Medical products economy huge: The medical products industry in the Tampa Bay region contributes a total direct economic output of $3.4 billion and employs more than 12,000 workers, according to a study commissioned by the Florida Medical Manufacturers' Consortium.Slow market calls for foreign response: Howard Rooks is not a novice when it comes to international real estate customers. Beginning in the 1960s, he spent three decades building up Mount Vernon Realty, a 35-office, 2,000-agent firm blanketing the Washington D.C. area, where foreign citizens were common customers.Review welcomes new associate publisher: Angie Basile has joined the Gulf Coast Business Review as associate publisher for Lee and Collier counties.WCI gloomy shareholder meeting: Annual shareholders' meetings are supposed to be uplifting, joyous affairs at which executives present the company's plans for the year ahead.Shutts & Bowen targets Tampa: Miami-based corporate legal firm Shutts & Bowen has beefed up its Tampa operations, growing from a four-lawyer office in March 2006 to 21 attorneys today.More criticism for Odyssey: Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration took a broadside recently when The New York Times editorialized that the sea exploration company should give the riches it found underwater to the Peru government.
