Industry Briefs are provided as a free service to our readers. Company news information may be sent to brice@slenterprise.com. The submission deadline is one week before publication.
ASSOCIATIONS
• BioUtah, a trade association serving Utah’s life sciences industry, has announced that Christopher Phillips has been named chair of its Regulatory, Compliance and Quality Committee. He succeeds Rai Chowdhary, CEO of the Key Performance Improvement System, whose term is ending after two years. Rai will continue to serve as a committee member. Brad Bath, director of regulatory affairs at TEVA Pharmaceuticals, will remain as vice chair of the committee. Phillips is director of regulatory affairs and clinical affairs at Fluidx Medical Technology and has served on the committee for the past two years.
BANKING
• Zions Bank, Salt Lake City, has hired Sandra Hollins as a program administrator in Community Development. She is responsible for project management, community outreach and education, and technical assistance for nonprofit organizations. Hollins has served in the Utah House of Representatives, representing District 23, since 2015. She is the first black American woman elected to the Utah State Legislature. A licensed clinical social worker, Hollins’ primary focus has been on those experiencing homelessness and poverty. She received a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Phoenix and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Utah.
CONSULTING
• Michael Best Strategies LLC has hired Steven Rowe as senior advisor in its government relations team. Based in the Salt Lake City office, Rowe has more than 35 years of experience as an attorney and corporate executive in the environmental, agriculture and manufacturing sectors. His experience includes launching its own consultancy, SPR Consulting, which provided counsel to companies in the agriculture and natural resources sectors; serving as the founding president and CEO of Newtrient LLC, a national dairy industry consortium; and working 10 years as senior ice president and general counsel of Northwest Dairy Association and its subsidiary Darigold Inc. He also advised businesses on environmental law and compliance in the mining, construction, real estate and manufacturing industries. His education includes his J.D. from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Summit County leads all Utah counties for having the highest median income, according to a study by SmartAsset. The analysis was completed as part of the company’s study on the places with the most purchasing power. Summit County residents’ median income is $102,958. It was followed, in order, by Morgan $91,341; Wasatch, $85,166; Davis, $83,310; Daggett, $75,417; Salt Lake, $74,865; Utah, $74,665; Tooele, $74,562; Weber, $67,244; and Uintah, $65,264. Details are at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/cost-of-living-calculator#Utah/median-income.
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 9 on a list of “2021’s Most Sustainable Cities,” compiled by LawnStarter. It compared the 200 largest U.S. cities across 24 key sustainability indicators, including the number of incentives and policies supporting renewables and energy efficiency, the number of zero-energy buildings, the share of workers who use green commuting methods, and the prevalence of community-supported agriculture. In a breakout list, Salt Lake City is No. 4 for the number of alternative-fuel stations per 100,000 residents. San Francisco led the overall rankings.
Pembroke Pines, Florida, was No. 200.
• Salt Lake City tied with Chicago for the No. 20 spot in the 2021 Americas Investor Intentions Survey, compiled by CBRE. It surveyed commercial real estate investors. This is the first time Salt Lake City has appeared on the list since 2016, when the metro was ranked No. 24. Austin is the top preferred market, followed by Dallas
• Utah is ranked No. 30 among states in the 2021 Sibling Relationship Index, which ranked states by how much they love their siblings. The rankings were compiled by market research firm TOP Data. During the survey, 43 percent of Utahns used the word “love” to describe their sibling relationship. Massachusetts led the rankings, at 75 percent. Oregon was last, at 21 percent. Details are at https://topagency.com/report/siblings-report/.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Jeanette Bennett, Blake Modersitzki and Cydni Tetro have been appointed by Gov. Spencer J. Cox to four-year terms on the Utah Valley University Board of Trustees. They will take the oath of office at the beginning of the 2021 fall semester. Board chair R. Duff Thompson, former chair Elaine S. Dalton and Karen Acerson have completed their terms of service and will step down at the end of June 2021. Trustees Paul Thompson and Rick Nielsen will be reappointed to serve another four-year term. Bennett is founder and editor-in-chief of Bennett Communications, where she focuses on Utah Valley Magazine, BusinessQ Magazine and Prosper Magazine. She earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Brigham Young University. Modersitzki joined Pelion, an early-stage venture capital firm, as a managing partner in 2002 and has led the firm through four successful funds. He led investments in Redhat, Riverbed, Fusion.io, Integral Ad Science, Domo, enCommerce, SOASTA and Metacloud. Prior to joining Pelion, he was managing director for Novell Ventures and vice president of strategic business development. During this time, he served on the boards of several public and private companies as well as on the advisory boards of several venture capital firms. Modersitzki has held a number of sales, marketing, product management, global channel sales development, and business development positions within Novell and WordPerfect. He has a B.A. in economics from Brigham Young University. Tetro has started and sold companies, developed products, raised capital, founded a nonprofit, and helped shape Utah’s technology community. She founded and was CEO of ForgeDX, created and sold a 3D printing personalization platform, worked at Disney in imagineering, and taught at Babson Executive Education. Tetro teaches at Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Initiative and co-founded Utah’s Women Tech Council, a nonprofit organization focused on the economic impact of women in technology. She has a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s in computer science from Brigham Young University.
