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ASSOCIATIONS
• The St. George Chamber of Commerce has launched a local business and economic dashboard designed to provide business, community and government leaders with real-time economic data. The chamber partnered with eIMPACT, which works with Emsi, a labor market data company serving clients across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the European Union, and beyond, to deliver economic data for both the St. George metropolitan area and Washington County. Dashboard data is updated monthly or as new information is released from government and third-party sources. The dashboard is available to all business, community, and government leaders.
BANKING
• Bank of Utah, Ogden, has hired Silvina Pratt as a mortgage loan officer. Pratt has worked in the banking and finance industry since 2001, including as a mortgage loan originator and processor at multiple institutions. She attended Weber State University and has certification in supervisory skills.
CONTESTS
• Applications are being accepted until Dec. 31 for VentureCapital.Org’s Smart City Accelerator Program in partnership with US Ignite, the Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development, the Salt Lake Small Business Development Center (SBDC), and the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Agency (EDA). The program is titled InnovateSLC. The program will begin in mid-January, conclude in April and include up to eight startups. Program participants will create a custom acceleration plan in partnership with a mentor network. The target outcome is for each startup to be investment-ready by the end of the program, concluding with a demo day. VentureCapital.Org offers the program at no cost to startups. To participate, startups must be in Salt Lake City and submit an online application. VentureCapital.Org is searching for startups that use scalable information and communication technologies to impact any of the following: environmental sustainability, public transportation, energy consumption or city livability and workability. Applications can be submitted at www.gust.com/organizations/investors-choice.
• Applications are being accepted until Feb. 7 for the 2021-22 Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, a statewide, student business model competition. Teams from universities across the state compete for the best business model and a chance to win $60,000 in cash and prizes. The competition provided by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and sponsored by Zions Bank. Details are at https://lassonde.utah.edu/uec.
DIRECT SALES
• Truvy, a Draper-based weight loss products company, has hired Rick Hagar as a senior associate. Hagar has 30 years of network marketing experience. He began his career in real estate in New York.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Roy is the most affordable place to live in Utah, according to a new study by SmartAsset. It measured several factors, including taxes, homeowners’ insurance, and home costs relative to the local median income. Roy is followed, in order, by Stansbury Park, West Point, Sunset, Harrisville, Nibley, Hyrum, Farr West, West Bountiful and Clinton. Details are at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/how-much-house-can-i-afford#Utah/mostAffordable-4.
• Park City is the best place to retire in Utah, according to a new study by SmartAsset. It measured each city’s tax friendliness, availability of medical care and social opportunities for seniors. Park City is followed, in order, by Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Ivins, Washington, Cedar City, Vernal, Logan, Price and Ogden. Details are at https://smartasset.com/retirement/retirement-calculator#Utah/bestPlacesToRetire-2.
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 13 on a list of “2022’s Best Cities for Layovers,” compiled by Lawn Love. It ranked 56 of the largest U.S. cities served by large and medium-sized airports on several factors, including each city’s share of delayed and canceled flights, including average departure delay times; ease of navigation, especially from the airport; and the number of fun activities. In breakout lists, Salt Lake City was No. 5 for lowest share of delayed departures, No. 2 for lowest share of canceled departures, and No. 5 for shortest distance from airport to city center. The overall top-ranked city is Portland, Oregon. The bottom-ranked city is Fort Worth, Texas. Details are available at https://lawnlove.com/blog/best-worst-cities-layovers/.
• Four Utah counties are on a list of “2022’s Most Expensive Counties to Buy Residential Land,” compiled by Lawn Love. It compared the average price and estimated property tax on an acre of a single-family parcel in 300 of the biggest U.S. counties. Salt Lake County is No. 177, Davis County is No. 238, Weber County is No. 247 and Utah County is No. 252. The most expensive is San Francisco County, California. The No. 300 county is Montgomery County, Alabama. Details are at https://lawnlove.com/blog/counties-with-most-expensive-land/.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the University of Utah awarded $320,400 in scholarships to 110 students for the 2021-22 academic year. Students receiving scholarships manage a broad variety of institute programs, ranging from workshops and mentor sessions to a makerspace and high school outreach program. The institute is an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business. The institute provides programs and opportunities for all students on campus to launch a company, build a product or join a team. Most programs are provided at Lassonde Studios.
