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ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Utah is No. 5 among states for overall prosperity, according to the American Dream Prosperity Index, released by the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, in partnership with Legatum Institute. The framework of the index captures prosperity through three equally weighted domains: inclusive societies, open economies and empowered people. These domains are made up of 11 pillars of prosperity, built upon 49 actionable policy areas, and are underpinned by more than 200 reliable indicators. Utah ranks first in social capital, or how much people trust, help and respect their neighbors and institutions; third in economic quality, ninth in living conditions and 10th in personal freedom (ranked 10th). The report said that to raise its overall ranking, Utah could improve its pillar placement in infrastructure (28th), governance (21st) and health (18th). Details are at https://www.americandreamprosperity.com/.
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 11 and West Valley City is No. 150 on a list of “Best Cities to Live Without a Car,” compiled by LawnStarter. It compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on 19 indicators of car-free-friendliness. It measured each city’s walkability, transit ridership, climate, and pedestrian safety, among other factors. The top-ranked city is San Francisco. The No. 22 city is 200 Mobile, Alabama. On breakout lists, Salt Lake City is tied with Springfield, Missouri, for the highest crime rate. Details are at https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-cities-for-living-without-a-car/.
• Several Utah metro areas are in the top 10 in the nation for charitable contributions, according to a study by SmartAsset. It compared 384 metro areas across three metrics, including charitable contributions as a percentage of income, percentage of tax returns with charitable donations, and the average charitable contribution in a new study. Provo-Orem is top-ranked. Four in five tax returns filed there for high earners reported charitable donations, ranking first across all metro areas. Similarly, the area also took the No. 1 spot when considering charitable contributions as a percent of income (at least 9.35 percent of income for tax filers who had an income of $200,000 or more), and the average charitable contribution for this demographic is nearly $86,000. Other cities in the top 10 are No. 2 Logan, No. 5 St. George, No. 7 Salt Lake City and No. 10 Ogden-Clearfield. Americans last year donated a record amount to charity as giving grew 9 percent, the largest increase in a decade. Details are at https://smartasset.com/data-studies/where-rich-americans-give-the-most-to-charity-2022.
• Salt Lake City is No. 2, behind only Providence, Rhode Island, and West Valley City is No. 180 on a list of “Best Cities for Veterans,” compiled by LawnStarter. It looked for cities with high populations of veterans and access to support resources like VA facilities, nonprofits and PTSD recovery programs. It also considered housing affordability, as well as employment and educational opportunities, among 37 total metrics. On breakout lists, Salt Lake City is ranked No. 1 for most veteran-friendly jobs per veteran, and West Valley City is No. 1 for fewest mental health counselors per 10,000 veterans. Sunnyvale, California, is ranked No. 200 overall. Details are at https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-cities-for-veterans/.
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 54 and West Valley City is No. 160 on a list of “Best Cities for Fast Food Lovers,” compiled by LawnStarter. It compared the 200 largest U.S. cities with access to plenty of fast food establishments and also considered affordability and quality, including Thrillist’s Fasties Awards. The top-ranked city is Orlando, Florida. The No. 200 city is Bridgeport, Connecticut. Details are at https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-cities-fast-food-lovers/.
FINANCE
• Streeterville Capital LLC, a Utah-based company, has provided approximately $11 million in unsecured debt financing to NRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., based Radnor, Pennsylvania. Clinical-stage NRx intends to use the net proceeds from the note (approximately $10 million) to support its NRX-101 development programs for the treatment of suicidal bipolar depression and PTSD, and for general corporate purposes.
HEALTHCARE
• Anecare, Salt Lake City, has been awarded a Breakthrough Technology Agreement with Premier Inc., a healthcare improvement company uniting an alliance of more than 4,400 U.S. hospitals and health systems and approximately 250,000 other providers. The agreement allows Premier members, at their discretion, to take advantage of special terms and pricing pre-negotiated by Premier for ANEclear, a disposable device that reverses the effects of inhalational anesthetics in the brain at the end of surgery for a safer, faster anesthesia recovery and patient throughput.
• Smile Doctors LLC, an ortho-focused dental support organization, has entered into the Utah market, bring the number of states in its network of orthodontic practices to 27. It has 359 clinics with the addition of eight practices, 13 doctors and 15 clinics, including Graham Orthodontics in Utah.
HOUSING
• MIT Modular founders Blake Christian and Roi Maufas are addressing housing affordability by taking single-use shipping containers and developing them into power-positive, sustainable housing models. The Provo-based company offers several housing solutions ranging from single-unit accessory dwelling units to multifamily, stackable designs. On Nov. 1, the founders officially opened their new 20,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the railway district in Provo.
INTERNATIONAL
• World Trade Center Utah has hired Kirsten Hirst as marketing manager and Jacob Johnson as director of grant administration. Hirst most recently was with Novamind, a mental health company specializing in psychedelic treatments and research, where she led an international rebrand and managed marketing campaigns prior to the company’s acquisition by a major competitor in 2022. Hirst has experience in brand development and content strategy for fast-growing e-commerce, nonprofit and B2B organizations. Johnson most recently was with UServeUtah, where he administered the AmeriCorps State grant. The program consisted of $4.6 million in federal funding and more than 15 grant-funded programs.
