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ASSOCIATIONS
• Ski Utah has hired Albert Kenworthy as sales/membership manager. Kenworthy has marketing experience in the ski industry as well as digital sales and marketing.
CONTESTS
• Applications are being received for the 2018 Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, a business-model competition providing college students the opportunity to compete for a $40,000 grand prize and more than $100,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. College students in Utah may compete by submitting an executive summary by noon Feb. 15. The competition is managed by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, and sponsored by Zions Bank. Details are at http://lassonde.utah.edu/uec. The top 20 teams will be selected based on their executive summaries and announced on Feb. 28. Those teams advance to compete in the remaining phases of the competition. The institute also hosts a related competition for high school students, which is open to all students in Utah ages 14-18. Teams in the High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge will compete for $20,000 in cash and prizes. The application period for the high school competition ends March 15.
CORPORATE
• Dynatronics Corp., Cottonwood Heights, has announced the automatic conversion of 1.3 million shares of Series C preferred stock and 1.6 million shares of Series D preferred stock to common stock. With the conversion, Dynatronics has 7.8 million shares of common stock issued and outstanding. According to the terms of the Series C preferred stock, 1.5 million shares are subject to beneficial ownership limitation provisions and were not converted.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Security National Financial Corp., Salt Lake City, has authorized a 5 percent stock dividend. The dividend will be issued Feb. 2 to stockholders of record Jan. 12. It is the company’s 29th consecutive year in declaring a 5 percent stock dividend.
GOVERNMENT
• The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) has appointed Chanel Flores as director of the IT and aerospace and defense clusters. She will serve as liaison to aerospace and IT companies statewide and engage members of those industries in various programs and initiatives to develop solutions for workforce challenges and ultimately optimize growth. Flores has served the past few years as employer and continuing education manager for Davis Technical College, where she was responsible for Custom Fit training, employer private training and continuing education. Prior experience includes various roles with BBSI and Management and Training Corp. Flores has more than a decade of experience in technical education. She currently serves as the education chair on the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) executive board. Flores received a bachelor of science degree in organizational communication from Weber State University and is currently attending graduate school at Westminster College, studying strategic communication.
INTERNATIONAL
• Utah companies exported a total of nearly $2.86 billion in goods during the third quarter, according to World Trade Center Utah’s quarterly export report. That brought Utah’s year-to-date export total to $9.29 billion, up from $9.01 billion year-to-date a year earlier, and put it on a pace for a 2.1 percent year-over-year export increase. Metals accounted for 34 percent of the third-quarter export total. Computers and electronics accounted for 16.5 percent and chemicals, 10 percent. The top export destinations (by dollar volume) were the United Kingdom, followed by Canada, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. Aerospace and defense continues to lead Utah’s economic clusters in exports, exporting $371.11 million in goods to foreign markets in the third quarter.
LAW
• Durham Jones & Pinegar has elected Melinda H. Birrell, Jonathan H. Hoagland, K. Ray Johnson, Mark R. Nelson and Matthew J. Orme as shareholders. The company now has 62 shareholders. Birrell, who works in the Salt Lake City office, is a member of the firm’s Litigation and Real Estate sections, as well as part of the firm’s Women Lawyers Group. Her practice focuses largely on real property disputes, breach of contract cases, employment actions and adversary proceedings in bankruptcy. She received her J.D. from the J. Rueben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. Hoagland, in the Salt Lake City office, is a member of the firm’s Estate Planning section. His practice focuses on entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals and families, where he advises them on estate planning and tax matters. He received his LL.M in Taxation from the University of Florida and his J.D. from J. Rueben Clark Law School at BYU. Johnson, in the Lehi office, is a member of the firm’s Estate Planning section. He handles wills and trusts, family-owned business formations and operations, estate and trust administration, and tax planning. Nelson, in the Lehi office, is a member of the firm’s Litigation section. His practice is primarily civil and commercial litigation. He also has experience in appellate litigation, and in litigating high-conflict domestic disputes. His education includes a B.A. from BYU. Orme, in the Salt Lake City office, is a member of the firm’s Litigation and Employment sections. He represents clients in disputes involving a variety of legal issues, including contracts, business torts, real estate, business organizations and employment law.