• The Noorda College of Osteopathic Medicine, Provo, has received $135.9 million in bond funding in the form of nearly $48 million of Taxable Educational Facilities Revenue Bonds Series 2021A and $87.9 million of Taxable Educational Facilities Revenue Bonds Series 2021B. Both were issued by the Public Finance Authority, as a conduit issuer, and underwritten by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. The bonds provide capital to expand capacity beyond the college’s current educational facilities, including the development and construction of a new medical school academic building, and to fund ongoing operations of the college. Construction of the new facility is currently underway, with an estimated completion time of the summer or fall of 2022. The inaugural class of 90 students will begin classes in August 2021 in campus facilities located in the Timpanogos Tech Center.
ENVIRONMENT
• USANA has created an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) program that aims to make a positive, lasting impact for the Earth. Formed under the oversight of the Sustainability Committee of USANA’s board of directors, the program focuses on ensuring USANA’s business strategies and activities remain aligned with important matters related to sustainability, the company’s core values, and its vision to create “the healthiest family on Earth.” USANA will initially focus on three key areas: environmental stewardship, sustainable packaging and responsible sourcing.
HEALTHCARE
• Cotiviti, a Salt Lake City-based data-driven healthcare solutions company, has appointed RaeAnn L. Grossman as executive vice president of risk adjustment and quality. Grossman has more than 25 years of experience in executive roles at an array of organizations, including commercial and government health plans as well as medical groups, integrated hospital systems, startups, and physician hospital organizations. Most recently, she was president of Medicare Advantage/COO of Bright Health Plan. Prior to that, she held C-suite roles at various healthcare technology and consulting firms for nearly two decades, including extensive time with Gorman Health Group, which consults for government-sponsored healthcare programs.
• SR Health by Solutionreach, a Lehi-based patient engagement solutions and innovations company, has hired Chris Marsh as vice president of engineering and Vinitha Ramnathan to the SR Health product strategy and management team. They have a combined experience of nearly 40 years in healthcare. Marsh most recently served as vice president of software engineering at R1 RCM. His experience also includes leadership roles consulting with 3M Health Information Systems, Do Health (now Staywell), and building and growing a medical coding startup, Aviacode. Ramnathan has served in leadership roles for PatientPoint, Vital Images, Optum and Pareto Intelligence, managing products and services spanning the healthcare ecosystem.
INSURANCE
• Versured, a Salt Lake City-based online insurance brokerage, has announced it will expand into commercial and life insurance. Its online experience immediately compares dozens of insurance quotes in one platform. It has over 4,000 members. In commercial insurance, Versured now allows business owners to buy and manage their workers compensation, general liability, professional liability, commercial auto, cyber liability and special event policies. Life insurance can be purchased in less than five minutes with no underwriting for various term products up to $2 million in coverage.
INTERNATIONAL
• Utah Valley University (UVU) has announced a partnership with World Trade Center Utah to open a WTC Utah office at the UVU Orem campus in order to help grow global trade in Utah Valley, accelerate investment and economic development for Utah companies, and mobilize international engagement with businesses throughout the world. Through WTC Utah, local companies can have direct access to the expertise and services needed to compete and win globally. The office will be staffed by a full-time employee and UVU faculty and students under the direction of WTC Utah.