GOVERNMENT
• The Utah Energy Diversity and Innovation Cluster Coalition, led by the Utah Office of Energy Development, is among the finalists for the $1 billion “Build Back Better Regional Challenge.” The coalition aims to diversify Utah’s rural South, Southeast, East and Central regional economy away from deep dependency on coal mining and coal-powered energy to an interstate regional producer of diverse, reliable, low-carbon power and energy technologies. Sixty regional finalists will each compete for up to $100 million in American Rescue Plan funding. The finalists have proposed projects that will develop or scale industry sectors, develop and train the workforce of today, and build resilient economies. Finalists will now compete for Phase 2 of the challenge, which will award 20-30 regional coalitions up to $100 million to implement three to eight projects that support an industry sector. The finalists were chosen from among 529 applicants and each will receive a grant of approximately $500,000 to further develop their proposed projects.
• The Central Wasatch Commission, an inter-governmental entity created to implement the Mountain Accord, has issued a request for proposals for a situational assessment and facilitation of a path forward for the organization. Proposals are being accepted until Dec. 27 at kaye@cwc.utah.gov. The commission also has announced that its executive director, Ralph Becker, will retire, effective in June 2022. He has been director for 3 1/2 years. Becker is a former mayor of Salt Lake City.
HEALTHCARE
• PatientBond, a Salt Lake City-based patient engagement SaaS provider, has announced that Dr. Lyle Berkowitz has joined its board of directors, Dr. Jeff Bohmer has been hired as chief medical officer and Mark Spranca has been named chief strategy officer. Berkowitz is a physician executive and serial entrepreneur who has extensive expertise in digital health, informatics and innovation, with a strong focus on workflow automation and virtual care. Berkowitz is an advisor to a variety of digital health companies and venture firms and serves on the Board of Directors of Oneview Healthcare. Previously, he was the founder and chairman of Healthfinch and the chief medical officer for MDLIVE. He also spent over 20 years at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago as a primary care physician and health system executive focusing on informatics and innovation. Bohmer also serves as the chairman/medical director of the Emergency Department at Northwestern Medicine Central Dupage Hospital. Bohmer was a co-founder and served as medical director of ImmediateMD. Spranca served as a behavioral scientist at Rand Corp. and as an executive at Abt Associates.
• The DripBar has opened at 11348 S. State St., Sandy, and offers the state’s first IV vitamin therapy designed to help people feel healthier, more energized and better equipped to resist or recover from an illness or injury. It is the only Utah infusion center that is USB 797 compliant, which means the nutrients are compounded on-site in a sterile practice to prevent patient harm from contamination. The company started offering franchises in 2019 and is expected to have more than 40 locations by year-end.
INVESTMENTS
• Pelion Venture Partners, a Cottonwood Heights-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology companies, has raised $365 million in its seventh fund. Pelion started in 1986. Pelion has four active flagship funds, one crypto and blockchain fund, and multiple special purpose vehicles under management.
• Nomi Health, an Orem-based direct healthcare company, has closed a $110 million Series A funding round led by Rose Park Advisors and Arbor Ventures. The company said the funding will be used to advance its growth, specifically to “support continued platform development, including investments in new offerings that power the delivery of everyday healthcare services into communities and that reduce costs for organizations buying healthcare.” In three years since its launch, Nomi Health has grown to more than 450 employees and more than 2,000 mobilized U.S. clinical and field staff.
• Tava Health, a Lehi-based healthcare technology startup providing access to professional mental health services for individuals, has raised $10 million in Series A funding, led by Peterson Partners. Tava Health is an online mental health company that partners with employers to provide convenient, high-quality, accessible mental health resources to employees and their families.
• Canopy, a Draper-based tax practice software company, has raised $35 million to accelerate its mission to become the default operating system for accounting firms. The Series BB round was led by Ten Coves Capital and included participation from NewView Capital, Pelion Partners, Tenaya Capital and Ankona Capital. The company has raised $147.5 million to date.
