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ACCOUNTING
• Tanner LLC, Salt Lake City, has hired Charley Shumway as a tax director. Shumway has over 20 years of public accounting experience serving a variety of clients and companies. His specialties include business valuation, forensic accounting, succession planning, complex partnership cash waterfall analysis, income allocations and cash distributions. Shumway received both his bachelor’s and master’s in accounting from Southern Utah University.
ASSOCIATIONS
• The Utah Construction Suppliers Association (UCSA) recently elected new officers and members of the board of directors. The officers are Fritz Froerer, president, and Matt McDonald, vice president. Bob Rowberry was reelected and Shane Inglesby and DeAnna Leahy were elected as new members of the board.
BANKING
• Zions Bancorporation, Salt Lake City, has announced that its annual shareholders meeting will take place at 1 p.m. June 2 at the corporate headquarters, 1 S. Main St., Salt Lake City. Admission will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Shareholders, media representatives, analysts and the public may listen to the meeting via a live webcast accessible at www.zionsbancorporation.com. The webcast will also be archived for 30 days.
CONSTRUCTION
• CalAtlantic Homes, based in Virginia, has announced plans to begin homebuilding operations in Salt Lake City. The new division will be established this summer. As Utah Division president, Dave Prolo will lead the strategic positioning of the division and have day-to-day oversight of land acquisition and development, product design, sales and marketing, purchasing, homebuilding operations and customer service. Prolo has over 24 years’ experience developing communities and building homes in the western United States and managing homebuilding and development operations in Arizona, California and Utah. Most recently, he was vice president of operations for CalAtlantic’s Southern California Coastal and San Diego divisions. Prior to joining CalAtlantic, he was regional president, division president, senior vice president of operations and vice president of project management for several other national builders, including serving as division president for John Laing’s Utah Division from 1999-2002 and Richmond American’s Utah Division from 2002-03. He obtained his bachelor of science degree in construction management from Brigham Young University.
DIRECT SALES
• USANA Health Sciences, Salt Lake City, has announced some leadership changes. Chief executive officer Kevin Guest has been appointed to the company’s board of directors. Doug Hekking has been promoted to chief financial officer. He previously was executive vice president of finance and has served in several management positions, including as chief financial officer between May 2011 and December 2012. He has been with the company since 1992. Paul Jones’ duties will be focused solely on chief leadership development officer. He previously was chief financial officer and chief leadership development officer. In the new position, he will lead the human resources and organizational development of the company worldwide.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., Provo, has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 36 cents per share. The dividend will be paid June 14 to shareholders of record May 26.
• ClearOne, Salt Lake City, has announced the quarterly cash dividend for the 2017 second quarter is 7 cents per share. It will be paid May 31 to shareholders of record May 17. The board of directors in November increased by dividend by 2 cents, up from the 5 cents per share paid in the preceding six quarters.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• The Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah) has selected Keith Morey as vice president of business development. He will be responsible for all aspects of EDCUtah’s corporate recruitment, expansion and retention strategy and oversight. He also will play a key role in the creation and execution of EDCUtah’s annual Program of Work and will work closely with EDCUtah’s vice president of research and marketing to attract businesses to the state of Utah and help local companies and communities grow. Morey most recently worked as the community development director for Draper City and has held many roles in economic and community development with Utah cities, including West Valley City, Ogden City, South Jordan City and Payson City. Morey holds a Masters of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Arts from Brigham Young University.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Eight public schools have been approved for the Utah STEM School designation by the Utah State Board of Education (USBE). This is the second group of schools to be selected since the program began last year. USBE, in partnership with the Utah STEM Action Center, developed the Utah STEM Schools Designation program to better define and standardize the elements that create a comprehensive STEM learning environment for Utah students. The designation lasts five years. Platinum STEM School designations for 2016-17 were approved for Endeavour Elementary, Davis; Foothill Elementary, Alpine; and New Bridge Elementary, Ogden. Gold STEM School designations were approved for Creekview Elementary, Carbon; Westridge Elementary, Provo; and Willow Elementary, Tooele. A Silver STEM School designation was approved for Utah Virtual Academy (statewide). A Bronze STEM School designation was approved for George Washington Academy, St. George.
ENERGY/NATURAL RESOURCES
• Vivint Solar, Lehi, has announced that its solar energy systems are now available in Rhode Island. It expects to employ 10-20 people there in the coming months. The company now operates in 16 states.
