The Orange County Register, business briefs column

Nov. 27--A service billed as a Priceline.com for RV rentals and a mobile app that would help college students form focused study groups on the fly were chosen as the best ideas to come out of Startup Weekend Orange County, which wrapped on Sunday.

About a dozen teams of would-be entrepreneurs worked for 54 hours at host Chapman University to conduct market research, code and design projects to bring them to fruition. The teams that came out on top, RV Sherpa and Smarty Pants, will enter a monthlong program at local accelerator K5 Launch to develop their concepts. After the month, the accelerator's leaders and their venture partners will review the teams privately and pick a winning team. The top prize is up to $25,000 and a slot at the accelerator.

RV Sherpa would be an online marketplace that connects potential RV renters and businesses that rent out such vehicles. Customers can pay the list price or name their own price, similar to Priceline.com's model, said John Alexander, co-founder of RV Sherpa. The service, he said, can be especially helpful during the offseason, when business RVs sit idle.

Alexander's teammates included Ernest Priestly, co-founder; Raj Mitra, chief marketing officer; Ryne O'Donnell, financial model/sales; Darshan A. Meda, business development; Jordan Jacobsma, designer; James Tomsco, mobile user-interface designer; and Leah Sukenik, business development.

The creators of Smarty Pants say their mobile app would let students create study groups with only three taps on a mobile phone. The platform also lets peers in the same classes ask each other study questions and receive quick answers, which might be especially helpful during cramming sessions.

Team members included: Marquett Burton, concept and business development; Ali Beydoun, engineering; Roger Awad, developer; Doug Woodward, developer; Minh Dang, business development; Ajay Dhameja, concept validation; Ariel Mizrahi, concept validation; and Kali Serna, business development.

_Lily Leung

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On the move

Dana Woods becomes CEO at the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, a trade group based in Aliso Viejo, in January, when she replaces the retiring Wanda Johanson. Woods is currently senior director of organizational effectiveness.

Don Frankman is the new managing director and relationship manager in the Newport Beach office of Greystone & Co., a real estate lender based in New York. He served as senior vice president and small loan origination manager at Acre Capital LLC before joining Greystone.

UC Irvine Health appointed William C. Wilson director of critical care services. He oversees the adult intensive care units at the organization's Douglas Hospital. Wilson was previously vice chairman and chief of anesthesiology critical care medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

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New ventures

Santa Ana is home to Leavitt Insurance Services of Southern California, a new insurance brokerage formed by the merger of three agencies that are part of the Leavitt Group, a brokerage headquartered in Cedar City, Utah. The Covina-based Valley Insurance Service and Leavitt Benefits Insurance Services of Southern California join Pridemark-Everest Insurance Services in its Santa Ana office to operate under the company's new name. Existing customers can work with the same employees.

Irvine-based 3 Day Blinds Corp., a manufacturer of custom window treatments, is expanding into New Jersey. The company now has design consultants in the state who visit customers' homes to sell its blinds, shades, shutters, curtains and drapes.

Three new groups of homes opened at the Cypress Village community in Irvine. The Caserta and Jade Court houses were built by Irvine-based California Pacific Homes. The Acacia units were built by Ryland, which is based in Westlake Village. Acacia homes start in the mid-$400,000s, Caserta in the high $400,000s and Jade Court in the low $600,000s. Cypress Village is at the intersection of Roosevelt and Bay Tree.

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CareCredit, a health care credit card based in Costa Mesa, gave a $25,000 grant to Canine Companions for Independence, a nonprofit organization that provides trained assistance dogs to people with disabilities. The funds were awarded to support the charity's efforts to help children with disabilities.

The Wooden Floor, an arts-based youth development nonprofit in Santa Ana, is the only Orange County recipient of a $50,000 grant and a Crystal Vision Award from the Employees Community Fund of Boeing California. That Long Beach-based group is owned and operated by Boeing Co. workers, who distribute contributions from fellow employees to support charitable organizations.

Pimco Foundation, the charitable arm of the Newport Beach-based Pimco investment management firm, granted $1.4 million to 33 organizations for their efforts to address economic instability, increase financial literacy and college readiness, and support microenterprise and microfinance in developing countries. Thirteen of the organizations that were recognized are based in Orange County.

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Intellectual property experts discuss recent developments in the industry, patent "trolls," how to protect inventions and ways to get patents quickly on Tuesday. The panelists are from Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear LLP, an IP firm that hosts the discussion at its Irvine office from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event is part of a series from the Octane tech networking organization. It takes place on the second floor at 2040 Main St. Visit octaneoc.org/events for tickets.

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Overheard

"So you have to ask, 'Why has it taken so long to hold a bank accountable?'" -- Kurt Eggert of Chapman University law school talking to The New York Times about the Justice Department's investigatory findings surrounding its $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase

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