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ASSOCIATIONS
• The Women Tech Council (WTC) has launched WTC Careers, a program that accelerates growth for tech companies and women in tech. WTC Careers connects women in tech with career opportunities and helps technology companies acquire talented women by giving unique access to expanded networks and visibility to women throughout the tech sector. Through WTC Careers, technology companies will list career opportunities at all levels for women and men in the WTC community. Applicants who come through WTC Careers will activate a WTC referral, demonstrating their engagement in the tech community. Details are at www.wtccareers.com.
• Ashley Peck has moved into her role as the 2019-20 president of the Women Lawyers of Utah (WLU). She was elected president-elect in 2018. Established in 1981, the WLU advocates for the advancement and retention of women lawyers in Utah and for the interests of women in Utah generally by providing educational, professional development, networking events, and a community of support for its members. Peck has been a member of WLU since 2011 and served on the board since 2013. Peck is an environmental compliance and litigation partner in Holland & Hart’s Salt Lake City office. She provides counsel to clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to municipalities and special service districts on complex environmental compliance, litigation and enforcement issues, with an emphasis on water quality, contaminated sites and waste issues.
• Chris Baird has been appointed U.S. board co-chair of the ATM Industry Association. He will serve two terms as one of the two co-chairs of the U.S. Regional Board. ATMIA is a nonprofit trade association representing the global ATM industry. Their regional boards are advisory groups that assist with determining region policy. Baird is president and CEO of OptConnect, a Kaysville-based company focused on the managed wireless connectivity space.
CONVENTIONS
• Salt Lake City has been selected to host the American Society of Association Executives’ Great Ideas Conference in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Salt Lake City four years ago hosted the society’s annual meeting. The association consists of professionals and industry partners responsible for booking thousands of meetings and conventions that generate billions of dollars of direct delegate spending in host cities. Approximately 500 attendees will meet in a retreat-like setting at the Grand America.
CONTESTS
• The Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah) is accepting nominations until June 14 for its annual EDCUtah Economic Development Awards. The awards recognize people and companies that have made an impact on the economic development landscape of Utah. The awards include the Nick Rose Award for Leadership in Economic Development, presented to a private-sector individual who has demonstrated exceptional dedication to EDCUtah and economic development throughout the state; the Thayne Robson Award for Leadership in Economic Development, presented to a public-sector individual who has demonstrated exceptional dedication to EDCUtah and economic development throughout the state; and the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Cornerstone in Economic Development Award, presented to associations, organizations or developments that have merit far beyond their own boundaries and have had profound and long-term positive impact on the state’s economy. The awards will be presented at EDCUtah’s annual meeting Sept. 10. Details about the awards are at http://edcutah.com/news.
CORPORATE
• Podium, an interaction management platform for local businesses, has broken ground on a new building at its Lehi headquarters to accommodate its rapid growth. The 132,300-square-foot building will include an on-site early childhood education and care center and a walkway connecting the new building with Podium’s existing headquarters, which was completed last August. Currently at 500 employees, the new building will have the capacity for up to 837 additional team members. The expected move-in date is May 2020.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Utah is ranked No. 40 among states when it comes to reported cases of fraud, according to a list from Security.org. Its study of the most common type of fraud in each state is based on 2019 Federal Trade Commission data. Utah had 14,230 reported cases of fraud, with a median fraud loss of $499. Most were “imposter” scams, with 3,676, followed by identity theft at 2,915. Nationally, two-thirds of Americans have been victims of fraud, and reported cases of fraud increased by 4 percent in 2018 as compared to 2017. Details are at https://www.security.org/resources/common-fraud-state/.
