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ACCOUNTING
• BKD CPAs & Advisors’ Colorado-Salt Lake City practice offices have announced the promotions of Ashley Dubaj, Camish Jones and Brian Nielsen to senior managers. Dubaj is a member of BKD’s accounting outsourcing team. She provides outsourced accounting, consulting and advisory services for closely held organizations and their shareholders. Jones is a member of BKD’s National Health Care Group and provides consulting services for healthcare entities. Jones’ experience includes working with skilled nursing facilities, rural health clinics and hospice providers, among others. Nielsen is a member of BKD’s accounting and auditing team and has more than 15 years of experience providing assurance services to clients. He is a graduate of Weber State University, Ogden, with a bachelor’s degree and masters of professional accountancy degree.
ASSOCIATIONS
• The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC) has announced that Chuck Spence has been elected as the association’s Region 9 director. Spence serves as the director of the Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC) at the Governor’s Office Economic Development (GOED). In his new role, Spence will be responsible for communicating regional concerns to the board and sharing board actions and priorities with the members. Spence has served APTAC in several capacities as the association’s president-elect, president and immediate past president. He was also the president of the Utah Supplier Development Council from 2008-2011. He also has testified before Congress on behalf of APTAC.
• Gina Mackenzie has been added to the board of directors of the Northeast Chapter of the International Factoring Association (IFA) and will also serve as the chairperson for the chapter’s newly formed Women’s Division. Mackenzie is vice president and business development officer of Ogden-based TAB Bank and is based in New York City. TAB Bank provides custom working capital solutions to commercial businesses across a wide range of industries. Mackenzie has worked for many years to help small and medium-sized businesses secure the working capital they need to grow. Prior to her experience in the working capital space, she served in various roles at investment banking and commercial lending firms, including Credit Suisse First Boston, CIBC World Markets and Prudential Finance.
BANKING
• WebBank, a Salt Lake City-based industrial bank, has appointed Abhinav Tiwari to its board of directors. Tiwari is a technology executive and investor with more than 15 years of experience in enterprise technology and financial services. He is currently general partner of venture capital firm Owl Capital. Prior to Owl Capital, he led early-stage investments and acquisitions at Stripe. Prior to that, he led corporate development, strategic business development and new market development at Amazon Web Services and Dell.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Utah is ranked No. 33 on a ranking of states with the most pandemic-proof small businesses, compiled by WalletHub. It compared states and the District of Columbia across 11 metrics, including the share of small businesses operating in highly affected industries, small-business credit conditions and the state’s small-business friendliness. Utah was ranked No. 8 for small-business financial conditions, No. 34 for impact and access to resources, and No. 36 for business environment and workforce support. On a breakout list, Utah has the highest share of eligible small businesses receiving Small Business Administration loans, at 16.27 percent. Pennsylvania led the rankings. Nevada was last.
Details are at https://wallethub.com/edu/states-small-businesses-covid/72977.
• Utah is ranked No. 9 on a list of best states for working from home, compiled by personal finance website Wallethub. Delaware is the top-ranked state. Alaska is bottom-ranked. It compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 12 key metrics, including the share of workers working from home before COVID-19, Internet cost and cybersecurity. Details are at https://wallethub.com/edu/best-states-for-working-from-home/72801.
• Taylorsville is ranked No. 7 nationally on a list of markets that offer the most potential for first-time home buyers this spring, a list compiled by Realtor.com. It considered six factors, including housing prices relative to local incomes, the share of 25- to 34-year-olds living in the market, the availability of homes for sale, job opportunities, distance to work and amenities such as bars and restaurants. The ranking was limited to one city per state. Of the top 10 markets, Taylorsville had the highest median home price, at $350,000, which still is below the national median price of $370,000. The top-ranked city is Bloomington, Illinois.
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 50 on a list of “2021’s Most Relaxed Cities,” compiled by LawnStarter. It ranked over 191 of the biggest U.S. cities on 57 key indicators, including access to spas and wellness centers, depression rate, the share of adults with high blood pressure, and the average length of a workday. The most-relaxed city is Sunnyvale, California. The most-stressed city is Kansas City, Kansas. Details are at https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/most-relaxed-cities/.
• One in five Utahns have suffered from low self-esteem during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey by AdCare Treatment Centers. The national average is 20 percent. The lowest percentage is in New Jersey, 8 percent, while Nebraska has the highest, 42 percent. Details are at https://adcare.com/blog/low-self-esteem-during-the-pandemic/.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Nightingale College, a Salt Lake City-based distance learning nursing education program, has appointed Tyler Asman as vice president of operational effectiveness and Marianne Palacios as vice president of collaborator experience. Asman is an experienced professional in business administration, organizational development, operations and consulting. She will be taking leadership over operations and IT for Nightingale. Asman previously oversaw learning and improvement for United Way of Salt Lake. Palacios has more than three decades of experience developing and overseeing human resources for companies throughout the western U.S. She will oversee leadership development, succession planning, overall collaborator relations, talent acquisition, benefits, compensation and compliance. Palacios holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Weber State University and has completed graduate courses in HR management at Utah State University.