INVESTMENTS
• SocialClimb, a Lehi-based software-as-a-service healthcare marketing platform, has raised $8.5 million of growth capital from Spring Capital Partners and Resolve Growth Partners to further accelerate growth. The investment will focus on driving additional product development and market expansion into those segments.
PARTNERSHIPS
• Whistic, a Pleasant Grove-based vendor security network for buyers and sellers, has announced a partnership with Anecdotes, an operating system for compliance. Whistic said the partnership streamlines information security compliance efforts for vendors while providing companies with advanced automation capabilities and full visibility into their compliance posture. It also enables users to consolidate their security documentation, including SOC 2 reports, ISO certificates and other compliance attestations into a free Whistic Profile. As part of the partnership, every Anecdotes customer will have access to create a Whistic Basic Profile for free.
PHILANTHROPY
• The Community Development Corporation of Utah and YWCA Utah have been named as the 2022 Bank of America Neighborhood Builders awardees for their work in the Northern Utah community removing economic barriers and advancing greater economic mobility. Each organization receives a $200,000 grant over two years, plus comprehensive leadership training for the executive director and an emerging leader on certain topics, joining a network of peer organizations across the U.S., and gets the opportunity to access capital to expand their impact. The Community Development Corporation of Utah is dedicated to helping families achieve financial and housing stability through homeownership and cost-effective rentals. They will use their grant funding to provide personalized counseling and budgeting assistance to Utah households that are struggling financially as they chart a path toward purchasing their home. YWCA Utah works to eliminate racism; empower women; and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. It will use the grant funding to offer services through the provision of emergency shelter and transitional housing to survivors of domestic violence who show up to their doors seeking safety, sanctuary and support.
• Ken Garff employees recently partnered with Reach Out Today to bus in 100 students from Murray School District’s Title I Schools and take them on a shopping spree at Kohl’s. Each student came with a list of necessities that their parents helped them make. Ken Garff employees took them through the store and bought the items on their lists. The event was part of Ken Garff’s “We’re ‘Hear’ for You” initiative.
• Park City Mountain has donated $250,000 to Mountainlands Community Housing Trust to accelerate the funding drive for its redevelopment of Holiday Village & Parkside Apartments. The vision of Holiday Village & Parkside Apartments is to sustain and increase housing opportunities in the heart of the Park City community. It will preserve and enhance housing for 122 households, as well as providing a significant number of additional affordable units and community spaces at the intersection of Park Avenue and Kearns Boulevard. Park City Mountain’s donation will be disbursed over the next three years and is powered by EpicPromise, the charitable arm of Vail Resorts, which provided $4.3 million in cash and in-kind donations in Park City between August 2021 and July 2022.
• Goal Zero, a Salt Lake City-based company offering clean, consumer power solutions, in partnership with the nonprofit Joyineering Fund, have provided lights and solar power to remote villages in Bolivia. The solar power will allow the local El Tigre school to power computers and the Internet for students to further their education. Goal Zero installed solar panels, provided power stations and brought lights to the El Tigre school’s new computer labs. The computer lab was outfitted with 25 new Dell laptops with Internet, and the Goal Zero and Joyineering teams helped to provide technical expertise and labor in that effort. The Dell team also installed printers and taught proper computer usage to teachers, students and local adults.
REAL ESTATE
• Safehold Inc., a New York-based company focused on the ground lease industry, has closed on a $26.5 million ground lease to facilitate the ground-up development of One Burton, a 180-unit multifamily project in South Salt Lake’s new downtown district. The Qualified Opportunity Zone project will be developed by a new Safehold customer, Abstract Development Group, an affiliate of a large New York-based multifamily real estate owner.
RECOGNITIONS
• BioUtah recently presented several awards at the BioHive Summit in Salt Lake City. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Dan Fischer, founder and CEO emeritus, Ultradent Products Inc. The Entrepreneur of the Year Award went to Dave Bearss, co-founder and CEO, Halia Therapeutics. The Executive of the Year Award was presented to Ken Eliasen, senior vice president of operations, Edwards Lifesciences. The Innovation Impact Award recipient is Mark Newman, co-founder and CEO, Nomi Health. The Friend of Industry Award was presented to Ann Millner, senator, Utah State Senate.
• The South Valley Chamber of Commerce recently presented its annual Titan Awards to Mark and Sally Dietlein, co-founders of Hale Centre Theatre; Cydni Tetro, CEO of Brandless; and Steve Starks, CEO of the Larry H. Miller Group. It also honored Abacus Accounting & Bookkeeping as Small Business of the Year.
• Sports Salt Lake, a division of Visit Salt Lake, was awarded the “Best New Sports Event” for the 2022 USA Volleyball Salt Lake Showdown by SportsTravel Magazine at the 2022 SportsTravel Awards. The honor was awarded during the TEAMS (Travel, Events and Management in Sports) ’22 Conference & Expo in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the world’s largest gathering of event organizers and travel planners from the sports industry. The Utah Sports Commission served as a partner on the project. The Showdown featured more than 70 courts over a two-week period at the Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City. The event created an estimated economic impact of more than $15 million with 30,000 attendees and was the largest volleyball tournament ever hosted in Utah. Visit Salt Lake is a private, nonprofit corporation that promotes Salt Lake as a convention, sports and travel destination.
