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ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
• The Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah) board, at its November meeting, approved incentives for three film products shooting in Utah. Swingle Productions Inc. was approved for a tax credit of up to $400,000 for its production of “Winter Spring Summer Fall,” a feature comedy. It is expected to spend $5 million in Utah and employ 23 cast, 120 crew and 300 extras. Principal photography is scheduled through Dec. 9. The story focuses on two teenagers who meet by chance in the winter of their senior year, then spend four days together over the course of a year that will change their lives forever. The director is Tiffany Paulsen. The producer is David Wulf. JK Studios was approved for a $40,000 tax rebate for its production of “Go West,” a feature comedy. It is expected to spend $247,806 in Utah and employ 10 cast, 20 crew and 10 extras. Principal photography took place in October and November. Directors are Jeremy Warner and Stephen Meek. Produces are Natalie Madsen and Whitney Call. The film tells humorous stories of the people on the Oregon Trail and the hardships they endured by traveling from Illinois to Utah in the 1800s. Mistletoe Mixup 2 LLC was approved for a $40,000 tax rebate for its production of “Mistletoe Mixup 2,” a family feature. It is expect to spend $230,000 in Utah and employ 12 cast, 21 crew and 50 extras. Principal shooting took place in October and November. The show focuses on a man who proposes marriage at the top of a mountain at Deer Valley, only to discover his brother is planning to get married on the same day at the same venue. The director is Andrew Lawrence. Producers are Kaylin Richardson and Michelle Christensen.
ASSOCIATIONS
• BioHive, a collective of more than 1,300 life sciences and healthcare innovation companies in Utah, has appointed Aimee Edwards as executive director. Edwards succeeds Katelin Roberts, who has served as executive director since its launch in 2020. Edwards most recently served as external affairs director at Western Governors University. She previously held multiple positions at the Utah Governor’s Office and Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, including leading strategic outreach, communications and marketing, and legislative strategy. BioHive is a chartered organization of BioUtah, Utah’s trade organization for the life sciences.
BANKING
• Brighton Bank has hired Brent Worthington as vice president, branch manager and commercial loan officer and Scott Allen as vice president and commercial loan officer at its newest South Towne location, 136 W. 12300 S., Draper. Worthington has worked in community and commercial banking since 2007. He received his B.S. from the University of Utah. Allen has been in community and commercial banking since 1995 and has a B.A. from Brigham Young University. Both Worthington and Allen are graduates of the Utah Bankers Association in both the executive development program and commercial lending development program.
CONSTRUCTION
• Sundt Construction, a general contractor with a regional office in Salt Lake City, has hired Jerri Lashlee as a recruiter for the Northwest and Intermountain regions. She will focus specifically on recruiting and hiring skilled tradespeople for Sundt’s projects across the two geographic areas. Lashlee has over 20 years of corporate and craft recruiting experience. She previously worked with several engineering and construction firms, with an emphasis in recruiting for chemical, mining, refinery and pipeline projects.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Extra Space Storage Inc., Salt Lake City, has declared a fourth-quarter dividend of $1.50 per share on the company’s common stock. The dividend is payable Dec. 30 to stockholders of record Dec. 14. Extra Space Storage is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that owns and/or operates 2,327 self-storage properties. It is the second-largest owner and/or operator of self-storage properties in the United States and is the largest self-storage management company in the U.S.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Utah is ranked No. 13 on a list of states with the highest teacher shortage in the U.S., according to a study by Scholaroo, an education research firm and scholarship website engine. It analyzed the most recent data showing the number of teachers in each state compared to the state population to depict the teacher shortage in the U.S. and the shortfall on a state-by-state basis. Utah has 9.02 teachers per 1,000 population. That compares with 13.13 in North Dakota and 6.54 in Florida. Details are at https://scholaroo.com/report/teacher-shortage-by-state/.