GOVERNMENT
• The U.S. Small Business Administration Utah District Office has signed strategic alliance memorandums with the St. George Area Chamber of Commerce and Dixie Technical College to unify the efforts of the organizations, share information, and align essential services and resources to serve southern Utah’s small-business owners. The organizations share a common mission to assist small-business owners by providing financial, contractual and business development counseling. The expected result of these combined efforts is an increased income to Utah’s communities and households.
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated nearly $689.6 million across the U.S. through the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) for affordable housing, including nearly $3.3 million for Utah. The fund was launched in 2008 as an affordable housing production program that complements existing federal, state and local efforts to increase and preserve the supply of decent, safe, and sanity affordable housing for low- and extremely low-income households, including families experiencing homelessness. The fund is capitalized through the contributions made by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
HEALTHCARE
• Spectrum Solutions LLC, a Salt Lake City-based life science and medical device manufacturing company, has appointed Rohit K. Gupta to the newly established position of chief medical officer. Gupta will be responsible for the strategy, direction and execution of Spectrum’s clinical and medical product development plans. He also will steer Spectrum’s research and development efforts and continue to drive product innovation. Gupta has nearly 20 years of experience advancing new areas of growth in the life sciences with biobanking to improve infrastructure related to clinical biospecimens and biological data. Gupta began his research in 2003 at Stanford University studying multiple sclerosis and became a founding member and executive director of the Stanford Biobank. Gaupta went on to serve as the inaugural chief biobank officer for the University of California, San Francisco. Concurrent to his position at Spectrum Solutions, he also serves as the chief biobank officer for TMRW Life Sciences.
• Owlet Baby Care Inc., a Lehi-based company focused on providing parents with information about their children, has appointed Zane Burke to its board of directors. Burke has over 20 years of operational and executive leadership experience in health technology. He most recently led Livongo through its initial public offering and merger with Teladoc Health. Prior to Livongo, Burke was president of Cerner Corp.
• IONIQ Sciences Inc., a Salt Lake City-based company developing multi-cancer screening technology, has announced that Dr. Raphael E. Pollock has joined its Medical Advisory Committee. Pollock is a surgical oncologist, physician-scientist, professor emeritus in the Department of Surgical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center and currently the director of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
INVESTMENTS
• 401GO, a West Jordan-based company offering an automated 401(k) plan setup process, recently closed a $915,000 seed round. The capital was raised by 401GO founding members, financial advisors and a syndicate of angel investors. The round was led by Assure Syndicates, Cottonwood Heights. The company said the seed capital will be used to ensure continued growth and product development.
LAW
• Greenberg Traurig LLP has expanded its white-collar defense and special investigations practice with the hiring of John Huber as a shareholder in its Salt Lake City office. At Greenberg Traurig, Huber will focus his practice on white-collar matters related to securities fraud, bank fraud, healthcare, cyber security, industrial espionage, Ponzi schemes, corporate fraud, trade secrets and other high-stakes issues. Huber is a former U.S. attorney for the Utah district. Prior to serving as U.S. attorney, he worked as assistant U.S. attorney and special assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah, as well as chief prosecutor for Utah’s West Valley City Municipal Corp. Huber earned his J.D. from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law and his B.A. from the UofU.
MINING
• Tintic Consolidated Metals LLC (TCM), a private U.S.-based mining company whose assets are located in the historic East Tintic Mining District of Utah, and IG Global Group LLC (IGG), a private international holding company focused on the exploration and development of mineral deposits, have announced several management changes. Roy Durr has been promoted to chief operating officer of IGG. Durr has been promoted to COO of IGG, which is the founder of IG Tintic LLC, the 75 percent owner and operator of the TCM joint venture with minority partner Chief Consolidated Mining Co. Durr previously was vice president of mining for IGT. David Sabourin has joined the executive team as chief operating officer of TCM. Sabourin is a registered professional mining engineer in Utah and South Africa with over 35 years of hands-on experience in all aspects of mine development and production. Mark Murchison has joined the executive team as chief financial officer of TCM. Murchison has over 25 years of experience in financial management and global tax management. He has held senior positions within the Rio Tinto Group between 2001-13 and more recently was CFO of Alacer Gold Corp. Tim Bridgewater moves to the role of vice president of government relations for TCM. Bridgewater has spent his career in finance and government relations, having played critical roles in Utah’s public and private sectors. Paul Korpi has retired after 45 years in the mining industry and a global career. Korpi, a metallurgical engineer, worked in operations and project management positions worldwide. He managed Newmont’s first underground mine in the Carlin trend and oversaw more than $7 billion in mining investments in the U.S., Indonesia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. He joined IGG in 2016.
