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BANKING
• America First Credit Union, Riverdale, has made changes within its Information Technology Division, the new Security Operations Center (SOC) Department and the Change Management Department. The new SOC Department will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Security Operations Center, including the security incident response plan and vulnerability management for America First. Andrew Qualls will be manager of the new SOC Department. Qualls, a current information systems and technology auditor, began his career with America First in 2008 and has experience as an accountant, quality assurance tester, senior information technologies risk consultant, and many other positions prior to his service with America First. The new Change Management Department is responsible for change management in relation to the computer systems and applications the credit union uses on a daily basis. The department will create and implement new procedures and a new change management process that will help the credit union reduce service disruptions. Lane Gittins, who currently serves as systems security manager, will be transitioning over as manager of the new department.
• Mountain America Credit Union, West Jordan, has hired Monica Henson as a wealth management sales manager at LPL Financial at MACU. Mountain America contracts with LPL Financial to offer investment services. Henson will serve members and staff in central and southern Utah and Nevada. She has worked in the financial industry for 27 years. Prior to joining Mountain America, she served as vice president and associate regional brokerage manager for Wells Fargo Advisors. Henson also served with Wells Fargo Bank as a senior vice president, affluent segment leader and regional private banking manager for the Utah and Idaho regions.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• St. George is the fastest-economic-growth city in Utah, according to personal finance website WalletHub. To determine where the most rapid local economic growth occurred over a period of seven years, WalletHub compared 515 U.S. cities across 15 key metrics. The data set ranges from population growth to college-educated population growth to unemployment rate decrease. St. George was No. 20 among those 515 cities. Other Utah cities on the list are No. 58 Orem, No. 183 Provo, No. 194 Salt Lake City, No. 227 Sandy, No. 266 Ogden, No. 277 Layton, No. 301 West Jordan and No. 307 West Valley City. Details are at https://wallethub.com/edu/fastest-growing-cities/7010/. The top city in the U.S. is Fort Myers, Florida. The Slowest-growth city is Decatur, Illinois.
• West Jordan has the best score for income equality among Utah cities with a population of 60,000 or more, according to HomeArea.com. The study was based on census data. Income inequality is measured on a scale from 0 to 100 using the Gini Coefficient. Lower values indicate that household income is more evenly distributed on a pre-tax basis. In the U.S., it typically falls in the range of 30-65. West Jordan had a score of 33.3, followed by Layton, 35.1; South Jordan, 36.1; West Valley City, 36.3; Orem, 41.4; Sandy, 42.6; St. George, 44.7; Ogden, 46.3; Provo, 47.3; and Salt Lake City, 49.3. Details are at https://www.homearea.com/rankings/place-in-ut/household_income_inequality/.
• Four industry representatives have been appointed to the Talent Ready Utah board. They will help the newly formed Talent Ready Utah Center align education with business to accomplish Gov. Gary Herbert’s goal of filling 40,000 new high-skill, high-paying jobs by 2020. The new members are Aaron Skonnard, co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight; Charles “Chuck” Taylor, president of MSC Aerospace; Andrea Moss, president and CEO of Nelnet; and Jeff Nelson, president of Nelson Laboratories.
• The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced the grantees under the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) 2018 University Center Economic Development Program Competition. EDA is providing a total of $2.5 million in grants to 20 colleges and universities in 13 states to run programs that will leverage their assets to promote American innovation and strengthen regional economies. Among the grantees from the EDA’s Denver regional office are Dixie State University and Southern Utah University receiving $143,000.
OUTDOOR PRODUCTS/RECREATION/SPORTS
• The Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation will have a series of statewide grant workshops to assist with the Outdoor Recreation Grant process. The grant program helps fund outdoor recreation infrastructure projects that aim to improve recreation amenities for residents as well as attract tourists to the region. The office’s team will walk participants through the process to help them create a compelling grant submission. Also, partner organizations will present other grant opportunities available. Applications for next year’s grant cycle will be accepted from Jan. 10-Feb. 28, 2019. The grant program provides matching grant funding to local governments and nonprofits to build outdoor recreation infrastructures such as trails, boat ramps and more. In the 2019 grant cycle, award amounts will range from $5,000 to $150,000. In Northern Utah, workshops will be Nov. 1, 9-11 a.m., in Salt Lake City; Nov. 5, 9:30-11:30 a.m., in Provo; Nov. 6, 9-11 a.m., in Park City; and Nov. 7, 9-11 a.m., in Brigham City. The Southern Utah schedule includes Oct. 15, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., in Toquerville; Oct. 16, 9-11 a.m. in Cedar City; Oct. 16, 3-5 p.m., in Richfield; Oct. 17, 9-11 a.m., in Moab; Oct. 17, 3-5 p.m., in Blanding; Oct. 18, 2-4:30 p.m., in Helper; and Oct. 19, 9-11 a.m., in Vernal. Details are at business.utah.gov/uorg.
• Zions Bank has joined Utah Outdoor Partners as a founding member. Utah Outdoor Partners is a new non-partisan, nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to promoting the broad economic value of Utah’s outdoors. It was launched this summer by Doug Owens and U.S. Rep. Mia Love, along with representatives from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
PARTNERSHIPS
• Helio Training and Neumont College of Computer Science have announced partnerships with Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment (LHMSE). Helio Training students will develop web sites and resources for companies under the LHMSE umbrella, including, but not limited to, the Utah Jazz, Tour of Utah and The Zone Sports Network. Neumont students will develop software projects and resources for those same companies. The first student project is creating an 8-bit video game for the Utah Jazz. As part of the partnership agreement, Helio Training and Neumont will serve as a sponsor for the Utah Jazz game against the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 4, as well as providing additional advertising and marketing publicity opportunities for Helio Training and Neumont throughout the 2018-2019 Utah Jazz season.
