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BANKING
• Bank of Utah, Ogden, has hired Mike Child as vice president, residential construction sales manager and Brittany Lewis as a mortgage loan officer serving Cache Valley. Child will work with Bank of Utah’s construction loan department to generate new business opportunities with homebuilders, realtors and other partners in the construction industry. He will be based out of the bank’s Logan branch but will work with mortgage loan officers across Utah. He is a 33-year veteran of the mortgage and banking industry, most recently serving as vice president/relationship manager for Altabank. He previously worked for Lewiston State Bank (now Altabank) and for Republic Mortgage for more than 20 years. Child earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in marketing from Utah State University. Lewis also will be based at the Logan branch and will provide financing solutions for home purchases, new construction, lots and refinances. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Utah State University.
• D.L. Evans Bank has promoted Kimberly Harrison to mortgage loan officer for its Murray branch. She will be responsible for helping customers research loans and navigate the application, approval and closing process. She will also be recommending commercial and personal loan options to clients and explaining their terms, determining risks for loaning to clients based on their credit and processing paperwork. Harrison joined D.L. Evans Bank in August 2021 and has over 15 years financial experience.
COMMUNICATIONS
• All West Communications has launched its fiber optic Internet, streaming TV service and digital phone solutions to residents of Huntsville, Eden, Liberty and Peterson. Construction began earlier this month in Huntsville and Eden and will extend to other developments within the area this year. The build will include more than 72 miles of fiber and duct that will provide services to over 4,500 homes and businesses.
CONSTRUCTION
• A topping-out ceremony was held recently at the construction site of the new Salt Lake Community College Campus in Herriman. Juniper, the main building at the campus, is the first of what is proposed to be 13 buildings to be constructed on the new campus and marks the kick-off of the multi-year $46.2 million project. The Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management and Salt Lake Community College awarded the project to Big-D Construction and AJC Architects in the summer of 2021. The project consists of a new instructional building, a central building, and a central utility plant building that will support all future buildings on campus. Juniper, primarily a classroom building with several core support spaces, is a three-story, 92,000-square-foot structure expected to completed for the fall 2023 semester.
CORPORATE
• ELearning Brothers, an American Fork-based learning solutions company, has changed its name to ELB Learning. The company said the name will “better represent their growing global role as the most diversified learning platform and services provider in the industry.” In the past two years, the company has acquired six companies and ELB Learning has grown from 50 to more than 500 employees, including a network of more than 2500 learning professionals for project work in Europe, the U.S. and India.
• Cibus Biotechnologies has changed its name to Seek Labs and has moved to a new location at Salt Lake City’s Northgate. The new location offers expanded laboratory facilities and room to grow. CEO Jared Bauer said the new name “perfectly captures our entrepreneurial spirit and vision to improve patient lives.”
DIRECT SALES
• Nature’s Sunshine Products Inc., a Lehi-based producer, marketer and distributor of nutritional and personal care products, has appointed Martin Gonzalez as executive vice president of global supply chain. Gonzalez has over 30 years of experience at Unilever, Molson Coors/SABMiller and Sara Lee. He joins Nature’s Sunshine from Bowery Farming, where he served as vice president of operations and excellence. Prior to that, he served as vice president of supply chain and operations in North America for Cerelia North America (formerly Sara Lee); held numerous leadership roles over nine years at Molson Coors/SABMiller, where he led end-to-end operations across Peru, Canada and the U.S.; and spent the 15 years of in various global positions at Unilever.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., a Provo-based beauty and wellness products company, has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 38.5 cents per share. The dividend will be paid June 8 to shareholders of record May 27.
• The board of directors of LifeVantage Corp., Lehi, has approved the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend per share of common stock. The initial quarterly dividend of 3 cents per share of common stock will be paid May 31 to stockholders of record May 17. LifeVantage identifies, researches, develops, formulates and sells nutrigenomic activators, dietary supplements, nootropics, pre- and pro-biotics, weight management, skin and hair care, bath and body, and targeted relief products.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 85 on a list of “Best States for New Moms,” compiled by LawnStarter. It compared 180 of the biggest U.S. cities on more than 40 mom-friendliness factors, such as OB/GYN and pediatrician access, strength of breastfeeding laws, child care costs, and new-mom support groups. The top-ranked city is Orange, California. The No. 180 city is Detroit. Details are at https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-cities-new-moms/.
