Industry Briefs are provided as a free service to our readers. Company news information may be sent to brice@slenterprise.com. The submission deadline is one week before publication.
COMMUNICATIONS
• AT&T has opened three Studio Stores in the Salt Lake City area: 1140 Brickyard Road, in the Brickyard Shopping Center, Salt Lake City; 556 S. 1750 W. at the Walmart Shopping Center, Springville; and 1865 W. Pleasant Grove Blvd., Pleasant Grove. The company now has 61 retail locations in Utah. The Studio Store design offers a smaller footprint than a traditional store.
CONSTRUCTION
• Sundt Construction Inc. has promoted Jeff Williamson to president of the transportation group. Williamson has more than 30 years of experience in the construction industry. He began his career as a field engineer in 1986 and has worked in both the field and the office at all levels of the business. Prior to joining Sundt, Williamson served for 15 years as a regional vice president for a large civil contractor in the Southwest. Upon joining Sundt in 2011, he assumed the role of senior vice president and heavy civil division group manager. That group has performed more than $2 billion worth of work across Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Utah and expanded into the Intermountain Region by opening an office in Salt Lake City.
CONTESTS
• ChamberWest is reaching out to members for award nominations for its 2020 Annual Awards Gala, set for Feb. 20. The chamber will present awards in the following categories: Business of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Best Place to Work, Best New Business of the Year and Volunteer of the Year. Nominations are due Dec. 13. The nomination form and additional details are at https://files.constantcontact.com/8872d0f4101/b5c1f493-fc65-46c2-891a-4aa3f27aa87b.pdf.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• In-home care costs in Utah continue to rise, according to the findings of a “cost of care” survey undertaken by Genworth. In Utah, the cost of homemaker services, which includes assistance with “hands-off” tasks such as cooking, cleaning and running errands, increased 9.09 percent during the last 12 months, to $54,912 for 44 hours per week for 52 weeks. The cost of a home health aide, which includes “hands-on” personal assistance with activities such as bathing, dressing and eating, increased 9.09 percent, to $54,912 for the same amount of time. Genworth contacted 53,901 long-term care providers nationwide to complete 15,178 surveys for nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day health facilities and in-home care providers.
EXPANSIONS
• Sundance Catalog, a Salt Lake City-based company that retails men’s and women’s apparel, jewelry, footwear, accessories and home furnishings, has opened a retail location in the University Village in Seattle. It is one of three new stores to open across the country this year.
• Simplus, a Salt Lake City-based Salesforce quote-to-cash advisory, implementation and managed services company, has opened international offices in London and Dublin to better serve its customer base and partners in Europe.
• Perfectly Posh, a Salt Lake City-based pampering and self-care products company, has opened for business in the five U.S. territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. Individuals living within those territories are eligible to buy products directly from the website, start their own business as a Perfectly Posh “influencer,” and participate in promotions, military discounts and business incentives.
INVESTMENTS
• HandsFree Labs Inc., a Vineyard-based hands-free footwear technology company, has received an investment from Nike Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed. The partnership includes an intellectual property license and extends the reach of HandsFree Labs’ patented portfolio of Foot Activated Shoe Technology (F.A.S.T.) solutions, which allow consumers to step in and out of shoes without using their hands. In addition to its investment from and licensing partnership with Nike, HandsFree Labs will roll out its technology through licensing deals with other footwear categories and manufacturers.
