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ASSOCIATIONS
• Silicon Slopes has announced the dates for its Tech Summit 2018. The second annual event will be Jan. 18-19 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City. The summit will include keynote presentations, workshops, a concert, and networking and parties. The cost is $95 for an all-access pass. Details are at siliconslopessummit.com.
• The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) board of directors has elected Carlos Braceras as vice president. Braceras is executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation, a position he has held since May 2013. He began his career at UDOT in 1986, ascending in 2001 to deputy director and chief engineer. Prior to his election as AASHTO vice president, Braceras served as AASHTO secretary-treasurer.
BANKING
• Bank of Utah, Ogden, has hired Jennifer Nielsen to serve as a mortgage originator at its Roy branch. Nielsen started her career 12 years ago at Golden West Credit Union in mortgage lending, eventually promoted to branch manager and mortgage originator.
COMMUNICATIONS
• AT&T has appointed Matthew Langer as director of sales for AT&T Utah operations. He will be responsible for the successful operation and overall performance of Utah sales and distribution. Langer leads a team of 150 employees in more than 50 locations. Langer has been with AT&T for 17 years, including serving most recently as an area retail sales manager in Phoenix. He is a Marine veteran who was stationed in California and deployed overseas. He earned a bachelor of science degree in business management from the University of Phoenix.
CONSTRUCTION
• Reaveley Engineers + Associates, a Salt Lake City-based structural engineering firm, has hired Bryant Nielsen as a senior engineer. Nielsen has 16 years of teaching, research and industry experience. His experience includes working more than 11 years in academia, teaching and conducting research at Clemson University. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Utah State University.
DIRECT SALES
• LifeVantage Corp., Sandy, has appointed Kevin McMurray as general counsel. McMurray has more than 25 years of legal experience, including serving as assistant general counsel at USANA Health Sciences since 2004. He also served as associate general counsel for Unicity International and assistant general counsel for Shaklee Corp.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Utah County tops the state list of “Best Places to Get a Mortgage,” compiled by SmartAsset. The third annual study determined top markets to secure a home loan in the state by analyzing data on mortgage approval rates, in addition to mortgage interest rates, average five-year borrowing costs and property taxes. Utah County was followed, in order, by Cashe, Washington, Davis, Wasatch, Summit, Juab, Morgan, Salt Lake and Iron counties. Details and an interactive map are at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/utah-mortgage-rates#utah.
ENERGY
• CleanSpark Inc., Salt Lake City, has announced that Larry McNeill has been appointed as chairman of the company’s board. He succeeds S. Matthew Schultz, who served as interim chairman from July through September following the resignation of Bruce Lybbert. Schultz continues as chief executive officer and director. McNeill has served as a company director since January 2015. McNeill’s experience includes roles in real estate, finance, research, legal, management and business strategies across multiple industries. Most recently, he served as chief financial officer of Theater Candy Corp. and Videolocity Inc. Prior to that, he served as director of Safeway Grocery Stores’ consumer, sales and store location research departments; as director of market research for A&P; and Smith’s Food & Drug Centers for 17 years, most recently serving as the senior vice president of corporate development overseeing the research, real estate and legal departments. CleanSpark is a microgrid company with advanced engineering, software and controls for innovative distributed energy resource management systems.
HEALTHCARE
• Lice Clinics of America has opened a clinic at 540 E. Antelope Drive, Suite 108, Clearfield. It is the second Utah location for the company, which operates more than 300 urgent-care clinics in 34 countries. The company provides screening, diagnosis and treatment options for people infested with head lice. The clinic is managed by Holly Horrocks.
INSURANCE
• Dale Barton Agency, a Murray-based insurance and surety company, has named Margie Arnovitz to oversee insurance claims and Mike Arndt as a new point of contact responsible for large insurance accounts on new and renewal business. Arnovitz has more than 35 years of experience in claims, mostly recently working the past 12 years as a senior claims adjustor at Zurich. She also adjusted claims at Argonaut Insurance and USF&G (now Travelers). Arndt has more than 25 years of construction underwriting and insurance company experience, most recently at CNA Insurance, where he worked for the past 14 years as a construction insurance underwriter. He also has worked as an underwriter at USF&G (now Travelers), EMC Insurance and Providence Washington. He earned a B.A. in finance from the University of Utah.
