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BANKING
• Zions Bank has hired Dan Larsen, Bryan “B.Y.” Wells, AJ Kapinos and Jonathan Spencer as financial consultants at Zions Wealth Advisors in the Salt Lake Valley. Larsen has 15 years of experience in the banking industry, including consumer lending and retail branch management. He has also worked in the investment industry, working with clients to build and manage investment portfolios and service their financial needs. Larsen is located in downtown Salt Lake City. Wells has 15 years of experience in the financial industry, having worked for several firms as a financial planner and business development officer for a private client group of a national bank. He is located at the Foothill financial center in Salt Lake City. Kapinos brings 14 years of financial industry experience and specifically assists physicians with their investments, insurance and planning needs. Kapinos is located in the Zions Med office in Murray. Spencer has 14 years of financial services experience, having previously worked as an associate financial advisor at Key Investments and as a senior branch manager as well as an area president at Wells Fargo Bank. He is based in the South Towne financial center.
• Key Private Bank has named Jason Stoddard a wealth advisor for KeyBank’s Utah market. Stoddard will be responsible for delivering comprehensive, personalized advice to individuals and families with substantial wealth to address their wealth planning needs. Most recently, Stoddard was senior vice president and director of sales and services for KeyBank’s Retail Bank in Cleveland, where he was responsible for the branch sales strategy for 1,000 KeyBank branches. Since joining Key in 2004, Stoddard also served as area retail leader and district retail leader for KeyBank’s Utah market. Prior to joining Key, Stoddard was a licensed branch manager for Bank One/JP Morgan Chase and a brokerage trader with Fidelity Investments. His education includes a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Phoenix in Salt Lake City.
DIVIDENDS
• Security National Financial Corp. has announced that its board of directors has authorized a 5 percent stock dividend. The dividend will be paid Feb. 5 for stockholders of record Jan. 15. It represents the 27th consecutive year in declaring a 5 percent dividend.
GOVERNMENT
• The Salt Lake County Council has approved eight candidates nominated by Mayor Ben McAdams for the newly created Mountain Planning Commission overseeing the Mountainous Planning District. They are appointed to staggered terms of one, two and three years. Alternates are appointed for four years. Additional candidates are being considered for the ninth slot. Commissions are Tod Young (Granite/Sandy area), Neil A. Cohen (Granite/Sandy area), Bryan O’Meara (Big Cottonwood Canyon), Catherine Kanter (Little Cottonwood Canyon), Linda G. Johnson (Millcreek), Reid Persing (Salt Lake City), Libby Ellis (Salt Lake City) and Roger Kehr (Cottonwood Heights). Alternates are Jim Palmer (Holladay) and Don Despain (Big Cottonwood Canyon).
HEALTHCARE
• The Coast2Coast Rx Card program recently announced it has saved Utah County residents more than $8.6 million since the discount prescription program was launched, including nearly $1.9 million in 2015. The card allows all consumers — regardless of income, age or health status — to participate in the program and save on the cost of their medications. The program saved cardholders throughout the nation an average of 65 percent in 2015 on the cost of prescription drugs. The Rx card is distributed free of charge. Utah County residents have seen an average of 72 percent savings on their prescriptions. The county has 20,451 members.
LAW
• Holland & Hart LLP has announced that 15 attorneys have been elected into the firm’s partnership. The group includes two practicing in the Salt Lake City office: Mark Burghardt and Derek Kearl. Berghardt is a member of the firm’s Environment, Energy and Natural Resources group. Burghardt counsels clients on complex title examination, due diligence, real estate litigation, surface access, and federal and state permitting and leasing of energy facilities, wellpads, pipelines and roads. He represents clients on oil and gas, mining, oil shale, solar and wind projects. Kearl is a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation group. Kearl represents financial institutions, accounting firms and other business clients in a full range of business disputes, including securities litigation, lender and auditor liability defense, and breach of contract actions. He also assists clients in navigating government investigations and enforcement actions before the SEC and FTC. Kearl has acted as independent counsel to corporate boards in conducting internal investigations examining allegations of corporate mismanagement, self-dealing and breach of fiduciary duty. • Holland & Hart LLP also announced it appointed practice group leaders for the firm’s Labor & Employment and Tax practices. The list includes Bryan Benard of the firm’s Salt Lake City office. Benard fills the L&E Practice Group leader role. He has served the firm in previous administrative positions, including being a representative on the firm’s management committee from 2012-14.
PHILANTHROPY
• Coldwell Banker Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Salt Lake City, recently raised nearly $14,000 for Primary Children’s Hospital through its annual Festival of Trees, and also donated $10,000 to the Autism Council of Utah from its first-ever Parkway Pedal Ride for Autism in September. Coldwell Banker’s tree at the Festival of Trees auction sold for $3,800, and the foundation spent another $9,900 on donations to the Homeless Youth Center in Ogden and the Women’s and Children Crisis/Abuse Center in Orem. The company has participated in the annual Festival of Trees for several years, spending weeks collecting toys and monetary donations to help put together a tree for the auction and gifts under the tree. The Parkway Pedal Ride was a casual fundraising bike ride along the Legacy Parkway and Jordan River Parkway trails. The event featured riders of all ages, live music, food trucks, games and festivities.
• DoTerra International wellness advocate and Mountain View High School PTA member Tina Glover participated with local schools in the 11th annual Family Fun Run, which raises money for Make-A-Wish Utah so that children faced with life-threatening medical conditions and are experiencing the pains of serious illnesses can have their wishes come to life. The event features running a race and participating in a silent auction, and DoTerra donated products for the auction. Proceeds from this year’s run and auction will go toward a 6-year-old diagnosed with nemaline myopathy, a disorder that affects the skeletal muscles.
