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BANKING
• D.L. Evans Bank, based in Idaho, has hired Ken Doutre as vice president commercial loan officer at the South Ogden branch. Doutre has 24 years of banking experience.
CORPORATE
• Overstock.com Inc., a Salt Lake City-based online retailer and advancer of blockchain technology, has announced an event for analysts and investors to be held June 10, 2-4 p.m. Mountain time. The event will include discussion and Q&A with members of the company’s executive leadership team, and will take place via a live webcast to comply with guidance from health and government officials against in-person gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. Details are available at http://investors.overstock.com.
DIVIDENDS
• Overstock.com Inc., a Salt Lake City-based online retailer and advancer of blockchain technology, has announced it completed the issuance of its Digital Voting Series A-1 Preferred Stock digital dividend on May 19, as expected. The dividend was issued in Series A-1 shares on a 1:10 basis to all Overstock shareholders as of the record date of April 27. Overstock distributed the dividend shares though its transfer agent, Computershare, to investors’ brokerage or other custodial accounts in which they hold their Overstock securities, and no action by shareholders was necessary for them to receive the dividend.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Utah is ranked No. 27 among states in the increase in available jobs since May 8, based on rankings compiled by TOP Data. Utah’s increase was 1.93 percent, compared to the national increase of 3.65 percent. Utah was No. 37 in terms of the number of jobs available per 100,000 residents, checking in with an average of 695 vacant roles, lagging behind most other states. Details are at https://topagency.com/job-availability-report/.
• Utah is ranked No. 34 in the most recent rankings of states with the biggest increases in unemployment rates over the past year, compiled by WalletHub. Utah’s unemployment rate was 289.9 percent higher in April than it was a year earlier, and the growth since January is 261.1 percent. WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on three key metrics. Nevada was the highest-ranked. Connecticut was the lowest-ranked. Details are at https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-biggest-increases-in-unemployment-rates/74907/.
• Nearly half — 46.9 percent — of Utahns say they will miss lockdown life, based on a survey conducted by EverydayCarry.com. About one-third of Utah respondents said the lockdown has brought about a greater community spirit. Almost half said they appreciated spending more time with their families. Twenty-seven percent said they have upskilled during the lockdown. Nationally, 41 percent of respondents said they would definitely miss aspects of lockdown. The number was highest in North Dakota, at 67.4 percent, and the lowest in West Virginia, 13.7 percent. Details are at https://everydaycarry.com/lockdown-survey-results.
• Utah is ranked No. 9 among states as the most digitally prepared state to take an economy online, a ranking compiled by Storagecafe.com, which analyzed numbers across 10 metrics. Utah was No. 8 for its tech base, with particularly high marks for its percentage of overall employment in the tech industry (9.4 percent) and for its jump in the number of tech-related jobs (close to 50,000) over the past decade. Utah is No. 9 for GDP coming from the tech industry, at 11.2 percent. Nearly 95 percent of Utah households have a computer and almost 91 percent have Internet access, making Utah first in the U.S. for personal tech availability. Massachusetts was top-ranked for being the most digitally prepared state. Mississippi was ranked last. Details are at https://www.storagecafe.com/blog/best-prepared-us-states-for-digital-economy/.
PHILANTHROPY
• Ken Garff Automotive recently began to provide goods and services to help small businesses and affected communities during the coronavirus pandemic. During a 42-weekday period, Ken Garff employees will provide items such as groceries for seniors, lunch for hospital staff, flowers for teachers, and free passes to open entertainment venues. The “We’re Hear for You” initiative continues until July 223.
• The Bountiful, Park City Sunrise and Moab Rotary Club, together with Devin Thorpe, candidate for Congress, and Karina Brown, candidate for lieutenant governor, recently delivered more than five tons of food and emergency supplies to Montezuma Creek in the Navajo Nation.
REAL ESTATE
• Brinkman, a Colorado-based real estate investment and development company, has acquired Eversage, an existing multifamily community in Payson. It is the company’s first transaction in Utah. Eversage is a 168-unit complex that includes units of one to three bedrooms. The project was completed in 2019. Financial terms were not disclosed. Brady O'Donnell, Jeff Halsey and Jill Haug with CBRE Capital Markets’ Debt & Structured Finance group in Denver arranged the acquisition financing. The seller was represented by CBRE’s Salt Lake City-based Multifamily Sales team of Eli Mills and Patrick Bodnar.
• Primary Residential Mortgage Inc., Salt Lake City, has promoted Richard J. Armstrong to executive vice president and general counsel upon the retirement of Darryl Lee, executive vice president and chief legal counsel. Armstrong has practiced law in Utah, Nevada and Idaho for more than 24 years. His law practice has been focused on advising employers on employment-related issues, including litigation, administrative and regulatory matters.
• Garbett Homes has broken ground on a memorial garden for The Inn Between, at 1216 E. 1300 S., Salt Lake City, known as Utah’s “hospice for the homeless.” Since moving to the location in June 2018, The Inn Between has been without a memorial garden in which to honor their clients who have died. Voda Landscape and Planning donated the final garden design. Elite Landscaping is donating a hand-laid rock wall for the foundation, laying the pavers and doing the plantings. Staker Paving and Solid Concrete Walls are working together to build the walls that will hold the memorial plaques. Larkin Memorial is donating a granite bench and the name plaques.
RECOGNITIONS
• Skullcandy Inc., a Park City-based audio brand, is on a list of “U.S. Best Managed Companies in 2020,” compiled by Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal. Twenty-seven private companies are on the list, based on their overall business performance relative to leading practices across strategy, execution, culture and finance. Selection involved an independent evaluation process by a panel of judges.
SERVICES
• Copart Inc., a Dallas-based online vehicle auction company, has opened a 45-acre location at 170 W. Center St., North Salt Lake. It is the company’s second Utah location, the other being in Ogden. The Salt Lake City location hosts weekly auctions on Fridays at noon. Its platform links sellers to more than 750,000 members in more than 170 countries, and the company has operations at more than 200 locations in 11 countries.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• FatPipe Networks, a Salt Lake City-based company focused on network reliability, hybrid-WAN redundancy, improved network performance and security for wide area connectivity, has appointed Phil Hinson as senior vice president of strategic business. Hinson previously was vice president of sales and vice president of technical sales at AT&T. Prior to that, he was vice president of sales at Bell South Telecommunications.
• DigiCert, a Lehi-based provider of identity and encryption solutions, has named Jason Sabin as chief technology officer. Sabin has been serving as chief information officer at DigiCert since 2017 and has held a number of other executive roles at the company, including chief security officer and head of research and development. He has been with DigiCert for more than eight years, including overseeing QA, product development, research and development, security and IT operations and infrastructure. Sabin has more than 20 years of engineering and R&D experience working in the identity and security industry, with previous roles at NetIQ, Novell and Volera.