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ASSOCIATIONS
• Employers Council is inviting all Utah businesses to participate in its 2019 Utah Benchmark Compensation Survey. For more than 70 years, Employers Council has provided Utah employers with compensation surveys that can provide executive decision-makers with wage data necessary to attract and retain qualified employees. The 2019 survey will cover 417 benchmark jobs and will be published in June. Companies can participate at http://info.employerscouncil.org/compensation-survey-utah.
CONTESTS
• Nominations are being accepted until Feb. 1 for the 2019 Utah Innovation Awards, organized and hosted by law firm Stoel Rives LLP and the Utah Technology Council. The award program recognizes Utah innovators and their breakthrough creations. Details are at https://www.utahinnovationawards.com/.
• Applications are being accepted through Jan. 31 for the third annual “WEC Busine$$ Grant Competition” that is part of the Women’s Entrepreneurial Conference set for April 17 at Holladay City Hall. The conference planning committee will award 25 grants totaling $19,000 statewide. The pitch competition will begin with quarterfinals in northern and southern Utah, where 24 quarterfinalists will compete for a spot in the semifinals. The final five will compete for a $5,000 grant April 17. Details are at https://mbrcslcc.com/wec-busine-grant-competition/.
DIRECT SALES
• Young Living Essential Oils, Lehi, has hired Wayne Moorehead as executive vice president of marketing. Moorehead previously worked as chief marketing officer for a natural supplement company and an Inc. 500 company, as well as leading the brand strategy practice at a New York creative agency and a Salt Lake City-based agency. Most recently, he served as chief brand officer at a digitally native vertical brands (DNVB). He holds an MBA from the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• West Jordan leads Utah cities with the highest percentage of people in the labor force, at 76.7 percent, according to a study by HomeArea.com. The rankings are based on the latest Census Bureau data for cities with a population of 60,000 or more. Following West Jordan are (in order) West Valley City, 74.6 percent; Salt Lake City, 72.9 percent; Orem, 72.3 percent; South Jordan, 71.1 percent; Layton, 70.9 percent; Provo, 69.9 percent; Sandy, 66.5 percent; Ogden, 63.9 percent; and St. George, 57.3 percent.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Salt Lake Community College is accepting applications through March 22 for its spring 2019 Executive Certificate of Global Business Management course, which is set for 10 consecutive Wednesdays, 6-9 p.m., starting March 27. The course will feature information about export readiness; international trade strategies; business in diverse cultural markets; international marketing; finding quality overseas distributors/partners; international cash management, getting paid and trade finance; international trade logistics, including documents and shipping; international legal and tax considerations; and export regulations. Details are available by emailing deb.bilbao@slcc.edu.
ENERGY
• Solar Integrated Roofing Corp., based in California, has hired Robert N. “Nick” Jones as its chief financial officer. Solar Integrated Roofing is a solar and roofing installation company specializing in commercial and residential properties. A Layton resident, Jones began his financial career in 2007 when he joined Peregrine Accounting & Consulting LLC in Farmington. He currently is serving as CFO of Bnet Media Group Inc., Waste Tyre Solutions Inc., Xeco Energy Corp., GP Solutions Inc. and Skyward Symphony. He has served on the boards of directors of several private and publicly owned companies. Jones earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brigham Young University.
INSURANCE
• UBIC, a South Jordan-based multistate workers’ compensation insurance company, has promoted Jennifer Hutchinson to marketing representative. Hutchinson has been with the company for six years and has been assigned to work with Independent Insurance Agencies in Utah.
INVESTMENTS
• Divvy, a Lehi-based tech startup company, has secured a $250 million facility from Waterfall Asset Management. Divvy said the new funding will help it keep up with expected customer growth in 2019, facilitate easier access to the capital businesses need, and ensure an overall better customer experience. Divvy is a lender and financial platform for businesses that helps streamline the entire financial cycle, from funding to reconciling.
LAW
• Dorsey & Whitney LLP has hired Megan J. Houdeshel as a partner in the firm’s Regulatory Affairs Group in Salt Lake City. She advises clients on environmental and regulatory compliance matters. She represents mining, petroleum, chemical, energy and public utility interests in the western U.S. and Canada. Most recently, Houdeshel was a shareholder at Parr Brown Gee & Loveless. She earned bachelor’s degrees in political science and anthropology from the University of Utah and her J.D. from the UofU’s S.J. Quinney College of Law.