INVESTMENTS
• DiscGenics Inc., Salt Lake City, has closed a $14 million Series B financing. The round brings the company’s total funding to $21.7 million. The round was jointly led by the company’s board of directors, existing long-term investors and new investment partner and observer Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co Ltd. The company is using the round’s proceeds to support clinical development of its first product candidate, IDCT, in the U.S. and Japan; ramp up translation of its cell therapy manufacturing process for Phase III clinical and commercial production; and to fund ongoing operations.
• Blip, a Provo-based platform for purchasing and managing digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising campaigns, has announced it has received $5 million in funding and a partnership with YESCO Outdoor Media, Salt Lake City. The funding comes as a result of Blip’s year-long integration with YESCO. Blip is introducing a new marketplace where potential advertisers can purchase ad space by the eight-second increment. The new partnership with YESCO will spread the technology across all of YESCO’s digital signs.
NATURAL RESOURCES
• Clifton Mining Co., American Fork, has announced that Jerry L. Wilhelm has been appointed to serve as a board member, filling the vacancy left by the death of Larrabee (Larry) M. Smith until the next shareholder meeting. Wilhelm is a retired pharmacist with 41 years of medical and business experience, including spending most of his business years as an active investor both independently and in an investment firm.
PHILANTHROPY
• Pluralsight, Farmington, has announced that through its Pluralsight One social impact initiative, it has committed $10 million over five years to support K-12 computer science education in the United States. The commitment is part of the Internet Association’s plans to provide more than $300 million in support of K-12 computer science programs.
• Utah Surgical Arts has launched the second year of its “Share A Smile” program and is accepting applications until Nov. 2 from local residents who cannot afford the “All-on-4 Treatment Concept” procedure on their own. One person will receive a new set of teeth in the procedure, which typically costs about $40,000. Applications can be submitted at https://utahsurgicalarts.com/shareasmile.
REAL ESTATE
• The Salt Lake office of CBRE has been selected by Westport Capital Partners LLC to oversee the leasing of a 150,000-square-foot office building at a site formerly occupied by Shopko at the intersection of I-80 and 1300 East in Sugar House. Tab Cornelison, Eric Smith, Nadia Letey and Scott Wilmarth will oversee the listing. The building will be a Class A structure six stories tall, each with 25,000 square feet. It also will have a small, street-level retail slot. Construction is expected to be completed by the summer of 2019. It is part of a development that also will include a medical office facility and a 100-unit apartment building.
• Newmark Grubb ACRES (NGA), Salt Lake City, has hired Steven D. Anderson. He is an industrial and development services specialist who previously worked at Coldwell Banker Commercial. He has handled over $30 million in transactions. Anderson received his bachelor of science in finance degree from Utah Valley University and is working toward his master’s in real estate development from the University of Utah.
RECOGNITIONS
• Industrial Supply, Ballet West and Sutter Physician Services have earned 2017 Utah Business Diversity Awards, presented by Utah Diversity Connections, a group of employers in Utah working to help transform the Utah workplace and community to create an inclusive culture.
• Four Utah companies are listed in the lists of “Best Places to Work in Healthcare,” compiled by Modern Healthcare. In the Suppliers category, CompHealth is listed at No. 2; Health Catalyst is No. 10; and Central Logic is No. 72. Weber Human Services is listed at No. 69 in the Provider/Insurers category. The award program identifies and recognizes outstanding employers in the healthcare industry nationwide. Modern Healthcare partners with the Best Companies Group on the assessment process, which includes an extensive employee survey.
• PillPack, an e-commerce pharmacy that has its advisory center and several corporate functions based in Salt Lake City, has been named on the list of “Next Billion-Dollar Startups,” compiled by Forbes. The list of 25 companies involved Forbes collaborating with TrueBridge Capital Partners and asking 195 venture firms which companies they thought were most likely to hit the billion-dollar mark soon. PillPack ships prescriptions, vitamins and over-the-counter medications each month in pre-sorted packaging.
