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ASSOCIATIONS
• NACM Business Credit Services, Salt Lake City, has named Lisa Keller as vice president. Keller has been employed by the association for six years, holding the positions of director of education and industry credit groups manager. Prior to joining the association as an employee, she was a member for many years, working as a credit manager in the construction industry. NACM, an affiliate of the National Association of Credit Management, is an advocate for business credit and financial management professionals.
CONTESTS
• Registration is open until Feb. 21 for the 2022-23 High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, a statewide business-idea competition open to all students in Utah ages 14-18. Teams will compete for $30,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. The competition is managed by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah and sponsored by Zions Bank. Details are at lassonde.utah.edu/hsuec.
• Registration is open until Jan. 17 for the 2022-23 Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, a business-model competition op to all college students in Utah. Teams will be competing for $60,000. The top 20 teams will be announced Feb. 1. They advance to compete in the remaining phases of the competition, which include creating a two-minute video, public voting, judging, and a final event Feb. 25. The competition is managed by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah and sponsored by Zions Bank. Details are at lassonde.utah.edu/uec.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Zions Bancorporation NA, Salt Lake City, has declared a regular quarterly dividend of 41 cents per common share. The dividend is payable Nov. 17 to shareholders of record Nov. 10. The board also declared regular quarterly cash dividends on the company's various perpetual preferred shares. The cash dividend on series A, G and I are payable Dec. 15 to shareholders of record Dec. 1. The dividend on the Series J shares is payable March 15 to shareholders of record March 1. The board also authorized a share repurchase for the fourth quarter of 2022 of up to $50 million. Zions operates banks in 11 western states.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Thirty-eight percent of young adults in Utah consider a college degree a burden, according to a survey by CodeWizardsHQ, a provider of coding classes for children and teens. The national figure is 47 percent. The figure is highest in New Hampshire, at 81 percent. The lowest number is in Maine, which had 68 percent of respondents saying a college degree is a benefit.
• Salt Lake City is No. 48 and West Valley City is No. 55 on a list of “Best Cities for Sandwich Lovers,” compiled by Lawn Love. It considered the number of high-quality sandwich shops and award-winning sandwiches, and measured residents’ cravings through Google searches for sandwich-related terms. The top-ranked city is New York City. The No. 200 city is 200 Paterson, New Jersey. Details are at https://lawnlove.com/blog/best-cities-sandwich-lovers/.
• Salt Lake City is No. 43 and West Valley City is No. 200 (last) on a list of “2022’s Most Artsy Cities in America,” compiled by Lawn Love. It compared the 200 biggest cities in the U.S. on 22 metrics, including the number of art museums, galleries, performance theaters and music venues to visit; art classes and schools; opera houses; movie lover-friendliness; recording studios; and supply shops. The top-ranked city overall is San Francisco. Details are at https://lawnlove.com/blog/most-artsy-cities-in-america/.
• Rap is Utah’s most popular music genre, according to a study by Wisevoter, a bipartisan educational platform. It was followed, in order, by country, rock, hip hop and pop. Rap came out on top in 23 states, with country behind it at 22 states. Details are at https://wisevoter.com/report/favorite-music-genre-by-state/.
• Utah’s natural landmarks are the 14th-most popular in America, according to a survey of America’s 250 favorite natural landmarks by Aqua Expeditions, a luxury small-ship expedition company. The survey asked people about which local natural landmarks they would most like to visit. The top-ranked landmark is Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah was voted the 24th-most popular landmark. Other Utah landmarks on the list are No. 60 Valley of the Gods, No. 88 Arches National Park, No. 89 Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and No. 185 Bonneville Salt Flats. Details are at https://www.aquaexpeditions.com/galapagos-cruise/usa-and-international-landmarks/.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Scott Anderson, Zions Bank’s president and CEO, recently taught students in Trent Butler’s financial literacy class at West High School in Salt Lake City about the importance of using credit wisely. The event was in honor of National Get Smart About Credit Day. Students engaged in hands-on activities to learn how healthy and damaged credit histories can impact financing, and looked at the perks and pitfalls of various credit options.
ENERGY
• RPlus Energies, a newewable energy developer, has signed a long-term power purchase agreement with PacifiCorp for a 400-MWAC solar PV facility integrated with a 200-megawatt battery energy storage system in Emery County. The project, named Green River Energy Center, is the largest planned solar plus storage facility in Utah and one of the largest facilities in the PacifiCorp system. RPlus Energies has selected Sundt Construction to provide the engineering, procurement and construction services for the combined solar and storage facilities. Construction is expected to begin in early 2023 and is expected to create over 400 jobs as well as multiple permanent positions.
