Fila Usa

Fila USA yesterday moved to bolster its line of golfing apparel by announcing that it has signed PGA Tour pro Lee Janzen to a three-year endorsement deal.The Hunt Valley-based unit of the Italian sportswear company has been among Maryland's fastest-growing businesses since it took over U.S. distribution from a licensee in 1991. But its golf business has been tiny compared with its sales of basketball gear."Our golf business is so small right now I don't even want to venture a guess as to what it is," said John Hoover, Fila's director of golf apparel.

How does Comcast Field at Camden Yards sound?Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp. has expressed an interest in purchasing the rights to put its name on the football stadium being built downtown for the Ravens.Preliminary talks about such a deal were held Monday. Ravens managing partner Art Modell and his son, Ravens vice president David Modell, met in Philadelphia with Comcast chairman Ralph Roberts and president Brian Roberts.Comcast spokesman David Nevin confirmed that the meeting took place, but said: "Any speculation as to what the name will be is very premature.

Paper lanterns swung beneath exposed I-beams, while big TV screens flashed images above them. Sounds of swing music intermingled with the rustle of ball gowns on concrete, as guests swirled through the renovation at Tide Point for the Dot.Com Gala. As if there wasn't enough glitz inside, Inner Harbor waters glittered outside, providing a delightful backdrop as guests celebrated the 10th anniversary of the South Baltimore Learning Center. Among the 330 guests nibbling from the buffet and networking with old friends and new: Donald Huber and Kathleen Leebel, event co-chairs; Cindy Conklin, Ann Murray and Peggy Powell, event committee members; Chris Rosenthal, South Baltimore Learning Center board chair; Susan Fleishman and Jonathan Melnick, SBLC board members; Sonia Socha, SBLC executive director; Carol Hirschburg, Howard Consulting vice president; Sonny Morstein, Morstein's Jewelers owner; Doug McPeters, Legg Mason vice president of investments; Mario Armstrong, host / producer of "Tech-Talk" on WEAA-FM radio; Gary Goldstein, Kennedy Krieger Institute president; Byron Sembly, Falcon Business Solutions president / CEO; Sharon Wylie, Fox 45 / WB54 director of public affairs and marketing; Debbie Kielty, Procter & Gamble Beauty Care vice president; Rose Carpenter, FILA USA general counsel; James Breiner, Baltimore Business Journal publisher; and Ann Murray, Maryland Science Center senior director of development.

How could there not be a strong family feel to the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults' SummerFest 2000? Everyone there knew the story of the three-year-old organization -- of how when Ellicott City resident Doug Ulman was diagnosed with cancer at age 19 he had trouble finding support groups and services for people his age and so started those programs himself. Now Ulman is executive director of the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. He, his mom, Diana Ulman, who is board chair, and his dad, Lou Ulman, greeted 165 friends and supporters at the Kossiakoff Center at Laurel's Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab for what has become the fund's annual fundraiser.

There will be lots of shoes, although not nearly as many jobs, once Fila USA opens its $5 million distribution center next spring at Baltimore's Holabird Industrial Park.Officials on hand for a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday said the new distribution center will include approximately 160,000 square feet of space and employ about 30 people.Based in Biella, Italy, Fila chose the Baltimore location after deciding to relocate its distribution center in Carlstadt, N.J. Officials said Baltimore was chosen because it is near the company's U.S. headquarters in Hunt Valley, where 25 people are employed.

Italian sportswear company Fila Holdings SpA yesterday reported a net loss of $8.7 million, or 32 cents for each American depositary receipt, in the first quarter that ended March 31. The company reported a net loss of $8.7 million, or 33 cents per depositary receipt, in the corresponding quarter a year ago.The company, which has its U.S. headquarters in Sparks, said net direct sales decreased 15 percent from the first quarter of 1998, with its U.S. footwear...

W. B. Doner & Co. Inc. yesterday named Alan T. Kalter chief executive officer of the firm, capping his 28-year career at the city's biggest advertising agency.Mr. Kalter, Doner's president and chief operating officer since May 1992, becomes only the fourth chief executive in the agency's 58-year history.Mr. Kalter, 48, will replace Jim Dale, who is leaving Doner to write a book about Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, a former Oriole.Mr. Dale's role as chairman of the board will be assumed by Herbert F. Fried, who had been chairman of the firm's executive committee.

Nationwide to reduce staffNationwide Insurance Enterprise said yesterday it will restructure its property and casualty insurance operations in 27 states, cutting an undetermined number of jobs.President and Chief Executive D. Richard McFerson said a major component of the plan will be consolidation of functions performed at nine regional offices, including an office in Annapolis, the company's headquarters for Maryland and Washington.The company employs 32,000 people, including about 550 in Annapolis and an additional 210 throughout the mid-Atlantic.

With few objections, top state legislators easily approved more than $7 million in government loans and grants yesterday to help finance the expansion of four Maryland companies.The projects include a $4 million state loan to help MedImmune Inc. of Gaithersburg build a $43.8 million biotechnology manufacturing plant in Frederick, creating 219 jobs by 1999. Tessco Technologies Inc., a wholesaler of wireless phone equipment, will receive a $1 million state grant toward a $9.5 million expansion that would create 123 jobs in Hunt Valley.

Two Baltimore advertising agencies were among the four fastest-growing ad shops in the Southeast during 1994, according to a survey in the trade journal Adweek.Trahan, Burden & Charles Inc. and W. B. Doner & Co. ranked third and fourth, respectively, among the top 15 agencies, which included southeastern offices of New York firms like BBDO Worldwide Inc. and J. Walter Thompson Co.TBC's billings rose 22.6 percent to $90.7 million, while billings of Doner's Baltimore office jumped 15.4 percent to $107 million.