, a Carlsbad-based provider of mobile apps and software for the construction industry, has named Amanda Patterson as its first vice president of marketing.
Patterson, with 18 years of experience, was previously a senior executive for five years at Mindbody, a software provider in the salon, spa and fitness industry. She led global marketing efforts, including a public offering in 2015, and helped the company achieve 300 percent revenue growth, from $48 million to nearly $200 million.
“It’s rare to find an organization that pairs a phenomenal culture with such a huge and exciting opportunity,” said Patterson. “It’s an innovative and supportive place where the team members are challenged to work hard but are also encouraged to collaborate and come up with big ideas. I’m looking forward to being on this team as we meet the challenges that come with building and growing a dynamic enterprise like this.”
Raken, with an early product launch in 2014, offers a smartphone app that is used by construction workers to streamline and chart daily job site progress, time tracking and safety management, creating a paper trail to protect against litigation. The company has grown to nearly 4,000 customers in 50 states and 89 countries. In 2018, it raised $10 million in a first round of venture capital funding. Raken plans to announce additional upgrades and new workflow solutions for superintendents, foremen and project managers.
“I’ve been fortunate to get to know Amanda over the past six months and we’re extremely excited to have her join our team,” said Kyle Slager, Raken’s CEO and co-founder. “Amanda already has a deep understanding of our customer, and her experience lines up really well with where we’re going as a company.”
SDX Will Discuss Social Media Influencing
SDX will host a presentation on how to use data to drive social media influencer programming from 8 a.m. to noon on Friday, March 15, at National University’s Sanford Education Center, 11355 North Torrey Pines Road. Admission is free for members and $40 per person for others. The presentation is part of SDX’s ongoing “Inspire” seminar series.
Speaking will be Karen Bellin, VP of data and analytics at the Mirum Agency. With 20 years of experience in analytics and technology, Bellin spent 10 years at Digitaria before the company became Mirum in 2015. Early in her career, she worked at DoubleClick, now a part of Google, to help brands use display advertising. She also has experience working with such clients as Intel, United Healthcare and Unilever.
Rick Griffin is a San Diego-based public relations and marketing consultant. His MarketInk column appears weekly on Mondays in Times of San Diego.