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CONSTRUCTION
• H&E Equipment Services Inc. has relocated its Salt Lake City branch to newly constructed facilities at 5052 W. 2400 S., Salt Lake City. The new Salt Lake City operation includes two buildings. One is 31,285 square feet and specializes in aerial lifts, earthmoving, forklifts and all other general construction equipment. The second building is 29,295 square feet and will focus on cranes. In addition to equipment rentals, the facility provides new and used equipment sales, in-shop and mobile service, a comprehensive parts inventory, training and other services.
DIRECT SALES
• D. Gary Young, founder and chairman of the board of Lehi-based Young Living Essential Oils, died recently at the age of 68 in Salt Lake City due to complications following a series of strokes. Young spent 35 years studying the benefits and perfecting the extraction of essential oils while building a billion-dollar global business. In 1992, he started a farm in St. Maries, Idaho and began planting different aromatic crops in his desire to understand growth, cultivation and oil extraction. He built two small distillers for his first extractions at the farm and then in 1994 built his first stainless steel stationary steam distillery. He started Young Living Essential Oils in 1993 and incorporated it in 1994 in Utah. The company now has more than 16 corporate and partner farms, over 3,000 employees, and over 4 million customers worldwide. Young Living announced that Mary Young, chief executive officer, and Jared Turner, president and chief operating officer, would continue to run the company.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Huntsman Corp., with main office in Texas and Salt Lake City, has declared a 16.25-cents-per-share cash dividend on its common stock. The dividend is payable June 29 to stockholders of record June 15.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• The Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah) has named Katherine Morrell as community strategist. The position includes managing both the Utah Mega Site Program and the Community Match Grant Program. Morrell also will support Max Backlund, EDCUtah’s public development director, in continuing the work of the Development Ready Communities Program, which works directly with Utah communities to identify and market their competitive advantages for economic development opportunities. Morrell’s experience with EDCUtah began in May 2017 when she was hired as a public development intern. She subsequently was promoted to a public development analyst. Morrell recently completed a master’s degree in city and metropolitan planning at the University of Utah.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Salt Lake Community College has hired Erika Shubin for the newly created position of director of strategic communications and public relations. SLCC added the position to the Institutional Advancement division to lead and coordinate a communications and PR initiatives designed to support the college’s strategic plan. In her role, Shubin will be responsible for coordinating the integration of traditional and digital communications with public relations efforts, as well as taking the lead on communications for a comprehensive campaign leading up to the celebration of SLCC’s 75th anniversary in 2023. Shubin has more than two decades of experience in public relations, event planning and grant stewardship. She joins SLCC after 10 years as the public relations and marketing manager at Utah Transit Authority. Prior to that, she worked at two local advertising agencies and served as the co-manager of a team of staff writers for the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee in 2001 and 2002.
• Some students from the Canyons and Jordan school districts recently signed a letter of commitment to further their training in the Diesel Tech Pathways program with Salt Lake Community College. During the past school year, the seniors enrolled in the pathways program, which will prepare them to enter the diesel technician industry. The students now will complete the last portion of the pathway prior to entering the workforce. Industry representatives developed the program with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development through the Talent Ready Utah initiative. Diesel Tech Pathways is supported by Geneva Rock, Komatsu Equipment, C.R. England, Jackson Group, UTA, Kilgore Cos., Wheeler Cat, Kenworth Sales Co. and Cummins Rocky Mountain.
HEALTHCARE
• Recursion Pharmaceutials, a Salt Lake City-based biotechnology company, has hired Phil Carpino and Mike Genin to direct chemistry efforts. The company combines artificial intelligence (AI), experimental biology and automation to discover drugs at scale. Carpino has more than 25 years of big pharma experience at Pfizer, where he specialized in metabolic diseases. He is an inventor of five drugs that entered human clinical trials. Genin has also spent more than 25 years in pharma, working with discovery groups at Pfizer, Aventis and Eli Lilly. Most recently, he served as group leader and senior research advisor at Lilly.
INVESTMENTS
• Canopy, a Lehi-based cloud-based practice management platform for tax and accounting professionals, has announced an extension to its latest funding round led by NEA, bringing the total round to $42 million. The additional funding is by Tenaya Capital and Nyca Partners.
LAW
• Snell & Wilmer has hired Ivan B. Knauer as a partner in the commercial litigation practice group in the firm’s Salt Lake City office. He will focus his practice on securities litigation and enforcement. He also will spend time in the firm’s office in Washington, D.C. Knauer has more than 25 years of experience in litigation and securities law, most recently working in the Washington, D.C., office of Pepper Hamilton, where he was co-chair of the Securities and Financial Services Enforcement Group and a partner in the White Collar Litigation and Investigations Practice Group. His previous experience includes serving as vice president and managing trial counsel for FINRA and as senior counsel in the Enforcement Division of the SEC.
MEDIA/MARKETING
• Rhett Long has been named publisher of the Standard-Examiner in Ogden. Long is publisher of the Daily Herald in Provo. Both papers are now owned by Ogden Newspapers of Utah. Long previously was publisher and president of The Spectrum in St. George and Spectrum Media. Prior to that, he worked at Gannett on its digital side of operations and helped develop a series of travel, health and community magazines in several markets. He has also previously worked in gaming in northern Nevada.
