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ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
• The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board, at its April meeting, amended a film production incentive awarded in February to Six Below LLC for its production of “Six Below,” an independent feature drama. The production originally was approved for a tax credit of up to $500,000, based on the expectation of spending $2 million in Utah. The amendment changes the incentive to $625,000, based on the company spending $2.5 million in the state.
BANKING
• Bank of Utah, Ogden, has hired four mortgage lenders: Ryan Roberts, Kristin Munk, Teri Rio and Becky Cragun. Roberts is a new mortgage lender and branch manager for Bank of Utah’s Sandy mortgage loan office. He formerly worked as a senior loan consultant for Eagle Home Mortgage, a senior loan officer for Security National Mortgage and a branch manager for Academy Mortgage Corp. He graduated from the University of Utah. Munk is a mortgage loan originator at Bank of Utah’s Logan branch. She has been in the financial industry for more than eight years, most recently working at USU Credit Union as a mortgage professional. She attended Utah State and Weber State universities. Rio is a mortgage loan originator, assisting clients at the Sandy mortgage loan office. Her experience includes 15 years in the grocery business and 39 years in the mortgage industry. She has previously worked as a mortgage consultant at Eagle Home Mortgage in Midvale, a mortgage consultant for Veritas Funding LLC, and a loan officer for Republic Mortgage for 18 years. Rio graduated from the University of Utah. Cragun is a new new mortgage loan originator for the Sandy mortgage loan office. She previously worked at Wells Fargo as a mortgage loan officer and at Mountain States Mortgage as a loan processor and production manager. She graduated from Utah State University.
CONSTRUCTION
• FFKR Architects, Salt Lake City, has announced several new senior associates and associates. Christian Allen is associate architect. He has been with FFKR since 2014. He has worked as project architect on the MTC expansion and the Salt Lake City International Airport central utility plant. Some of his current projects include the Naskila Entertainment Casino remodel and the Point Casino addition. Martha Mitchell is associate architect. She has worked for FFKR since 2014 and has been working on the MTC expansion. Abram Nielsen is associate landscape architect. He started working at FFKR in 2014. His projects have included the Provo downtown redevelopment. His current projects include Provo High School and Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple. Hana Wright is associate architect. She started at FFKR in 2015 and has been involved on the Provo High School replacement and Indian Hills Middle remodel. She has worked on approximately 30 schools in seven school districts of Utah. Rob Gray is associate architect. He has been with FFKR since 2015 and has been involved in BioFire, Rice-Eccles Stadium north restrooms addition, Sage Memorial Hospital, and Regent Street Parking Structure renovation projects. He is currently working on remodels at the University of Utah, the Olympic cauldron relocation, and Parkside Building entry alteration.
GOVERNMENT
• The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) has appointed Aimee Edwards as communications director, overseeing communications and legislative strategy. Prior to joining GOED, Edwards served as Gov. Gary Herbert’s deputy communications director. Before joining the Herbert administration, she owned and operated A.E. Communications in Ogden for six years. She also has held senior executive and managerial positions at The Intrepid Group and Crowell Advertising. She received a bachelor’s degree in communications and business administration from Weber State University. Edwards will succeed Michael Sullivan as he retires from 10 years of service with GOED.
• Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams has selected Talia Butler to lead the county’s Division of Animal Services. Butler will manage 54 employees for the agency that provides services for all Salt Lake County townships and unincorporated areas, as well as the five cities that contract with the county for animal services. Butler began her career in Animal Services as operations and programs manager in 2013. She has a bachelor’s degree from Weber State University in social and behavioral sciences.
HEALTHCARE
• InQpharm North America, Salt Lake City, has hired Sharon Benedict as director of marketing communications and Melissa Whitman as digital marketing manager. Benedict’s experience includes decades of copywriting, including working as a senior copywriter and director of strategic messaging for an international ad agency. Whiteman has more than seven years of digital marketing experience and previously ran her own digital marketing company.
