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CONVENTIONS
- The International Inbound Travel Association board of directors has selected Salt Lake City to host its summit Feb. 9-12, 2025. Salt Lake City was one of seven destinations bidding on the event. The Salt Lake City Convention and Visitors Bureau, an active member of IITA, and the Hilton Salt Lake City Center submitted the winning bid. Also an active IITA member, the Utah Office of Tourism has pledged its support of the event. The summit brings together hundreds of travel organizations to do business and put together USA itineraries and travel services for international travelers visiting the U.S. from around the world.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
- Utah is ranked No. 2 on a list of “Best States for Millennials,” compiled by Scholaroo. Utah held the same spot last year. Scholaroo analyzed economic, social and environmental metrics across all 50 states. Utah ranked No. 1 for employment, No. 4 for personal finance, No. 11 for quality of life, No. 15 for health, No. 20 for political and social environment, No. 26 for affordability and No. 27 for safety. The top-ranked state is Minnesota. The bottom-ranked state is Alabama. Details are at https://scholaroo.com/report/best-states-for-millennials/.
- Salt Lake City is ranked No. 104 and West Valley City is No. 190 on a list of “Best Cities to Own an Electric Car,” compiled by Roof Gnome. It compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on EV incentives, infrastructure, costs, and safety, factoring in EV laws, electricity costs, charging station access, and solar energy potential from viable roofs. The top-ranked city is San Diego. The No. 200 city is Detroit. Details are at https://roofgnome.com/blog/studies/best-cities-electric-car-owners/#rankings.
- Utah is ranked No. 18 on a list of “Best States to Visit This Fall,” compiled by LawnStarter. It compared the 48 contiguous U.S. states based on four categories, including the length of projected fall foliage, scenic drives, fall festivals and pumpkin patches. On breakout lists, Utah is No. 2 for most scenic drives and No. 5 for fewest wineries per 100,000 residents. The top-ranked state overall is California. The bottom-ranked state is Louisiana. Details are at https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-worst-states-to-visit-in-fall/#rankings.
EXPANSIONS
- Qualtrics, a Provo-based company focused on experience management, has opened an office in Reston, Virginia, about 20 miles from Washington, D.C. It will serve as a hub for artificial intelligence innovation and public-sector growth. The new office expands the company’s presence in the region following its 2021 acquisition of Reston-based Clarabridge, a company focused on omnichannel conversational analytics. Qualtrics will occupy 52,266 square feet across two full floors in the newly developed Reston Station complex.
- Biomerics, a Salt Lake City-based medical device contract manufacturer, has completed a 100,000-square-foot expansion of its operations in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. It brings the size of the facility to 170,000 square feet. The expansion includes 20,000 square feet dedicated to expanding micro metals laser processing, 24,000 square feet for complex extrusion processing, and 10,000 square feet for advanced catheter processing. The expansion also provides areas for employee training and office space. Biomerics also has polyurethane manufacturing in Salt Lake City.
GOVERNMENT
- Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson has appointed Kelly Colopy as human services director for the county. Colopy returns to Utah after serving as the director of the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services since 2013. From 2005 to 2012, she worked in various roles within Salt Lake County government, including as acting director of the Division of Mental Health and associate director of the Human Services Department.
- Salt Lake City has issued a request for statement of qualifications (RFSQ) for the redevelopment of the Historic Northwest Pipeline Building and site, formerly used as the city’s public safety complex, at the northeast corner of 200 South and 300 East. The RFSQ is the first phase of a two-phased process to select a developer for the city to partner with on the redevelopment of the approximately 2.4 acre property. The second phase will be a request for proposals (RFP), in which development teams will submit specific proposals for redeveloping the property with a mix of uses that serve residents and the downtown community. The nine-story Northwest Pipeline Building was constructed in 1958 by the Pacific Northwestern Pipeline Corp.
