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CONSTRUCTION
• Jacobsen Construction Co., Salt Lake City, has promoted several executives. Jon Wight, who joined Jacobsen in 2005, has been named vice president of field operations, a new position at the company. In his role, he holds high-level strategic risk management and construction management responsibilities. Wight has been serving as a project executive overseeing Jacobsen’s religious projects market and will continue to supervise key projects in that area. Jon Moody has assumed the role of vice president and project executive, where he will utilize his expertise in pre-construction and project development gained over the course of 21-plus years at Jacobsen. Moody is overseeing several Jacobsen projects that begin in 2022. Josh Fenn now holds the title of vice president and project executive while also continuing in his role as assistant project director at the Salt Lake Temple’s renovation. Fenn is a 16-year industry veteran and has managed large, complex projects for Jacobsen since joining the firm in 2017. Rob Mills is now serving as vice president of project development. Mills has handled project development duties for Jacobsen projects nationwide since 1999, most recently as a preconstruction manager.
• Granite has announced that Sand Ridge Constructors, a joint venture of Granite and W.W. Clyde & Co., has been awarded the $16.5 million construction manager portion of the 5600 South Progressive Design Build (PDB) project by the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). The project construction contract is anticipated to be $155 million, with Granite taking $93 million (60 percent) of the total. The construction manager contract was included in Granite’s 2021 fourth quarter CAP. The project scope covers the widening from three to five lanes of approximately 3 miles of 5600 South in Roy. The project will construct six bridges: one pedestrian bridge, one above-grade crossing, two new mainline I-15 interchange bridges, one off-ramp bridge over railroad, and one collector-distributor bridge. The Ogden West Haven HMA plant will supply approximately 85,000 tons of HMA for the project. The construction manager phase is expected to begin this month, with construction to start in the second quarter of 2023.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Extra Space Storage Inc., Salt Lake City, has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share on the company’s common stock for the first quarter 2022. That represents a 20 percent increase over the previous quarter dividend, and a 50 percent increase over the first quarter 2021 dividend. The dividend is payable March 31 to stockholders of record March 15. Extra Space Storage is a real estate investment trust that owns and/or operates 2,096 self-storage properties.
• The board of directors of Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., Provo, has increased the quarterly cash dividend to 38.5 cents per share. The dividend will be paid March 9 to shareholders of record Feb. 28. Nu Skin is a beauty and wellness products company.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• A total of 384,662 workers in Utah have reduced their risk of developing mental and physical problems by choosing to work from home, according to a study by mental health and wellness performance company IAND1 Life Inc. Those workers commuted over an hour per day before the pandemic. Those mental and physical problems include obesity, high blood pressure, stress and fatigue. It said that nearly 5 million Californians have experienced mental and physical benefits of working from home since the pandemic started. Details are at https://www.1and1life.com/infographic/commute/.
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 42 on a list of “2022’s Most Glamorous Cities,” compiled by Lawn Starter. It ranked the 200 biggest cities based on 35 indicators of exclusivity, such as household wealth, access to Michelin-starred restaurants, and Fashion Week participation. On breakout lists, Salt Lake City was No. 46 for status and wealth, No. 52 for fine dining rank, No. 29 for beauty, No. 26 for fashion, and No. 117 for entertainment. The overall rankings leader is San Francisco. The No. 200 city is Brownsville, Texas. Details are at https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/most-glamorous-cities-in-us/.