• Listen Technologies, Bluffdale, has appointed several new executives. Keldon Paxman, chief operating officer, is responsible for company strategy and day-to-day operations. He previously served as vice president of operations. Maile Keone, chief revenue officer, is responsible for positioning Listen Technologies products in the marketplace and increasing visibility and sales. She previously served as vice president of sales and marketing. Tracy Bathurst, chief technology officer, is responsible for directing the company’s efforts to design, build and perfect functional and innovative wireless communication systems. He previously served as vice president of product management and product development. Peter Papageorge, vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas, is responsible to meet the sales forecast and sales budget, and to drive all the regional sales activities in the Americas. He previously was director of sales for North America. Sam Nord has been promoted to regional sales manager for the western U.S. and Canada. Kasey Kaumans has been promoted to regional sales manager for the eastern U.S.
LAW
• Michael Best & Friedrich LLP has hired Kirk Dorius as a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group, While based in Austin, Texas, Dorius also will spend significant time in the firm’s Salt Lake City office. Dorius focuses his practice on patent prosecution, licensing and patenting litigation, and counsels clients on a variety of IP matters. Prior to joining Michael Best, Dorius led the patent prosecution group at Reed & Scardino LLP in Austin. In addition to nearly 10 years of firm practice experience, Dorius served as general counsel of a nuclear engineering company. Prior to law school, he worked as a mechanical engineer for The Boeing Co. His education includes a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Utah State University in 2000.
REAL ESTATE
• Newmark Gubb ACRES (NGA) has announced that Skyler Peterson will become senior associate in the Industrial and Logistics Division. Peterson began his real estate career nearly 10 years ago and has worked at NGA for the past seven years. Prior to joining NGA, Peterson’s focus was in business development while working for Primary Residential Mortgage. During the transition, Peterson will continue to specialize in the acquisition, disposition and leasing of industrial, investment and land properties in Utah and across the Mountain West.
RECOGNITIONS
• The Utah Technology Council, at its recent annual members meeting, presented the following Member and Community Awards: CEO of the Year, Frank Maylett of RizePoint; Trustee of the Year, Vance Checketts of EMC; Distinguished Service Champion, Brent Lorimer of Workman Nydegger; Women in Tech Champion, Kathryn Murphy of Demandware; CFO of the Year, Brenda Rees of ArbiterSports; CTO of the Year, Jody Bailey of Pluralsight; HR Leader of the Year, Sue Urses of Landesk; Emerging Exec of the Year, Cody Broderick of inWhatLanguage; Academic Leader of the Year, Michael Savoie of Utah Valley University; STEM Champion, Brent Petersen of Comcast; Legislative Champion, Jeff Rogers of Paul Rogers and Associates; and Legislators of the Year, Rep. John Knotwell, Rep. Val Peterson, Rep. Dean Sanpei, Sen. Stuart Adams, Sen. Ann Millner and Sen. Howard Stephenson.
• Intermountain Healthcare and Health Catalyst, both based in Salt Lake City, have earned 2016 Gallup Great Workplace Awards. They are among 40 global companies to do so. Intermountain Healthcare is a five-time winner of the award. The award recognizes organizations for their ability to create engaged workplace cultures that drive business outcomes. A panel of Gallup workplace experts evaluates applicants and assesses them against award criteria. Gallup will honor the winners May 10-12 during its Spring Summit in Omaha, Nebraska.
• Clearfield is ranked seventh and Midvale is 16th in a listing of “Top 20 Best Small Cities to Start a Business,” created by personal finance website WalletHub. The company’s analysts compared 1,268 small-sized cities across 15 metrics, with data sets such as “average growth in number of small businesses,” “prevalence of investors,” “office-space affordability” and “corporate taxes.” Topping the list was Holland, Michigan. Details of the study are at https://wallethub.com/edu/best-small-cities-to-start-a-business/20180/.
• The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) has named Rocky Mountain Power to its annual Top 10 Utility Solar List. Rocky Mountain Power ranked eighth on the Top 10 Annual Megawatts list with 194 megawatts in 2015. The ninth annual survey includes figures from more than 300 utilities across the country on solar connected to the grid both in 2015 and in total since 2007. SEPA, formerly the Solar Electric Power Association, made the announcement at the Utility Solar Conference in Denver. A division of PacifiCorp, Rocky Mountain Power will add more than 1,000 megawatts of incremental solar and wind capacity through power purchase agreements in 2016. In addition, Rocky Mountain Power will soon start building a 20-megawatt solar plant near Holden. The plant will be used for the Subscriber Solar program that allows customers to get their power from the sun without having to install rooftop solar panels.