HEALTHCARE
- Avance Clinical, a CRO for biotechs, has appointed Madison Esely-Kohlman, based in Salt Lake City, as a director of business development. She is focused on partnering with biotech companies on their Phase I-III clinical trials. Esely-Kohlman has experience working in specialty drug development services, including in vitro DMPK testing and regulated bioanalysis, and GLP preclinical studies.
HOSPITALITY
- Audubon International, a nonprofit organization focused on conservation initiatives, has added Black Desert Resort as a registered member of its Audubon International Signature Sanctuary Program. Black Desert Resort is a golf, lodging, recreation and residential community near St. George. Over the coming months, Black Desert will work closely with Audubon International’s team of environmental specialists to formulate a plan to earn property-wide designation as a Platinum Certified Signature Sanctuary, starting with its 19-hole championship golf course. Black Desert’s 150-room eco-hotel is set to open in fall 2024, with Golf Village, Family Village and Boardwalk complexes to follow. The long-term plan envisions the potential for up to 1,000 homes.
INVESTMENTS
- Quad-C Management Inc., a Virginia-based middle market private equity firm, has closed on an investment in the Vortex Cos., a provider of trenchless infrastructure rehabilitation products and services. Vortex Products has two U.S. facilities, with its Sandy facility formulating, manufacturing and distributing geopolymers, hybrid mortars, polymerics and resins. Vortex was founded in 2015. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
- Lane VC, a Lehi-based venture capital firm focused on mobility and mobility supporting tech-based startups, has added Brent Bennett as a venture partner. Bennett began his career with a human resource outsourcing firm, and served in the U.S. Army Reserve representing soldiers returning from Desert Storm in matters pertaining to retirement, life insurance and the G.I. bill. He has served on the board of the Utah Entrepreneur Organization, the broker advisory board of CIGNA, Aetna Health Plans, SelectHealth and the National Advisory board of UnitedHealthcare. Bennett has been a leader in the employee benefits market since 2002 when he acquired Spectra Benefits.
MANUFACTURING
- Purple Innovation Inc., a Lehi-based manufacturer of comfort products, has appointed Todd Vogensen as chief financial officer. Vogensen succeeds Bennett Nussbaum, who has been serving as interim CFO since August 2021. Vogensen’s career spans multiple publicly traded retail brands, including Chico’s, Michaels and Gap. Most recently, Vogensen has led a broad finance team at Party City as executive vice president/CFO.
NONPROFITS
- Visit Salt Lake, a private, nonprofit corporation that promotes Salt Lake as a convention, meetings, sports events and travel destination, has named Stuart Webber as director of convention sales. He will pursue citywide conventions with 1,700-plus attendees from the health, medical, public administration, legal and governmental markets. Webber has more than 15 years of tourism industry and destination marketing organization experience. He served as Sioux Falls Convention Center’s director of sales since 2007 and worked with Global Spectrum in Sioux Falls as manager of corporate sales. He also has experience with Northwest Airlines.
PARTNERSHIPS
- Ivory Innovations and the Call to Action Foundation have joined forces to create the “Housing for Impact” partnership, aimed at addressing the need for affordable housing in Utah. To kick off the partnership, local leaders recently gathered to announce seven upcoming affordable housing projects and a goal to build 850 affordable housing units over the next three years. In addition to Salt Lake City, the following communities have been identified as locations for upcoming developments: Lehi, South Jordan, Francis, Park City, Draper and Magna. Ivory Innovations is an applied academic institution at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business dedicated to catalyzing high-impact innovations in housing affordability. The Call to Action Foundation is a private operating foundation dedicated to increasing access to education, affordable housing, and food security for underserved communities throughout the West and Midwest.
- Instructure, a Salt Lake City-based learning platform company, has announced a partnership with K16 Solutions, involved in content and data migration and integration. The partnership extends access to a simple yet powerful archiving solution to all Instructure Canvas customers.