• The cost to own and run a car in 2031 in Utah is projected to be $6,119, according to a report from Zutobi. That compares with $4,267 in 2011 and $5,072 in 2021. It considered factors including average annual depreciation of the vehicle, average annual fuel costs and average annual insurance costs. It used the most popular car in the U.S., the Ford F150 pickup truck, as its data base. The most-expensive state for owning and running a car in 2031 is projected to be Louisiana, at $7,125. The least-expensive is New York, at $4,508. Details are at https://zutobi.com/us/driver-guides/motoring-projections.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Western Governors University (WGU) has named Gonzalo Peña as senior community relations liaison for Utah. Peña will work to build relationships with like-minded community partners and engage with underserved populations, such as communities of color and low-income student populations. Peña previously held roles at the United Nations, Standard and Poor’s and the Department of Justice. Peña also has a background in the arts, having performed with the Utah Opera from 2012-18 and currently serves on the Utah Symphony/Utah Opera’s Hispanic Task Force, working to integrate Latin people into the arts. He has taught international relations courses at Utah Valley University as well as business courses for Latino entrepreneurs. Peña’s education includes a bachelor of science degree from Utah Valley University.
• ULI (Urban Land Institute) Utah is accepting applications for the ULI Utah Young Leaders Mentor Program for 2022. It represents an opportunity for a small group of young leaders from Utah’s real estate community to be mentored by an industry leader. Each group will contain six to 10 young leaders from diverse professional backgrounds between the ages of 18-35 paired with one mentor. The group will meet regularly at least six times throughout the year. Up to three groups will be offered in 2022. Applications are being accepted through March 4. Details are available by calling (801) 541-4431.
GOVERNMENT
• The Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity has created a public online dashboard that tracks companies that have received a state economic development tax increment financing (EDTIF) incentive. The page lists when the EDTIFs was awarded, the numbers of promised jobs, projected new state wages, projected new state tax revenue, projected capital investment, and the maximum tax credit. It reports the term of the contract and the temporary, marginal tax reduction the company may receive if it meets its obligations. The table also shows whether the company has an active agreement, the percentage of new state revenue assessed, and the total tax credit used. Since EDTIF’s 2005 inception, about 50 percent of companies awarded an incentive have pursued a post-performance tax credit by entering into a contract. Over the program’s life, companies that have applied for at least one post-performance tax credit have received on average 34 percent of their contract’s maximum tax credit amount. The website is https://business.utah.gov/incented-companies/. Go Utah does not provide upfront cash incentives. Each year that an incentivized company meets the obligations in its contract with the state, it will qualify to receive a portion of the new state taxes the company paid to the state.
• The Utah Broadband Center, powered by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, recently announced its Broadband Access Grant recipients. The awardees are All West/Utah Inc., Box Elder County Government, CentraCom Interactive, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority and South Utah Valley Electric Special Service District. The grant program offsets capital expenses in deploying “last-mile broadband” in unserved rural and underserved economically distressed areas. The investments are part of the $10 million in funds received through the federal American Rescue Plan Act distributed by the Utah Broadband Center to help households and businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. All West/Utah Inc. has been approved to receive $508,425 in grant funds to combine with $169,475 of matching funds to connect a high-speed fiber network to 56 locations, including 50 households and six farms/ranches in Croyden, Morgan County. Box Elder County Government will receive more than $5.8 million in grant funds to combine with more than $5.1 million of matching funds to connect high-speed fiber network in the communities of Bear River City, Elwood, Howell, Mantua and Willard and the unincorporated areas of Penrose, Thatcher and South Willard for a total of 2,460 locations comprising 1,208 households, 48 businesses, 79 farms and ranches, and 25 anchor institutions or public facilities. They are partnering with local broadband providers. CentraCom Interactive has been approved to receive $839,708 in grant funds combined with $279,903 of matching funds to connect a high-speed fiber network to 473 households in Millard County. Navajo Tribal Utility Authority will receive $420,732 in grant funds to combine with $140,244 of matching funds to connect a high-speed fiber network to 96 locations, including 84 households, seven businesses and six anchor institutions/public facilities in Montezuma Creek, San Juan County. South Utah Valley Electric Special Service District, serving West Mountain and Payson, have been approved to receive more than $2.1 million in grant funds to combine with $1.6 million matching funds to connect high-speed fiber network to 1,095 total locations, which include 1,080 households, 15 businesses, and two or more anchor institutions or public facilities. They are partnering with Centracom.