GOVERNMENT
• Utah natural and specialty food companies are being sought for participation in Natural Products Expo West, set for March 9-11 in Anaheim, California. In partnership with the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity and the U.S. Small Business Administration, World Trade Center Utah will lead a delegation of companies to represent Utah at the event, which typically has more than 85,000 attendees, more than 3,500 exhibitors, and visitors from more than 130 countries. The U.S. Commercial Service will also provide matchmaking and other services for qualifying companies exhibiting at the show. Companies can apply to join the Utah delegation by submitting an SBA STEP Grant application by Nov. 20 to help cover travel costs at https://wtcutah.formstack.com/forms/step_grant_fy22_year10_application. Details are available by emailing Charlotte Serage, manager of trade shows and trade missions, at cserage@wtcutah.com.
• Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall has appointed Lorena Riffo-Jenson as director of the city’s Department of Economic Development. Riffo-Jenson has served as interim director of the department since July and previously served as the deputy under Director Benjamin Kolendar. She is the department’s third director and the first Latina to head the department. Riffo-Jenson will lead city employees across two divisions, the Salt Lake City Arts Council and Business Development, in addition to leading initiatives like Tech Lake City and ARPA Community Grants. She began her career in Utah state government managing business and economic development programs, overseeing corporate filings and business registrations for the state, and taking charge of the state’s hosting program during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Riffo-Jenson spent more than 17 years of her career as founder and president of VOX Creative, a marketing and communications firm based in Salt Lake City.
HEALTHCARE
• Xenocor, a Salt Lake City-based company that designs, develops and commercializes medical devices, has hired AJ Dorff and Christian Kirschner to partner with Tony Watson, COO, for the commercial launch of the Saberscope, a type of laparoscope. Dorff joins Xenocor as area vice president of the North. He has nearly 20 years of sales and marketing experience, including at Intuitive Surgical, Zimmer Biomet and Stryker, as well as a number of startups. Kirschner joins Xenocor as the area vice president for the East. He has more than two decades of experience founding and advancing companies spanning multiple industries, most recently building and leading Smith+Nephew’s global outpatient program.
• Dr. Kavita Willesen has opened a concierge medicine practice, Atlas Internal Medicine, at 6965 Union Park Center, No. 430, Building 7, Cottonwood Heights. The practice is designed to offer an individualized approach to health and wellness and features extended visits, direct availability to Willesen during and after office hours, and an enhanced focus on personalized prevention and wellness. Long-distance consultations are offered, as well as care for visiting family and friends. Willesen has been in practice since 1999. Her areas of expertise include acute and urgent care, hormone replacement therapy, chronic disease management, complex medical problems, depression and anxiety, geriatric health, mental health, osteoporosis, preventative health, vaccinations and women’s health. Willesen is affiliated with Intermountain Medical Center and Alta View Hospital.
HOSPITALITY
• The 25-story Hyatt Regency Salt Lake City has officially opened in downtown Salt Lake City. It is the first Hyatt Regency hotel in Utah and the only hotel directly adjoining the Salt Palace Convention Center. It includes 700 guestrooms and suites and 60,000 square feet of event space.
• Lodging Dynamics Hospitality Group, a Provo-based hotel management company, has appointed Jo Anna Lebo as vice president of human resources. Lebo’s experience in human resource leadership includes her most recent role as vice president of human resources at Diamond Resorts International. Before that, she oversaw all human resource functions for 16 subsidiary companies of resorts, restaurants, accounting firms and call centers, including more than 6,000 employees across the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
INVESTMENTS
• Recursion, a Salt Lake City-based clinical-state biotechnology company, has entered into a stock purchase agreement for the sale of an aggregate of approximately 15.3 million shares of its Class A common stock in a private placement, led by Kinnevik AB, with participation by Baillie Gifford, Mubadala Investment Co., Laurion Capital Management, Invus and Platinum Asset Management. The price per share of $9.80 reflects an approximate 7 percent discount to the volume weighted average share price of Recursion’s Class A common stock over the five trading days ended Oct. 24. Gross proceeds of the private placement are expected to be approximately $150 million, led by Kinnevik with a $75 million investment, before deducting placement agent fees and other expenses payable by Recursion. Morgan Stanley is acting as lead placement agent for the private placement. Berenberg, KeyBanc Capital Markets and Needham & Co. are acting as co-placement agents for the private placement. Recursion said it intends to use the net proceeds, together with existing cash and cash equivalents, for general corporate purposes.