• Residents of Utah are paying an average of $850 and charged an average 554 percent APR to borrow $500 for four months, according to research from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The average in Idaho is $1,000. Consumers in states that have passed payday loans reform, including Colorado, Hawaii, Ohio and Virginia, are paying between $110 and $158 to borrow the same amount of money from the same companies. Details are at https://www.pewtrusts.org/.
• Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City is the fifth-cheapest arena for parking in the U.S., according to a study by Confused.com. It analyzed the cost of event parking at 20 of the largest indoor arenas in the U.S. Vivint’s cost is $15. The least-expensive is the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, at $10. The most-expensive is Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, at $42. Details are at https://www.confused.com/car-insurance/arena-stadium-parking-index.
HEALTHCARE
• HealthEquity Inc., a Draper-based health savings account custodian, has announced that Rajesh “Nat” Natarajan has been elected to the company’s board of directors and appointed to serve on the board’s Cybersecurity and Technology Committee. Natarajan is a strategy and technology executive with more than 25 years’ experience developing and executing product and platform engineering. He has served as chief product and strategy officer of Globalization Partners since March 2022; served as executive vice president of products and engineering of RingCentral Inc.; served as executive vice president and chief product and technology officer of Ancestry.com; served in senior leadership positions in the areas of technology and product development at Intuit Inc.; served in senior leadership positions in the areas of technology and product development at PayPal Holdings Inc.; and served in various management positions in the area of technology at Sabre Holdings Corp. Natarajan currently serves as a member of the board of directors for Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. In connection with Natarajan’s appointment to the company’s board, the board expanded to 11 members, with nine (including Natarajan) being independent.
• Supplementary Health Care, a Salt Lake City-based healthcare staffing provider, has announced a partnership with the National Black Nurses Association to support their work advocating for black nursing professionals and quality healthcare for persons of color. The association supports over 300,000 African American nursing registered nurses, 92,000 licensed vocational/practical nurses, and 200,000 nursing students.
INTERNATIONAL
• World Trade Center Utah has hired Michelle Conley as the director of partner relations. She will work with the organization’s members and community partners to learn about their international business needs and build upon the organization’s efforts to foster a robust global network to maximize the value of a WTC Utah membership and help Utah companies flourish on the international stage. Conley has over 11 years of experience working with the Utah community, and her career has focused on program development and management; providing higher education resources for underrepresented students; promoting equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives; and refugee resettlement. She most recently was with the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah and, prior to that, was with the Refugee Services Office at the Utah Department of Workforce Services.
INVESTMENTS
• BlueWind Medical Ltd., with offices in Park City and Israel, has closed a $64 million Series B funding round. It was led by ConvaTec, a global medical products and technologies company focused on therapies for the management of chronic conditions including continence care. The funds will be used to advance development of technology to treat overactive bladder. The company’s Renova iStim is an implantable device being studied as a minimally invasive, patient-centric solution to treat urgency incontinence alone or in combination with urinary urgency and/or urinary frequency.
• HomePace, a Park City-based company that helps homeowners easily access their home equity without taking on additional debt or interest payments, has secured $7 million in Series A funding, led by LENX, the corporate venture arm of Lennar Corp. The round included prior investors Bling Capital, NextView Ventures and Ride Ventures. HomePace said it will use the funding to introduce a new homebuyer solution, which will provide homebuyers with down payment funding in exchange for sharing a portion of their home’s future value. It also will hire more employees based in the Salt Lake City metro area.
LAW
• Armstrong Teasdale has hired litigation associate Nathan Jepson for its Salt Lake City office. His practice involves representing companies and individuals in a wide range of matters, including business disputes, contract disputes, employment issues, construction litigation, real property issues, fraud, unfair competition, collections and personal injury. He has represented clients in state and federal court as well as in alternative dispute resolution proceedings. Jepson also maintains an active pro bono practice. Armstrong Teasdale has more than 370 attorneys across 15 offices worldwide.