LAW
• Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar has elected three new shareholders: Lyndon R. Bradshaw and Ashley M. Gregson in the firm’s litigation practice in Salt Lake City, and Scott F. Garrett in its litigation practice in St. George. Bradshaw represents clients in complex commercial litigation matters relating to contracts and licenses, employment, trade secrets, product marketing, intellectual property, and shareholder disputes. His expertise includes trial and appeals work in both state and federal court, as well as discovery issues, motion practice, mediation and arbitration. Gregson focuses on navigating Utah administrative agency proceedings for her clients, particularly those involving allegations of employment discrimination, unemployment claims, licensing and contracts. Her litigation practice includes complex civil litigation and claims involving government entities and their employees in both federal and state court. She also specializes in judgment collection proceedings, in which she has represented both judgment creditors seeking payment and debtors seeking protection. Garrett’s practice primarily focuses on criminal defense and civil litigation. He has conducted internal criminal corporate investigations into allegations of fraud and other related criminal activity. He has represented clients against government administrative action, defending against allegations of fraud, abuse, neglect, and other violations of statutes.
NONPROFITS
• The Utah Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization, has announced its new board leadership for 2022. Art Turner, vice president/general manager of Enterprise Holdings, will serve as chair starting. He previously served as treasurer. Annalisa Holcombe, president of Western Governors University Advancement, will serve as vice chair. She previously served as fundraising chair. Scott Parson, president of CRH Americas Materials West, will serve as treasurer. Kelly Mendenhall, director of regulatory and pricing for Dominion Energy, will serve as secretary. The current chair, Chad Westover, CEO of University of Utah Health Plans, has completed his term and will remain on the executive board as immediate past chair. Dan Eldredge, vice chair, is retiring as general manager at the Intermountain Power Agency and is leaving the foundation’s board.
• Square Financial Services, in partnership with the Community Foundation of Utah, has launched the 21 Squared Grant program to support community development nonprofits in the state. Through the program, Square Financial Services will be awarding twenty-one 501(c)(3) nonprofits with microgrants of $2,100 to help support the critical community development work that goes on at the local level. The initiative is intended for Utah nonprofits on one of the following areas: small business development, affordable housing, reentry support and entrepreneurship, or financial capability and wellness. Applications are due Dec. 31at https://www.utahcf.org/be-a-partner/21-squared-grant-initiative.
• Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum (DGCM) in Salt Lake City is one of 50 institutions that has been awarded a “Communities for Immunity” grant through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The funding will be used to promote STEM education and good health practices in Salt Lake County. DGCM is working with the Salt Lake County Library to host free Family STEM nights at branches throughout the county where children can participate in fun science activities and parents can talk to science or health experts. Food will be provided from IRC’s Spice Kitchen and free mobile vaccination clinics will be available for those interested. These events will take place from January through March.
PARTNERSHIPS
• MX, a Lehi-based financial data platform and connectivity company, and North Carolina-based upSWOT, a fintech platform to connect business applications, are partnering to provide insights, analytics and dashboards to help small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMB) manage their businesses more effectively. With the partnership, upSWOT will be powered by MX in enabling SMBs to connect their bank accounts to import their account details and transactions.
PHILANTHROPY
• For the second consecutive year, TCN Inc., a St. George provider of a cloud-based call center platform for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs and collection agencies, will forego holiday gifts to its clients by donating funds to help local families in need. The help is in the form of a donation of more than 40,000 meals to Utah Food Bank and Feeding America.
REAL ESTATE
• Zenith Development, a Salt Lake City-based real estate development firm, has broken ground on Lex Apartments, a 144-unit multifamily development in Tooele financed by Trez Capital. Lex Apartments is the third phase of Lexington Greens, an 86+-acre master-planned community. Upon completion, Lexington Greens will have 192 single-family homes, 227 townhomes and three market-rate apartment complexes with over 300 units total. Lex Apartments will offer several floorplans including one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. JWZ Architects provided project design and Highmark Construction is serving as general contractor. Rockworth Property Management will serve as property manager upon completion.
RECOGNITIONS
• Mountain America Credit Union has been named the U.S. Small Business Administration’s No. 1 overall small-business lender in Utah, based on the number of loans generated during the 2021 fiscal year. Lending more than $90 million total, Mountain America provided 130 small-business owners with the capital needed to grow their businesses, hire more employees and help strengthen Utah’s local economy. The small-business owners received a combination of 7(a) and 504 loans.
• Graduation Alliance, a Salt Lake City-based organization that has provided schools and communities the resources and support needed to help individuals reach their educational and career goals, has been recognized by Cognia as a 2021 “School of Distinction.” The honor recognizes schools and systems that demonstrate a sustained commitment to learners. Seventy-nine schools out of thousands demonstrated excellence in meeting the Cognia Performance Standards during their 2020–21 accreditation reviews. Cognia is a global nonprofit improvement organization dedicated to helping institutions and other education providers grow learners, educators and leaders.
