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DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors ofExtra Space Storage Inc., Salt Lake City, has declared a quarterly dividend of 59 cents per share on the common stock of the company for the 2016 first quarter. The dividend is payable March 31 to stockholders of record March 15.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• TheUniversity of Utah’s spring semester this year will feature a first-ever 10-session intensive sales class. Shari Levitin, local entrepreneur and top sales expert, will teach “Pitch Perfect” to a select group of students. Students will observe and work alongside major companies such as Oracle, MarketStar and England Logistics to gain hands-on experience not confined to the classroom. The interactive course consists of live and online training, and individual and group assignments as well as a roster of guest speakers. Students will work in groups on their final project to create, price and pitch a product of their choosing to a panel and receive real-time feedback from venture capitalists and other experts in the field. This first-ever course is also available to business people and entrepreneurs throughout Utah through Executive Education.
• LDS Business College, Salt Lake City, has hired Bruce C. Kusch as chief academic officer. Kusch is the current associate dean of online programs at BYU-Idaho and a faculty member for business management. He previously served as associate academic vice president of curriculum. Kusch also has industry experience, having served in high-tech and strategic management positions in the United States as well as in Asia and Mexico.
• Coding Campus, Provo, has been rebranded as V School. The company also announced that it will introduce a new Salt Lake City campus, with classes beginning in June; lifetime career services for students and alumni; new curriculum and courses for students; scholarships for students who have previously attended a coding bootcamp; and the first free co-working space in the region through its acquisition of Startup Dojo.
• Tuition-free public charter school Athlos Academy of Utah, Herriman, has hired Esther Thompson as the new charter’s school leader. Thompson previously was the assistant director of Pacific Heritage Academy in Salt Lake City since 2012. She also was both the administrative intern and a secondary teacher for Liberty Academy in Salem, director of Odyssey School in Genola, elementary classroom teacher at Mountain Valley Private School in Bluffdale, and elementary teaching aide at Avon School District in the United Kingdom. Thompson earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of Utah and a Master of Science in educational leadership from Western Governors University.
HEALTHCARE
• Health Catalyst, Salt Lake City, has closed on a $70 million Series E funding round. The round was co-led by California-based Norwest Venture Partners, the lead investor in three previous rounds, and Pittsburgh-based UPMC, a healthcare provider and insurer that also is a Health Catalyst customer. Two more existing customers, MultiCare Health System and OSF Healthcare, also contributed to the founding round. Other contributors were new investor Leerink Capitaland existing investors Sequoia Capital, Sands Capital, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, CHV Capital, Partners HealthCare, EPIC Venture Partners, Leavitt Equity PartnersandTenaya Capital. Health Catalyst is focused on healthcare data warehousing, analytics and outcomes improvement. Proceeds from the financing will support an expansion of Health Catalyst’s outcomes improvement solutions for healthcare organizations.
PHILANTHROPY
• Intermountain Healthcare recently donated $200,000 to theSTEM Action Centerto expand health science learning. The funds will allow the center to bring Utah teachers and experts from Intermountain together this summer to develop learning modules around healthcare, medicine, nutrition, outdoor recreation and sports science, all of which will align with Common Core standards. The teachers then will be able to implement the learning into core curriculum.
• America First Credit Union has donated $10,000 each to four charities through a “40 for 40” campaign on its Facebook page. It also gave an additional $10,000 to a charity that collected the most Facebook “likes.” The campaign was launched on Giving Tuesday and continued through December. The winning charity wasSwitchpoint Community Resource Center, an organization dedicated to providing services to create independence for homeless individuals. The three other charities are Family Counseling Center, Primary Children’s Hospital and Sunrise Children’s Foundation. Monies for the campaign came from members through the America First Credit Union Charitable Foundation.
• The Davis Chamber of Commerce’s Women in Business Committeeon March 10 will present a check for $14,958.11 to representatives of GiGi’s Playhouse Layton. The presentation will be at the committee’s monthly lunch at the Oakridge Country Club in Farmington. Each year, the group organizes a fundraiser to increase awareness of a deserving business in the community. This year’s amount is the net proceeds of the group’s fundraising efforts in 2015. GiGi’s Playhouse Layton is an achievement center for individuals with Down syndrome. They provide resources, specialized teaching and support to individuals with Down syndrome, their families and the community. All of their programs are free to families and are therapeutic in nature.
