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ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
• Cinemark Holdings Inc., in partnership with CenterCal Properties LLC, has announced that it will be expanding its presence in Utah with the addition of a new 14-screen theater in Mountain View Village in Riverton. Formally agreed upon in 2019, the theater is currently under construction and set to open mid-2022. Mountain View Village is an 85-acre, mixed-use lifestyle center with retail, restaurant, business and apartment options. The new Cinemark theater is part of the center’s Phase II development, which also includes five pocket parks, a show fountain and a covered market hall-style pavilion with a series of eateries and indoor and outdoor seating. Cinemark operates 531 theaters worldwide, with 331 in the U.S.
BANKING
• Zions Bancorporation NA, Salt Lake City, elected Maria Contreras-Sweet to its board of directors at its annual meeting of shareholders. Contreras-Sweet is managing member of both Contreras Sweet Cos., a marketing and research solutions business, and Rockway Equity Partners, a private equity firm. She served as 24th administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration and as a member of former President Barack Obama’s cabinet. During her career, she has started three businesses, including a community bank in Los Angeles focused on small and mid-sized businesses, where she served as its executive chairwoman for seven years.
• TAB Bank, Ogden, has hired Ryan D. Gabriel for its business development team as vice president and business development officer for the Pacific Northwest and western Canada. He will be based in Seattle and be responsible for sourcing new business opportunities throughout the Pacific Northwest region and western portions of Canada to providing asset-based and factoring working capital resources to commercial businesses with annual revenues ranging from $2 million to $150 million. Gabriel has more than 20 years of experience in the factoring and asset-based lending, as well as expertise in digital marketing. Prior to joining TAB, Gabriel spent significant time within the Riviera Finance group of companies, including Business Facilitators Inc. (dba Business Factors), Riviera’s digital marketing arm.
• Cyprus Credit Union, West Jordan, has opened a pair of branches, including one at 480 E. 400 S., Salt Lake City. It takes the place of the branch at 400 S. 700 E. A new branch on 1375 Foothill Drive has also opened, making it the credit union’s 20th location. Instead of the traditional teller line, both locations feature in-lobby teller machines (ILTs), where members can choose to self-serve or have assistance from a live remote teller.
• Mountain America Credit Union, Sandy, has opened a branch at 1953 W. Pleasant Grove Blvd., Pleasant Grove. It features three drive-up lanes, an ATM and a modern floor plan with a newly designed mural wall. It also opened a branch in Chandler, Arizona, and a service center in Rexburg, Idaho.
CONSTRUCTION
• Woodside Homes, a Salt Lake City-based designer and builder of homes for move-up and entry-level buyers, has named Erin Willis as chief insights and marketing officer. She is the first female corporate executive at the company. Willis has experience in marketing of both public and private homebuilding for more than 20 years and has worked with Woodside Homes since 2018. Before joining Woodside Homes, Willis was with Taylor Morrison Homes, where she was not only created its strategic marketing function, but also transitioned into a role as head of corporate communications.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Zions Bancorporation NA, Salt Lake City, has declared a regular quarterly dividend of 34 cents per common share. The dividend is payable May 20 to shareholders of record May 13. The board also declared regular quarterly cash dividends on the company’s various perpetual preferred shares. The cash dividend on series A, G, H and I shares are payable June 15 to shareholders of record June 1. The cash dividend on the Series J shares is payable Sept. 15 to shareholders of record Sept. 1. The board also authorized the redemption at par value of Zions’ Series H perpetual preferred shares, which have been eligible to be redeemed since June 15, 2019, subject to the completion of notification requirements. Zions currently expects to redeem the Series H shares during the second quarter. At March 31, the total amount of the Series H shares outstanding was $126 million, and had an annual dividend of $7 million.
• The board of directors of Clarus Corp., Salt Lake City, has confirmed a regular quarterly cash dividend of 2.5 cents per share. The dividend will be paid May 21 to stockholders of record May 10. Clarus develops, manufactures and distributes outdoor equipment and lifestyle products focused on the climb, ski, mountain, and sport markets.