LAW
• Durham Jones & Pinegar, Salt Lake City, has hired five people: Blake K. Behnke as an associate in the firm’s Business & Finance section; Brent N. Bateman as a shareholder in the Real Estate section; Lacey Chase as an associate in the Intellectual Property section; Larry R. Laycock as a shareholder in the Intellectual Property section; and Adam B. Beckstrom as an of counsel attorney in the Intellectual Property section. Behnke advises a variety of corporate and pass-through entities on both tax and general corporate matters, including business formations, mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity offerings and general matters of business and finance law. He previously worked in Washington, D.C., in KPMG’s national mergers and acquisitions tax practice. Bateman’s practice focuses on zoning, land use, impact fees, roads, property rights, real estate and environmental matters. He also is a trained and experienced mediator. He spent more than 12 years at the Utah Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman. Chase’s practice focuses on complex patent, copyright and trademark litigation. In addition, she has experience helping clients in obtaining copyright and trademark protection, and is familiar with enforcing and monetizing those intellectual property rights. She has worked at two major intellectual property law firms. Laycock’s practice encompasses patent, trademark, copyright, trade dress, trade secrets, false advertising, unfair competition and related complex litigation. He also has a wealth of experience in addressing transactional matters. Beckstrom’s practice focuses on complex litigation, with an emphasis on intellectual property disputes. He also has experience helping clients obtain copyright and trademark protection. Having completed two degrees in biomedical engineering, he specializes in science and technology. Beckstrom most recently worked in the intellectual property practice of a major international law firm based on the West Coast.
MANUFACTURING
• Purple Innovation Inc., an Alpine-based comfort products manufacturer, has announced the closing of the previously announced underwritten secondary public offering of 10 million shares of its Class A common stock sold by InnoHold LLC, Tony Pearce and Terry Pearce at a price of $7 per share, for total gross proceeds to the selling stockholders of approximately $70 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions. Purple did not sell any shares of Class A common stock in the offering and did not receive any proceeds from the offering. The underwriters have a 30-day option period to purchase up to 1.5 million additional shares of Class A common stock from the selling stockholders.
PHILANTHROPY
• The Road Home, a nonprofit provider of emergency shelter, housing and other homelessness services in Salt Lake County, has received a $5 million grant from the Day 1 Families Fund. It is part of the fund’s grants totaling $98.5 million to 32 nonprofits assisting families experiencing homelessness. The grant will fund the creation of a novel data integration system that will allow case managers to better assist clients. It will bolster the efforts of The Road Home’s housing navigation team that works to secure housing, as well as help seed a $3 million capital campaign to fund a new administrative headquarters for The Road Home in Salt Lake City that is currently under construction. The Bezos Day One Fund was launched in 2018 with a commitment of $2 billion and a focus on two areas: funding existing nonprofits that help homeless families, and creating a network of new, nonprofit tier-one preschools in low-income communities.
• Smith’s Food & Drug has announced a $60,000 food donation to Utah Food Bank to help feed families in need this holiday season, and the company is asking customers to join its efforts. Through Feb. 1, customers may “round up” their grocery total to the nearest dollar at checkout. All of the donated change will then be used to create more meals for families. In addition, the grocery stores will host a food drive providing non-perishable items to the Utah Food Bank. To kick off the “Round-Up” campaign, Smith’s donated 480 turkey breasts, 1,400 pies and 17,000 loaves of bread.
REAL ESTATE
• MVE + Partners has broken ground on Dixon Place, a 59-unit, Class A development at 1034 E. Elm Ave. in Salt Lake City’s Sugar House neighborhood. Designed for developer Lowe Property Group of Salt Lake City, the six-story, mixed-use community is comprised of 49,039 square feet of rentable space. The boutique apartment complex will offer 35 one-bedroom and 24 two-bedroom units. The 2,200 square feet of ground-floor commercial space will house developer Lowe Property Group’s headquarters, and MVE + Partners will design the interiors of this space in addition to the entire apartment community. The community occupies 87,874 square feet. It is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2021. In addition to Dixon Place, MVE + Partners, in partnership with Lowe Property Group, will break ground on three additional multifamily projects in Salt Lake City in 2020.
