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ASSOCIATIONS
• The Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah) has announced that Ze Min Xiao has been selected as director of the newly formed Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging. Until recently, Xiao served as director of the Mayor’s Office for New Americans at Salt Lake County. She is a Fellow with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Community Leadership Network, and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Utah, and a Master of Art in Community Leadership from Westminster College. The center will serve as the private-sector commitment to work alongside government and communities of color to advance the principles outlined in the Utah Compact on Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. The center will focus on advancing economic equity and strengthening community cohesiveness by fostering an environment of belonging for all Utahns. The center is housed within the newly formed Economic Development Corporation of Utah Foundation, which has funding separate from investor support of EDCUtah’s longstanding 501(c)(6).
• Dale Keep has been elected as the chairman of the Pleasant Grove-Lindon Chamber of Commerce board. Keep is the director of business development at Big-D Construction’s Lindon office and has been part of the construction industry for 14 years. Keep moved to Utah from Kauai, Hawaii, where he served as a board member for the Kauai Chamber of Commerce.
• Bill Phillips, chief operating officer at Spectrum Solutions LLC, has accepted an invitation to join the Salt Lake Chamber’s Board of Governors. The chamber has members in all 29 Utah counties and represents the broad interests of the state’s 63,000-plus employers. Salt Lake City-based Spectrum Solutions and its medical device and services division, Spectrum DNA, focus on engineering innovative end-to-end solutions for both clinical diagnostic projects and commercial product plans. It is a single-source provider of on-site medical device development and manufacturing, custom packaging, kitting and direct-to-consumer fulfillment.
BANKING
• Bank of Utah, Ogden, has selected Easton Daniels to serve as a mortgage loan officer at the Orem branch, 1000 W. 800 N. Daniels is currently majoring in international business and minoring in Japanese at Utah Valley University. He most recently worked as a senior mortgage loan officer at Alpine Credit Union in Eagle Mountain. Prior to that, he worked for Pharma Tech in Lindon and as a translation intern for IMS Legal Professional Organization in Tokyo, Japan.
CONTESTS
• Applications for the Utah Ethical Leadership Awards are being accepted until 5 p.m. June 15. The awards program is a collaboration of the Daniels Fund, the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Collegiate Program at the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business, and the Community Foundation of Utah. The goal is to recognize Utah businesses, nonprofit organizations and government entities that embody best practices in ethical behavior. One organization from each sector will be recognized with a Utah Ethical Leadership Award. The winner of the business category will be recognized with the Bill Daniels Ethical Leadership Award. The application form is at https://eccles.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6hR9HN3OszQKw85.
CORPORATE
• The Grace Co., a company specializing in products for quilting enthusiasts, has purchased the former Target building on Redwood Road in West Jordan and plans to move its operations to the 120,000-square-foot space in early 2022. The company is now using the space primarily for warehousing and shipping as they finish office build-out plans. The company will retain ownership of its current West Valley City facility and shift almost all operations to the new location when the build-out is complete. With this acquisition, the company uses a combined 160,000 square feet of warehouse, production and office space. Plans will include a 5,000-square-foot classroom space and another 3,000 square feet of showroom and retail store space. There are also plans to open a 3,000-square-foot toy store/event center for Incredibly Interconnectable Toy LLC.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Roseman University of Health Sciences has launched its College of Graduate Studies, offering Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences (MSPS) and Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences (MBS) degrees at the university’s campuses in South Jordan and Henderson, Nevada. Applications to both programs are now being accepted for enrollment in September. Roseman’s new master’s programs were created to address the needs of rapidly growing bioscience industries across the Intermountain West. The College of Graduate Studies’ Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences program is the first-of-its-kind program in Utah and Nevada that offers internships, mentoring and networking through Roseman’s industry partners, and is designed to prepare entry-level pharmaceutical scientists for work within the biotech, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. The MSPS program also prepares graduates for doctoral studies and teaching within higher education. The Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences program is a 10-month program designed to develop formal skills required in the analysis of biomedical literature and ethical questions that impact the healthcare and research professions. Details are at www.roseman.edu/graduate-studies.