MANUFACTURING
• American Battery Factory, an American Fork-based company developing the nation’s first network of lithium-iron phosphate cell giga-factories, has named James Herbermann as vice president of manufacturing. He will lead and support all aspects of the company’s cell manufacturing and production operations from start to finish. Herbermann has more than 30 years of experience, including commercializing and scaling Tesla’s new cell giga-factory manufacturing in Austin, Texas, and stints at Duracell and Saft America. He also worked at Aquion Energy.
• Purple Innovation Inc., a Lehi-based producer of comfort products, has appointed Eric Haynor as chief operating officer. He will oversee all aspects of the company’s operations, playing a key role in supporting Purple’s future growth plans through supply chain and manufacturing efficiency. Haynor has 30 years of experience in supply chain management, most recently serving as senior vice president of global industrial supply chain at Ecolab Inc. Prior to that, he held several progressively senior roles within Ecolab Inc.’s supply chain group, including vice president of global equipment operations and global life sciences, vice president of supply chain operations for EMEA, and vice president of supply chain operations for Asia Pacific.
• Biomerics, a Salt Lake City-based contract manufacturer for the interventional device market, has created a new division, Biomerics Image Guided Intervention. Based in Salt Lake City, the division provides advanced image generation and processing technologies to enable real-time minimally invasive advanced surgery procedures. It was created to integrate Biomerics interventional catheter technologies with its imaging and guidance technologies.
NONPROFITS
• Sutherland Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent research and educational institution, has named Brent Andrewsen as chairman of its board of directors. Andrewsen has served as an executive committee member of the board. He is the current past chairman of the board of directors at Kirton McConkie and a member of the firm’s tax and corporate sections. His practice includes estate planning, probate and trust administration, gift taxation, tax-exempt organizations, charitable trusts and planned giving. He also has advised clients on business matters and has assisted in forming various business entities and transactions. In addition to his professional work, he has been on the boards of various charitable organizations over the years.
• The Malouf Foundation, based in Logan, hosted its second annual education summit April 22 in Salt Lake City. It consisted of panelists discussing the prevalence of child sexual exploitation and the importance of making a difference. The foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to confronting child sexual exploitation, specifically sex trafficking and online abuse. It is supported by the network of Malouf Cos.
PARTNERSHIPS
• Young Living, a Lehi-based provider of essential oils, has partnered with Joseph Wilson, author of The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America’s Bees, on a research initiative to learn more about native bee populations. The research project, which will start at Young Living’s farms in Mona and France, will study native bee species at both locations and provide insights to help these bee populations thrive. With learnings from this research, Young Living will be able to make landscaping changes at its farms to better suit these native bee species.
PHILANTHROPY
• Awardco, a Provo-based employee recognition and rewards company, has launched its Goodness Grants program, which is a national philanthropic endeavor “that highlights the goodness that people bring to their groups, communities and organizations.” Each month, Awardco will give $1,000 to an individual who is putting good out into the world and is positively impacting a group or community. The person is nominated by their peers; the company then culls through nominations, and a committee selects the final recipient. The grant does not need to be connected to work but instead can reflect volunteer efforts or work in the community. The first Goodness Grant beneficiary is Kasey Walkenhurst, the boys’ basketball coach for Farmington High School. Each year, he leads his team in organizing a basketball game for all of the students with disabilities living in Davis County.
• Comcast has added 30 “Lift Zones” across Utah to provide free Wi-Fi Internet service for students and adults needing access to critical resources. The expansion provides high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity and access to hundreds of hours of educational and digital skills content to help Utahns and Lift Zone site coordinators navigate online learning. Additionally, Comcast will provide laptops and other smart devices to help better serve individuals at several Lift Zones. Since 2019, Comcast has worked with Utah nonprofit partners and community leaders to install free Internet services to sites, which provide low-income students with a space to participate in distance learning and complete homework. Adults are also using Lift Zones to work remotely, apply for jobs, and learn digital skills, all for free.