HEALTHCARE
• Nexus Spine, a Salt Lake City-based developer of biomechanically-advanced solutions for spinal pathologies, has appointed Steve Cichy as vice president of sales. Cichy is has more than 25 years of experience in the spinal implant industry. He held various sales leadership roles in companies of all sizes prior to Nexus, including Sulzer Spine-Tech, Oratec Interventions, Stryker Spine and Anulex Technologies. Most recently, he served as executive vice president of sales for Titan Spine.
HOSPITALITY/FOOD SERVICE
• Pendry Hotels & Resorts has opened Pendry Park City, the brand’s first year-round mountain resort, at Canyons Village at Park City Mountain. Pendry Park City marks the sixth addition to the Pendry Hotels & Resorts portfolio and features 153 guestrooms, suites and residences. In collaboration with Columbus Pacific, the resort was designed by SB Architects with interiors by KES Studio. It features four dining outlets, a rooftop pool, Spa Pendry, Pinwheel Kids Club, a curated art collection, and more than 7,000 square feet of meetings and event space.
INVESTMENTS
• Leadership Circle, a Salt Lake City-based leadership development company, has announced a $20 million financing round with RF Investment Partners. The company said the investment will be used to further develop the its LeadTech platform and SaaS capabilities, scale its executive offerings and support self-serve options for leadership assessment and development.
• Sorenson Ventures, based in Utah and Silicon Valley, has promoted Vidya Raman to partner and Eric Hilton to principal. Sorenson Ventures is an early-stage investor in security and enterprise software companies. Raman joined the company three years ago from Cloudera, where she led the ML platform. Prior to that, she led engineering and product teams at venture-backed enterprise startups, including eMeter and Silver Spring Networks. Hilton joined Sorenson Capital in 2015 from L.E.K. Consulting, where he served clients across a wide range of industries, including technology, healthcare and financial services. He briefly left the firm to earn his MBA at The Wharton School and rejoined Sorenson Ventures in 2020 as a vice president.
• Kodiak, a Park City-based company offering protein-powered breakfast staples, has announced an investment by Patricof Co (P/Co), a private investment platform for professional athletes. The amount was not disclosed. Joe Burrow, Travis Kelce, Sloane Stephens, CC Sabathia, Rudy Gay, Adam Henrique and several dozen other athletes participated as a part of the investment. P/Co joins existing investor L Catterton, a consumer investment firm that acquired Kodiak last year, to fuel its retail expansion and support its continued growth. In addition to the investment, P/Co will work with Kodiak to create an Athlete Advisory Council, facilitating quarterly meetings between the athlete investors and C-level executives to co-create new food products, marketing campaigns and sustainability initiatives.
LAW
• Squire & Co., based in Orem, has announced four new partners: Marc Andrus, Kyle Greene, Joe Spillner and Garth Simpson. Andrus has been named an advisory partner. He serves as one of Squire’s outsourced CFO/controllers, focusing primarily on helping companies in the direct selling space. He joined Squire in October 2013, with about six years of controller-level experience in the direct selling industry. Andrus graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in business management with an emphasis on information systems, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Utah Valley University. Greene has been named an audit partner. Kyle joined Squire in 2010 as a member of the assurance services team. He oversees audits of local governments, not-for-profit entities and for-profit entities. He specializes in local governments, including school districts, counties and special service districts. Green earned a master of accountancy degree from Brigham Young University. Spillner has been named a tax partner. Joe joined Squire’s tax department in October 2016 after his time as a tax professional in Silicon Valley. A Certified Public Accountant, Spillner has areas of specialty including business and individual tax, international tax and the technology industry. Simpson has also been named a tax partner. He serves as a Certified Public Accountant at Squire and is a member of the tax committee and business valuation team. He assists in training and support for new staff members and is an expert in state and local tax, with an emphasis in sales tax consulting. He earned a bachelor of science and master of accountancy degrees from Brigham Young University.
