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ACCOUNTING
• The KDA Accounting Group recently moved from Lehi to a new office in Provo. Owners Kinnith and Debbie Holloway bring more than 45 years of combined accounting experience to Provo. The group specializes in business consulting and tax services for small businesses and individuals.
BANKING
• Horizon Credit Union has opened a new branch at 1589 S. 500 W., Woods Cross. It is the latest location in the credit union’s effort to a create a member experience that merges a traditional physical branch location with the latest technology in financial servicing. Horizon Credit Union services Davis, Morgan and Weber counties.
• Bank of American Fork has added Natalie Gochnour to its Salt Lake County Advisory Board. Gochnour is an associate dean in the David Eccles School of Business and director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah. Her experience includes a mix of public service and business activities. During her public service, she advised Utah governors Norm Bangerter, Mike Leavitt and Olene Walker. She also served as a political appointee in the George W. Bush administration, serving as an associate administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency and deputy to the secretary at Health and Human Services. For seven years, she led the public policy endeavors of the Salt Lake Chamber. Gochnour also teaches public finance for the University of Utah’s Economics Department.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• BioInnovations Gateway (BiG), a partnership between the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative and Granite School District, has graduated four companies. A life science incubator, BiG offers essential support services to young companies to facilitate innovation, including providing career training to high school students who can work as interns with the companies. The graduating companies are Bend Labs, which is developing soft sensor technology that acts like an external nervous system in soft goods and lets devices detect body positions and physical movements; Ubiota, developing technology that characterizes a variety of microbial populations, including the human microbiota, or bacterial communities that colonize the gut and are implicated in digestive health and disease; Veristride, which features high-fidelity sensor technology that enables real-time monitoring and state-of-the-art biomechanical analysis of foot movement; and Zien Medical Technologies, which provides a foundation to efficiently launch medical device products and offers a range of engineering, quality, regulatory and contract manufacturing services.
GOVERNMENT
• Brent R. Baker has been elected chairman of the Utah Securities Commission. Baker is a director and shareholder at Clyde Snow & Sessions, where he is a member of the firm’s government and independent investigations and white-collar crime practice groups. His practice focuses on defending corporate, institutional and individual clients in regulatory enforcement investigations and litigation. Baker has more than 23 years of securities experience. Prior to joining Clyde Snow & Sessions, Baker was a senior attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a special assistant U.S. attorney for 14 years. In 2015, he was nominated by Gov. Gary R. Herbert to serve as commissioner of the Utah Securities Commission and is currently serving his second term.
• The Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS) has selected Elizabeth Carver as the new director of its Workforce Program, Policy and Training Division. Carver has been part of DWS for 19 years, most recently serving as a program manager for the department, overseeing several federally funded programs. She directly managed staff members who worked to oversee the policy, procedure and implementation of the programs statewide. At DWS, she also has worked as an employment supervisor and as a project manager overseeing major updates to the department’s online job matching system. Carver earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Utah and a master’s degree in educational psychology from University of Phoenix. Carver succeeds Karla Aguirre, who will retire Dec. 15 after more than 25 years of service to the state.
HEALTHCARE
• Intermountain Utah Valley Hospital’s new Outpatient Tower will be named for the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, thanks to a recent generous gift. The nine-story tower will serve several critical healthcare needs, including consolidating the hospital’s cancer services and offering a simulation learning center for advanced clinical training. It will also serve as home to a new “LiVe Well Center,” offering lifestyle assessments, fitness testing and nutritional counseling. Intermountain Utah Valley Hospital’s replacement project is expected to be completed in fall of 2018. In addition to the Sorenson Legacy Outpatient Tower, the project includes a new 12-story patient tower and numerous campus improvements.
• Myriad Genetics Inc., has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted its supplementary premarket approval application for its BRACAnalysis CDx to be used as a companion diagnostic with AstraZeneca’s PARP inhibitor Lynparza in patients with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Myriad expects the FDA’s priority review process to conclude in the third fiscal quarter of 2018. The company estimates there are approximately 125,000 patients with metastatic breast cancer who would immediately qualify for the BRACAnalysis CDx test, followed by 60,000 new patients per year on an ongoing basis.
INVESTMENTS
• DirectScale, a Lindon-based cloud-based software platform serving the direct and social selling industry, has closed on an $8.5 million Series B funding round led by Grotech Ventures, with participation from Origin Ventures and an existing investor, Kickstart Seed Fund. DirectScale said it will use the capital to expand sales, marketing and product development.
• Peterson Partners, Salt Lake City, has made a strategic investment in Solidcore, a Washington, D.C.-based boutique fitness brand with studios across the U.S. The amount was not disclosed. Peterson’s investment will fund the expansion of the company’s studios into new markets and increase its penetration in existing markets.
LAW
• Gilmore & Bell PC has hired Caitlin M. Benson and Aaron B. Wade in the firm’s Salt Lake City office. Benson is an associate. Prior to joining Gilmore & Bell, she worked as a law clerk for the Utah Office of the Attorney General. Benson graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English and was formerly a licensed teacher in Utah, and she graduated in 2017 from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. Wade, also an associate, received dual B.S. degrees from Utah State University in finance and economics in 2012 and his J.D. from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law in 2017. Prior to law school, Wade worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs.
MEDIA/MARKETING
• McKinnon-Mulherin Inc., Salt Lake City, has promoted Justin Parnell to team leader for the Technical Writing and Sales & Business Communication divisions. Parnell joined the company in December 2015 and has worked on proposals, grants, training projects and articles as a writer, editor and project leader. Team leader Madeline Brown will oversee the Learning Solutions and Editorial Services divisions, including McKinnon-Mulherin’s quick-turnaround proofreading and editing service.