• Several Utah companies are listed in the 2016 DSN Global 100 list, a ranking by Direct Selling News of the top revenue-generating direct selling companies in the world, based on 2015 revenues. They include No. 10 Nu Skin Enterprises, Provo; No. 20 Young Living, Lehi; No. 21 USANA, Salt Lake City; No. 51 Nature’s Sunshine Products, Lehi; No. 54, 4Life Research, Sandy; and No. 69 LifeVantage, Sandy. In the 2016 North America 50 list, Nu Skin is ranked sixth, Young Living is 11th, USANA is 12th, Nature’s Sunshine is 30th, 4Life is 32nd, and LifeVantage is 41st.
RESTAURANTS
• Stanza Italian Bistro & Wine Bar will open to the public on April 27 at 454 E. 300 S., Salt Lake City. Pricing for dinners range from $6 to $38. The restaurant features a main dining room seating 140, a lounge for 16, an upstairs mezzanine dining area for about 100, a downstairs garden patio for 80, anup stairs patio for 50, and a downstairs private room for 40. Stanza was designed by Luna Design Studios. Chefs are Logen Crew and Phelix Gardner. James Santangelo is beverage director and Amy Eldredge is mixologist. Stanza is a collaboration between the culinary professionals from the LaSalle Restaurant Group and Trio Restaurant Group, led by Joel LaSalle and Mikel Trapp, respectively. The groups have merged and are now Main Course Management. Restaurants within the group include Current Fish & Oyster, Under Current Bar, Café Niche, Oasis Café, Café Trio Downtown and Café Trio Cottonwood Stanza Italian Bistro & Wine Bar.
RURAL UTAH
• The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board, at its April meeting, endorsed four projects for Rural Fast Track grants of $50,000 each. Bingham’s Custom Meats LLC, in Morgan County, will use the funds to expand its current building by adding another game meat processing area, allowing the company to accommodate more clientele. The $252,852 project is expected to result in one new full-time position. Precision Complete Auto Repair Inc., Morgan, will build a mechanics shop with nine bays and buy automotive equipment, including five vehicle lifts and an alignment machine. The $812,811 project is expected to result in one new full-time position. The Synergy Company of Utah LLC, Moab, will buy a tablet/capsule counter, helping the company triple its current output and allowing it to introduce new products. The $107,006 project is expected to result in one new full-time position. M&R LLC, doing business as Logan Extermination, Providence, will build a 2,000-square-foot steel garage with three double-garage doors, with each bay able to house two trucks and leave additional space for product storage. The $195,123 project is expected to result in three new full-time positions.
SERVICES
• Century Park Associates, based in Tennessee, has named Jason Giatras as executive director of Highland Cove, an assisted living and independent living campus in Salt Lake City. His experience includes serving as a skilled nursing facility administration for 17 years, working in Utah and Idaho. He also has been one of the owners of Canterbury Assisted Living in Springville for the past nine years. He also worked a year as a Realtor. His education includes earning an associate’s degree in sociology from the University of Utah and a bachelor’s degree in health administration from Weber State University.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• The Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative has awarded 12 companies funding for the pilot round of its Technology Acceleration Program (TAP). Awardees for this round are Applied Biosensors, Salt Lake City; Benergy, St. George; Farhang Wireless, Salt Lake City; G3 Engineering, Salt Lake City; Helidyne, St. George; Inertial Sense, Salem; KP Biosciences, Orem; Knudra Transgenics, Murray; Pollen Sense, Castle Dale; T3S Technologies, Salt Lake City; Turner Innovations, Orem; and Veritas Medical, Salt Lake City. Awardees span the state’s targeted technology sectors from energy and clean tech to life sciences, automation and robotics, and advanced materials. A competitive funding program for Utah-based science and technology startups and early stage companies, the purpose of TAP is to accelerate science and technology companies to market entry, or to mature a new technology within an existing company.