INVESTMENTS
• Gabb Wireless, a Lehi-based company providing a cellular network and phones designed for children, has closed a $14 million round of funding. The Series A round was led by Sandlot Partners and Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints quarterback and former Brigham Young University quarterback. Gabb said it will use the proceeds to accelerate efforts to provide safe phones for children and expand its product lines. Cooley LLP and VLP Law Group provided legal services for the transaction.
LAW
• Gilson Daub, based in California, has expanded to Utah with a recently opened office in Salt Lake City. It is the company’s 18th office nationally and is managed by trial attorney Spencer Orr. It will primarily handle workers’ compensation defense, general liability, commercial automobile defense, and subrogation recovery. Plans to develop operations in Utah started when Orr made the decision to return from Gilson Daub’s Arizona office to his hometown of Salt Lake City. A Brigham Young University graduate, Orr has been practicing law since 2017 and has represented clients in Utah and Arizona for several years.
PHILANTHROPY
• Mountain America Credit Union, Sandy, has partnered with the Humane Society of Utah to help homeless pets find homes. Through the “Spring into Love” event, adoption fees were waived from April 26-30. Since 2018, more than 300 pets at the Humane Society of Utah have been saved through Mountain America’s adoption events.
• Bank of Utah, Ogden, is inviting families and individuals to join them in a “Spring into Service” Scavenger Hunt to do good works around their communities May 3-21. Using social media, the bank will offer a way to sweeten community service efforts of individuals with a $10 cash donation to their favorite charity. A list of “random acts of kindness” is listed at https://www.bankofutah.com/springservice. To qualify for the $10 charitable donation, participants are asked to post a photo of themselves and/or their friends on social media completing a service. The post must include the hashtags #bouspringservice and @BankofUtah as well as the tag of the charitable institution that should receive the $10 donation. A list of charities and their tags is available on the bank’s website. Bank of Utah branch employees will be joining the program by doing local community service projects.
REAL ESTATE
• Engel & Völkers Salt Lake City has hired Eric Santistevan as branch manager. He will assume the role of principal broker as part of the branch’s expansion. He will oversee all aspects of teaching, training and contract compliance for the brand’s global real estate advisors. Santistevan most recently served as principal broker for Keller Williams Utah Real Estate. Licensed as a broker for the past decade, Santistevan began his career as an agent selling residential real estate to buyers and sellers more than two decades ago. Engel & Völkers operates approximately 238 shop locations with over 4,900 real estate advisors in the Americas.
• Crescent Communities has announced the construction of a new multifamily community in Salt Lake City’s Daybreak community. NOVEL Daybreak, at 5502 South Jordan Parkway, will include 400 for-rent residences and an integrated Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee and Social House. NOVEL Daybreak is the first investment in the Salt Lake City market by Crescent Communities and partner MAA. Crescent Communities and MAA purchased the land from Daybreak Communities in April. The community is scheduled to break ground in early May, with first residences slated to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2022.
• A joint venture between IHP Capital Partners, a California-based real estate investment firm, and Fieldstone Homes, a Utah homebuilder, has acquired 113 single-family lots called Canyon Point in Lehi. They are part of the 5,000-home Traverse Mountain Master Plan. The joint venture has begun grading on the hillside community. Home sales are expected to open in late summer or early fall. Canyon Point is Fieldstone’s fourth community within Traverse Mountain and one of several projects IHP and Fieldstone are developing together.
• Brennan Investment Group, a Chicago-based private real estate investment firm that acquires, develops and operates industrial facilities throughout the United States, has acquired 32.57 acres at 5933 W. 2100 S., Salt Lake City. Brennan’s strategy is to develop two modern rear-load multi-tenant Class A industrial facilities, a shallower building with 190-foot depth and a deeper building with 270-foot depth, totaling approximately 397,600 rentable square feet.