• AgeLOC LumiSpa, a product of Provo-based Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., has been named a “Product of the Year” in the 2021 BIG Awards for Business, presented by the Business Intelligence Group. The product is an at-home beauty device.
RESTAURANTS
• Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers has opened a restaurant at 3346 S. 5600 W., West Valley City. As part of its commitment to community involvement, it hosted an in-restaurant fundraiser Dec. 16, with 15 percent of all sales between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. donated to Utah Food Bank to help feed people in need during the holiday season. It is the company’s third location in Utah and among nearly 600 restaurants in 31 states and the Middle East.
SERVICES
• Savage, a Salt Lake City provider of industry infrastructure and supply chain services, has added Martha Bárcena Coqui to its board of directors. She will serve on the company’s audit and compensation committees. Bárcena is the former ambassador of Mexico to the United States, serving from December 2018 to February 2021. Her career includes serving as Mexico’s permanent representative to the United Nations agencies based in Rome as well as to the Governing Council of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, serving as the Mexican ambassador to Turkey concurrent with Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan; serving as ambassador to Denmark concurrent with Norway and Iceland; and serving as consul in charge of the Department of Protection of Mexicans Abroad and Cultural Affairs at the General Consulate of Mexico in Barcelona. Bárcena has also worked at non-governmental organizations as advisor to the director of the Center for Regional Cooperation for Adult Education in Latin America and director of the Latin American Center for Globalization. She has been a professor at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico, the Instituto Matías Romero, and Mexico’s Center for Higher Naval Studies.
TECHNOLOGY
• Lucid Software, a South Jordan-based visual collaboration software company, has hired Seamus Hennessy as chief financial officer and Sean Goldstein as chief revenue officer and promoted Dan Lawyer to chief product officer. Hennessy has over two decades of financial experience. He brings financial management and operational experience in both public and private technology companies, including as CFO at Udacity and Ruckus Wireless. He has also held CFO positions at Big Switch Networks and Aerohive Networks. Goldstein joins Lucid from Salesforce, where he was most recently the senior vice president of sales and transformation. He has experience leading teams across sales, customer success, marketing, strategy, M&A and operations. Lawyer’s promotion to chief product officer comes after a year in which he has led the development of two new products in Lucid’s Visual Collaboration Suite, Lucidspark and Lucidscale.
• Vivint Smart Home Inc., a Provo-based smart home company, has appointed Garner B. Meads III as chief legal officer and secretary. He previously was interim general counsel. Meads has been with the company since 2016. Meads served as associate general counsel and assistant secretary of Vivint Smart Home since July of 2016 after serving as senior corporate counsel at Vivint Solar Inc., a separate sister company, which he joined in January of 2015. Meads also has prior experience as an attorney for Vinson & Elkins LLP and Sidley Austin LLP. He earned his J.D. degree at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.
• Turner Imaging Systems, an Orem-based company that has developed a portable, battery-powered, X-ray imaging device, has appointed Roberto Scorcia as vice president of sales and marketing. Scorcia has experience in medical imaging, most recently leading the global go-to-market strategy, marketing and sales operations for Aspen Imaging Healthcare. Previously, he was global business development manager for general medical X-ray products at Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corp.
• Aktify, a Lehi-based conversational collective intelligence (CI) platform for enterprise businesses, has appointed Chase Rigby as chief product officer and Dave Barney as chief technology officer. Barney will guide engineering and data science teams at Aktify, while Rigby will spearhead the product development and design. Rigby has experience creating and enhancing enterprise SaaS software. In his six years at Google, he led various teams at Niantic Labs, Search & Assistant, and ML reengagement for ads across YouTube, and Chrome. He also led Google’s Social Good team, processing payments for mining public data to predict public health epidemics that aided federal and NGO relief efforts. Barney spent more than a decade at Google developing machine learning and digital attribution models, teaching ML classes to fellow Google engineers, and leading fulfillment efforts in its global support organization. Prior to Google, Barney spent a decade working at various ML/AI start-ups. Most recently, Rigby and Barney worked at Kanopy, an enterprise video streaming platform.