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AGRICULTURE
• Applications are being accepted until Feb. 16 for the third round of the Local Food Microgrant Program, launched by Salt Lake City in early 2017 in partnership with Urban Food Connections of Utah. Urban Food Connections of Utah is a nonprofit organization that runs the Downtown Farmers Market, Rio Grande Winter Market and Tuesday Harvest Market. Local commercial farmers can get funds to expand operation and production of more organically grown fruits and vegetables. The grants help farmers access technology, education, tools and equipment to grow more sustainable produce. The third funding round will award $15,000. Last year, the program had 48 applicants requesting a total of $329,076 in microgrant funding over the course of two grant cycles. To date, the program has awarded $29,488. Details are at http://www.slcfarmersmarket.org/programs-events/local-food-microgrant-program.
CONTESTS
• Grow Utah, a privately funded nonprofit organization, has announced a $50,000 DNA Technology Innovation Contest, looking for the best ideas on how to improve the use of DNA data in the fields of ancestral history, personal history and family health history. Prizes include a $30,000 cash prize and $20,000 in services. A group of six to 10 finalists announced Feb. 22 will exhibit and pitch their innovations Feb. 28 at the RootsTech family history conference. Three winners will be selected. Applications will be accepted until Feb. 20. Details are at http://www.growutah.com/centrum/dna.
• The Salt Lake County Division of Housing and Community Development has opened a second round of applications for the 2018-19 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding. The funds are through the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development. Priorities for the funds include land acquisition for affordable housing development projects, housing programs (housing rehabilitation, substantial rehabilitation and homeownership), acquisition of homeless facilities, and public infrastructure to support homeless facility placement. Applications will be accepted through online grant management system ZoomGrants until 5 p.m. Feb. 9. A grant application handbook is available at www.slco.org/hcd to assist applicants through the process, as well as the link for ZoomGrants for the applications.
ENVIRONMENT
• The Salt Lake Chamber has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR) that will support the chamber’s air quality programs, including the Clear the Air Challenge and Clean Air Champions initiative. The grant will allow the chamber to expand marketing and outreach efforts to Utah’s business community with the goal to increase business participation in programs that promote emission-reduction strategies.
• Printing Industries of America’s Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Affairs Department and Printing Industries of Utah (PIU), now part of Pacific Printing Industries (PPI) Association, have announced a new partnership with the Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR). The partnership will offer a training program to Utah printers on reducing air pollution. Additional partners in the program include the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) and Flexographic Technical Association (FTA). The Utah Department of Air Quality has set forth new regulations for reducing volatile organic compound emissions from the printing industry, and ensuring that members of the printing industry meet these regulations requires outreach and education. UCAIR has made the education and outreach possible with its grant to PIA, PIU and partners SGIA and FTA. The program will take place in late spring or early summer and will be open to printing operations in a seven-county area at Salt Lake Community College.
HEALTHCARE
• Predictive Technology Group Inc., Salt Lake City, has appointed Dr. Gregory A. Prince to its Scientific Advisory Board. Predictive Technology Group uses data analytics for disease identification and subsequent therapeutic intervention through unique biotechnology treatments. Prince is a co-founder and chief executive officer of Virion Systems Inc. He spent four decades in virology research, with a focus on the respiratory syncytial virus. He currently is chief scientific officer at Soft Cell Biological Research LLC. He was inducted into the Dixie State University Hall of Fame in 1999. He hold adjunct professorships at Dixie and UCLA.
INSURANCE
• NFP Corp., a Lehi-based insurance broker and consultant, has hired Clint Wadsworth as a vice president for corporate benefits. He will oversee and help lead the corporate benefits strategy within NFP’s existing large-employer segment. He will also focus on developing new relationships by increasing awareness about NFP’s services that have recently been introduced in the Utah market. Wadsworth has 19 years of experience as a consultant and leader within the insurance industry. Prior to NFP, he served as the director of sales for Kaiser Permanente in Hawaii. He has also spent almost 14 years as a benefits consultant in the Utah market.
INVESTMENT
• Tower Arch Capital LP, a Salt Lake City-based lower-middle market private equity fund, has promoted Aubrey Burnett, Thomas Feveryear and Kathy Mickelson. Burnett moves from vice president to principal. He joined Tower Arch in 2016 as a vice president. Prior to joining Tower Arch Capital, he was a vice president at HIG Capital in San Francisco and also worked at Charlesbank Capital Partners in Boston. Feveryear was promoted from controller to chief financial officer. He joined Tower Arch in 2013 as a controller. Prior to Tower Arch, he was the controller at Peterson Partners. Feveryear received his Master of Business Administration and a bachelor of science in accounting from the University of Utah. Mickelson was promoted from executive assistant to office manager. She joined Tower Arch in 2014 as an executive assistant. Prior to joining Tower Arch, she was a personal assistant to the CFO of TCS Inc. She began her career working as an office manager and licensed insurance agent, specializing in both personal insurance lines and commercial policies.