LOGISTICS
• InXpress USA, a South Jordan-based third-party logistics company, has reached $100 million in system sales, representing 53 percent year-over-year growth. The company attributed the growth largely to the urgent need and superior care small and medium-sized business companies require to navigate supply chain challenges and other marketplace impacts. The company said that as the demand for shipping services climbs, it expects to add account executives and franchise partners to reach more small-to-medium size businesses.
MANUFACTURING
• Nature’s Sunshine Products, a Lehi-based company offering herbal and nutritional products, has appointed Trent McCausland as vice president of global sustainability and transparency. McCausland will be responsible for ensuring that Nature’s Sunshine’s ingredients are provided by suppliers who apply sustainable harvesting and ethical labor practices, and Nature’s Sunshine’s manufacturing facilities continue reducing their environmental footprint. McCausland has over 20 years of experience in multiple positions across Nature’s Sunshine’s supply chain team, including serving as the leader of the company’s manufacturing task force. He joined Nature’s Sunshine in 2000 after starting his career with Dura Pharmaceuticals.
PARTNERSHIPS
• Pluralsight, a Draper-based technology workforce development company, has announced a partnership with Go1, a corporate education content hub. Together, the companies will deliver a curated content experience designed to help Go1 customers learn the most in-demand technology skills.
REAL ESTATE
• Havenpark Communities, an Orem-based operator and developer of manufactured home communities, completed $24 million in community upgrades during 2021. These strategic investments across its more than 80 properties delivered infrastructure, amenities, landscaping and overall enhanced curb appeal. New and upgraded amenities included playgrounds, dog parks, sport courts, picnic pavilions, renovated clubhouses, and upgraded swimming pools. In 2021, the company also added more than 500 affordable housing units across its communities despite pandemic-related supply chain issues. Havenpark also announced it intends to invest an additional $35 million to continue revitalizing and upgrading its communities during 2022 and plans to add more than 1,000 affordable housing units during the year.
RECOGNITIONS
• Vickie Anenberg, chief operating officer at Salt Lake City-based healthcare employment agency Supplemental Health Care, has been named to the Staffing Industry Analysts’ (SIA) Staffing 100 list, which recognizes leaders in the staffing industry. SIA is a global advisor on staffing and workforce solutions. Anenberg has led the company’s efforts to support the demand for pandemic patient care while also restructuring the company in unique divisions to address the evolving future of healthcare in critical settings such as home health, schools, corrections, ambulatory care and behavioral health.
SERVICES
• Assisted Living Locators has announced the launch of its free senior placement and referral service in locating quality assisted living and in-home care options throughout the northern Salt Lake City, central and Northern Utah area. The franchise is now under new ownership by senior care advisor Nick Gittins, an Ogden resident. Gittins, a certified dementia care specialist, helps find safe care solutions for the elderly, whether it be home care, independent living, assisted living, or memory care. Assisted Living Locators has 140 franchisees in 36 states and the District of Columbia.
TECHNOLOGY
• Nearmap Ltd., a global provider of aerial imagery whose U.S. headquarters are in South Jordan, has announced Penny Diamantakiou as its new chief financial officer. She has more than 20 years of experience as a business executive with a passion for digital, media and technology businesses. She previously was the CFO of 5B, a clean technology company and held leadership roles at companies including Optus, Yahoo7, WooliesX (part of the Woolworths Group) and the Association for Data-Driven Marketing & Advertising (ADMA).
• Experlogix, a Salt Lake City-based provider of cloud-based CPQ (configure, price, quote) and document generation and automation software, has hired Beth Thornton as chief revenue officer. Thornton is a global sales and marketing executive with over 25 years of leadership experience. Before joining Experlogix, Thornton was CRO of Inspire Software since 2019, where she led their sales and marketing organization. Prior to that, she held the position of executive vice president of global sales at O.C. Tanner.