• The U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board announced that Randy Boyle, Weber State University professor of management information systems (MIS) and Willard Eccles Fellow, has received a Fulbright U.S. Teaching Scholar Award to Poland. He will teach at the University of Warsaw. At Weber State, Boyle has collaborated with industry leaders to develop an innovative formula of curriculum and instruction to meet growing demand for cybersecurity and prepare students for advanced degrees. In Poland, Boyle will help students prepare to qualify for the Carnegie Mellon University graduate program for information security and information management.
EXPANSIONS
• Sundance, a Salt Lake City-based retailer of women’s and men’s apparel, jewelry, footwear, accessories, home furnishings and art, has opened a retail location in Westport, Connecticut. The 3,920-square-foot store in downtown Westport is the retailer’s first location in the Northeast. Sundance has 19 retail stores and an online catalog.
GOVERNMENT
• The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) has announced Linda Cabrales as the new director of GOED’s Utah Innovation Center. She assumes her new role following the retirement of director Mary Cardon from state employment. The Utah Innovation Center supports technology development across several sectors, including advanced materials, aerospace and defense, energy, information technology, and life sciences. It helps Utah small businesses and entrepreneurs win federal research and development dollars through the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. The Utah Innovation Center facilitates business growth and supports innovation to better lives and provide economic opportunity for Utahns.
INVESTMENT
• Tower Arch Capital LP, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based lower middle-market private equity firm, has announced that David Calder has rejoined the firm as a principal. He will be responsible for sourcing, executing and managing new and existing investments across the firm’s portfolio. Calder was a vice president with Tower Arch from 2015-17. He rejoins the firm from The Halifax Group, a middle-market private equity firm based in Washington, D.C., where he has worked since 2017, most recently as a principal. In his early career, Calder worked at Leucadia National Corp. and in the investment banking divisions of Deutsche Bank Securities and UBS Investment Bank. His education includes an honors bachelor of arts degree in economics and a bachelor of arts in Asian studies from the University of Utah.
LAW
• Greenberg Traurig LLP has expanded its Salt Lake City office with the additions of Lauren E.H. DiFrancesco as a shareholder in the Litigation Practice, Scott Irwin as a shareholder in the Banking & Financial Services Practice, and Michael F. Thomson as a shareholder in the Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice. DiFrancesco, formerly a partner at Stoel Rives, focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation with an emphasis on products liability defense. She also has a general litigation practice encompassing a broad range of claims. Irwin, previously a partner at Holland & Hart, works with clients to structure, negotiate and close complex commercial finance transactions. He regularly counsels national and regional banks and non-bank lenders, as well as companies seeking debt financing, in connection with sponsor-backed transactions, syndicated and bilateral credit facilities, and loans to venture-backed companies. In addition to the Banking & Financial Services Practice, Irwin will be a member of Greenberg Traurig’s Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate, and Restructuring & Bankruptcy practices. Thomson previously was a shareholder at Ray Quinney & Nebeker PC. He focuses his practice on navigating complex bankruptcy and receivership proceedings, out-of-court workouts, and related litigation. Greenberg Traurig has approximately 2,200 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
MANUFACTURING
• Purple Innovation LLC, an operating subsidiary of Lehi-based comfort products designer and manufacturer Purple Innovation Inc., has announced the expansion of the company’s sleep innovation research, which will focus on conducting sleep studies that inform product development and innovation. Michael Breus, a double board-certified clinical sleep specialist, will lead the research as Purple’s first chief sleep advisor. Breus has experience in both pillow and mattress development and more than 20 years of clinical experience seeing patients.
MINING
• Burgex Mining Consultants, Sandy, has hired James Balagna III as a senior consulting geologist, Jake Alexander as a geologist, and Bill Schnieders as sales and business development director. Balagna’s career spans decades of mineral exploration, district-wide three-dimensional geologic modeling, project management, ore control, geological logging, pit mapping, and more. He has served as a senior geologist for Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold and Klondex Gold and Silver Mining Co. Alexander has completed fieldwork across North America and South Africa. Schnieders is a mining industry veteran with over 30 years of industry experience covering the United States, including serving as a sales and district manager for Nalco Water.
NONPROFITS
• Needs Beyond Medicine, Salt Lake City, has appointed Amy Ward as chair of its board of directors. Ward has been a board member over the past year and was in discussions to move into the position. Former chair Matt Zollinger will continue in a past chair position until the end of 2021. Ward will continue in her position as a chair until December 2022. Ward is general manager for Rich Day, overseeing the work of multiple investment businesses. Needs Beyond Medicine is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to decrease the burden of cancer on those undergoing treatment by providing financial support for non-medical expenses. It focuses on providing educational outreach on the importance of early cancer detection and prevention.