EXPANSIONS
• Sorenson Media, involved in the development of next-generation television, has opened an office in Seoul, Korea, and has hired Chun Kang as product development director to lead and manage the office. Kang previously worked for TiVo (Rovi) in Seoul, where he was product management director before he became the company’s director of technology to develop data solutions for 70 countries around the world. Prior to working for TiVo, Kang worked for Samsung for 16 years.
HEALTHCARE
• Cambia Health Solutions, Salt Lake City, has named Stephen Foxley as director of government affairs for Utah. He will focus on Cambia’s legislative and regulatory efforts to promote an economically sustainable healthcare system and advocate for public policy solutions aimed at creating a seamless health experience for consumers. Foxley has been in that role in an advisory capacity since last year. Prior to formally joining Cambia, he served as an associate at government relations firm Foxley & Pignanelli. He has also held legal and financial roles at Woodbury Corp. and EnergySolutions. Foxley’s education includes a J.D. from the University of Utah.
• AdvancedMD, South Jordan, has hired Greg Ayers as chief financial officer. Ayers has been a CFO at a variety of healthcare firms in pharmaceutical, medical devices, laboratory testing and clinical services, including InContact, Zars Pharma and TopTier Software.
• Tolero Pharmaceuticals Inc., Salt Lake City, has appointed Dr. Robert Imani as vice president of drug development. Imani has more than two decades of experience in clinical research and development, medical scientific affairs and drug safety, including serving as senior medical director at Abbott Laboratories; associate medical director at Forest Research Institute, a subsidiary of Forest Laboratories Inc., Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. and OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc.; and most recently as executive medical director at Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Amgen Inc.
INTERNATIONAL
• World Trade Center Utah and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development are inviting Utah companies interested in growing their business in Singapore and Vietnam to join them on a trade mission set for Aug. 28-Sept. 1. The mission will be led by Gov. Gary Herbert and will involve opportunities to meet and network with business leaders and government officials. Details are at wtcutah.com.
INVESTMENT
• Artemis Health, Salt Lake City, has raised $8.3 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Maverick Ventures. Artemis also has added board member Ashok Subramanian, former co-founder and chief executive officer of Liazon and the head of the Group Exchange business at Willis Towers Watson, and Ambar Bhattacharyya, managing director at Maverick Ventures, to the Artemis Health team. Artemis Health serves over 20 large employers with more than a million covered employees.
• Fortem Technologies Inc., Provo, has closed on a $5.5 million financing round led by Signia Venture Partners and Data Collective. Privately held Fortem provides advanced radar systems and associated software systems for manned and unmanned aircraft as well as its own modern air defense system known as the Fortem DroneHunter.
LAW
• Stoel Rives LLP has hired Mark Bonham as of counsel in the firm’s Salt Lake City office. Bonham will focus his practice on providing corporate legal counsel to technology companies and emerging businesses. Bonham previously was a partner with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he served corporate clients for 20 years in California and Utah. Thereafter, he and four other executives formed an emerging business consultancy, SageCreek Partners LLC. He has served as general counsel and chief privacy officer of an innovative software company and as the director of a leading networking tools software company.
• Dorsey & Whitney LLP has hired Randon Wilson as of counsel in its corporate group in the Salt Lake City office. Wilson is a corporate attorney with more than 50 years of experience representing numerous cooperatives, particularly agricultural cooperatives in the Rocky Mountain states. He joins Dorsey from Jones Waldo in Salt Lake City, where he was a shareholder and previously served as president and chairman of the board. He joined Jones Waldo in 1966 upon his return from service as an infantry officer in Vietnam.
REAL ESTATE
• SLC Hotel Partners LLC, an affiliate of real estate investment and development company Laurus Corp., has sold the 288-room DoubleTree by Hilton Salt Lake City Airport hotel to ASAP Holdings, a global investment management company. Financial terms were not disclosed. The Plasencia Group represented SLC Hotel Partners.