PHILANTHROPY
• Members of the tourism community, Visit Salt Lake and Utah Tourism Industry Association professionals volunteered at Wheeler Farm on May 10 for “Travel Rally Day.” It was part of the 35th annual National Travel and Tourism Week (May 6-12). Giving Back Service Day team members planted gardens, cleaned up, painted and pruned the tourism attraction to acknowledge the importance of travel and tourism to Salt Lake.
• Lara Fritts, director of Salt Lake City’s Department of Economic Development, served as an economic recovery volunteer in Florida for several days in May as part of an effort by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). The organization has developed a program of disaster preparedness and post-disaster economic recovery directed at economic development organizations, chambers of commerce, local businesses and other economic recovery stakeholders. Fritts has been an economic developer for more than 20 years and is a member of the IEDC board. Fritts was among eight economic developers dispatched to work in teams to meet with business owners or managers throughout the Florida Keys to assess their post-disaster needs in the wake of Hurricane Irma.
REAL ESTATE
• Windermere Utah Real Estate has hired several new Realtors: Jasson Ackett, Layton; Deborah Leigh, Park City; Annelise Xiao, Union Park; Steve Ward, Union Park; Chandler Evans, Union Park; and Chelsea Seifers, Sugar House. Windermere Real Estate has more than 300 offices and 6,500 agents serving communities in Utah and 10 other states.
RECOGNITIONS
• Gov. Gary Herbert and representatives of the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR) recently announced the winners of the 2018 Governor’s Medals for Science and Technology. The Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is Dr. Russell M. Nelson, world-renowned heart surgeon and medical researcher, and current president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The award for Academic/Research will be presented to Dana Carroll, distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Utah. The K-12 Education honoree is Tyson Grover, science curriculum advisor at the Davis School District, elementary STEM professor at Weber State University, and online science endorsement course developer for the Utah State Board of Education. The honoree in the Industry category is George Hansen, chief technology officer and co-founder of Conductive Composites. The medals will be presented to the four honorees June 6 at the Utah Technology Innovation Summit. Initiated in 1987, the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology is the highest civilian award bestowed by the state of Utah to residents who have provided distinguished service or made significant contributions to Utah in scientific and technological fields. A panel of industry experts and educators review the nominations and make recommendations to the governor. The awards are presented in partnership by USTAR and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
• Thirteen Utah companies have been named to the list of “America’s Best Midsize Employers,” compiled by Forbes. They are No. 23 CHG Healthcare Services, No. 64 America First Credit Union, No. 113 Icon Health & Fitness, No. 59 Myriad Genetics, No. 254 Ancestry, No. 264 Focus Services, No. 272 Harmons, No. 322 MaritzCX, No. 339 Nu Skin Enterprises, No. 367 DoTerra, No. 383 Extra Space Storage, No. 387 Vista Outdoor and No. 453 Vivint Smart Home. Companies on the Forbes list were chosen based on an independent survey among a sample of nearly 30,000 American employees working for midsize companies or institutions.
• Janet O’Sullivan, Marina Brook and Olivia Donnell of Draper-based StorageCraft Technology Corp. have been named to the 2018 Women of the Channel list, compiled by CRN, a brand of The Channel Co. O’Sullivan is channel marketing manager at the company. Brook is head of sales for Asia-Pacific. Donnell is EMEA business development director. Honorees were selected based on their professional accomplishments, demonstrated expertise and ongoing dedication to the IT channel. O’Sullivan also was selected for CRN’s “Power 100” list where she is highlighted for her innovative initiatives and outstanding channel performance.
• Consensus, a Sandy-based an enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup that drives B2B sales through demo automation, has been recognized by Smart Selling Tools as one of the Top Sales Tools of 2018. Smart Selling Tools recognized 41 tools in the list. Consensus technology includes the BuyerBoard, a dashboard designed for internal use to track interest and engagement by other stakeholders within an organization.
RETAIL
• Modere, a Springville-based social retailer focused on wellness, has promoted Shane Ware to chief financial officer. Ware has been with Modere for 10 years in various roles, most recently as vice president of finance for the Japan market. Prior to Modere, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Ware has an MBA from the University of Utah.
SERVICES
• Tech repair brand uBreakiFix has opened its first Utah location, at 9281 S. Village Shop Drive, Sandy, in the Quarry Bend Shopping Center. The local owners are Dalton, Scott and Stacey Wells, who plan to open at least nine more locations in the Salt Lake area. Founded in 2009, uBreakiFix has completed more than 4 million repairs. It has more than 400 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
TRANSPORTATION
• Nikola Motor Co., a Salt Lake City-based designer and manufacturer of electric vehicles, vehicle components, energy storage systems, and electric vehicle drivetrains, has named Michael Erickson as president of Nikola Powersports. The Powersports business currently includes UTVs and watercraft. Erickson will oversee both the consumer and military divisions of Nikola Powersports. Erickson is an energy and powersports industry veteran who has spent most of his career working for Honeywell and Polaris Industries. He most recently served as vice president and general manager of Lubrication Technologies in Minnesota.