• The board of directors of Medallion Bank, Salt Lake City, has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 50 cents per share on the bank’s Fixed-to-Floating Rate Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series F. The dividend is payable July 1 to holders of record June 15. Medallion Bank is an industrial bank that specializes in providing consumer loans for the purchase of recreational vehicles, boats and home improvements, and offering loan origination services to fintech partners. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Medallion Financial Corp.
• The board of directors of Altabancorp, American Fork, has declared a quarterly dividend payment of 15 cents per common share. The dividend will be payable May 17 to shareholders of record May 10. Altabancorp is the bank holding company for Altabank, which has 25 branch locations from Preston, Idaho to St. George.
EXPANSIONS
• Sundance, a Salt Lake City-based lifestyle retailer of women’s and men’s apparel, jewelry, footwear, accessories, home furnishings and art, has opened a retail location in the Greater Detroit area. The 4,120 square feet store is in Rochester Hills. It is Sundance’s first location in Michigan.
GOVERNMENT
• The Utah Department of Workforce Services has selected Christina Oliver as director of the Housing and Community Development Division. Most recently, Oliver has served as the department director over community development for Draper City. Prior to that position, she held roles at Salt Lake County as the Regional Economic and Business Development Division director and as the associate Parks and Recreation Division director. After a 16-year hiatus from the department, Oliver will rejoin Workforce Services on May 24. Keith Heaton, assistant director of the Housing and Community Development Division, will take on the chairmanship of the Permanent Community Impact Fund Board (CIB) after more than 12 years working with the board. Part of the division’s responsibilities, the CIB provides loans and grants to counties, cities and towns that are impacted by mineral resource development on federal lands, including $300 million awarded in the last five years.
HEALTHCARE
• Xenter Inc., a privately held, Salt Lake City-based startup device/data/drug healthcare technologies company, has appointed James R. Tobin to its board of directors. Prior to joining Xenter, Tobin served as president and CEO of Boston Scientific from March 1999 to July 2009. He also served as president and CEO of Biogen Inc. and served as an executive with Baxter International, where he became president and chief operating officer in 1992. Xenter is developing wireless technologies and techniques for interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, and neurointerventional radiology. It also is launching a digital health platform that will leverage new wireless interventional devices that provide physiologic data and images simultaneously and enable patients to have access and control of their medical data.
• DiscGenics has completed construction on its 25,000-square-foot headquarters facility in Salt Lake City. The final phase, which included 19,500 square feet for a dedicated cGMP allogeneic cell manufacturing facility, was built in anticipation of future commercial demand for IDCT. The new space is in addition to the 5,500 square feet of office space and research and development laboratory that is already in operation.
INTERNATIONAL
• William D. James has been elected to the board of directors of World Trade Center Utah. James is a principal at BKD CPAs & Advisors, leading BKD’s national transfer pricing team, a division of the firm’s international tax services group. BKD’s office in downtown Salt Lake City includes international tax specialists who serve multinational companies throughout the Intermountain West. James has experience serving on the board of directors at the WTC St. Louis and providing more than 26 years of international tax consulting services to multinational companies in numerous industries.
INVESTMENT
• 29th Street Capital, a Chicago-based, privately held real estate investment firm that focuses on value-add and development of multifamily assets, has hired Ryan Thomas as vice president of acquisitions in Salt Lake City. He will be responsible for sourcing and evaluating multifamily real estate investment opportunities throughout Utah. Thomas has over 10 years of experience in commercial real estate finance, investment and construction management. Prior to joining 29th Street Capital, he was an associate director for Q10 Bonneville Real Estate Capital. Thomas received his B.S. in economics from the University of Utah and is pursuing his Masters in Real Estate Development from the UofU.
INVESTMENTS
• Sera Prognostics Inc., a Salt Lake City-based company focusing on improving maternal and neonatal health, has competed a $100 million Series E financing. Joining in the round were Vivo Capital, aMoon Fund, Parian Global and others, led by existing investors Anthem Inc. and Blue Ox Healthcare Partners. Sera will use the proceeds of the financing to continue the process of commercializing its PreTRM testing, accelerate the development of its pipeline of biomarker tests to predict other major conditions of pregnancy, and develop greater testing capacity for over 3 million annual pregnancies that are candidates for Sera’s PreTRM test in the United States. Joining the Sera board are Marcus Wilson, chief analytics officer of Anthem; Elizabeth Canis, Anthem’s vice president of emerging markets and partnerships; and Joe Siletto, managing director of Vivo Capital.
