The Greater Houston Partnership celebrates our members making important announcements and sharing news about their operations and impact in our community. Learn more about some of those announcements over the last month below.

Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon announced the bank’s new, nationwide Special Purpose Credit Program, focused on expanding credit access for small businesses in historically underserved neighborhoods during his nationwide tour of Chase regional offices. The program is part of Chase’s $30 billion racial equity commitment, announced in 2020, and was piloted in Houston, Dallas, Detroit and Miami over recent months.

Global Data Systems was recently ranked No. 86 on the Top 250 MSSPs list for 2022. The list annually selects and honors the top MSSPs (managed security service providers). The rankings are based on MSSP Alert’s 2022 readership survey combined with the site’s editorial coverage of MSSP, MDR and MSP security providers.

Through its partnership with non-profit Browning the Green Space, Greentown Labs announced its new accelerator program - Advancing Climatetech and Clean Energy Leaders Program, or ACCEL that will be located at both its Houston and Boston-area spaces. The year-long program will offer startups the opportunity to receive a non-dilutive $25,000 grant along with a curated curriculum, incubation at one of the Greentown locations, and mentorship from its network of energy professionals.

Sino Biological, a global biomanufacturing firm specializing in the production of antibodies and recombinant proteins, announced that it will locate its first U.S. - based manufacturing facility in Hines' Levit Green, the 53-acre life science district currently under construction near the Texas Medical Center.

Live Nation's 713 Music Hall, which opened last year at Post Houston, was recently named the Best Live Venue (Medium size) by the Houston Press. The 5,000-capacity venue allows for intimate concerts and is in proximity to the POST Houston complex that contains an upscale food court and great views of the city. 

The Artemis I mission recently took flight, beginning a journey that will send an unscrewed spacecraft around the moon. This will allow NASA to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in half a century. 

Launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft brought more than 7,700 pounds of science experiments, crew supplies, and other cargo to the seven international astronauts residing on the International Space Station. Along with supplies, research experiments — from health tech to vegetation and the Moon Microscope, a medical device that can communicate information to Earth for diagnosis based on a blood sample were included. 

In a multibillion dollar deal, NRG Energy Inc. will acquire Utah-based Vivint Smart Home Inc. Vivint is a smart home platform company that offers hardware, software, sales, installation, support and professional monitoring and has more than 1.9 million customers throughout the U.S. Through this acquisition, NRG hopes to create a leading home solutions provider. 

For the fourth consecutive year, Rice and the University of Houston rank No. 1 in the graduate and undergraduate categories from the Princeton Review. Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business placed No. 1 in the best graduate programs for entrepreneurs. Rice also landed at No. 5 in Poets and Quants’ new ranking of the best online MBA programs. UH’s C.T. Bauer College of Business appeared at No. 1 in the best undergraduate programs for entrepreneurs.

Sempra Infrastructure recently announced that it will be entering a sale and purchase agreement with INEOS for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Phase 1 of its Port Arthur LNG project under development in Jefferson County, Texas. The Port Arthur LNG Phase 1 project is permitted and expected to include two natural gas liquefaction trains and LNG storage tanks and associated facilities capable of producing, under optimal conditions, up to approximately 13.5 Mtpa of LNG. 

Shell is set to acquire the largest renewable natural gas producer in Europe in a $2 billion deal.  Shell Petroleum NV will acquire Denmark-based Nature Energy Biogas A/S from Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, Pioneer Point Partners and Sampension. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, and Nature Energy will operate as a fully owned subsidiary of Shell, retaining its existing brand. 

 If you are a member and want us to help communicate news about your organization, please send a press release or information about the announcement to member.engagement@houston.org and we will share it with our content team for possible inclusion in an upcoming roundup. Learn more about Partnership membership.