• Zartico, a Salt Lake City-based company using data intelligence, analytics and visualizations to help destination tourism organizations, has secured $20 million in Series A funding. The funding was led by Arthur Ventures, a Minneapolis-based venture capital firm, with participation from Peterson Partners. Zartico has raised a total of $24.5 million. It launched in March 2020. Zartico said the new financing will be used to grow its engineering and product teams; expand its machine learning, AI and predictive capabilities; acquire new proprietary data sets; and expand into new markets, such as sports venues, airports and municipalities. Zartico has 61 remote employees and anticipates a 70 percent jump in headcount in the next six months.
PARTNERSHIPS
• Utah Community Credit Union has agreed to be the naming rights sponsor for Utah Valley University’s new soccer stadium. The facility, to be built on the west side of the current soccer field, will be known as UCCU Stadium. It will serve both the men’s and women’s soccer teams. When completed, UCCU will shift its naming rights from the ballpark at UVU to the soccer stadium. The naming rights agreement is part of a $28.5 million commitment over the next 28 years that will extend UCCU’s long-term partnership with UVU through 2050.
PHILANTHROPY
• Associates at Fidelity Investments recently reached a milestone of $1.3 million donated since 2020 to Utah Food Bank. The amount includes $349,430 during this year’s annual fundraising campaign. Fidelity employees have been supporting Utah Food Bank for 29 years with donations of food, time and money. Including this year’s donation, Fidelity Investments’ contributions since it began its partnership with Utah Food Bank have yielded almost $3.4 million, 1.8 million pounds of food, and over 1,600 volunteer hours, equating to over 16.7 million meals for Utahns facing hunger.
REAL ESTATE
• Richmond American Homes of Utah Inc., a subsidiary of M.D.C. Holdings Inc., has announced the grand opening of the Dillon and Delaney model homes at Teton Ranch, 12507 S. Wapiti Ridge Lane, Herriman. The community has eight ranch and two-story floor plans.
RECOGNITIONS
• Several companies and organizations were honored at Utah’s Business Diversity Summit for their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. They are: Large Business (an organization with more than 250 employees), Northrop Grumman; Medium Business (15-249 employees), GSBS Architects; Small Business (fewer than 50 employees), Target River; Nonprofit, Tech-Moms; Government, Salt Lake County; and Award in Excellence (for a community organization), Utah Muslim Civic League.
• Entrata, a Lehi-based company offering an operating system for the multifamily industry, and its president, Chase Harrington, have been named a “2022 Multifamily Influencer” by GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum. Entrata and Harrington were awarded in the Organization and Individual categories, respectively. They and the other 2022 Multifamily Influencers were honored at an awards ceremony in Los Angeles during the GlobeSt. Multifamily Fall conference.
RETAIL
• Marque Luxury America, a California-based company offering wholesale B2B pre-owned luxury goods, has announced a Re-commerce Hub location in Park City. Among the offerings are designer handbags, watches, jewelry and accessories. The Park City location is the 12th location for Marque Luxury America within the U.S.
TECHNOLOGY
• Pluralsight, a Draper-based technology workforce development company, has appointed Michael Agresta as chief financial officer. He will be responsible for Pluralsight’s finance, accounting, procurement and tax functions. Agresta joined Pluralsight as senior vice president of finance in January and has been serving as the interim CFO since June of this year. Agresta has more than 16 years of financial leadership at both private and public organizations. Before joining Pluralsight, he served as head of finance for Skupos. He also has held multiple operating and finance positions, including at Marketo. Prior to those roles, he worked at Deloitte in M&A Transaction Services.
TRANSPORTATION
• DroneUp LLC, a Virginia-based autonomous drone delivery platform and drone services provider, has joined the Utah Department of Transportation’s Division of Aeronautics Utah Advanced Air Mobility Working Group. The group aims to study and strategize on policies around Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). DroneUp’s airspace solutions, are designed to advance safety for operations while also providing advantages for other drone operators to publish their flight plans, promoting uniform safety.