Corrections or additions?
These articles were prepared for the January 14, 2004 issue of
U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane
Every job has its lingo, but the lingo for energy traders is one of
the most abstruse. Take the term “crack spread,” which sounds like
some kind of illegal sandwich flavoring. It shows up in an online test
for energy traders run by an international energy data management and
training firm, Fame Information Services/Oxford Princeton Programme.
After nearly 15 years at Princeton Forrestal Village, this company is
splitting, and half of the operations are going to New York, with the
other half expanding here.
Fame Information Services has left a 10,000 square foot office on
Village Boulevard to consolidate its operations in Manhattan. Formerly
known as Saladin and then bought by Fame, it has now been bought by
Sungard, with the sale expected to close this month. The training arm
of the company, Oxford Princeton Programme, did not go with that deal
and is staying in Princeton.
“In Princeton we had our data developers, but our lease was expiring,”
says Paul Mattison, the New York-based COO of Fame. “And we were
trying to consolidate our operations across the states.” Worldwide,
FAME has over 600 customers in 40 countries and employs 250 people, 70
in Manhattan. Of the 15 employees who moved from Princeton, 11 went to
New York and four to a Sungard facility in Mount Laurel.
FAME Information Services Inc. offers decision-support solutions for
the world’s financial and energy markets. It loads closing stock
prices into a central data warehouse, where the data is cleansed and
made available to customers, who can use it to run sophisticated
analyses on, for instance, what price to buy oil or what the shipping
prices are.
Fame programmers have their own C-based language but also use Java and
relational databases. “What we provide is the integration of
technology and understanding of the data,” says Mattison. “We have
market expertise – our best programmers are the ones with the market
knowledge.”
The Oxford Princeton Programme retains a dozen employees at Forrestal
Village to offer web-based and instructor-led training in the energy
and commodities industries. When the sale of Fame to Sungard closes,
this division will be independent.
Formed in 2000 by the merger of American and British companies, the
Oxford Princeton Programme has one online training service and two
instructor-led schools. Online training in energy, commodity, and
derivatives industries is offered through www.princetonlive.com.
Courses include the oil, petrochemicals, natural gas, and coal
industries. It also has a series of courses on trading, derivatives,
hedging and risk management. OPP’s instructor-led schools are
Princeton Energy Program (which has 30 one or two-day workshops) and
the College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, which has workshops on
oil, petrochemicals, and shipping, mostly in Oxford, England.
So what about crack spread? The term pops up in an assessment test on
www.princetonlife.com. It comes from an oil refinery process known as
cracking, and it refers to “equal and offsetting positions in crude
oil on one side and refined products, particularly gasoline and
heating oil, on the other.” Now you know.
Fame Information Services, 888 Seventh Avenue, 12thFloor, New York 10106, 212-506-0300; fax, 212-977-7144. Dale Richards,CEO. Www.fame.comOxford Princeton Programme, 116 Village Boulevard,Princeton Forrestal Village, Suite 301, Princeton 08540. ClaraLippert, division president. 609-520-9099; fax, 609-520-8457.Www.princetonlive.comTop Of PageNew Spaces For ArchitectsCUH2A, 1000 Lenox Drive, Lawrenceville 08648. John R.A.Scott AIA, president. 