• Xenocor, a privately held, Salt Lake City-based company, has announced a Series A-2 round investment by Growing Impact Ventures. The amount was not disclosed. The investment will be used to increase production of Xenoscope, a single–use, fog-free, HD laparoscopic imaging system.
PHILANTHROPY
• Sweet Rolled Tacos’ location at The Gateway is rolling out 10 new children’s-themed tacos during the month of May in an effort to “Taco ’Bout Mental Health,” and 25 percent of the proceeds from children’s taco sales will be donated to The Children’s Center. There will also be a free outdoor fitness class, outdoor free movie, and the “I Am Light” walk-through. Story time for family will be on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 1:30 p.m. through May 31.
REAL ESTATE
• The Domain Cos., in partnership with Giv Development, has opened The Shop Workspace at 340 East and 400 South, Salt Lake City. The Shop joins Mya, Domain’s first mixed-income residential development in Salt Lake City, and anchors The Exchange, a $124.3 million transit-oriented development that combines apartments, shared workspace, retailers and on-site covered parking. It features three floors with more than 30,000 square feet of creative coworking space. The architecture firm behind The Shop’s design is Eskew+Dumez+Ripple. This is their debut project in Salt Lake City.
• The Other Side Academy (TOSA), a nonprofit, will expand operations for its self-funded vocational programs at a warehouse in Murray. The programs include The Other Side Movers, The Other Side Thrift Boutique and The Other Side Construction Co. TOSA leaders hope the expanded capacity will enable them to add more vocational programs, such as welding and automotive repair schools. In addition to the warehouse property, TOSA also bought the empty lot adjacent to the new purchase that they hope will host a community garden for its students. Tim Stay, CEO of TOSA, and Davis Durocher, director of operations, partnered with Mountain West Commercial Real Estate on the warehouse search.
RECOGNITIONS
• Altabank, an American Fork-based company with 25 branch locations from Preston, Idaho to St. George, has received a 2020 Raymond James Community Bankers Cup award. The honor recognizes the top 10 percent of community banks nationally based on various profitability, operational efficiency and balance sheet metrics. Altabank has been an annual recipient of the award since 2016 and is the only community bank in the Mountain West region to be recognized for 2020. Raymond James Financial Inc. is a diversified financial services company providing private client group, capital markets, asset management, banking and other services to individuals, corporations and municipalities.
• The Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce has announced that its 33rd annual Athena Leadership Award will be presented to Danielle Croyle. She has a 30-year career in law enforcement and currently works at the South Salt Lake Police Department as the public information officer and training coordinator. Past positions include serving as the administrative officer for the FBI’s Salt Lake field office and serving as captain of the Ogden City Police Department. Croyle holds a B.A. degree from Weber State University’s Criminal Justice Program. She currently serves as a member of the WSU Social and Behavioral Science Advancement Board and is a past president of the WSU Alumni Association board of directors. She is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Croyle will be presented with the award May 18, at the chamber’s Women in Business Athena Leadership Ceremony & Luncheon, set for 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at the Timbermine Steakhouse in Ogden.
• A company focused on helping people with asthma through the use of a small, more-portable inhaler, uAir recently won the $15,000 grand prize at the Bench to Bedside Competition. UAir is a team with members from the University of Utah and Brigham Young University: Brian Parker, Teryn Holeman, Alex Huhn and Nick Wallace. Led by the Center for Medical Innovation, in partnership with the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, the Bench to Bedside program challenges students to identify and address opportunities for improvement in the current healthcare market. More than 20 teams representing the University of Utah, Brigham Young University, Utah State University, Utah Valley University and Dixie Technical College participated in this year’s competition. The runner-up ($15,000) was Aether Masks. The Legacy Team Award winner ($20,000) as Neurosense. The Best in Medicine Award winner ($5,000) was Neosafe Cradle. The Best in Business Award winner ($5,000) was S-Band. The Best in Engineering Award winner ($5,000) was Aether Elbow. The Best in Digital Health Award winner ($5,000) was OkWellThen. The Global Health Award winner ($5,000) was LaparoVision. The Eccles & Marriott Libraries Award winner ($5,000) was MagCath.