• Techcyte Inc., Orem, has closed a $4.3 million funding round to commercialize its digital pathology platform. The investors in this round include those from previous rounds, employees and strategic partners. The funds will be used to accelerate selling to veterinary, human and air quality labs in the United States and international markets, and to perform clinical tests.
REAL ESTATE
• One Sandy Center, an office property, has been sold to Peregrine Realty Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed. The University of Utah is the building’s anchor tenant. Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors’ Chris Kirk, managing director, and Travis Yates, vice president, brokered the off-market sale, representing both parties in the transaction. A West Coast-based firm new to the Utah market, Peregrine also selected their team at CBC Advisors to serve as leasing agents for the building.
• Windermere Utah Real Estate, a resident and commercial real estate company, has opened an office at 4770 S. 5600 W., West Valley City. It is the company’s eighth office in Utah. It has more than 300 offices and 6,000 agents.
RECOGNITIONS
• Three Utah companies are listed among the World’s Top 100 Software Companies for 2018, an annual ranking by G2 Crowd. They are No. 27 Instructure (with a 96-percent satisfaction score), No. 44 Domo and No. 89 Jive Communications. The rankings are based on user reviews earned during the past year.
• Gregory N. Barrick, a shareholder in the Salt Lake City office of Durham Jones & Pinegar, has been ranked in “Band 1” (out of six bands) in the Chamber’s High Net Worth guide. Chambers & Partners has been ranking the best lawyers since 1990, with its 170 full-time editors and researches conducting telephone interviews with lawyers and clients year-round to assess their technical legal ability, professional conduct, client service, commercial astuteness, diligence, commitment and more. The publication is used by family offices and professional advisers to wealthy individuals, providing objective guidance on an international scale to assist them in selection of the best legal advisors. Barrick represents clients with respect to family wealth, estate and asset preservation planning, probate and estate administration matters, charitable giving and sophisticated business and estate tax planning matters. He has been with DJP for 20 years and has been practicing estate planning law for 36 years. He serves as the chair of the firm’s Estate Planning Section.
• KB Medical earned first place and received the $5,000 grand prize at the 2017-18 University of Utah Opportunity Quest business-model competition. KB is a student startup developing a wound drain. Ten collegiate teams advanced to the final judging and awards event. The competition is managed by students at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the University of Utah and sponsored by Zions Bank. Other top teams included the second-place winner Celebrate Everyday ($3,000), the third-place winner CSB Shoulder Brace ($2,000), best-video winner Sonoshield ($1,000), and Weg’s Seasoning as an honorable mention. KB advanced to 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. Other Opportunity Quest finalists are Bruxit, CrowdsourcedSales, EZ Heme Medical, Foster the Children, LIT Outdoors and Sonoshield.
• “Homestead” and “Ivory” earned the top spots in the Neumont College of Computer Science annual Capstone Project Invitational. Capstone projects are 10-week projects that students design and develop on their own to show they're ready to tackle the challenges of their senior year. Each year, five students with the best projects as determined by faculty are invited to demonstrate their work to a judging panel of alumni and tech industry partners. “Homestead,” by Ryan Stead, received the Alumni Choice Award. The project is a virtual reality interior design tool that allows users to explore different colors, lighting, furniture, décor and more before redesigning their space. “Ivory,” by Benjamin Goff, earned the Industry Partner Choice Award for a piano tutorial that aims to help users teach themselves to play the piano. Other projects at the event were “3D Mesh Generator,” a tool created by Justin Furtado that allows game developers and designers to quickly create varied models by altering small details automatically; “Angela's Bakery,” a custom website created by Sophie Wargo that allows a user to place an order for a cake using a 3D visualization tool; and “MCraft Tutorials,” a website created by Baret Woods where users can create and share the things they create in “Minecraft.”
SERVICES
• ConsultNet, a South Jordan-based provider of IT staffing and solutions, has hired Marnie Nuttall as chief financial officer. Nuttall has more than 25 years of executive accounting and finance leadership experience, from corporate finance and venture financing to financial controls and productivity improvements. She was most recently CFO at Central Logic. She previously served as CFO at Echopass Corp. and held executive roles at Axis41 and Assist Cornerstone Technologies.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Global Access, a Salt Lake City-based provider of cross-border commerce technologies and shipping solutions, has hired Doug Jones as vice president of sales. Jones previously spent 17 years in senior management at Newgistics. Prior to Newgistics, Jones spent 10 years in sales and operations management roles at Pepsi Co.
• JJUMPP Software, a Lehi-based online presence management (OPM) platform for small businesses, has appointed Jeff Mask as chief revenue officer. He is the first executive hired outside of the core founding team. His experience includes working on business development teams at About.com and Pfizer, and working as vice president of business development and later vice president of customer success at Infusionsoft.