• American Banker magazine’s October “Most Powerful Women in Banking” issue lists Zions Bancorporation as having one of five “Top Banking Teams” in the U.S. Twenty-seven women from the company are listed as team members. The magazine said the award is a reflection of Zions Bancorporation’s “strong female leaders … contributing to its strategy and bottom line and of its commitment to initiatives to help more women advance into the senior ranks.” Women comprise 50 percent of the company’s corporate officer positions, and female executives make up 21 percent of the company’s Executive Management Committee. The magazine also lists Jennifer Smith, the company’s chief information officer, at No. 21 on its “25 Women to Watch” list, and its editor’s note highlights the career progression of Rebecca Robinson, the company’s director of enterprise wealth management.
• Lesa Francis has been named to the third annual “Global Power 100 — Women in Staffing” list, compiled by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), an advisor on staffing and workforce solutions. Francis is president and chief executive officer of Supplemental Health Care, Park City, a position she has held since June 2016. The Global Power 100 is intended to recognize women who are leading the staffing industry through the landscape of legislative change, technological advancements and economic challenges. Francis has made the SIA’s Staffing 100 list in North America five times and the global list three times.
RETAIL
• Apparel and home product retailer Burlington will occupy 45,000 square feet in The Commons at Southtowne, Sandy, taking over the existing Sports Authority space. The announcement was made by the Bowler Retail Team (BRT) at Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors (CBC Advisors). BRT brokers Steve Bowler, executive vice president of retail services, and Heather Bogden, vice president of retail services, represented the landlord, Thackeray Co., in the transaction. Burlington has 567 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico.
• Honey & Lace, a Salt Lake City-based direct-retail fashion company producing women’s clothing, has changed its name to Piphany. The company said the change “reflects both the evolution of the company as well as its vision for the future.”
SCHOLARSHIPS
• Western Governors University, Salt Lake City, will award 100 new scholarships to students pursuing bachelor’s or master’s degrees. The university said the $200,000 in 2020 Vision Scholarships is designed to help build the workforce of the future. Each scholarship is $500 per six-month term, up to four terms. Applications are being accepted through Dec. 31 at https://www.wgu.edu/tuition_financial_aid/scholarships/2020vision?ch=RLSS&refer_id=65019.
SERVICES
• IMS, which focuses on business-to-business barter services, has opened a new office in Salt Lake City. IMS Barter of Salt Lake City has been opened by entrepreneur Leonard C. Leslie. Founded in 1985, Wisconsin-based International Monetary Systems (IMS) serves 23,000 cardholders in 51 North American markets.
• Simplus, Salt Lake City, has appointed Suman Konidana as managing director. Konidana has more than 21 years of industry and management consulting experience, including leading business development and solution delivery in digital technologies and customer engagement for Slalom, Salesforce and Deloitte.
• Mick Echard has started a new Welcomemat Services business that will be serving the Salt Lake City and northern Utah communities. Welcomemat Services is focused on local advertising in the direct-mail marketing industry. Echard’s experience includes working as a superintendent of several golf clubs in Massachusetts, and as the property manager for the University of Utah and the Capitol.
• Global Upside has named Spencer Brown as chief revenue officer. Working at the company’s Salt Lake City office, Spencer will continue the growth of the company’s portfolio of services that include accounting, international expansion, talent acquisition and professional employer organization (PEO) in more than 100 countries. He also will help the company grow its newly launched HR software division, Mihi. Spencer has more than 20 years of experience in sales management and partner development, most recently serving as vice president of sales and customer success at Pluralsight. He also has worked at Marketstar.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Dave Grow has been selected to join the board of directors of link management platform company Bitly. Grow is president and chief operating officer of Lucid Software, South Jordan. Grow previously served as chief revenue officer and vice president of product and strategy. Prior to joining Lucid, Grow was a management consultant at Bain & Co.
TRANSPORTATION
• SkyWest Inc., St. George, has entered into aircraft purchase agreements and capacity purchase agreements to acquire and fly 15 additional new aircraft with Delta Air Lines and five additional new aircraft with Alaska Airlines. The aircraft are expected to be delivered through the end of 2018. They will be operated by SkyWest Airlines Inc., a SkyWest wholly owned subsidiary. The 15 Delta aircraft will have 70 seats. The Alaska aircraft will have 76 seats. SkyWest Inc. announced recently 25 new aircraft, and the total of 45 will be obtained with about $161 million in cash and debt.