REAL ESTATE
• Century Communications Inc., a Colorado-based national homebuilder offering homes for purchase online, has opened four new Wasatch Front communities. American Fork Crossing is at 879 W., 800 S., American Fork and includes 148 homesites. Mapleton Heights is at 1387 Mapleton Heights Court, Mapleton, and includes 40 homesites. Shoreline West is at 2711 W. 2850 S., Syracuse, and includes 68 homesites. Dahlia Estates is at 4469 W. 300 N., West Point, and includes 49 homesites. Century operates in 17 states and over 45 markets across the U.S., and also offers title, insurance and lending services in select markets through its Parkway Title, IHL Home Insurance Agency, and Inspire Home Loans subsidiaries.
• An affordable housing complex called Senior Living on Washington has opened at 2955 Washington Blvd., Ogden. The complex is for seniors aged 62-plus+ and features 105 units. It was developed by Canterbury Partners LLC, with Ogden’s R&O Construction as the general contractor and Think Architecture, Salt Lake City, as the architects. Financing partners include Utah Housing Corp., Richman Group Affordable Housing Corp., American Express, JP Morgan Chase Community Development Bank, Rocky Mountain Community Reinvestment Corp. and the Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund. It will be managed by EMG Management.
RECOGNITIONS
• AvantGuard Monitoring Centers, based in Ogden, has received “The Monitoring Center of the Year” award in the Enterprise Central Station category from the Monitoring Association. It recognizes the dedication and effort put forth by AvantGuard’s team to build a company with a powerful culture centered on innovation and service.
RETAIL
• Salt Lake City International Airport has unveiled the roster of new restaurants and retail shops for Phase 2 of The New SLC Redevelopment Program. As is the case with the first phase of The New SLC, all concessions will offer street pricing. The concession operators selected are HG SLC Retailers JV, HMSHost, Marshall Retail Group, OHM Concession Group, Paradies Lagardère, Millcreek Coffee Roasters, Minute Suites and SLC Hospitality Partners. The food and beverage brands are coffee companies Millcreek Coffee Roasters and Hugo Coffee; full-service restaurants Red Rock Brewery and P.F. Chang’s; quick-serve restaurants Blue Iguana, Rockwell’s Ice Cream, Vessel Kitchen, Auntie Anne’s, Burger King, Jimmy John’s and Wow Bao; and specialty-serve restaurants Protein Bar and Kitchen. Shop offering specialty retail, news, and gifts and services are The Atrium, Hudson Nonstop and a Hudson travel convenience store, Minute Suites, SLC Public Market, and Utah Jazz Pro Shop. The New SLC Phase 2 has been designed for 19 retail and restaurant spaces totaling 23,873 square feet. Phase 2 encompasses a 22-gate extension of Concourse A to the east. The first four Delta Air Lines’ gates will open in spring 2023, followed by 18 Delta gates in the fall of 2023. Phase 2 concessions are slated to open in fall 2023.
• Ken Garff Automotive Group, Salt Lake City, has named Brent Lessing as chief technology officer with a focus on developing strategy for advancing technology resources and ensuring technologies are used efficiently and securely throughout company operations in nine states. Lessing more recently was Omni Hotels & Resorts’ chief information and digital officer. Prior to that, he held senior leadership positions at Caesar’s Entertainment in Las Vegas and at The Hertz Corp. Ken Garff operates 62 stores throughout Utah and eight other states.
• Rach Parcell, founder and creative director of lifestyle brand Rachel Parcell, Riverton, has launched her first-ever fine jewelry line in collaboration with jeweler J. Brooks. The collection consists of 15 pieces, including a variety of hoops, necklaces, stacking rings and bracelets. The collection ranges from $160 to $5,900.
SERVICES
• Perspire Sauna Studio, a California-based infrared and red light therapy sauna franchise, has signed 28 franchise agreements since the beginning of the year, the most it has ever signed in one quarter. Among the agreements are for a location in Park City. The deals will bring the brand to nine new states in the coming years. In February, Perspire also celebrated its debut in Arizona with the opening of the Gilbert studio, bringing the total number of locations open to 22.
TECHNOLOGY
• Silicon Slopes has announced that the popular Silicon Slopes Summit will take place Sept. 29-30 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. The summit will feature keynote presentations, breakout sessions, pitch competitions, exhibitions, awards ceremonies and more. The cost through June 15 is $195 and $295 thereafter. Details are at https://www.summit.siliconslopes.com/.