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 85 and West Valley City is last (No. 200) on a list of “Best Cities for Breakfast Lovers,” compiled by Lawn Love. It looked at cities with plenty of access to breakfast spots like diners, cafes and doughnut shops. It also considered quality and popularity by measuring consumer ratings, Google search interest, and the number of breakfast clubs, among 16 total metrics. The top-ranked city is New York City. Details are at https://lawnlove.com/blog/best-cities-breakfast-lovers/.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Reading Horizons, a Kaysville-based company that partners with educators to eradicate illiteracy, has launched the Science of Reading Collective, a free, online community designed to help teachers confidently and effectively implement the science of reading. To support educators with any level of experience and an interest in teaching reading regardless of grade, the Science of Reading Collective is offering free access to bite-sized practical lessons and professional learning events; monthly Q&A sessions with experts in the science of reading; and an always-open forum for discussion with peers. A recording of a free webinar about the program is available at edWeb.net.
INTERNATIONAL
• World Trade Center Utah, in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, the Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative and the U.S. Small Business Administration, will lead a delegation of Utah composite materials companies to represent the state’s advanced-materials industry at the JEC World trade show April 25-27 in Paris. More than 117 nations will be represented at the event, which attracts 32,000 attendees. Companies can secure a spot in the Utah booth for $500. Companies may apply by submitting an SBA STEP grant application by Dec. 16 at https://wtcutah.formstack.com/forms/step_grant_fy22_year10_application. Eligible companies can qualify for up to $2,500 in grant funds to help cover travel costs.
PARTNERSHIPS
• Eltropy, a company offering a digital communications platform for community financial institutions and with an office in Lehi, has announced a partnership with digital banking provider Tyfone, giving its mutual community bank and credit union clients enterprise-wide text, secure chat, voice, video and co-browsing options. Eltropy now works with more than 500 community financial institutions with end-to-end virtual branch capabilities.
PHILANTHROPY
• Bank of Utah, Arctic Circle Restaurants and Red Hanger delivered 460 bags and barrels full of warm clothing and $5,400 in cash to 12 charities during a week in November. The donations were collected during the 10h annual “Warm Bodies, Warm Souls” clothing drive Oct. 17-Nov. 11. The charities are Cache Community Food Pantry, Logan; Tremonton Community Pantry, Tremonton; The Family Support Center, Brigham City; Catholic Community Services (Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank), Ogden; The Lantern House, Ogden; Bountiful Community Pantry, Bountiful; Crossroads Urban Center, Salt Lake City; The Road Home’s Family Shelter, Midvale; Heber Valley Center Stage, Heber; Community Action Services and Food Bank, Provo; United Way, Price; and Hope Pregnancy Care Center, St. George.
• The Utah Jazz Holiday Playhouse Project presented by First Colony Mortgage will be on display during Jazz home games from through Dec. 13. The three outdoor playhouses on the Vivint Arena plaza will be gifted to families from Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Intermountain Area in a special presentation during the Dec. 13 Jazz game. Three Utah home builders — Visionary Homes, Fieldstone Homes and Carefree Homes — participated in the project by designing, building and decorating the homes. Each playhouse is a Jazz-themed wooden structure customized by the builder with unique features.
REAL ESTATE
• Pacific Industrial, a privately held industrial development and investment firm, has completed construction of Pacific Summit Logistics Center, a single industrial facility totaling 824,320 square feet at 885 N. John Cannon Drive, Salt Lake City. Pacific Industrial sold the property on a forward basis to Principal Global Investors, an Iowa-based global real estate investment platform. The transaction is one of the largest ever single-building industrial property sales in Salt Lake City. At the time of the sale, the building was 50 percent pre-leased to Quality Distribution, a third-party logistics provider based in Utah. Jeff Chiate, Rick Ellison, Mike Adey, Brad Brandenburg and Matthew Leupold of Cushman & Wakefield’s National Industrial Advisory Group, together with Tom Freeman and Travis Healey with Cushman & Wakefield’s Salt Lake City office represented Pacific Industrial in the transaction. Freeman and Healey were retained by Principal Global Investors for project leasing.
RECOGNITIONS
• Stein Ericksen earned three honors and Deer Valley Resort earned one in the 2022 World Ski Awards. Stein Ericksen Residences was named World’s Best Ski Boutique Hotel and the U.S.’s Best Ski Boutique Hotel. Stein Ericksen Lodge Deer Valley was named the U.S.’s Best Ski Hotel. Deer Valley Resort was named the U.S.’s Best Ski Resort for the 10th consecutive year. Launched in 2013, World Ski Awards aims to drive up standards within the ski industry by rewarding the organizations that are leaders in their field. Votes are cast by professionals working within the ski industry (senior executives, travel buyers, tour operators, agents and media) and by the public.