609-844-1212; fax, 609-799-7700. Home page:www.cuh2a.comCUH2A, a 220-employee architecture and engineering firm, has movedfrom 65,000 feet in two buildings at the Carnegie Center to occupy50,000 square feet, a four-floor building on Lenox Drive. Phone andfax are new.”Our leases were expiring, and we were looking for a more efficient,cost-effective space,” says Jeff Dayton, managing director of thePrinceton office. The previous occupant, Highlands Insurance Group,went into bankruptcy and moved to Phillips Drive in Ewing. LeaseRuddick was the project manager and Dan Rew was architectural designerfor this project, which involved gutting and refitting the space.”Over here we have more of an open plan,” says Dayton, “with only fourclosed door offices – for the president, the COO, the legal counsel,and HR. The rest of us are at open workstations that we can rearrangein different teams.” Tones of yellow and blue highlight core elements.”We wanted the design to reflect our position as the largest AEP(architecture, engineering, and planning) firm that focuses on scienceand technology facilities,” says Dayton, “and to showcase what we do,the people, the energy, and the excitement.”Pierre Coutin, 600 Ringoes Rosemont Road, Box 128,Sergeantsville 08557-0128. 609-397-6950; fax, 609-397-6951.Architect Pierre Coutin has moved from his long-time office onWitherspoon Street in Princeton to be closer to his home.Top Of PageNew in Real EstateLori Gaffney, Rich Gittleman, and Jane Moni have left the Julian J.Studley firm in Edison to be equal partners in Triad Properties at 100Overlook Center.”We wanted the opportunity to do a broader range of services,” saysGittleman, “and Studley is primarily for tenant representation tenantrep. We wanted to do some investment sales, hopefully to own somebuildings down the line.””We’re out there knocking on doors,” says Gittleman.Triad Properties LLC, 100 Overlook Center, Suite 200,Princeton 08540. 609-375-2420; fax, 609-375-2680. Home page:www.triadprop.comWhile three people left the Julian Studley company because they wantedto do more than tenant representation, Robert Sobol left the AcclaimGroup in Cranford to open his own office to do just that. From a MainStreet office in Woodbridge, Sobol will focus on tenantrepresentation, but he will also do site selection, relocation andproperty disposition.He has worked for ONCOR International, then for the Acclaim Group.”Both of those firms represent both tenants and landlords, and Iperceived a conflict of interest,” says Sobol. “So I started my ownfirm to represent only tenants and owner-occupied buildings.” Amonghis clients have been Sycamore Ventures, Diebold, Kemper Insurance,and the Gannett Companies.R.P. Sobol & Co. LLC, 199 Main Street, Woodbridge 07095.Robert P. Sobol, president. 732-750-8858; fax, 732-750-8955.Top Of PageContracts AwardedValera Pharmaceuticals, 8 Clarke Drive, Cedar BrookCorporate Center, Cranbury 08512. David Tierney, vice president.609-409-9010; fax, 609-409-1650. Home page: www.valerapharmaceuticalsValera Pharmaceuticals has filed a new drug application with the Foodand Drug Administration for Vantas, an advanced prostate cancertreatment product. Medication is delivered through a 1.5-inch tube,made of hydrogel polymers, that is surgically inserted into the upperarm and releases medication over a 12-month period.If the drug is approved this year, the company will hire at least a20-person sales force. The same hydrogel polymer delivery method couldbe used to treat other disorders, such as drug addiction,hypertension, and growth hormone disorders.Valera was formerly known as HydroMed Sciences (U.S. 1, October 28,1998).Top Of PageNew ManagementTAH Industries Inc., 8 Applegate Drive, Robbinsville08691. Terry A. Horner, president. 609-259-9222; fax, 609-259-0957.Home page: www.tah.comDaniel W. Mottram has been promoted from executive vice president topresident of TAH Industries Inc. Terry A. Horner, former president,will be board chairman of the 100-person firm.Founded in 1976, the company makes motionless mixers and cartridgesystems for adhesives and sealants, needed by dentists and by theautomotive, pharma, and food industries.Top Of PageDeathsBarbara L. Sand on December 22. She was creator and director of thePrinceton Summer Chamber Music Concerts. A service will be Tuesday,January 27, at 3 p.m. at Stephen Wise Synagogue in Manhattan. (30 West68th Street).Arthur Kimmel, 84, on December 25. He founded PDQ Press at 43Princeton-Hightstown Road, now operated by his son, Mark.Henry A. Jandl, 93, on January 3. He taught architecture at PrincetonUniversity and designed Princeton Borough Hall and the YWCA building.John L. Burke, 76, on January 7. He had been postmaster in PrincetonJunction.Corrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