PHILANTHROPY
• The employees of Solutionreach, a Lehi-based patient relationship management software company, raised $43,000 for the Utah Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through the company’s September 2018 Month of Charity. Over the last five years, Solutionreach and its employees have collectively donated more than $225,000 to the chapter through the month-long Solutionreach Giving Games competition.
REAL ESTATE
• Rising Star Realtors, Park City, and Bryson Real Estate, Bountiful, have joined the Windermere Real Estate Utah family. Windermere’s Park City office has moved to the office of Rising Star Realtors at 1835 Three Kings Drive. Nearly 20 agents will work from the office to serve Park City and Wasatch Back clients. Daimon Bushi is the branch broker of the Windermere Park City office. Windermere’s new Bountiful office is at 152 W. 500 S. and will provide real estate services for northern Wasatch Front communities. Jared Bryson is branch broker.
• Property Management Inc., a Lehi-based property management and real estate services company, has named Danessa Itaya as the senior vice president. Itaya has over 25 years of experience in franchising. Itaya’s career in franchising began at Molly Maid, where she held various leadership roles, including director of accounting, director of operations and vice president of operations. She served as president and co-chair of Ms. Molly Foundation, a corporate-sponsored nonprofit organization supporting victims of domestic violence. She also worked with the brand-new Maid Right franchise, which since grown to more than 40 master franchises.
• Industry SLC has announced an expansion to Salt Lake City. Spanning 8.3 acres of industrial warehouse space along 600 South and 500 West (the north side of the Granary District), Industry will use a former silver foundry. It will begin with more than 150,000 square feet of modern office space and feature shared tenant amenities, including conference rooms, kitchens, event space and roof decks. Later additions call for a 30,000-square-foot climbing gym, restaurants and multifamily housing options. The first phases are set to open in late summer or early fall 2019. Industry was established in the River North Art District of Denver. It has two locations in Denver, spanning more than 300,000 square feet. Joining Industry co-founders Jason and Ellen Winkler in Salt Lake City are partner and Salt Lake City native Brandon Blaser, as well as Drake Real Estate Partners, a real estate investment firm based in New York.
RETAIL
• Closets by Design has a new location in the Willow Creek Industrial Park in Lehi. Newmark Grubb ACRES made the announcement. Its industrial vice president, Skyler Peterson, and Jaden Malan of Newmark Grubb ACRES represented the company in leasing 9,850 square feet of showroom and distribution space at 520 S. 850 E. Closets by Design has more than 45 active franchises. Since 1982, it has been designing, building and installing custom closets, garage cabinets, home offices, laundries, pantries, wardrobe mirror doors and more.
RURAL UTAH
• The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board, at its September meeting, endorsed a pair of Rural Fast Track grants. Johnson’s Diesel Service, of Huntington in Emery County, was endorsed for a $25,000 grant to help the company add a new specialty vehicle in order to meet increased demand for wrecker, 24/7 repair and tire services. The $110,000 project is expected to result in one new full-time position. Taylor Made Wooden Heritage, of Blanding in San Juan County, was endorsed for a $16,500 grant to help the company add equipment to produce Elastocreet countertops and have additional capacity to meet increased product demand. The $33,000 project is expected to result in one new full-time position. The grants were approved by the Governor’s Rural Partnership Board.
SERVICES
• Pilot Freight Services, based in Pennsylvania, has opened a 44,000-square-foot multi-client warehouse at 1711 S. 4650 W., Suite B, Salt Lake City. The facility supports growth from the company’s existing Salt Lake City station and its 45,000 square feet of warehouse space.
• Valvoline Inc., a Kentucky-based supplier of lubricants and auto services, has announced that franchisee Superior Lube has opened a Valvoline Instant Oil Change service center at 603 E. 12300 S., Draper. It is the company’s third service center in the Salt Lake City area. The company has more than 1,150 company-owned and franchised Valvoline Instant Oil Change stores.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Voxpopme, a Salt Lake City-based video technology company, has appointed Braden Johnstone as senior vice president of customer success. His responsibilities include product adoption and engagement, customer satisfaction and strategies to drive customer loyalty. Johnstone has more than 15 years of management experience within mid-sized software and service organizations, with a focus on customer development and success, business systems, cultural development and strategy. Most recently, he was senior vice president of services and support at FocusVision.
• PrinterLogic, a St. George-based enterprise print management software company, has announced that Eva Helén has been appointed to the company’s board of directors. Helén is CEO of Epiquette and EQ Inspiration. In 2000, she co-founded Sanbolic, an enterprise software company that was acquired by Citrix in 2015. As President and COO, she led sales, operations and finance. Prior to Sanbolic, Helén co-founded and ran sales for Number One GM, acquired by Autodesk in 1999.
TRANSPORTATION
• Salt Lake City and Lyft have announced “Ditch Your Car,” a program offering more than $417 of transportation credit for people to give up their cars for 30 days, from Oct. 8-Nov. 6, in favor of getting around town via Lyft rides; GREENbike; and a Hive Pass for UTA bus, Trax and S-Line streetcar services. Salt Lake City residents can register at ditchwithlyft.com/SLC for the opportunity to receive credit towards Lyft, GREENbike and Hive Pass. Fifty people will be randomly selected to participate.