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ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
• The Utah Division of Arts & Museums has named Victoria Panella Bourns as director. Panella Bourns has directed the Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts and Parks (ZAP) program for the past 12 years. Prior to joining ZAP, she assisted cultural organizations and other nonprofits with strategic planning, board development and executive searches through Panella Consulting. In her career, she has worked for Repertory Dance Theater, KUER and Salt Lake Acting Company. She served as treasurer for the Performing Arts Coalition during the planning and implementation of the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, helped transform the Utah Citizens for the Arts into the Utah Cultural Alliance, and served as treasurer for the State Arts Advocacy League of America and played an important role in its transition into the Americans for the Arts State Arts Advocacy Network. She also is a board member of the Western States Arts Federation. She earned a bachelor’s degree in dance and a master’s degree in arts administration, both from the University of Utah. She replaces Gay Cookson, who has been named the director of fundraising and partnerships for the Department of Heritage & Arts.
BANKING
• Bank of Utah has appointed Brandon Toyn as branch manager for the bank’s corporate office at 2605 Washington Blvd., Ogden. Toyn has more than 10 years of experience in business and retail banking and has expertise in loan origination, small-business banking, branch management and customer service. He previously was a small-business specialist and branch manager for both Chase and Zions Bank. Toyn graduated from Weber State University with a bachelor’s degree in professional sales.
DIRECT SALES
• LifeVantage Corp., Salt Lake City, has added Raymond Greer, Vinayak Hegde and Darwin Lewis to its board of directors. Greer has more than 30 years of logistics and transportation experience. Greer has served as president of BNSF Logistics LLC since 2011. Previously, he served as president and chief executive officer of Greatwide Logistics Services and as president and CEO for Newgistics Inc. Greer has also held multiple senior management positions with Ryder System Inc. and FedEx Corp. He also serves as a director of DCT Industrial Trust and Amware Logistics. Greer’s education includes a bachelor of science in mathematics from the University of Utah. Hegde has served as the senior vice president and global chief marketing officer and vice president of engineering and global online marketing at Groupon. Prior to Groupon, Hegde served in various roles at Amazon.com from 2000-2012 and served in management and engineering roles for Oracle, Verifone, Lucent, Tatas and Citicorp. Lewis serves as the senior vice president of global sales and chief customer officer at SC Johnson & Son Inc., a position he has held since 2015. Over the past 36 years, Lewis has held a number of sales, marketing, acquisition and general manager positions both domestically and abroad for SC Johnson.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Western Governors University (WGU), Salt Lake City, has named Rashmi Prasad as the national director and dean of its College of Business. The college has more than 29,000 enrolled students in all 50 states. Prasad has nearly two decades of experience in professorship and years in university administration. Prior to joining WGU, he was dean of the College of Business and Public Policy at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Before becoming dean, he was a professor of business administration.
GOVERNMENT
• Ginger Chinn has been appointed managing director for urban and rural business services at the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED). She will direct a strategic growth plan for Utah’s industry cluster program and manage GOED’s rural programs and workforce development initiatives, as well as oversee GOED’s business services, including Utah’s Business Resource Centers and the Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC). Chinn previously was vice president of external engagement and economic development at the Davis Applied Technology College (DATC), where she directed several areas, including employer and continuing education, math, academic development, catering and the cosmetology salon. She also oversaw operations at the Davis and Morgan county business resource centers. Prior to her role at DATC, she worked at Management & Training Corp. in Centerville and WorkSOURCE Private Industry Council in Boise, Idaho.
• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has released its “How They Voted” scorecard indicating all six members of Utah’s congressional delegation for their support of pro-growth, pro-jobs policies during the second session of the 114th Congress. The chamber scored members on eight Senate votes and 14 House votes related to access to capital for small businesses, ensuring the workforce has the skills necessary for the jobs of tomorrow, and helping American manufacturers compete in a global economy. In addition, votes in support of building the U.S. water infrastructure system, protecting intellectual property, and updating energy policy also factored into scoring. All of Utah’s House members had a 100-percent record on those votes, as did Sen. Orrin Hatch. Sen. Mike Lee had a 71-percent record.