• Ray Quinney & Nebeker has hired Paul Taylor, Thomas Hardman and John Carpenter for its Intellectual Property practice. Taylor, a shareholder, has experience in preparation and prosecution of domestic and foreign patent applications related to a variety of technological areas and in obtaining copyright and trademark registrations and preparing intellectual property-related employment agreements. He has also assisted clients in defending against patent infringement suits and has provided opinions including patentability and patent infringement opinions. Taylor received his J.D. in 2005 and his B.S. in mechanical engineering in 2002 from the University of Utah. Harman, of counsel, focuses his practice on domestic and international patent procurement primarily in the electrical and computer-related arts. His education includes a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Utah in 1998. Carpenter, of counsel, assists and advises clients in intellectual property matters, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Prior to attending law school, Carpenter worked in the material analysis industry for five years and has experience in optics (photon, X-ray and electron), semiconductors, metal alloys, thin films (such as photovoltaics and coatings), ultrahard materials and ceramics. He received his J.D. in 2003 from the University of Utah.
MEDIA/MARKETING
• Troy Olson, president of Les Olson Co., has been named to The Cannata Report’s Editorial Advisory Board. He will serve for two years and work closely with the publication’s editorial team to provide insight on the key topics and trends at the forefront in today’s imaging industry. The Cannata Report is a resource for business technology and imaging solutions resellers.
NONPROFITS
• Jonathan Nielsen, chief executive officer of Backcountry, Park City, has joined The Nature Conservancy’s Utah chapter board. He will serve a three-year term. The Nature Conservancy is a nonprofit, science-based conservation organization that works collaboratively to protect lands and waters for nature and people around the world. Nielsen’s career includes experience in investment banking and corporate development at eBay Inc. before he joined Backcountry, where he has led the product management and design teams, managed Backcountry’s adjacent category businesses (Competitive Cyclist and MotoSport) and led Backcountry’s European expansion with the acquisition of Bergfreunde. He was appointed CEO in 2016. Nielsen earned his B.S. in finance from Brigham Young University.
PHILANTHROPY
• Primary Residential Mortgage Inc. (PRMI), Salt Lake City, in partnership with Kids In Need Foundation, has provided new backpacks and school supplies to all 843 students at Jackson Elementary and Rose Park Elementary schools. Each backpack contained 21 core school supplies to last up to a full school year. The donation has a total value of more than $21,000. The PRMI Giving Network, a service initiative created by PRMI, raised the money to fund the giveaway and other backpack donations across the country.
REAL ESTATE
• The Park at City Center, at 213 W. Civic Center Drive, Sandy, has been sold to Keller Investment Properties, a private investor based in Centerville. Developed by Kaplan Development and completed in July, The Park at City Center is a Class A, resort-style, multifamily community of 330 units totaling 292,000 square feet. CBRE announced the sale, describing it as the largest total dollar sale price for a single multifamily asset in 2017. Patrick Bodnar and Eli Mills of CBRE handled the transaction.
RECOGNITIONS
• Several Utah companies are recipients of the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards for Best Places to Work in 2018. In the large-company category, Academy Mortgage is ranked 18th, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is 19th, Progressive Leasing is 44th and Extra Space Storage is 73rd. Among small and medium companies, Podium is ranked 16th.
• Rhodes Physical Therapy, Farmington, has earned the inaugural Web.com Small Business of the Tour Award. The company was selected by the public from 20 small-business finalists from each U.S. Web.com Tour tournament location and will receive $25,000 in marketing products and services from Web.com. Earlier this year, Jon Rhodes, owner and founder of the company, was recognized at the Utah Championship presented by Zion Bank as a 2017 recipient of the inaugural Web.com Small Business of the Tournament Award. The program honored him and his business for its community involvement and partnership with its local tournament.