PHILANTHROPY
• Members of the Utah Women’s Giving Circle have voted to award six grants, totaling $15,000, to Utah nonprofits. A grassroots group formed in 2011 to change the statistics for women in Utah, it has awarded its 10th round of grants, having invested more than $180,000 through 52 high-impact nonprofit projects. It awarded a $3,000 grant to New Pattern Utah, a grant and mentorship program for black, women-owned Utah businesses; a $2,000 grant to Peace House, funding the technological support needed to deliver essential services virtually to victims of domestic violence; a $1,000 grant to VOTERISE, which supports Utah women’s voter engagement initiatives; a $5,000 grant to Community Action Services and Food Bank, supporting the Circles Initiative, which aims to interrupt generational poverty through leadership, mentorship and coaching support for low-income families to increase their household income; a $3,000 grant to People Helping People of Utah, supporting its Employment Program; and a $1,000 grant to AAA Fair Credit Foundation, supporting the Building Opportunities for Women (BOW Utah) Initiative.
REAL ESTATE
• IHP Capital Partners, a California-based real estate investment firm, and Fieldstone Homes, a Draper-based homebuilder, have announced that their joint venture has acquired Canyon Point, consisting of 113 single-family lots in Lehi. The lots are in one of the final phases of the Traverse Mountain Master Plan, which has 5,000 homes. Home sales are expected to open in late summer or early fall.
• The Mogharebi Group, a California-based real estate services firm specializing in multifamily investment sales, financing and advisory services, has opened an office in Salt Lake City to serve as its Intermountain West headquarters. Salt Lake City is the first of five new Western U.S. markets that the firm plans to enter over the next three years. The office will be directed by veteran investment advisor Adam Gatto, who has joined the firm as senior vice president. While the Salt Lake City office will focus primarily on multifamily, Gatto also will be responsible for broadening The Mogharebi Group’s hospitality advisory services. Gatto has more than 20 years of real estate investment banking experience. He most recently spent seven years guiding the Salt Lake City office for Colliers International.
RETAIL
• AutoSource Motors, a Woods Cross-based company retailing branded title vehicles, has changed its name to AutoSavvy. The company said the rebranding “reflects both the evolution of the company as well as its vision for the future.” The company also slightly redesigned its logo and changed its website to AutoSavvy.com. The company’s ownership and staff have not changed. The company has 11 locations in seven states.
SERVICES
• Kiln, a flex-office and coworking community company, has opened its fifth location, in Park City. Tori Sowul has been named community director. Twenty of 37 offices and all two-person offices were reserved in the 22,000-square-foot, lifestyle-oriented space at the former location of Jupiter Bowl. Open houses will take place 4-6 p.m. Thursdays through April. Kiln features private and open office spaces that accommodate up to 30 people, meeting rooms, a large event space, a podcast studio, phone booths, and a set of wellness-focused amenities.
TECHNOLOGY
• Avetta, an Orem-based provider of supply chain risk management software, has appointed Tom McNamara as chief operating officer and Jeff Byal as chief financial officer. McNamara will lead sales, marketing, the supplier network and professional services. He has more than 30 years of professional sales, marketing, business development, solution engineering, client services and account management experience. He previously was COO and chief revenue officer of construction software company Viewpoint. McNamara also spent almost 10 years at NAVEX Global, where he was chief revenue officer and senior vice president of global sales, and spent six years with Associated Business Systems and 12 years at Xerox. Byal is a Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Global Management Accountant with more than 30 years’ experience that includes 15 years in the software/IT services industry. Byal has 25 years’ experience at the CFO/CAO level, most recently serving as CFO for Appriss, a Kentucky-based global company that provides state-of-the-art technology, risk and data-driven analytic solutions for local, state and federal agencies, data and insurance companies, healthcare providers, pharmacies and retailers.
• Code Corp., a Salt Lake City-based barcode scanning and data capture technologies company, has hired Lorraine Dieterle as director of software sales and Jana Buchanan as senior product manager of hardware. Dieterle will lead the software sales department in the U.S. She has more than 20 years of experience in software sales. Prior to Code, she spent much of her sales career in the Americas and APAC region, working for global companies including Adobe, Fedex Office and Browz. Buchanan will be responsible for developing and evolving Code’s barcode scanning hardware solutions. She has extensive experience in product development and product management and has brought hundreds of consumer products to market from ideation to worldwide launch. Buchanan most recently worked at Cricut Inc., where she was responsible for introducing hundreds of products.
• TeamLogic IT, a California-based provider of managed IT services and technology support for businesses, has opened an office at 3269 S. Main St., Salt Lake City. The business is owned by Mark Geiselmayr. TeamLogic IT has more than 200 independently owned and operated locations across North America.