HOSPITALITY/FOOD SERVICE
• Lodging Dynamics Hospitality Group (LDHG), Provo, has hired Scott McAllister as chief operating officer. McAllister’s 27-year career includes most recently serving six years as area vice president of lodging development at Marriott International.
MANUFACTURING
• USANA Health Sciences’ China subsidiary, BabyCare Ltd., recently had the grand opening for its new $40 million manufacturing facility in Beijing. The 350,000-square-foot facility will manufacture nutritional supplements for customers in Mainland China. USANA said the facility is roughly the same size as its home office in Salt Lake City. It consists of five buildings and has the capacity to produce at least 1.2 billion tablets each year, the same capacity as the home office. USANA is now operating in 20 markets worldwide.
MEDIA/MARKETING
• KRCL, a nonprofit, independent radio station, has hired Robbi Richter as director of philanthropy and Cindy Kaiser as an underwriting specialist. Richter has been in the fundraising field for more than 30 years. She has spent 22 years in higher education and has worked for large national nonprofits and for local grassroots nonprofits in Utah. Her career has included positions at the University of Utah, Westminster College and other nonprofits in the state, including the American Red Cross’ Utah Region and for the March of Dimes, where she was the executive director of market development. Kaiser has 30 years of experience in marketing, sales, fundraising and special events. Most recently, she was director of development, marketing and events at KPCW in Park City.
PHILANTHROPY
• Smith’s Food & Drug Stores has released its “2016 Report to the Community” highlighting community donations totaling $14.4 million in cash and products to more than 4,000 nonprofit organizations throughout its seven western states of operation (Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Arizona). Smith’s combined charitable giving averaged $103,000 per store location or $780 per associate. The support includes contributions from the Smith’s corporate budget, the Kroger Foundation, suppliers, associates and customers through in-store fundraising promotions. The 2016 assistance was primarily focused in the following areas: fighting hunger; supporting local grassroots organizations; promoting women’s health; and supporting the country’s active military, veterans and their families. The company’s Utah stores donated a total of more than $5.7 million in 2016. The report is available at www.smithscommunity.com.
REAL ESTATE
• Century 21 Real Estate LLC, franchisor of the Century 21 Brand, has announced that Rick Davidson will become a principal and president of the Everest Group, operator of Century 21 Everest-Troop Real Estate, a Salt Lake City-based firm with 17 offices in Utah and California. Davidson will transition from his role as president and CEO of Century 21 Real Estate LLC.
• Red Ledges, a luxury master-planned community in the Park City area, has announced a partnership in which South Street Partners will direct and expand all sales and marketing efforts. South Street Partners is a developer and operator of golf and recreational communities, including Kiawah Island in Charleston, South Carolina. As part of the partnership, Red Ledges has hired Rob Bouton to become the director of sales. Bouton served in similar positions at the Cliffs Communities in North Carolina and South Carolina, Christophe Harbour, St. Kitts and the Turks and Caicos Sporting Club. Another part of the partnership features South Street Partners and Red Ledges creating a joint venture to accelerate the construction of new homes.
SERVICES
• Cicero Group, a consulting firm, recently had a grand-opening event for its new building at 35 N. Rio Grande St. in The Gateway. It moved into The Gateway in 2016, with 60-100 people there on a regular basis. The company owns nearly 65,000 square feet of space. Just under 19,000 square feet is for its office space, with plans to rent the remainder.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Vivint Smart Home has hired Joy Driscoll Durling as chief information and digital enablement officer. Durling will be responsible for all business and operations technologies, systems and analytics, and enabling go-to-market strategies and channels. Durling most recently worked 12 years at Adobe Systems Inc., including as a vice president and chief of staff to the company’s chief information officer. She also worked in various roles at Macromedia and Andersen Business Consulting.
• Big Squid, Salt Lake City, has closed $3 million in seed funding, led by Silverton Partners and Kickstart Seed Fund. Big Squid specializes in business intelligence, data sciences and predictive analytics. Silverton Partners is based in Austin, Texas. Kickstart is based in Salt Lake City.