RECOGNITIONS
• The Utah Technology Council (UTC) presented several awards at last week’s annual Members Meeting in Salt Lake City. Awards were presented for CEO of the Year, Steve Daly, Ivanti; Trustee of the Year, Joe Swenson, president and chief executive officer, Imagine Learning; Industry Champion, Vance Checketts, vice president and general manager, Dell EMC; Women in Tech Champion, JaeLynn Williams, chief commercial officer, GE Digital; Startup CEO of the Year, Johnny Hanna, Homie; CFO of the Year, Jon Pexton, Progrexion; CTO of the Year, Ashley Dreier, HealthEquity; HR Leader of the Year, Heather Mercier, head of finance and talent, Experticity; and Engineering Initiative Champion, Marilyn Davies, senior director of development for the University of Utah College of Engineering. Legislators of the Year are Sens. Ann Millner, Ralph Okerlund and Jerry Stevenson; and Reps. Francis Gibson, John Knotwell, Val Peterson, Dean Sampei and Brad Last.
• The Salt Lake Chamber this week will present Business Champion awards to 93 state lawmakers, including all 19 freshman legislators, for their pro-business efforts during the 2017 general session. The award is presented to legislators voting in the interest of the business community at least 70 percent of the time. Twenty-six legislators have received the award all seven years it has been presented. The 2017 Legislator of the Year is Rep. Brad Wilson, R-Layton. The chamber said Wilson led many of the chamber’s priorities, including “the most extensive overhaul of regulatory policy in state history, as well as modernizing alcohol laws, a significant air quality initiative that will considerably reduce emission immediately after implementation, and a new performance driven model for higher education funding.”
• Two Utah companies — YESCO, Salt Lake City, and Property Management Inc. (PMI), Lehi — have been named to Entrepreneur magazine’s “Best of the Best Franchises” list. The rankings are of 105 companies at the top of their respective industry categories in Entrepreneur’s 2017 Franchise 500 list. The latter list is based on an evaluation of more than 150 data points in the areas of costs, size, growth, franchisee support, brand strength, and financial strength and stability.
• Utah is ranked No. 12 in a listing of best states for business in the 13th annual Chief Executive magazine “Best & Worst States for Business” survey. Surveys were conducted with more than 500 chief executive officers. Utah advanced four positions from a year ago. Utah was ranked No. 3 in workforce quality, No. 8 in living environment, and No. 15 in taxes and regulation. The state had the seventh-ranked financial services industry. Texas is the top-ranked state. California is No. 50. Details are at ChiefExecutive.net/2017-BWStates.
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 13 on the list of “Best Places to Practice 2017,” produced by Medscape. The company ranked the top 25 best cities and five worst cities in the U.S. for doctor to practice. It also lists the top 10 medical specialties most likely to cause professional exhaustion. The best city is Minneapolis. The worst is New Orleans. The top “burnout” specialty is emergency medicine. Details are at Medscape.com.
RETAIL
• IFA Country Stores has opened a newly remodeled 43,000-square-foot store at 2250 N. Main St., Logan. The store now features an outdoor garden center complete with covered storage for gardening products; a large fence yard to better accommodate trucks and trailers for pickup; and a large yard for displaying livestock equipment, farm implements and other items. The expansion has resulted in the hiring of 13 employees, for a total of 26 at the store. IFA has 23 stores in the Intermountain West and will open a new store in American Fork in June.
SCHOLARSHIPS
• Helio Training, Salt Lake City, has announced two new scholarships aimed at strengthening diversity in the tech sector: the Women in Technology Scholarship and Veteran Service Scholarship. The company is offering a $1,000 scholarship for all active duty, reserve and veterans of the U.S. military for Helio Training full-time programs, and a $500 scholarship toward the part-time programs. Each calendar year, up to 10 women entering the tech industry will be awarded the Women in Technology Scholarship. Scholarships are available for $1,000 for full-time bootcamps and $500 for part-time bootcamps. Details are at heliotraining.com.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Skyworks Global Inc., a Salt Lake City-based gyronautics company, has named Peter B. Littlewood to its strategic board of advisors. Littlewood is a professor of physics at the University of Chicago, and emeritus director of the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. His research interests include the applications of materials for energy and sustainability, and he has advised on a number of major battery initiatives, including the DOE’s Joint Center for Energy Storage Research and the UK’s recently announced Faraday Challenge. He is a member of the science advisory board of the recently formed Responsible Battery Coalition.
TRANSPORTATION
• The Strong Auto Group this week will dedicate a new dealership, Strong Volkswagen, at 1070 S. Main St., Salt Lake City. Owners are Brad and Blake Strong. Open houses will take place 11 a.m.-3 p.m. May 19-20 with looks at the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas, the new Golf Alltrack and a collection of vintage VW automobiles.