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BANKING
- J.P. Morgan Private Bank has announced Danni Wright as head of Utah and Idaho. Wright oversees $4 billion in client assets and leads a team of 20 bankers, investment specialists, trust and estate attorneys, wealth advisors and client service professionals supporting high and ultra-high-net-worth clients. Wright’s career spans nearly 15 years in the Private Bank in Denver, Dallas and New York. She most recently served on the U.S. Private Bank Operating Committee as head of business management and a partner to David Frame, the U.S. Private Bank’s CEO. In addition to her private banking role, Wright serves as co-chair of the JP.Morgan Chase Utah Leadership Team, where she is responsible for leading firm’s community impact. Wright’s education includes a B.S. from Brigham Young University, where she studied finance and strategy. Wright replaces Kristin Schaefer, who left the firm to pursue other opportunities. J.P. Morgan Private Bank has more than 23 retail bank branches in the Greater Salt Lake City region, serving more than 209,000 consumer and 22,000 small-business customers.
COMMUNICATIONS
- The Utah Broadband Center, part of the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, has announced the recipients of two new broadband planning grants. A total of $942,738 in grant funds was awarded to 28 organizations to facilitate local planning efforts to identify areas of the state needing increased investment in high-speed Internet infrastructure, digital skills training, and access to online devices. The efforts will facilitate Utah communities’ access to online resources such as telemedicine, remote work and educational opportunities. Recipients of a Local Broadband Planning Grant are Alpine City, Beaver County, Bear River Association of Governments, Davis School District, Five County Association of Governments, Morgan County, Ogden City, San Juan County, Six County Association of Governments, Southeastern Utah Association of Local Governments, Summit County, Town of Brighton, Utah Department of Transportation, Utah Education Network and Wallsburg Town. Recipients of a Local Digital Access Planning Grant are the Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging, Centro Hispano, Club Ability LLC, Guadalupe School, Navajo Nation, Ogden City, Salt Lake Community College, Salt Lake County, Shivwits Band Of Paiutes, United Way of Utah County, Utah Commission on Aging, Utah Nonprofit Housing Corp. and Vernal City.
CORPORATE
- The Larry H. Miller Co., based in Sandy, has named Kelsey Berg as vice president of government relations. Berg is responsible for building and maintaining the organization’s stakeholder relationships and providing leadership on solutions and policies that impact growth and land use, including sustainable solutions, water usage, transportation, air quality, housing affordability, and quality of life. Berg’s experience in government relations includes serving as political director for U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney’s successful Senate campaign and most recently serving as his deputy chief of staff. She has years of experience working with and advocating for rural communities, first with former U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz as his energy and natural resource advisor and later with the Utah Farm Bureau Federation. In 2016, Chaffetz asked Berg to run his campaign and local office. Prior to her service with Chaffetz, Berg worked for three years in state government affairs, focusing on energy issues. Berg earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from Brigham Young University.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
- A total of 813,968 married Utahns, or 65 percent of married couples, are blissfully happy in their marriages, according to a study commissioned by Mixbook and carried out by QuestionPro. The highest percentage is in West Virginia, at 90 percent. The lowest is in Louisiana, at 43.5 percent. The study indicated that Utah leads the nation in the percentage of married couples in the population, at 55.3 percent. The study also showed that two-thirds of surveyed Utah couples admit that marriage doesn’t just “flow” and that they have to work on it to keep it a happy one. Details are at https://mixbook.com/inspiration/study-the-most-happily-married-couples-in-america-2023.
- Salt Lake City is ranked No. 114 and West Valley City is No. 187 on a list of “Best Cities for Urban Gardening,” compiled by LawnStarter. It compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on four categories broken down into 12 metrics, including easy access to gardening space and supplies, an ideal climate and a big gardening community. The top-ranked city is New York City. The No. 200 city is Anchorage, Alaska. Details are at https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-cities-urban-gardening/#rankings.