• The launch party Feb. 11 for Mountain West Hard Cider, Salt Lake City, resulted in over $1,400 being raised to donate to the American Lung Association in Utah. Activities during the party included a ring toss game, with successful tosses prompting Mountain West Hard Cider owners Jennifer and Jeff Carleton to contribute a cash donation to the association’s “Lung Force” initiative, a national movement led by the association to unite women against lung cancer. The Carletons selected the American Lung Association in Utah as their charity of choice to honor a friend, Carrie Snyder-Junge, who has stage IV lung cancer.
REAL ESTATE
• Hamlet Cos., Murray, has announced two executive promotions. Principal broker Phil Mosherhas been promoted to vice president of sales and marketing for Hamlet Homes. Mosher has more than 26 years of real estate experience, 11 of which have been with Hamlet. He previously served as a licensed agent in New Jersey, a broker in California and worked for Ryland Homes, Equis Commercial and several private brokerages. Jon Southern has been promoted to vice president of construction. Since joining Hamlet Homes in 2007, Southern has served as production supervisor, home building manager and most recently as director of construction. In the director and vice president positions, he oversees and directs all of Hamlet Home’s building activities. He began his construction career in 1996 as a framer and framing supervisor after attending BYU’s Construction Management Program.
RECOGNITIONS
• The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) has selected Paul Chipman of Jack B. Parson Cos. (JBP) as the 2015 NRMCA Ready Mixed Concrete Delivery Professional Driver of the Year runner-up. A panel of judges from the ready mixed concrete industry selected Chipman as a runner-up from a large group of impressive applicants from across the United States. He will be honored for his career achievements, safety record, professionalism, driving competency and customer service skills at the NRMCA’s annual convention April 12 in San Diego. JBP President Bob Rowberry estimates that Chipman, over 30 years, has delivered well over 190,000 cubic yards of concrete with zero vehicle accidents or rejected loads.
• Zions Bancorporation, Salt Lake City, received 31 Greenwich Excellence Awards for 2015 in middle market and small-business banking. It represents the largest number of awards won by any bank in the U.S. and the most ever received by Zions. Fourteen of the awards were for distinction in areas of cash management. The awards are based on more than 28,000 market research interviews with small and medium-sized businesses across the country. The awards program is undertaken by Greenwich Associates.
• USANA, based in Salt Lake City, recently was named the“2016 Top Rated Direct Selling Brand” in supplement testing company ConsumerLab.com’s survey of vitamin and supplement users. The award was presented to USANA based on customer satisfaction, with a greater percentage of consumers being “highly satisfied” with USANA than with other direct selling brands. The company also received the top rating in 2013 and 2015.
• Autonomous Solutions Inc. (ASI), Petersboro, has been selected to Robotics Business Review’s fifth annual “RBR50” list for the second consecutive year. RBR50 companies are recognized based on their innovation, groundbreaking applications, commercial success and potential, and represent many different levels and facets of the robotics ecosystem. The RBR50 list includes companies from 11 nations. ASI hardware and software robotics technology is used in driverless ground vehicle systems for applications like mining, agriculture, cleaning, security and automotive.
• A dozen Salt Lake City area car dealerships have been named Five Star Dealer Award winners by Edmunds.com. The awards recognize dealers who earned the highest overall rating for customer satisfaction in Edmunds.com’s dealer “Sales Ratings.” To be eligible for the Five Star Dealer Award, the dealer must have earned an overall sales rating of five stars generated by car shoppers on Edmunds.com, with a minimum of 20 reviews during the previous two years as of Dec. 31, 2015. Local recipients are Bountiful Mazda; Jerry Seiner Cadillac, Jerry Seiner Chevrolet, Jerry Seiner Kia South Jordan, Jerry Seiner South Jordan, Ken Garff Honda Downtown, Larry H. Miller Toyota Scion (Murray), Murdock Chevrolet (Woods Cross), Murdock Hyundai (Lindon), Murdock Hyundai (Logan), Murdock Hyundai (Murray) and Nate Wade Subaru.
TRANSPORTATION
•Salt Lake Cityon Feb. 23 began a 30-day survey to give city residents the chance to participate in a transit system survey, part of an ongoing process of developing a comprehensive transportation master plan. The“Design Your Transit System”tool asks participants to prioritize elements of service like train and bus frequency and routes within a fixed monthly budget of $100. Based on choices, participants can see in real time how their priorities affect their budget and asks them to make choices when they exceed the fixed amount. When completed, a Transit Master Plan will help the city and Utah Transit Authority (UTA) set priorities for the next 20 years, guide decisions about the timing and location of investments and foster increased use of public transportation citywide. The tool is at http://survey.slcrides.org/.