RECOGNITIONS
• Nine Utah companies are listed on Deloitte’s 2019 Technology Fast 500 list. They are No. 18 Podium, Lehi; No. 64 Acima Credit, Sandy; No. 102 SimpleNexus, Lehi; No. 259 Lucidchart, South Jordan; No. 308 ObservePoint, Provo; No. 314 Signs.com, Salt Lake City; No. 378 Lendio, Lehi; No. 382 Domo, American Fork; and No. 465 Instructure Inc., Salt Lake City. To be eligible for recognition, companies must own proprietary intellectual property or technology that is sold to customers in products that contribute to a majority of the company’s operating revenues. Companies must have base-year operating revenues of at least $50,000 and current-year operating revenues of at least $5 million. Additionally, companies must be in business for a minimum of four years and be headquartered within North America.
• Impartner, a Salt Lake City-based channel management solution company, has been named the No. 1 global winner on Research In Action’s vendor selection matrix for partner relationship management (PRM). Impartner earns highest market position among top 20 global vendors based on over 100,000 data points from 1,500 manager surveys, analyst opinions and vendor evaluations. Impartner also scored No. 1 on a parallel report for channel marketing and enablement (CME) SaaS and software, which shows rankings for those companies that provide both PRM and marketing support. In creating the research, the top 20 vendors in the channel marketing and enablement space, selected by the survey respondents, were all evaluated using the technology research company’s survey-based methodology for comparative vendor evaluation.
• Xant, formerly InsideSales.com, has been named the enterprise leader in the latest G2 Grid report for outbound call tracking platforms. The Xant Playbooks product ranked first in the grid, receiving the highest scores for market presence and customer satisfaction. In addition to outbound call tracking, the Provo-based company has also been named a leader in the sales engagement, sales analytics and email tracking categories.
• Brigham Young University is ranked No. 27 and the University of Utah is No. 51 in Bloomberg Businessweek’s listing of the “2019-20 Best B-Schools.” The rankings are based on survey responses from 26,804 MBA students, alumni and recruiters. The UofU also was ranked No. 10 for its undergraduate program and No. 17 for its graduate program for 2020 by U.S. News and World Report. The school jumped five places in the undergraduate ranking and seven places in the graduate ranking. The U.S. News undergraduate business school rankings are based on a survey of deans and senior faculty members at each of the 504 undergraduate business program accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. For the U.S. News graduate business school rankings, they surveyed all 475 MBA programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International.
RETAIL
• EoS Fitness, a fitness industry company with more than 75 locations in four states, has announced plans to open several locations in 2020 in Utah, to reach a total of nine gyms in the state. The new gyms will be located in Murray, Taylorsville, Bountiful and Orem. While several of the Utah locations have been updated, the Roy location will be completely remodeled in collaboration with development partner Barclay Group. Also, the current EoS Fitness in Syracuse will soon be replaced by a state-of-the-art facility located in the same shopping center. The new Utah gyms will average 50,000 square feet of fitness space.
SPORTS
• The new Ikon Pass mobile application is available in app stores, expanding the on-mountain experience for skiers and riders at 41 global Ikon Pass destinations. The app is free and available for download in the U.S. Apple App store and the U.S. Google Play Store. The pass program is in its second season. The Ikon Pass offers access to 41 iconic winter destinations across the Americas, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Chile and New Zealand. Participating Utah destinations are Deer Valley Resort, Solitude Mountain Resort, Brighton Resort, Alta Ski Area and Snowbird.
TRANSPORTATION
• Salt Lake City International Airport has added a service called Aira — Artificial Intelligence Remote Assistant — to assist blind and low-vision passengers better navigate the airport. Aira connects low-vision passengers to highly trained people instantly who interpret their surroundings through their cell phone’s camera or special glasses that have an embedded video camera paired with a smartphone. A passenger accesses Aira through a free phone app that is downloaded on their mobile device. The phone app or special glasses allows an Aira agent to see the blind person’s surroundings in real-time. SLC implemented the program in February and has been working with Aira to fine-tune the system. This required the airport buy a block of minutes for about $8,000 and define a geo-fenced area to allow users to access the system while at the airport. The geo-fence currently surrounds the airport’s three terminal buildings and will be updated when The New SLC Airport opens in September 2020. Since the program was implemented, usage has averaged about 112 minutes per month.