Jeff Clemetson

ESCONDIDO – Michelle Merseal turned an annual dilemma for parents into a growing small business.

OCEANSIDE – Suja Life is juiced up to grow its presence in the health and wellness beverage market after raising a more than $187 million IPO last week.

The San Diego Business Journal held its 2026 CEO of the Year Awards ceremony April 29. The event honored top chief executives from across a variety of industries and company sizes, including a Lifetime Achievement Award for Blanchard CEO Ken Blanchard – a pioneer in the servant leadership movement.

SAN DIEGO – The transformative AI technology revolution is on the cusp of another transformation, and San Diego-based chipmaker Kneron is positioning itself to be a leader in it.

Graduation season is upon us and alongside the usual cohort of bachelors, masters and doctorate recipients, a group of 10 students last week celebrated their graduation from a unique program that upskills janitorial and food service workers into higher paying health care careers. The program is a partnership between Jewish Vocational Services, Southwestern College and UC San Diego Health that trains workers for in-demand positions at UCSD Health hospitals.

SAN DIEGO – Avenzo Therapeutics is taking an unusual path into the Nasdaq exchange. The San Diego-based oncology-focused biopharma is stepping into the pub

CARLSBAD – Satellite communications technology company Viasat Inc. (Nasdaq VSAT) is climbing further into orbit.

FIFA World Cup is in full swing and so is sports betting on the international matches. New to betting on this quadrennial competition are prediction market apps like Kalshi and Polymarket, which were largely still in development four years ago. According to prediction-markets research by DeFi Rate – a division of San Diego-based research firm Pacific Tide Media – the 2026 World Cup is expected to see $2.5 billion in prediction market betting, with approximately $1.47 billion trading on the Kalshi app alone.

Chamber Representation

This issue of the San Diego Business Journal is a celebration of what our country's founding has created for the Community of Business. Our special section that begins on page 11 includes information on special events throughout the region that celebrate the semiquincentennial of the United States, a 250-year historical timeline of noted commerce-related events, and a series of essays by and articles on local business leaders weighing in on what America has meant to them and their success.