OUTDOOR PRODUCTS/RECREATION/SPORTS
• The Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation has announced its grant awards for the 2021 cycle. A total of 135 applications were submitted this year, and a total request of over $11.5 million. The office’s Advisory Committee awarded $7.6 million awarded to 99 projects in 23 counties. The total project cost is $54 million. Seventy percent of all funds went to projects in rural counties.
PHILANTHROPY
• Salt Lake City’s Homeless Resource Centers, 18 months in operation, have received a $10 million public matching grant from the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation. The challenge grant was part of the Home4Change campaign, launched in 2017, that matched contributions dollar-for-dollar to Shelter the Homeless, the nonprofit organization that owns the three new Homeless Resource Centers. Home4Change resulted in 1,688 donations from the community, ranging in size from $5 to more than $1 million, and reached over $10.1 million. The funds have been used to support operations and provide services at the Homeless Resource Centers: the Geraldine E. King Women’s Resource Center, Gail Miller Resource Center and the Men’s Resource Center. Since all three centers began operating, more than 5,000 individuals have been served.
• Mountain America Credit Union’s three-point shot program with the Utah Jazz resulted in a donation of $62,000 to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation. The credit union committed to donating $50 to the foundation for every three-point shot made by the Jazz. The team hit more than 1,100 of the shots during the 2020-21 season. Over the past eight Utah Jazz seasons, Mountain America has donated more than $450,000 to the foundation through the program.
REAL ESTATE
• C.W. Urban, a Utah-based homebuilder, has broken ground on thePEARL at North Shore, 4647 South Jordan Parkway, South Jordan, in Daybreak. The six-acre lakefront development along Oquirrh Lake will feature 119 two- and three-bedroom townhomes, as well as 89 apartments across three-to-five-story apartment buildings. The community also will have a Harmon’s grocery store and ancillary retail locations. The development is a result of the combined efforts of Larry H. Miller Real Estate, which recently purchased more than 1,300 undeveloped acres of Daybreak, and C.W. Urban, the latter of which will act as the developer and general contractor for the project. C.W. Design, a C.W. Urban affiliate, is the lead architect on the project. Key consultants include Spectrum Engineers, Ensign Engineering, LoCi and Perigee Consultants. Capital for the project was provided by Argosy Real Estate Partners (AREP). Lending is provided by Principal Financial Group.
• Construction has begun on Slate, a 150-unit mixed-use residential rental community adjacent to the Central Ninth TRAX station near the Central Business District of downtown Salt Lake City. This new community, developed by Urban Alfandre and Gardner Batt and designed by KTGY, an architecture, branding, interior and planning firm focused on residential, hospitality and mixed-use developments and neighborhood revitalization, is expected to be completed by end of 2022. Located at 900 S. 300 W., the five-story development is on approximately 0.73 acres. The infill site was an assembly of four parcels in the heart of the Central Ninth neighborhood and wraps the existing Central Water and The Shop SLC-occupied building at 227 W. 900 S., which will remain. The new residential community includes approximately 3,530 square feet of ground-level restaurant and commercial space. Slate features unit sizes varying from 346 to 934 square feet.
• Red Ledges, a 2,000-acre, private golf and recreation community in the Heber Valley, has unveiled its newest neighborhood, Mountain View Village, which is now taking homeowner reservations. Mountain View Village is designed and built by Red Ledges Homebuilding. It offers five home models.
RECOGNITIONS
• The Utah Defense Lawyers Association recently recognized Sarah Vaughn, a shareholder attorney with Fabian VanCott, as the Horizon Award recipient for 2021. The Horizon Award honors young attorneys who have achieved a level of excellence in the defense of private and public entities, insurance companies and their insureds, and where the individual has distinguished themselves through years of professional service as a defense lawyer. Ms. Vaughn joined Fabian Vancott in 2018. Her practice is focused primarily on litigation where she has represented clients in administrative hearings, defended heathcare providers and employers before the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing and the Utah Labor Commission, and represented clients at trial, arbitrations, mediations, and before appellate courts.