RECOGNITIONS
• Lendio Franchising, South Jordan, has been ranked the No. 1 in the business financial services category in Entrepreneur magazine’s Franchise 500 listings. It is the second consecutive year for the company to top that list. Lendio Franchising was recognized for its outstanding performance in areas including unit growth, financial strength and stability, and brand power. Launched in early 2017, Lendio’s marketplace lending franchise program has expanded to 55 franchise territories owned by 29 franchisees, with additional territories being added every month. Through access to Lendio’s marketplace of more than 75 business lenders as well as partnerships with community banks, Lendio franchisees have facilitated over $25 million in loans to businesses across the U.S.
• ChamberWest has announced the finalists for its five award categories, with the winners to be announced Feb. 28 at its 2019 annual awards gala. It will recognize Kenworth Sales Co. as its Hall of Fame Award recipient. Finalists for Business of the Year are Exodus Healthcare Network, Cyprus Credit Union and Concentrix. Finalists for Small Business of the Year are Employers Council, R.A. Johnson Excavating Inc. and GRIFOLS Biomat Taylorsville. Finalists for Best Place to Work are Yamato Transport, Wasatch I.T. and Chick-fil-A West Valley. Finalists for Best New Business of the Year are Waterpocket Distilleries, Summit Vista and Wild Ginger Asian Cuisine. Finalists for Volunteer of the Year are Steve Raguskus, GRIFOLS Biomat; Monica Gayden, TownePlace Marriott; and Kim Gilbert, Cyprus Credit Union.
• PreOv, a student startup developing a fertility monitoring technology that helps people with family planning, won first place and the $5,000 grand prize at the 2018-2019 University of Utah Opportunity Quest business-model/executive-summary competition. The competition is managed by students at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the UofU and sponsored by Zions Bank. Other top teams included the second-place winner InSufflex ($3,000), third-place winner NipaYe ($1,000) and the best-video winner red_ ($1,000). Other finalists were Beacon Sleep Solution, Cool Kid Car Seat, Deco-UV, Project Embrace, Rexchanger and The Plastic Lab. Winning teams at Opportunity Quest received cash and in-kind prizes, and the winner, PreOv, advances into the top 20 of the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, where it will develop a full business model and compete against students across the state of Utah for the grand prize of $40,000.
RETAIL
• Mind Skin Body LLC, offering massage and skin care, has expanded with a location at 638 W. 7250 S., Midvale. It signed a lease for 2,050 square feet at the Cascade Park building. Newmark Grubb ACRES’ Skyler S. Peterson, industrial vice president, and Tre Bourdeaux, industrial associate, represented Mind Skin Body in the transaction.
• Tesoro Food Mart, 3596 W. 3100 S., West Valley City, is now offering U-Haul products and services, including trucks, trailers, towing equipment, moving supplies and in-store pick-up for boxes.
RURAL UTAH
• The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board, at its January meeting, endorsed a $50,000 Rural Fast Track grant for Petal Lane, a wholesale manufacturer in Richfield, Sevier County, to help the company purchase equipment to print directly to multiple surfaces and home décor products of a large size. The $125,000 project is expected to result in one new full-time position. The grant previously had been approved by the Governor’s Rural Partnership Board.
SERVICES
• Advanced Technology Recycling has relocated to 1130 S. 3800 W., Suite 200, Salt Lake City. The 30,000-plus-square-foot facility contains seven loading docks, ground-level access and a showroom. The company plans a facility in Las Vegas that will be its ninth location and third major expansion during the past year. It has a total of 56 fleet vehicles and nearly 200 employees.
• B-Team Estates has relocated into Gregson Square in South Salt Lake. Newmark Grubb ACRES’ Skyler S. Peterson, industrial vice president, and Tre Bourdeaux, industrial associate, represented B-Team Estates in the transaction. B-Team has more than 30 years of experience in asset liquidation and also offers appraisal, auction and clean-out services.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Lexicon Travel Technologies, a Park City-based provider of technology solutions for distribution and revenue management for vacation rental managers, has hired Michelle Marquis as chief revenue officer. Her experience in the hospitality industry includes being a hotelier focused on leading sales and marketing teams and in the past decade as an executive within a vacation rental industry SaaS technology company.
• Alianza Inc., a Lindon-based cloud voice platform company, has announced that Clark Peterson has joined its board of directors. Peterson has more than 30 years of leadership experience with telecommunications organizations. Most recently, he served as the president and then chief evangelist at Vonage Business. Peterson came to Vonage through Vonage’s acquisition of Telesphere, where he served as CEO for eight years. Peterson also serves as chairman of the Cloud Communications Alliance.