PHILANTHROPY
• Bountiful Lions Club with Jeff Worthington, a local loan officer at Primary Residential Mortgage Inc., recently partnered with Limbitless to raise more than $3,000 for veterans in need of assistance. Limbitless is a nonprofit organization that helps connect wounded veterans and adaptive communities worldwide. The money was raised during a clay pigeon shoot fundraiser.
REAL ESTATE
• Brickstone Apartments on 33rd, at 220 E. 3300 S., Salt Lake City, has been sold by an affiliate of Missouri-based McCormack Baron Salazar Inc. to Peak Capital, based in Provo. Financial terms were not disclosed. The 100-unit multifamily property was built in 2010 and consists of four three-story buildings totaling 96,548 rentable square feet. Patrick Bodnar and Tim Flint of CBRE represented the seller.
• Mountain West Commercial Real Estate has hired Jack Rappaport and Joseph Anderson. Rappaport entered the commercial real estate industry in 1978. In 1997, he formed R&R Commercial Real Estate Services, a full-service firm specializing in tenant and buyer representation, particularly in retail, office and industrial. Anderson specializes in retail acquisitions and dispositions. He began his career working for the family business, MDL Group, as a sales associate before moving to The Equity Group, where he served as vice president.
RECOGNITIONS
• During the recent Utah Global Forum, the World Trade Association presented the International Person of the Year award to Ed Macha, president and founder of Reliable Controls Corp. and the Intermountain Company of the Year award to Ultradent Products Inc. Macha spent his childhood in southern Peru and has lived in multiple countries and worked on projects related to mineral processing and in the water, chemical and oil and gas sectors. Ultradent has 1,600 employees at offices in 10 nations and its products are exported to more than 100 countries. The two awards were sponsored by KeyBank.
• Five Utah companies have been named among the 2017 Best Small & Medium Workplaces by Great Place to Work and Fortune. The medium-sized company rankings included No. 20 BambooHR, Lindon; No. 40 Castle & Cook Mortgage, Draper; No. 57 Health Catalyst, Salt Lake City; and No. 80 Pluralsight, Farmington. The small-company category included No. 28 97th Floor, Lehi. Rankings were based on 74,000 surveys from employees at hundreds of businesses in all sectors of the economy.
• Western Governors University (WGU), Salt Lake City, has been recognized by the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants as the 2017 Academia Partner of the Year, the highest designation presented by EC-Council to one of its 1,000-plus academic partners annually. The organization praised WGU for its commitment to educate and make a difference in the cybersecurity workforce. The EC-Council is the world’s largest cybersecurity technical certification body, operating in 145 countries and providing the training and certification for more than 200,000 information security professionals worldwide.
• Michael Peterson and Fred Thurston have been named finalists for the 2017 Utah Leopold Conservation Award, presented for Utah landowner achievement in voluntary stewardship and management of natural resources. The award program is presented by the Sand County Foundation, in partnership with Western AgCredit, the Utah Farm Bureau Federation and the Utah Cattlemen’s Association. Peterson oversees the family Triple P Ranch in Nephi. Thurston owns and manages a dry farm, cattle and mink ranch in Morgan. Peterson and Thurston will be formally recognized Nov. 1 at the Utah Association for Conservation Districts (UACD) Convention in St. George, and the winner being announced Nov. 17 at the Utah Farm Bureau Convention in Layton. The award recipient will receive $10,000 and a crystal depicting Aldo Leopold. Details are at www.leopoldconservationaward.org.
• Wix Filters, in conjunction with Tomorrow’s Tech magazine, has named Hunter High School in West Valley City as its 2017 School of the Year. The 10th annual program recognizes the best technical training school in the U.S. As the award recipient, the school received a $2,500 donation to the school’s automotive technology program from Wix Filters; merchandise from O’Reilly Auto Parts and Wix Filters; and travel for the school’s instructor, Tyler Perkins, and a guest to Las Vegas to attend Babcox Media’s recognition dinner at the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX). Hunter was selected from among 370 entries.
RETAIL
• Natural Grocers will open a new store Nov. 1 at 989 S. Main St., Heber City. It will offer 100 percent organic produce; naturally raised meats; free-range eggs; pasture-based dairy; GMO-free prepackaged bulk products; groceries without artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives; nutritional supplements; and body-care, pet food and cleaning and household supplies. Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc. has 140 stores in 19 states.
• CenterCal Properties has announced that Whole Foods has opened a store at Canyon Corners in Park City. It has nearly twice the square footage as the original store and includes the Silver Mine Taproom, serving beers from Utah breweries, as well as the Ritual Chocolate Drinking and Coffee Bar. The café has 100 seats.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Luxul, a Draper-based technology company offering IP networking solutions, has appointed Mike Grubb as vice president of marketing and Chris Kovacek as Eastern regional sales manager. Grugg previously held leadership roles with Sonos and Atlona in the custom integration, retail and commercial channels. Kovacek has more than eight years of experience in the custom installation industry, including consumer electronics integration, management, manufacturing, sales and distribution. He most recently was distribution sales manager at Clare Controls.
TRAVEL & TOURISM
• TravelPass Group, Lehi, has announced a joint venture with Best Day Travel Group to improve the visibility of Latin America and Caribbean offerings for U.S. travelers. TravelPass Group is a hotel marketplace with more than a million properties worldwide. Best Day is a leisure travel company focused on Latin America.