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
• CallTower, a South Jordan-based unified communications and collaboration solutions company, has announced that Nick Amelang and Charles Phaneuf will support strategic growth initiatives in the Southwest and Northeast regions, respectively. Amelang will serve as CallTower’s channel director for Texas. He has more than 10 years of channel experience, including channel roles at Nitel and Hypercore Networks. Phaneuf joins CallTower as the channel specialist for the Northeast. He has several years of experience in field sales, business development, technology and marketing.
CONTESTS
• The top 20 teams have been announced in the 2020 High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, a business-idea competition with a chance to win $30,000 in prizes. More than 350 applications were received. The top 20 teams advance to the final stage of competition. The competition is hosted by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, a division of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, and sponsored by Zions Bank. The public can participate in online voting for their favorite idea through March 27 at https://lassonde.utah.edu/hsuec/vote2020/. A public showcase and awards ceremony will take place March 28 from 2:30-4 p.m. at the Lassonde Studios. The top 20 teams are (in alphabetical order) Alteration Annie’s, West High School; Aurora Discovery, Ridgeline High School; EcoFashion, Academy for Math Engineering & Science; Epicure, Waterford School; Fillabelli, Capstone Classical Academy; Hoshi, Spanish Fork High School; Jesperson Inc., American Fork High School; Optimized Lawn Care, Skyline High School; Pocket Change, Murray High School; Pocket Gardens, Hillcrest High School; Proxy, Skyridge High School; Saola Co., Park City High School; Skibaxx, Park City High School; Smart Buddy, West High School; SomnaSuo, Weber High School; SubscriptionMinder, Park City High School; TagTeam, Herriman High School; The Circle of Life, Academy for Math Engineering & Science; Unlabel, Logan High School; Zip Away, Park City High School.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Utah has the No. 3 highest-rated hospitals in the U.S., according to a study by PsyDPrograms.org using data from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services through January 2020. To determine the rankings, 3,698 hospitals were analyzed and given a rating from one to five stars for 57 categories related to patient experience, mortality and safety of care. Utah received an overall score of 3.8 stars out of five. The average score for hospitals nationally was 3.1. Wisconsin had the highest-rated hospitals. The District of Columbia had the lowest-rated hospitals.
• A new study by SafeHome.org shows that FTC complaints from Utah about spam phone calls and “do not call” registration have increased 107.6 percent. From 2015 to 2019. Utah now ranks No. 45 for the highest percentage of its population registered for the “do not call” list, at 65,530 per 100,000 people. The national average is 68,428 per 100,000. The three most common spam calls reported from Utah residents were related to imposters, 20.5 percent of the time; debt reduction, 22 percent; and medical and prescriptions, 28.7 percent. Nationally, the FTC received complaints from more than 5.4 million Americans, up 50 percent, and “do not call” list registration increased 1.7 percent to 240 million Americans.
EXPANSIONS
• Domo, an American Fork-based business cloud company, has a new data center running on Amazon Web Services in Canada. The company said the expansion will provide regional support and data governance for customers in that region as well as global customers with worldwide operations.
• VentureCapital.Org has announced an expansion of its WeROC (Women Entrepreneurs Realizing Opportunities for Capital) conference with a conference April 7 in Boise. The event will be at the Stueckle Sky Center, 1910 W. University Drive. It will feature keynotes from Doreen Benson, managing director of Benson Funds; Marlene Tromp of Boise State University; and Leslie Goldman of The Artemis Fund. Trent Christensen, VentureCapital.Org CEO, will discuss the vision and direction of the organization. Activities also include breakout panel discussions and two Deal Forum panels.
FOODS
• Lotus Co., known as Lotus Craft, Salt Lake City, has made several hires in advance of opening two craft brewery operations in 2020. With construction underway at Ogden River Brewing, Lotus Craft has hired veteran food and beverage operators Doug Hofeling and James Soares, formally of Squatters Craft Beers and Wasatch Brewery. After serving as COO and director of operations and sustainability, respectively, for Squatters and Wasatch, Hofeling and Soares have over 40 years of combined experience in the craft beer and restaurant industries. Prior to joining Lotus, Hofeling also served on a national platform as vice president of brew pubs for the parent company of Squatters and Wasatch, CANarchy Brewery Collective. Lotus Craft also has hired Patrick Bourque as director of brewing. He previously was head brewer for Uinta Brewing. Bourque will work with Pat Winslow, brewmaster at Ogden River Brewing, as well as lead all development and production for Fife Brewing Co., a Lotus Craft project coming to the Midtown District of Salt Lake City this fall. Lotus also has hired Lauren Boyack as vice president of marketing. Boyack most recently worked for Squatters and Wasatch Pubs & Beers.
HOSPITALITY
• Bluff Dwellings Resort & Spa has had its grand opening. The resort, in Bluff, features 57 Native American-inspired luxury rooms and suites. Jared Berrett is president and CEO. Dallin Tait is general manager of Bluff Dwellings Resort and WILD Expeditions. The 13-acre cliff-bound property features rooms adjacent to red rock cliffs, several shared public spaces, and private dwellings for extended stays.
MEDIA/MARKETING
• BYUtv, Provo, has named Dave Phillips Jr. as the network’s head sports producer. He will oversee all studio and live event sports content and production and will be a member of the BYU broadcasting content development team, leading strategy, development and production of all sports-related programming for BYUtv, including live and tape-delayed sports broadcasts, studio programs and original sports content. Phillips has been the live graphics supervisor at BYUtv for the past six years. Prior to joining BYUtv in 2013, Phillips produced pre-game, halftime and post-game shows for the Utah Jazz and Real Salt Lake. Previously at KJZZ-TV, he produced and directed live sports for Utah State University, Weber State University, high school and NBA D-League broadcasts. He started his career working for Salt Lake City’s CBS affiliate, KUTV, on its production crew and producing sports content.