GOVERNMENT
• The Utah Department of Workforce Services has selected Loggins Merrill as the new Workforce Development Division director. He will be responsible for the oversight and administration of programs assisting Utah’s job seekers in 32 employment centers around the state and at jobs.utah.gov. Merrill has worked in the department for 19 years in positions including assistant director, manager, supervisor, auditor, contract monitor and eligibility worker. Prior to his current role as assistant director of the Workforce Development Programs and Training Division, Merrill managed both the South County and Metro employment centers, overseeing more than 50 staff serving more than 2,400 customers each week. He also led the development of the Dignity of Work program designed to help people experiencing homelessness find gainful employment as part of Operation Rio Grande.
HEALTHCARE
• Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., based in Massachusetts, has announced it will invest more than $50 million in its global bioproduction capabilities to provide additional capacity for manufacturing single-use bioprocess container (BPC) systems. Thermo Fisher’s single-use technologies are used for critical, sterile liquid-handling applications in the biopharmaceutical industry to help increase productivity and ensure quality in the production of biologic drugs. As part of the investment, the company will expand cleanroom space for BPC chamber and related assembly production processes at its site in Logan. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.
INVESTMENT
• NetDocuments, a Salt Lake City-based cloud-based content services platform for law firms and corporate legal and compliance departments, has closed on a new equity investment from Cove Hill Partners LP, based in Boston. Cove Hill joins Clearlake Capital Group LP as a strategic investment partner to support the company’s rapid growth and innovation and becomes a minority shareholder in the company. Terms of the transaction were not being disclosed. The NetDocuments management team will continue to lead the company. The management team remains investors and owners in the company.
LAW
• Holland & Hart has hired Scott Baird for its Salt Lake City corporate team. Baird advises companies at every stage of the corporate life cycle in entity formation, financing and capitalization, corporate reorganization, mergers and acquisitions, and other business transactions. His clients include emerging growth technology startups, venture capital firms, private equity funds, and large private and public companies. Prior to joining Holland & Hart, Baird was an associate at Robinson & Cole LLP in Hartford, Connecticut. His education includes a B.A. from Brigham Young University.
PHILANTHROPY
• Vivint Solar Inc., a Lehi-based full-service residential solar provider in the United States, has announced a philanthropic partnership with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. The company aims to raise $1 million annually over the next three years for children’s hospitals in the 22 states where Vivint Solar is currently operating. Funds will be raised through employee and corporate giving initiatives and will be used by the local hospitals to address their greatest needs. Fundraising typically helps provide care, specialized equipment, research and therapy services not covered by insurance.
RECOGNITIONS
• Milton L. Lee, co-founder and chief science officer at Axcend, Provo, has received the 2019 Giorgio Nota Medal from the Italian Chemical Society. Medal recipients are recognized for “significant achievement in capillary liquid chromatography,” a field of scientific instrumentation that determines the chemical composition of various liquids. The medal was presented at the 43rd annual International Symposium on Capillary Chromotography in Fort Worth, Texas. Lee is currently the Emeritus H. Tracy Hall Professor of Chemistry at Brigham Young University and has been a member of the faculty since 1976. He also is a serial entrepreneur and has been involved in inventing, commercializing and transferring technology from his research laboratory at BYU into the private sector on four occasions. In addition to Axcend, he founded Torion Technologies in 2001 and Sensar Corp. in 1991, and co-founded Lee Scientific in 1984.
• Twelve Utah companies have made Inc. magazine’s fourth annual list of Best Workplaces for 2019. A total of 346 companies nationwide made the list. Utah companies on the list are Boomsourcing, Lehi; Health Catalyst, Salt Lake City; HireVue, South Jordan; Kodiak Cakes, Park City; Kuali, Lehi, Lendio, South Jordan; Malouf, Logan; Podium, Lehi, PrinterLogic, St. George; Simplus, Salt Lake City; Weave Communications, Lehi; and Xyngular, Lehi. Employees from nearly 2,000 companies of all sizes and industries participated in a survey on topics including trust, management effectiveness, perks, and confidence in the future. Inc. gathered, analyzed and audited the data. Then Quantum ranked all the employers using a composite score of survey results.