SERVICES
• Aptive Environmental, a Provo-based pest control company, has hired Ryan Byrd as chief technology officer. He will provide internal and external engineering support at Aptive. Byrd has over two decades of engineering, software system development and IT experience, most recently serving eight years as a CTO as Entrata. Byrd also is a featured technology and IT security panelist and guest lecturer in the University of Utah Alumni Speaker Series. As an adjunct professor, he has taught university courses on software development and computer engineering and networking at Utah Valley University, including the first PHP/Oracle programming class in the state. Byrd earned a bachelor of sciences degree in electrical and computer engineering from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business.
TECHNOLOGY
• Atomic, a Salt Lake City-based payroll API provider, has announced the members of its newly formed strategic advisory board: Susan Ehrlich, Mike Ferrari, Rahul Gupta and Charley Ma. Over the past two decades, Ehrlich has held leadership roles at Citigroup, Sears, H&R Block, Amazon, Lending Club, Simple and, most recently, Earnest, where she served as CEO. In 2021, she announced her retirement from the C-suite to focus on board service, including joining Atomic’s advisory board, as well as advising and investing in fintech entrepreneurs. Ferrari is an entrepreneur whose inventions, including CorePro, the first SaaS core-processing API, were the genesis of the banking-as-a-service (BaaS) category. The CorePro technology was spun out of SmartyPig, the startup Ferrari co-founded and was later acquired by Q2 Holdings in 2015. As a vice president of product and sales, Ferrari led Q2’s successful integration of SmartyPig and CorePro, collectively Social Money. Ferrari currently is a senior vice president of fintech sales and market development at MVB Financial Corp., and an investor and advisor to entrepreneurs. Gupta has over 35 years’ experience in the financial services and fintech industries, having served in a variety of capacities at the board and executive levels. Currently, Gupta is a board member and advisor for multiple public and private companies, not-for-profit institutions, and private equity and venture capital funds. Most recently, he was CEO of RevSpring, a high-growth fintech in healthcare. For the ten years prior to that, he was executive vice president and group president at Fiserv. He also was president of U.S. operations for eFunds Corp. and served in senior management roles at Fidelity Investments and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Ma is currently the general manager of fintech at Alloy, a leader in the identity decisioning and fraud prevention infrastructure sector. Prior to Alloy, Ma was head of growth at Ramp and was the first business hire at Plaid. He started his career at JPMorgan focused on emerging technology for payments and is an active angel investor in fintech and developer infrastructure-focused startups.
• Owlet Baby Care Inc., a Lehi-based company focused on technology for parents, has appointed John Kim to its board of directors. Kim has expertise in user experience, platforms and big data. He currently serves as president of platform and marketplaces at Expedia Group, where he is responsible for developing artificial intelligence, user experience, research, e-commerce, marketplaces and yield management, data and development platforms across Expedia Group’s customers, partners and employees. Prior to Expedia, Kim served as the president of Vrbo, leading strategy and operations. He has more than two decades of experience in search, recommendations, analytics and marketing.
• PROG Holdings Inc., the Salt Lake City-based fintech holding company for Progressive Leasing and Vive Financial, has appointed James P. Smith to its board of directors. Smith has been a leader and pioneer in digital, data and financial services over the past 30 years. He helped create the first-ever Internet banking offering in 1995 and led development of many other industry firsts. Most recently, Smith served on the Wells Fargo Management Committee as the executive vice president and head of Wells Fargo Virtual Channels. He also was head of enterprise data and analytics and head of the enterprise patent office at Wells Fargo.
• Code Corp., a Salt Lake City-based barcode scanning and data capture technologies company, has hired Blake Christensen as vice president of finance. He will lead Code’s finance strategy and, because of his technical background and leadership, the IT team at Code will report to him as well. Christensen has more than 20 years of strategic finance and accounting experience, most recently servicing companies in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Christensen launched his career in public accounting spending four years with two regional CPA firms in Salt Lake City. He went on to secure senior finance positions with technology companies including SaaS and enterprise software companies in natural language processing (NLP), data analytics, and online backup/Storage. From there, he transitioned to the pharmaceutical and medical device space where, for the past few years, he has focused on corporate controllership and strategic planning. Christensen earned two bachelors of arts degrees in finance and accounting and a master’s degree of professional accountancy from the University of Utah.