PHILANTHROPY
• Tammy Levent, founder of It’s My Bag, a Florida-based national nonprofit whose purpose is to provide foster care children their own bag, recently teamed up with Utah organization American Classics Corp. to donate 380 new suitcases to Pioneer Youth and Adult Community Services, Murray. The newly crowned 5A state girls basketball champions from Highland High School were on-site as a service project to help unload the luggage.
REAL ESTATE
• Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap, has hired multifamily investment advisors Daniel Shin and Brock Zylstra for its Salt Lake City office. They have represented large private and institutional clients in partnership with IPA teams in Northern California and Phoenix and have sold approximately 14,000 multifamily units in Utah and Idaho. Both are graduates of Brigham Young University.
RECOGNITIONS
• The Women Tech Council has released its 2020 Shatter List, a group showcasing the technology and innovation companies that are accelerating removing the glass ceiling for women in tech by enacting impactful programs and cultures that create inclusivity and promote women throughout the technology sector. The list was compiled after evaluating data from more than 10 different sources that demonstrated work and impact in four areas identified as most critical to successfully helping break the glass ceiling for women in tech: executive engagement, company programming, community investment and women’s or diversity and inclusion group. The 2020 Shatter List (alphabetically) includes Adobe, Ancestry, AvidXchange, Chatbooks, CHG Healthcare, Clearlink, Cotopaxi, Dealertrack, Degreed, Dell Technologies, Domo, eBay, ForgeDX, Franklin Covey, Goldman Sachs, Health Catalyst, HealthEquity, HireVue, InMoment, Instructure, Intermountain Healthcare, Lucid, MarketStar, Micron Technologies, MX, Nice inContact, Northrup Grumman, O.C. Tanner, Oracle, Overstock.com, Pluralsight, Progressive Leasing, Qualtrics, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Salesforce, SaltStack, SoFi, Vivint Smart Home, WCF Insurance, Workday, Workfront and Zions Bancorporation.
• The Sandy City Peak Award winners were recently announced: Business Person of the Year, Daniel J. Luke, Diversify; Business Person of the Year, Fernanda and Vivien Bohme, Bohme; Business of the Year, Cityworks; Community Service Award, Whole Kids Emotional Wellness; Developer of the Year, Wadsworth Development; Innovative Company of the Year, Dental Select; Public Private Partnership Award, Chemtech-Ford; Mayor’s Excellence Award, M-Vac Systems Inc.; and Residents’ Choice, Pixels Foto and Frame.
• Ray Pickup has been inducted into the Junior Achievement Utah Business Hall of Fame. Pickup is CEO of WCF Insurance. Hall of Fame laureates are inspiring leaders whose remarkable combination of vision and innovative work has made a major positive difference in Utah. Founded in 1919, Junior Achievement is the world’s largest and fastest-growing business/education partnership and the top school-to-career program in school districts across the country. Junior Achievement of Utah was established as an after-school program in 1956 and began its in-school programs in 1985. JA of Utah is currently reaching more than 96,000 students through its in-school programs and at Junior Achievement City.
• Go Solar Group, a Murray-based residential solar installer, has announced that James O’Connor, director of marketing, has been accepted into Forbes Communications Council, an invitation-only community for executives in communications, marketing and public relations. O’Connor was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors. As a member of the council, O’Connor will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum, be invited to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts.
RETAIL
• Overstock.com Inc., Salt Lake City, has appointed Mark Baker as chief product officer of its retail shopping site. He will lead all product management and user experience across every customer touchpoint. Baker began working at Overstock in 2011 and has held a number of product development roles within the company. Prior to Overstock, he held software engineering positions with Lockheed Martin, Longhair Technologies and Scitor Corp.
SERVICES
• Gold Cross Ambulance has named Nick Madsen as chief financial officer. He will be responsible for managing the company’s finances, assessing financial risks and opportunities, setting and tracking financial goals and budgets and overseeing all banking and lender relations. Madsen has 12 years of finance and accounting experience and has served as the controller at Gold Cross since 2014. Previously, he was an auditor with Tanner LLC and a senior accountant at Norbest Inc. He earned a master’s in accounting at Southern Utah University.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Ivanti, a Salt Lake City-based company that unifies IT and security operations to better manage and secure the digital workplace, has promoted Cyrus Hatfield to senior vice president of global sales, hired Gary Abad as vice president of global channels and system integrators, and hired Leigh Lebow as senior director of channel marketing. Hatfield has more than 25 years of experience in directing revenue growth and sales strategies for technology and enterprise software organizations. He joined Ivanti four years ago, most recently serving as the company’s vice president of Americas sales. Prior to joining Ivanti, he was vice president of digital commerce solutions for Pitney Bowes Software and vice president of North America enterprise sustainability solutions at Infor. Abad has more than 25 years of channel sales experience. He joins Ivanti following enterprise software channel sales leadership positions with LogRhythm, Meru Networks (acquired by Fortinet), Kaspersky Labs, F5 Networks and Polycom. Lebow has more than 20 years of channel marketing experience, most recently at Infor, where she drove the company’s partner network enablement and education programs. Prior to Infor, Lebow held channel marketing leadership positions with Kaspersky Lab and CA (now Broadcom).