RECOGNITIONS
• During the recent sixth annual Women’s Entrepreneurial Conference, a total of $24,800 in grants were announced. The top grant, the $5,000 Wendy J. English Grant For Growth, was presented to Corinne Zinn, owner of Park City Creamery in Heber City. She also won the $1,000 People’s Choice Grant. The Women’s Entrepreneurial Conference was presented by the Women’s Business Center of Utah and Utah Women’s Networking Group. Twenty-five female entrepreneurs won grants ranging from $300 to $5,000. Ninety-seven grant recipients have received a combined $91,300 since 2016. Other top grant recipients this year are $2,000 to Anna Whisler, Family Solutions Counseling, Logan; $2,500 to Juliette Bautista, Club Ability LLC, Bountiful; $3,000 to Exancia Midy, JEMLYS, Provo; and $3,500 to Maria Lara Posso, A Mano Artisan Pasta Co., Salt Lake City. Recipients of $600 grants are Diane Hudson, Advanced Behavior Change, Salt Lake City; Hilary Gingell, Just One Elle, Riverside; Jenna White, Empire Body Waxing SLC, Murray; Jessica VanDenBerghe, Prism Print Shop, Cedar Hills; Kellie Van Dyke, Align Fitness Studio, Salt Lake City; Rebekah Nielsen, The Navajo Crafting Co., Cedar City; and Staci Jackman, Never Lost Earrings, Hurricane. Recipients of $300 grants are Amber Adams, Birth Mind Body LLC, South Jordan; Ann Mechelle Woodbury, Ala Chelle Catering, Cedar City; Anna Bravard, Advanced Electrolysis LLC & MedSpa, North Ogden; Camille Wilcox, On Purpose Marketing, Cedar City; Elif Ekin, Kahve Cafe, Salt Lake City; Jami Furniss, Moxie Weighted Blankets, Clearfield; Lindy Kerby, Songs4U Inc., South Jordan; Natasha Isom, Southern Utah Luxury, Washington; Ruchika Goel, Get On The Raft, Provo; Sofia Opmanis, Moss & Fawn, Salt Lake City; Viviana Alonso, Iluminar Education, Provo; and Zubaidah Allami, Zubaidah SK LLC, Salt Lake City.
• Tanner LLC, Salt Lake City and Lehi, has been named one of the fastest-growing accounting firms for 2021 by Accounting Today. The publication’s annual recognition honors CPA firms across the country for their overall superior performance on dozens of criteria. Accounting Today also named Tanner a “Firm to Watch in 2021” and a Top Firm for the Mountain Region (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming).
RETAIL/RESTAURANTS
• Carvana, a Phoenix-based online auto retailer, is now offering as-soon-as-next-day touchless home delivery to Salt Lake City area residents. Customers can shop 20,000 used cars for sale, secure auto financing, purchase, trade in and schedule vehicle delivery. Customers also can sell their current vehicle to Carvana without even purchasing a vehicle. Carvana’s delivery is now available to customers in 277 cities across the U.S.
• University Place, Orem, has announced that 10 stores and restaurants have recently opened, have expanded, or will be opening soon at the shopping center. Two stores recently opened: Sephora, offering beauty products, and Temple in Mind, offering products focused on the temples belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Opening soon are Teton Toys, a specialty toy store; Cotton on Body, offering women’s active wear, intimates, sleepwear, lounge wear and swim wear; and Villa Ceramics, a pottery studio; and Bath & Body Works, which is expanding its store. Restaurants opening soon are Bunz Burgers, Red Tacos, The Churro Co. and Chubby’s Neighborhood Café.
SERVICES
• Your Employment Solutions (YES), a staffing company, has opened an employment office at 120 N. Main St., Spanish Fork. Laura Lafeen, an experienced employment professional, will lead the Spanish Fork location. YES has been expanding its staffing services throughout Utah over the past 25 years. It serves more than 100 Utah clients with customer service, data and analytics to better manage their workforce. The Spanish Fork office marks YES’s seventh brick-and-mortar location in addition to several on-site offices.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Kenect, a Lehi-based provider of business texting and communications technology, has announced a strategic growth investment from funds advised by PSG, a growth equity firm partnering with middle-market software and technology-enabled service companies. Financial terms were not disclosed. The investment aims to fuel Kenect’s next phase of growth. Arbor Advisors acted as financial advisor and DLA Piper served as legal advisor to Kenect. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP served as legal advisor to PSG.
TRAVEL & TOURISM
• Visit Salt Lake has announced a Brewery Pass that allows beer lovers to sample more than a dozen local breweries and brewpubs. Ranging from $20 to $40 and available in one-, three- and 90-day options, the pass offers a $5 credit toward the purchase food, beverage or merchandise at each of the participating breweries. Passes can be purchased at visitsaltlake.com and are then downloaded to the purchaser’s mobile device.