• Stein Ericksen earned three honors and Deer Valley Resort earned one in the 2022 World Ski Awards. Stein Ericksen Residences was named World’s Best Ski Boutique Hotel and the U.S.’s Best Ski Boutique Hotel. Stein Ericksen Lodge Deer Valley was named the U.S.’s Best Ski Hotel. Deer Valley Resort was named the U.S.’s Best Ski Resort for the 10th consecutive year. Launched in 2013, World Ski Awards aims to drive up standards within the ski industry by rewarding the organizations that are leaders in their field. Votes are cast by professionals working within the ski industry (senior executives, travel buyers, tour operators, agents and media) and by the public.
• Extra Space Storage Inc., Salt Lake City, has been named a “Leader in the Light” by Nareit. The company earned the honor for the third consecutive year and is the only self-storage company to be recognized in the award’s 17-year history. The awards are presented to real estate investment trusts in eight property sectors, and to those in the “Most Innovative” and “Leadership Personified” categories. Extra Space earned top honors in the self-storage sector. In 2012, the Leader in the Light program migrated into and became embedded within the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark Survey, which measures the environmental performance of property portfolios around the world. To participate in the Leader in the Light Awards program, Nareit members must complete both the GRESB assessment and the Leader in the Light Supplement. Extra Space Storage is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that owns and/or operates 2,327 self-storage properties. It is the second-largest owner and/or operator of self-storage properties in the United States and is the largest self-storage management company in the U.S.
• Smart Rain, a Centerville-based irrigation technology company, has been named to the “Next Big Things in Tech” list, compiled by Fast Company. The list honors technology breakthroughs that promise to shape the future of industries, from agriculture and environment to productivity and artificial intelligence. This year’s list includes 83 technologies developed by established companies, startups or research teams. Fast Company also recognized 41 honorable mentions. Smart Rain’s technology is designed to conserve water, with customers including municipalities, homeowners’ associations, churches, schools, retail and commercial buildings.
• Impartner, a Salt Lake City-based company offering a channel management platform and providing partner relationship management, has received a Gold award from the MarCom Awards for its efforts and results for its ImpartnerCON 2022 customer summit in October. Its award was in the Strategic Communications—Special Event category. The MarCom Awards is an international creative competition that recognizes outstanding achievements by marketing and communication professionals. This year, there were over 6,000 entries in more than 300 categories from throughout the United States, Canada and 43 other countries.
• The University of Utah is ranked No. 17 for graduate entrepreneurship programs and No. 24 for undergraduate programs by The Princeton Review. The entrepreneurship program at the David Eccles School of Business is provided in partnership between the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. The Princeton Review rankings are based on a summer 2022 survey conducted of nearly 300 schools with entrepreneurship offerings. The rankings reported considered more than 40 data points about the school programs, faculties, students and alumni.
SCHOLARSHIPS
• Western Governors University, Salt Lake City, has announced the “WGU Loves Teachers” and “Become a Teacher” scholarship programs for current and future education professionals who wish to pursue bachelor’s or master’s degree programs in its Teachers College. The scholarships are valued at up to $4,000 each and designed to help current teachers improve their skill set in the classroom or move into administration, and support future teachers in obtaining the required credentials to start a career as an educator. In the past 20 years, the Teachers College has conferred more than 70,000 degrees to educators across all 50 states, and has currently enrolled approximately 35,000 students. New and enrolling WGU students may apply for the scholarships by Dec. 31 by visiting https://www.wgu.edu/lp/teach/lead/become-a-teacher.html.
TECHNOLOGY
• Cloutchain, Salt Lake City, has announced that, in addition to its existing suite of fan verification and engagement tools, its event ticketing solution is now being made available to the public. Cloutchain is a platform that artists and brands use to identify and engage their top fans through digital collectibles. Each collectible, whether it acts as a ticket, unlocks merchandise or content or provides an experience, establishes a direct link between the seller and the purchaser. Cloutchain is designed to enable artists and brands to take control over their fan connections, making it easy to identify, reward, and engage a following based on fan leaderboards and tiers.