- Bicycle riders in Utah rate their relationships with drivers at six out of 10, among the worst in the nation, according to a survey commissioned by law firm Bisnar Chase. The national figure is 6.2 out of 10. The worst relationship is in New Hampshire, 4.7, while the best is in Vermont, at 8. Details are at https://www.bestattorney.com/bicycle-vs-car-case-study/.
- Salt Lake City is ranked No. 23 and Moab is No. 93 on a list of “Best Diner Destinations in America,” compiled by RestaurantClicks.com. It polled 3,000 travelers. The top-ranked location is New York City. Details are at https://restaurantclicks.com/top-100-diner-destinations-in-america-2023/.
- Utah scones are No. 42 on a list of states’ signature dishes dieters loathe the most because they find it hardest to resist when dieting, compiled by FeastGood.com. It polled 3,000 dieters nationwide. The No. 1 such food is Vermont’s ice cream. Details are at https://feastgood.com/news/most-loathed-fast-foods-of-america/.
ENERGY
- Dominion Energy Utah has launched a hydrogen blending project in Delta as part of an ongoing project to explore the opportunities the zero-carbon emissions fuel has to offer. The blending in Delta’s pipelines is the next step of a project whose first phase was focused on blending hydrogen in the utility’s training academy to confirm hydrogen research that is currently available. A 5 percent hydrogen blend was tested for almost a year. Blending in Delta will occur over a multi-year period to reinforce the findings from the academy and will help DEU achieve its goal of preparing its entire distribution system to be ready to blend by 2030. A blend of up to 5 percent will be introduced to the city as well as to the surrounding towns of Oasis, Hinkley and Deseret, serving about 1,800 customers. Dominion Energy aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and has reduced methane emissions from its gas operations by 38 percent since 2010.
ESG
- Recursion, a Salt Lake City-based clinical-stage techbio company, has released its second annual environmental, social and governance report. It highlights the company’s approach, practices and goals in several areas, such as its commitment to patients, social and community impact, people and culture, environmental sustainability and governance. Since publishing its inaugural ESG report last year, Recursion has received several recognitions for its commitment to excellence in ESG. Institutional Shareholder Services awarded the company a prime rating for ESG performance in 2022, which recognizes companies with ESG performance above a sector-specific threshold and is defined by ISS as “absolute best in class.” Also, as of October, Recursion was ranked 98 out of over 850 companies in the pharmaceutical category by Morningstar Sustainalytics, which gives an in-depth analysis of a company’s ESG performance and compares it to industry peers. In February, Recursion received an MSCI ESG Rating of A.
GOVERNMENT
- MoFi and the Utah Microloan Fund are approved lenders in the Utah Small Business Credit Initiative Capital Access Program. The announcement was made by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity. Capital Access Program loans are frequently less than $250,000 and help expand access to capital for Utah business owners, especially in underserved communities. MoFi is a nonprofit community development financial institution aimed at providing financing and business consulting services that transform lives and communities. The Utah Microloan Fund It provides business training, mentoring, and microloans to Utah small-business owners who are trying to start or grow their businesses.
INVESTMENTS
- Red Door Capital Partners LLC, a Salt Lake City-based private equity firm, has announced that Rick Simmswill represent the Red Door board of directors seat that was granted to them in its investment in the Series Seed Preferred Round of Tourist Access LTD, a private company established in Israel and doing business as AccessibleGO. Simms also is an advisor to Red Door on the transaction. AccessibleGO is a travel platform that offers bookings with accessibility data, reviews written by people with disabilities, and a community offering accessibility information and support for like–minded individuals needing the same services. Simms is a CPA with more than 30 years’ experience in business consulting. He began his career with KPMG and later was chief financial officer of a Denver-based oil and gas exploration company. In 1986 he formed his own CPA firm, working with private and public companies, including as an owner, officer and board member of Data National Corp. He later formed Richard Simms PC, providing consulting and financing to early-stage and later-stage companies. In 2015, he founded WeeSchool with William and Julie Clark, the founders of Baby Einstein. He started working with AccessibleGO in 2022, leveraging his network to bring spokesmen, supporters and partners to the company. Simms is also an advisor and investor with Red Door Capital Partners. His experience also includes nonprofit endeavors, including as chairman of the board of the Mental Health Center of Denver and as a founder of No Excuses Unlimited.