• Avetta, an Orem-based provider of supply chain risk management, has received the Environmental Leader 2019 Award from Business Sector Media. The annual Environmental Leader program recognizes the most innovative and successful environmental, sustainability and energy products and projects in the environment and energy space. Winners are selected based on the success of the project, the capabilities of the product and the positive effect on the industry.
• The Salt Lake Chamber has presented Business Champion Awards to legislators who stood for the interests of Utah businesses during the 2019 general legislative session. The chamber said the 77 recipients voted at least 80 percent of the time on the chamber’s “priority votes.” The chamber also honored Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield, as the 2019 Legislator of the Year. The chamber said that during the 2019 session, Albrecht passed a number of bills to improve economic development opportunities for rural communities and address the unique workforce challenges facing rural Utahns.
• USANA, Salt Lake City, recently was named the Health Supplement Company of the Year at the 2019 Biotechnology Awards, presented by Global Health & Pharma magazine. USANA was selected through a combination of public nominations and research by the Global Health & Pharma team.
• Seven Utah companies received “gold” Hermes Creative Awards and five organizations received “platinum” awards in a competition recognizing creative professionals ranging from corporate marketing departments to freelancers for the concept, writing and design of materials. The Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) administers the Hermes Creative Awards and judges over 6,000 entries submitted worldwide. 321Create, Bountiful, earned three gold honors, for a communication/marketing campaign, a social media game or contest, and a game/contests/presentation. USANA Health Sciences, Salt Lake City, earned gold for a marketing video, an Instagram site and a blog. England Logistics, Salt Lake City, earned gold for a blog and for a video showcasing employees participating in the 2018 “Saints to Sinners” Bike Relay. Aquatherm and AMG Marketing Resources, Lindon, earned gold for an integrated marketing campaign and for industry-specific information/educational writing. SkyWest Airlines, St. George, earned gold for an e-card and for Facebook engagement. Utah State University, Logan, earned gold for its School of Veterinary Medicine Magazine and for its “Grow With Us” billboards. Dixie State University, St. George, earned gold for its viewbook. Earning platinum awards were the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for its missionary safety training series; Dixie State University for its “A Million Dreams” video in two categories; SkyWest Airlines for an internal communication video and a social video; USANA for a video about its athletes, a marketing piece about Celevive and a video about CellSentials; and Utah State University for two editions of its Cultivate magazine. A complete list of winners can be viewed at https://enter.hermesawards.com/winners/.
RETAIL
• Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc., a Midvale-based outdoor sporting goods retailer, has appointed Scott Walker as senior vice president of merchandising. Walker has 30 years of experience in the outdoor industry in leadership positions with major sporting goods and outdoor retailers, most recently serving as both chief purchasing officer at United Sporting Cos. from September 2010 to April 2019 and president of Ellett Marine Distribution. He previously held merchandising leadership positions with Bass Pro Shops, Sports Authority, Gaylan’s Trading Co. and Oshman’s Sporting Goods. He also served as an officer in the U.S. Army.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• RiskRecon, a Salt Lake City-based company focused on understanding and acting on third-party cyber risk, has named Thomas Bain senior vice president of marketing. He will be responsible for strategic go-to-market initiatives, market research and analysis, communications, digital marketing, demand generation and partner marketing. Bain has more than 15 years of experience leading IT security organizations. Most recently, he served as vice president of marketing for Israel-based endpoint security company Morphisec. Bain has also been CMO for a threat intelligence gateway vendor and was the vice president of global marketing for CounterTack/GoSecure.
• Lucidchart, a South Jordan visual workspace company, has announced that Kelly Breslin Wright, former executive vice president of Tableau Software, has joined the company board of directors. Wright has more than 25 years of experience, including 12 years helping build Tableau Software. She also has additional sales, operational and strategy experience from her time at Bain & Co., AtHoc and Bank of America, and her work on multiple technology boards, including Fastly, Amperity and Even Responsible Finance.