- O.C. Tanner, a Salt Lake City-based company focused on employee recognition, has announced its participation in the Zebra PartnerConnect program. Zebra Technologies is a digital solution provider enabling businesses to connect data, assets and people. O.C. Tanner joins as a registered independent software vendor focusing on Android-based mobile computers and tablets equipped with Culture Cloud, O.C. Tanner’s employee-recognition solution.
REAL ESTATE
- Human Interest, a California-based 401(k) provider for small and mid-size companies, has leased the entire 29,938-square-foot floor at Mountain Tech Center in Lindon. The site will be the base of the company’s “Operational Center of Excellence” and is set to create 306 new jobs and bring a $3 million investment to Utah over the next five years. The location announcement was made by JLL. Jillian Johnson and David Nixon of JLL represented Human Interest, and Cushman & Wakefield’s Dana Baird, JT Redd and Mike Richmond represented the sublandlord. Human Interest in May was approved for a tax-credit incentive by the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity board, based on the creation of 306 high-paying positions over five years.
RECOGNITIONS
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has announced that Big Dill Pickleball Co. in Draper has been named among 70 of “America’s Top Small Businesses.” It will compete for one of seven finalist spots, setting the stage for the announcement of the chamber’s annual “America’s Top Small Business Awards” winner on Oct. 19. The top 70 small businesses will receive a one-year paid membership to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and will be prominently featured on its website. The chamber received more than 15,000 applications from throughout the U.S. They were evaluated on their business growth, ability to overcome challenges, innovative strategies for success, and community engagement.
- Thomas Wright has been named the recipient of the Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate Lifetime Achievement Award, an honor bestowed twice annually. Thomas is CEO and principal broker of Summit Sotheby’s International Realty, Park City, and president of Majestic Realty Collective, a compendium of some of the nation’s top Sotheby’s International Realty companies. Wright also has been involved in philanthropy, including Sotheby’s Cares Charity Golf Tournament hosted annually, and is involved in several organizations.
- Utah Global Diplomacy recently honored several people with Citizen Diplomat Awards, recognizing their work in establishing and strengthening Utah’s international relationships. They include Franz Kolb, director of international trade and diplomacy at the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity; Chris and Erlynn Lansing, directors of the Church Hosting Office for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and DeAnna and Lynn DeBry, volunteer hosts for Utah Global Diplomacy (retired). Utah Global Diplomacy aims to promote respect and understanding between the people of Utah and other nations.
- The University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business is ranked No. 7 among undergraduate programs for entrepreneurship and No. 4 among public schools for 2024 by U.S. News & World Report. The entrepreneurship program at the Eccles School is provided in partnership between the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. The U.S. Newsbest business school rankings are based on the judgments of deans and senior faculty members at peer institutions. This year, the survey included deans and senior faculty members at each of the 523 undergraduate business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. For the graduate business school rankings, U.S. News surveyed all 496 MBA programs accredited by the association.
- Utah Valley University has been recognized as an “Outstanding Member Institution” by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities for its efforts to assist Latino and other unrepresented populations find their path in higher education. UVU provides a variety of programs to help pre-college-age Latino students feel at home on campus, and UVU has the largest Latino student enrollment among four-year higher education institutions in Utah.
TECHNOLOGY
- Avetta, a Lehi-based provider of a platform for supply chain management, has appointed Jeff Kristick as chief revenue officer. Kristick has over two decades of go-to-market experience in the enterprise and software-as-a-service sectors, most recently holding leadership roles at TIBCO Software, including senior vice president of TIBCO sales for North America and Europe. Before that, he served as president of Meridian Knowledge Solution and held sales and marketing roles at Oracle, SAP, SuccessFactors, Plateau Systems and Siebel Systems.
TRAVEL
- Christopherson Business Travel, Salt Lake City, has appointed Gregory Mueller as vice president of product and UX design. Responsible for all product design at Christopherson, Mueller brings over 15 years of experience across industries, including as travel, healthcare, e-commerce and open-source developer tools. Mueller’s career highlights include leading design efforts for numerous startups and tech companies, including Amazon, Yahoo and PSNGR1 (Passenger1).