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ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Utah is the No. 17 most-targeted state in the U.S. for robocall phone scams during tax season, according to a study by AllAreaCodes.com, based on analysis of 20 million consumer complaints released by the FTC from 2016-19. The analysis revealed phone scams increase by 50 percent in March and April as compared to January. Utah had 1,753 FTC complaints per 100,000 people. The national average was 1,652 per 100,000.
• Utah ranks last among states with the most new cancer cases in 2020, according to rankings compiled by SeniorLiving.org, based on decades of historical data and future projections from the American Cancer Society, as well as lifestyle choices linked to cancer in each state, including smoking, obesity and HPV vaccination. Utah has 371.2 projected new cancer cases per 100,000 people in 2020. The national average is 555.6 per 100,000. The most at-risk state is Florida.
HEALTHCARE
• Comagine Health, a Salt Lake City-based nonprofit healthcare consulting firm, has named several state executive directors, including Joan Gallegos for Utah. With more than 30 years of experience in healthcare management, Gallegos had been serving as the community engagement director of Comagine Health’s Utah office. Her previous roles include executive director of the Utah Health Care Association and director of the Division of Health Care Financing (Medicaid) at the Utah Department of Health. She has also served on numerous local boards.
INVESTMENTS
• Conservice, a Logan-based provider of utility management software and billing solutions to property owners and managers, has announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which funds advised by Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, will make a “significant” strategic investment in the company. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Advent will join existing investor and global growth private equity firm TA Associates as an institutional shareholder in the company, in which TA first invested in 2016. Conservice management will remain investors in the company, with founder and CEO David Jenkins remaining the largest non-institutional investor. Eric Wei, managing director on Advent’s technology investment team in Palo Alto, California; and Ashwin Krishnan, principal on Advent’s technology investment team in New York will join the Conservice board of directors. Jenkins; Jason P. Werlin, a managing director at TA Associates; and Jason S. Mironov, a director at TA Associates, will remain on the board.
OUTDOOR PRODUCTS/RECREATION/SPORTS
• Clarus Corp., a Salt Lake City-based company focused on the outdoor and consumer industries, has appointed Kelly Davis as executive vice president of operations and talent. Davis has nearly 20 years of manufacturing and leadership experience. He previously served as a vice president and general manager of IDEX Corp., where he managed the Trebor and Knight business units. Prior to joining IDEX, Davis served as senior operations lean manager for Ultradent Products. He began his career as an independent consultant, working with more than 200 manufacturing companies across Utah. Davis has a bachelor of science in business administration and management from Western Governors University.
• Sportsmen and sportswomen generated nearly $1 billion in excise taxes last year that support state conservation programs. U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt recently announced the disbursement of these funds, generated through excise taxes on hunting, shooting and fishing equipment and boat fuel to all 50 states and U.S. territories by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Utah’s disbursement totaled $18 million in grants, including $6.8 million from the FY2020 Sport Fish Restoration Grant Amount and $11.2 million from the FY2020 State Wildlife Restoration Grants.
PHILANTHROPY
• Young Living Essential Oils LC, a Lehi-based essential oils company, has announced a new donation to Meals on Wheels, a nonprofit organization that delivers healthy food to the homes of senior citizens. Young Living will be donating 1 percent of all North American sales from the Thieves product line through the month of March, beginning with an initial donation of $100,000. The donation will be given directly to the Meals on Wheels COVID-19 Response Fund, which benefits the Meals on Wheels program in both the U.S. and Canada. This fund will focus on supporting efforts to replenish the supply of food for the program, subsidizing additional transportation, enabling the implementation of telephone reassurance to connect with isolated seniors and other initiatives caring for seniors in need.
• The Sorenson Legacy Foundation has awarded Needs Beyond Medicine $55,000 to help increase funding for cancer patients that apply for assistance through its Relief Program. The program creates financial assistance grants for cancer patients to use for necessary nonmedical living expenses such as rent, utilities, groceries, transportation, and other essential costs. Applicants will be able to apply for a maximum of $500 of nonmedical assistance, which is an increase from $250 that was previously available. The funding increase was requested for the Combatting Cancer 2020 program.
• Ogden’s Own, an Ogden-based independent distillery, has announced it will forego all profits made in March and April and donate 100 percent of the proceeds to local staff members and employees of Utah’s bar and restaurant community. Throughout the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak, Ogden’s Own will work with business partners and local representatives across Utah to allocate and distribute the brand’s profits, as well as identify additional ways that the distillery can support the local community.