• SecurityMetrics Podcast has been named a Silver winner in the category of Best Cybersecurity Podcast from the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards. The podcast aims to help businesses protect payment data in a volatile threat climate and support individuals to succeed in cybersecurity. Episodes are released bi-monthly. Orem-based SecurityMetrics helps customers close data security and compliance gaps to avoid data breaches.
• Nav, a Salt Lake City-based financing platform for small businesses, has announced that Upcycle Hawaii LLC has earned its latest $10,000 grand prize winner of its Small Business Grant. Upcycle Hawaii is a brand and manufacturer focused on creating quality products with reclaimed and repurposed materials. Owner Mattie Mae Larson plans to use the funds to grow her internal team and invest in new tools. Nav also awarded a $5,000 runner-up prize to Chow Corp., a nonprofit providing culinary arts training to military veterans and spouses in Maryland. Nav created the Nav Small Business Grant in 2018 to raise awareness about the obstacles small-business owners and entrepreneurs experience when building and maintaining their businesses. As of April, Nav has awarded $139,500 to small businesses across the country.
RETAIL
• EoS Fitness has opened its ninth location in Utah at 5546 S. Redwood Road, Taylorsville. It has 53,000 square feet, making it the largest EoS Fitness location in the state.
RURAL UTAH
• The 2021 One Utah Summit will take place Oct. 4-6 at Southern Utah University in Cedar City. It is the new name for the 34th annual Rural Summit and will feature rural Utah’s decision-makers to network and discuss the unique opportunities and challenges facing rural Utahns. It will include an evening networking event, an updated rural Utah speed pitch, breakout sessions and the launch of the Utah Rural Leadership Academy. Details will be announced later.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Secuvant, a Salt Lake City-based company focused on strategic managed security and risk advisory services, has announced a Board of Advisors composed of cybersecurity and technology experts providing high-level guidance and expertise on Secuvant’s strategy and offerings. The board includes Jared Mabey (chairman), Don Ainslie, Chris Barker, Bill Fisher, Mark Ford, Brian Kelly, Ryan Layton, Kelly Liu, Mark Spangler and Jim Walker. Ainslie is Secuvant executive vice president of risk services and sales. Barker is a transportation technology consultant and founder for CBC. Fisher is a retired Deloitte consulting senior partner. Ford recently retired from Deloitte as the U.S. industry sector leader for higher education in Deloitte’s Risk and Financial Advisory Services business. Kelly has over 40 years of experience in the public and private sectors, including as Rackspace chief security officer. Layton has more than 20 years of experience working with C-Level executives within the Fortune 1000 space and is founder and CEO of Secuvant. Liu has been working in various marketing roles in high tech for over 15 years and currently is senior director of global demand at Menlo Security. Mabey is president and CEO of Lighthouse Business Catalysts. Spangler has experience and expertise supporting national security programs at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the Intelligence Community (IC) and Department of Defense (DoD). Walker has 40 years of experience in the agriculture and heavy equipment industries, having recently retired from CASE IH as executive vice president of North American operations.
• Exponential AI, an Atlanta-based decision intelligence platform provider, has announced a geographic and market expansion into the northwestern U.S. Steven Lund, head of sales, business development and marketing, is leading Exponential’s expansion into the healthcare and financial services industries from Salt Lake City. Lund has more than 30 years of experience in technology, AI/ML and deep learning, along with experience in leading global initiatives in SaaS, cybersecurity and IoT for major technology corporations.
• Fastest Labs, a drug, alcohol and DNA testing franchise, has established a new franchise to the system in Sandy. Owner Stephen Collings has now established four territories throughout the area, with plans to open and develop a new location each year in the next four to five years. The territories include Provo, Lehi, South Salt Lake and Ogden. These new agreements will add to the current Fastest Labs location in North Salt Lake. Fastest Labs has 58 units open in 20 states.