REAL ESTATE
• Castle & Cooke Mortgage LLC, Salt Lake City, has promoted Mike Querrey to national sales manager. He will be based in the company headquarters. Querrey has 23 years of experience in every aspect of the industry and at the local, regional and national level. He previously oversaw strategic expansion in both the sales force and the geographic footprint as chief production officer at Silver State Mortgage and as executive vice president and manager of the Division of Strategic Alliances at Countrywide Home Loans.
RECOGNITIONS
• Stormy Simon, president of Overstock.com Inc., Salt Lake City, has been named to a list of “People Shaping Retail’s Future” by the National Retail Federation. The list honors the top 25 retail industry members across five categories, including disruptors, dreamers, givers, influencers and power players. Simon was selected as a power player, which the federation describes as “fearless leaders who never shy away from what others may see as insurmountable challenges.” The honorees will be recognized at the federation’s gala Jan. 17 in New York City. Simon joined Overstock.com in 2001 and has held leadership positions in nearly every department of the company.
• The Bridge platform, by Instructure Inc., Salt Lake City, has won three Brandon Hall Group silver awards for excellence in learning management technology, learning management technology for external training and learning management technology for small and medium-sized business. The platform is a learning management system for corporations and other organizations. A panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, in partnership with Brandon Hall Group senior analysts and executives, evaluated the contest entries based on several criteria.
• Owlet, Provo, recently won $250,000 as the second runner-up in the “Internet of Things” category of the Verizon Powerful Answers Award competition. Owlet created a monitor that uses hospital technology called pulse oximetry to alert parents if their baby stops breathing, experiences a drop in blood-oxygen levels, or has irregular vital signs. Parents receive a notification on their smartphone. Owlet also is invited to the Powerful Answers Accelerator program at BootUp Academy, which features workshops and knowledge exchange sessions that provide best practices in business planning, product development, UX/UI design, global go-to-market strategies, communications, financing and growth hacking.
• Neumont University, Salt Lake City, has announced that Emerson Schaffer and Scott Fries are the winners of the university’s second bi-annual Capstone Project Invitational senior project. Schaffer, of Spokane, Washington, took home the Alumni Choice Award for his project titled “Fracture,” which has a more realistic approach to objects being destroyed in video games. The Industry Award went to Fries, of Clarksville, Tennessee, who created “The Balance Engine – Android,” which allows developers to more easily create games for Android mobile devices. Other finalists were “FuzzBuzz” by Wayne Maree, Smallwood, New York; “Project Liveware” by Mark Journigan, Tooele; and “Controlled Assault” by Ryan Garcia, Modesto, California.
• Salt Lake City has been named the 12th-best city to found a startup by Datafox, a business intelligence firm. Datafox ranked Utah highly in availability of capital, affordability, success of early-stage companies and entrepreneurial culture.
• Industrial Supply Co., Salt Lake City, recently earned a Star Award from the Construction Marketing Association (CMA) for marketing excellence in the construction industry. The company was the recipient of the 2015 Superstar Award for Advertising Print-Newspaper, the Superstar Award for Internet Marketing Social Profile Design, and the Star Award for Brand Identity Logo. Industrial Supply partnered with advertising agency Freestyle Marketing Group to produce each of the campaigns. The CMA Star awards recognize excellence in 16 marketing categories and 78 sub-categories.
• CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) Utah has named recipients of three scholarships. Michelle Doong of Mountain West Retail Investments has been named recipient of the CREW Utah Elevate Scholarship and a CREW Utah membership. Doong is a first-year student in the MRED program at the University of Utah. She is a retail broker with plans for a career in commercial real estate development. The CREW Network Leadership Scholarship recipient is Julie Kilgore, a current member of CREW Utah and president of Wasatch Environmental. She will participate in three leadership conventions with special classes offered by professors from MIT, Harvard and Emory. The CREW Convention Scholarship recipient is Julie Berreth, architect with Architectural Nexus.
• Salt Lake City finished ninth in a national survey of “Top Diners in the U.S.” that was conducted for Merchant Cash USA. Pittsburgh came in first, followed by Arlington, Virginia; Buffalo, New York; Cincinnati; Jersey City, New Jersey; Detroit; Oklahoma City; Providence, Rhode Island; Salt Lake City; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Respondents are asked where they thought the best diners in the country are located and asked what city they thought has the best diners, what their favorite diner is in that city and what their favorite diner dish is.
• Utahns are ranked 10th in the nation for running and eighth for biking activities, according to data from Strava, a fitness tracking app. The data also revealed that Utahns climb elevation, with the state ranked fourth-hilliest for running and seventh-hilliest for cycling.
RESTAURANTS
• Tupelo has opened on Park City’s Main Street. The fine dining establishment was created by chef Matt Harris and features globally inspired, artisanal cuisine crafted from sustainable and locally sourced products and includes a wine cellar and craft cocktail bar.
RETAIL
• Pet Wants has a new franchise location, called Pet Wants Sandy, at 9486 S. Union Square (700 E.), Sandy. It is locally owned and operated by Lori Young and offers pet food, both in-store and through mobile delivery. Before opening Pet Wants Sandy, Young spent 20 years in corporate America, but decided to open the store after being laid off twice in the past year.
SERVICES
• Track Group, Salt Lake City, has appointed Karen Macleod to the company’s board of directors. Macleod previously was president of Tatum LLC. Prior to Tatum, she was a co-founder of RGP, a publicly traded, multinational professional services firm founded as a division of Deloitte in June 1996. Macleod served in several positions for RGP, including as a director from 1999-2009 and president of North America from 2004-2009. Prior to RGP, Macleod held several positions in the audit department of Deloitte from 1985-1994.
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