- Summit Global Investments, Bountiful, has announced the launch of SGI U.S. Large Cap Core ETF, one of two new ETFs. Shares for the new ETF recently started trading on NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol “SGLC.” It is a semi-transparent ETF, one of a breed of the newer semi-transparent exchange traded funds developed in 2019 as part of the evolution of the ETF space. Unlike traditional ETFs, trades and decisions are not shared daily. SGLC is designed to be a core holding in an overall investment program.
NONPROFITS
- Melissa Loble has been named chair of the board for 1EdTech, a nonprofit collaboration dedicated to powering learner potential by fostering an open, trusted and innovative edtech ecosystem. She will serve for one year. Loble is chief customer experience officer at Instructure, a Salt Lake City-based education technology company and maker of Canvas. Loble’s experience includes working as an educator in both K-12 and higher education institutions and serving in executive leadership positions for over nine years at Instructure, including in client success, platform and partnerships, solutions engineering and professional services. Lable also serves in several advisory roles at organizations, including Internet2, Terracotta and Utah Valley University.
OUTDOOR RECREATION
- Nearing the end of a record snowfall season, Ski Utah has announced closing dates for Utah’s ski resorts. All are subject to change due to weather and conditions: Alta, April 23; Brighton, April 30; Deer Valley Resort, April 23; Park City Mountain, April 23; Snowbasin, April 23; Woodward Park City, April 30; and Solitude, May 21 (daily until May 7 then Friday through Sunday). Snowbird will be open daily through May 14, then Fridays through Sundays and holidays through Memorial Day. It will assess operations past Memorial Day based on conditions. Resorts that were scheduled to close already are Beaver Mountain, April 9; Brian Head, April 16; Cherry Peak, April 15; Eagle Point, April 2; Nordic Valley, April 9; Powder Mountain, April 16; and Sundance, April 2.
REAL ESTATE
- Momentum Loans, a Sandy-based residential mortgage lender, has appointed Rob Allphin as executive vice president. Allphin has 30 years of experience in the residential mortgage industry.
RECOGNITIONS
- Melanie Alder, founder and chief investment officer at Pattern, based in Provo, and Noella Sudbury, founder and CEO of Rasa Legal, based in Salt Lake City, have been named to Inc.’s 2023 Female Founders list. Each year, Inc. editors review thousands of applications highlighting female founders who are challenging the status quo and tackling some of the world’s biggest problems, and 200 make the list.
- Sorenson, a Salt Lake City-based language services provider of inclusive communication services for deaf, hard-of-hearing and diverse people, has been named to a list of “America’s Most Innovative Companies,” compiled by Fortune. The award recognizes Sorenson’s innovative activity across three pillars: product innovation, process innovation and innovation culture.
- Mountain America Credit Union, based in Sandy, has topped Callahan & Associates’ list of small-business lenders in the U.S. in 2022, marking the 19th consecutive year for the credit union to be the No. 1 Small Business Administration credit union lender nationally. Callahan & Associates provides products and services designed to empower credit unions with actionable data. Mountain America carried more than 500 small-business loans for over $353 million reported at the end of the fourth quarter. Mountain America has more than 1 million members and $15.9 billion in assets.
TECHNOLOGY
- Silicon Slopes has announced that the Silicon Slopes Summit will take place Sept. 27-28 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Among the keynote speakers are Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia and CEO of VeeFriends; Jessica Sibley, CEO of Time; Jim Lanzone, CEO of Yahoo; Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN; Chris Hyams, CEO and board director of Indeed; Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta; Pam Murphy, CEO of Imperva; Prashanth Chandrasekar, CEO of Stack Overflow; Max Levchin, founder and CEO of Affirm; and Will Grannis, CTO of Google Cloud. The cost is $150. Details are at summit.siliconslopes.com.