• In an effort to supply employees in the wake of a ban on dine-in service as a result of COVID-19, Diversified Bars and Restaurants (DBR) will donate the proceeds of all gift card sales to its service staff family. Gift cards to DBR-owned establishments in Park City can be purchased online at No Name Saloon/The Annex, Butcher’s Chop House & Bar and Boneyard Saloon/Wine Dine.
• Wasatch Resource Recovery (WRR) is offering free disposal of pre-purchased food that can no longer be sold, for any business affected by recent closures of dine-in restaurants as a result of preventative measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Affected businesses with excess waste may email Morgan Bowerman at mbowerman@wasatchresourcerecovery.com to explain how the business was affected. She will work on how to get wasted food to the facility and dispose of it without the regular tipping fee.
REAL ESTATE
• Primary Residential Mortgage Inc., Salt Lake City, has promoted Brandi Hume to senior vice president of risk management and Hollie Wylie to vice president of compliance. Hume has 28 years of mortgage industry experience, will be joining the executive leadership team at PRMI. She has been with the organization for 11 years, most recently as vice president of quality assurance. Wylie has been in the industry for more than 30 years and has spent the past seven as PRMI’s director of compliance.
• A 363,996-square-foot industrial property at 9669 S. Prosperity Road has been sold for $30.1 million by KPFN Properties LLC to ARKA Properties Group Inc. The property is occupied by Visible SCM Logistics, a supply chain management company. Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) announced the sale. NKF executive managing directors Bryce Blanchard, Kyle Roberts and Lucas Burbank represented both KPFN and ARKA in the sale.
RETAIL
• Overstock.com Inc., a Salt Lake City-based online retailer and technology company, has appointed Adrianne Lee as chief financial officer. She will oversee all financial aspects of the company, including financial planning and analysis, accounting and financial reporting, and managing tax, treasury, internal audit and investor relations. Lee most recently was senior vice president and chief financial officer of The Hertz Corp.’s North American rental car unit. Prior to that, she served as vice president of global financial planning and analysis and corporate development for Hertz. Before joining Hertz, she led financial planning and analysis for Best Buy’s e-commerce business, and held several roles in finance, strategic planning, accounting and financial reporting, investor relations and audit at PepsiCo, Allianz Life and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
• Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc., West Jordan, has entered into agreements with Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. to acquire two Field & Stream locations. The stores in Crescent Springs, Kentucky; and Kalamazoo, Michigan, will be rebranded as Sportsman’s Warehouse. The total purchase price of $5 million for inventory and assets will be funded through borrowings under Sportsman’s revolving credit facility. Sportsman’s will sublease the two locations from Dick’s. Sportsman’s originally acquired eight Field & Stream stores in October 2019. Sportsman’s operates 104 stores in 27 states.
SERVICES
• Nearmap, a Salt Lake City-based aerial imagery company, has named Jeff Adams as chief revenue officer. He is responsible for all revenue generation at Nearmap, specifically creating integration and alignment between all functions, including sales, marketing, customer support, pricing and revenue management. Adams has experience in leadership, operations, marketing, international market expansion, sales and team building. Most recently, he was the CRO at BambooHR. He also has led sales and business development aspects for several brands, including Pluralsight, Datamark, Sun Microsystems and Franklin Covey. Adams received his Bachelor of Arts from Weber State University and is currently a board member at Utah Valley University T&C Dean’s Advisory Board.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Entrada, a Salt Lake City-based tourism data science, benchmarking and analytical services company, has hired Esra Calvert as chief data advisor. Calvert most recently was director of research at Virginia Tourism Corp. She also taught at both Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University. Calvert serves on the International Board of Travel and Tourism Research Association, Marketing Outlook Forum Planning Committee, Research Taskforce and ESTO Planning Committee with the U.S. Travel Association.
• Impartner, a Salt Lake City-based partner relationship management and channel management platform company, has appointed Jonathan Spira as chief financial officer and Scott Taylor as vice president of customer success. Spira replaces long-time Impartner CFO Bert Young, who is retiring in June. He has been CFO at BROWZ, Untangle, Blinkx and Autonomy. Taylor takes on the newly created role of vice president of customer success, which has been split out of a role formerly held by Brad Pace, who now assumes the position of vice president of operations, and will run sales operations, solution implementation and acquisition integration. Taylor has held leadership roles at Five9, Workfront and NICE inContact.