• Dr. Joseph Y. Chang, chief scientific officer at Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., Provo, recently received an award for outstanding contributions in personalized nutrition from the University of California-Davis’ Department of Nutrition. He received the honor after delivering the 16th annual Kosuna Distinguished Lecture in Nutrition at the university. The award is presented for extraordinary achievements and contributions to nutritional science. Chang has 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and dietary supplement industries and was appointed chief scientific officer and executive vice president of product development at Nu Skin in 2006. Before the acquisition of Pharmanex by Nu Skin Enterprises in 1998, Chang served as the vice president of clinical studies and pharmacology at Pharmanex. Before that, he was president and chief scientific officer of Osteoarthritis Sciences Inc. and Binary Therapeutics Inc. and has held various research management positions at Wyeth-Ayerst, Rhone Poulenc Rorer and other biotechnology companies.
• Western Governors University has recognized Sally Sansom with the WGU Elevate Award. The online, nonprofit university presents the WGU Elevate Award to individuals committed to providing high-quality educational and professional development opportunities for others. The first recipient of the award in Utah, Sansom is a recruitment administrator in the Canyons School District’s Human Resources department. In her role, she identifies and attracts top teaching talent to live and work in the district’s community.
• Zions Bancorporation, Salt Lake City, has been ranked second in the U.S. for the number of U.S. Small Business Administration 504 third-party loans approved during fiscal year 2022. Zions, which operates banks in 11 western states and its National Real Estate division, provided $189.6 million in third-party approvals for 185 loans across the country. For its lending achievements, Zions has been named 2022 Regional Bank 504 Lender of the Year, as announced by the National Association of Development Companies. Zions’ National Real Estate division was recognized with a 504 Community Impact Award on Nov. 16.
RESTAURANTS
• Aqua Terra Steak+Sushi will open this fall at City Creek Center in Salt Lake City. Its offerings include steak and wild game cuts, sushi, omakase and crispy rice, and sake cocktails and wine offerings. The new restaurant concept is operated by Ascend Hospitality Group, a restaurant group with locations in Utah, Washington, Oregon and Arizona.
• Vessel Kitchen has announced it will open its sixth restaurant at 325 N. Central Ave., Farmington, during the second week of January. In February, Mountain West Commercial Real Estate helped Vessel Kitchen lease 2,500 square feet in Station Park in Farmington, Utah. The company has existing locations in Park City, Midvale, Salt Lake City and Sandy. They offer an upscale vibe and fast-casual food.
RETAIL
• The Winter Farmers Market will be open on Saturdays through April 23, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., at The Gateway in Salt Lake City. Vendors will be selling meat, produce, baked goods, condiments, chocolate, crafts and more. Details are at https://atthegateway.com/calendars/winter-farmers-market/all/.
TECHNOLOGY
• Impartner, a Salt Lake City-based channel management platform and partnership relationship management provider, has promoted Kristin Hales to vice president of people operations. In her new role, Hales will join the executive team and oversee the strategic development and execution of various initiatives in talent acquisition, talent management, employee engagement, performance management, and benefits and compensation. Hales previously was senior director of people operations. She joined the company in April 2021 as director of people operations. She has more than 18 years of experience across all HR disciplines. Before joining Impartner, Hales was the vice president of human resources at DentalQore; led Learning & Development at Domo; and was a vice president of human capital management for Goldman Sachs, overseeing professional development firmwide. Her education includes a bachelor’s degree in consumer studies from the University of Utah.
• Pluralsight, a Draper-based technology workforce development company, has hired Kara DelVecchio as chief sales officer and member of the executive leadership team and elevated Carie Buchanan, chief customer officer, and Todd Joseph, chief information officer, to that team. DelVecchio has over 20 years of experience leading large, complex sales organizations and a track record developing and inspiring sales teams to grow top-line revenue. She most recently was chief revenue officer for Fourth, a workforce management company, and also led sales organizations and teams at Everfi, WeddingWire, and Corporate Executive Board. Buchanan joined Pluralsight in March 2022 from Infor, where she was senior vice president and global head of customer service. Joseph has 20 years of operational and technology leadership experience in private and public companies. Prior to joining the company in April, he was chief customer officer for Apptio.
TRUST LANDS
• The Lands Trusts Protection and Advocacy Committee has appointed Kim Christy as director of the Land Trusts Protection and Advocacy Office. The office advocates for Utah trust lands beneficiaries, works with the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration and the School and the School and Institutional Trust Funds Office, and helps the public and beneficiaries understand the mission of the trust lands system. The office works under the direction of the Land Trusts Protection and Advocacy Committee and the state treasurer. Christy’s background includes 18 years of service at SITLA, including most recently serving as the agency’s deputy director. He previously worked for the Utah Farm Bureau Federation and the Office of Legislative Research and General Council.