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ASSOCIATIONS
• The Utah Optometric Association (UOA) announced Dr. Paul Bruderer as the new president of the organization at the 2018 UOA Congress in Midway. He succeeds Dr. Robert Gray. Nine people were sworn-in as UOA board members: Robin Price, vice president; Court Wilkins, vice president of finance; Mark Taylor, vice president of legislation; and trustees Ian Whipple, Nathan Broschinsky, Kenyon Anderson, Ross Chatwin, Jessica Graham and Weston Barney.
• The Utah Technology Council has announced that the keynote speaker for its 2018 Hall of Fame gala will be Reed Hastings, CEO and co-founder of Netflix. The gala is scheduled for Oct. 12 at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• West Valley City was ranked No. 1 and West Jordan was No. 16 in a list of “Best Cities for Living the American Dream in 2018,” compiled by SmartAsset. The rankings of the largest 257 cities were based on five metrics: homeownership rate, diversity rate, upward mobility rate, median home value and unemployment rate. West Valley City was followed by Odessa, Texas; Midland, Texas; Aurora, Illinois; Round Rock, Texas; Fort Worth, Texas; Aurora, Colorado; San Jose, California; Amarillo, Texas; and Rochester, Minnesota.
• Piute County tops rankings among Utah counties with the lowest tax burden, according to a study by SmartAsset. The study calculated the amount of money a county resident pays annually in income, sales, property and fuel taxes. Piute is followed by Garfield, Emery, Wayne, Millard, Rich, Carbon, Sevier, Daggett and Beaver counties. Details are at https://smartasset.com/taxes/utah-tax-calculator#utah.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Kathy Ricci is a new business advisor for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program at Salt Lake Community College. Ricci previously spent 21 years as the CEO of the Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund (UMLF), a nonprofit community development financial institution providing management assistance and business loans of up to $50,000 to entrepreneurs who were not able to access traditional sources of funding. Prior to that, Ricci spent 10 years at the Utah Small Business Development Center providing counseling and training and managing nine regional centers. Ricci earned a B.S. in finance and management and an MBA from the University of Utah.
• Andrea Easter-Pilcher has been named the new dean of Weber State University’s College of Science. Most recently, she spent nine years at St. George’s University in Grenada. She spent the past five years at the university in the positions of associate, senior associate, interim dean and dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.
ENVIRONMENT
• Wood Partners, a real estate development and construction company, has announced that the Alta Gateway Station is the first apartment building in Utah to receive LEED Platinum certification —the highest-rated certification for green building design and management. The project is at 505 W. 100 S., Salt Lake City, adjacent to The Gateway. The rating system was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The Alta Gateway Station was awarded the certification due to the building’s green design and the management team’s implementation of practical and measurable strategies and solutions. These efforts are aimed at achieving efficiency in power consumption, water usage, materials and resources and indoor environment quality. The project also recently was named Development of the Year by the Utah Apartment Association, based on the development design, comfort through features and amenities, how the development adds to the neighborhood and how well it complements the surrounding areas. The association also judged staff knowledge, customer service and the cleanliness and maintenance of the building.
EXPANSIONS
• Safe Chain Solutions, based in Maryland, has announced it will open its third distribution center, in St. George. Starting in July, the center will allow the company to reach most locations in the United States within one or two days via ground shipping. The pharmaceutical wholesaler’s other distribution center locations are in Cambridge, Maryland; and Louisville, Kentucky. The company services more than 1,000 customers west of the Mississippi River.
• Campos Coffee, a specialty coffee roaster that supplies more than 700 cafes in Australia, has expanded its U.S. market with a second flagship store in Salt Lake City. Its first is in Park City. The Salt Lake City location at 228 S. Edison St. is the ninth flagship store worldwide. It will occupy 4,500 square feet of space and add more than 20 jobs. The new location will also feature an open-plan kitchen serving a full breakfast and lunch menu and incorporating unique Aussie flavors.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
• Foresight Wealth Management, a Draper-based management and financial services company, has hired JD Slatter as a partner and new wealth advisor. Slatter has 17 years of experience in financial services, having most recently served as a wealth advisor and partner at Lefavi Wealth Management. Slatter, a Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP), will focus on retirement planning and providing investment solutions to individuals and businesses.
GOVERNMENT
• Salt Lake City has announced a pilot renovation program aimed at preserving existing affordable housing stock throughout the city. Salt Lake City’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Division (HAND) kicked off the program with a $1 million notice of funding availability to attract owners of multi-family housing to apply. The pilot program is the result of the city’s recently adopted affordable housing plan, GrowingSLC, and will use funds made available as part of the $21 million set aside by the city late last year for use in addressing affordable housing. As part of the program, the city intends to make low-interest renovation loans to building owners who then agree to keep rents at 60 percent area median income (AMI) or below, or approximately $800 per month for a one-bedroom apartment. The city estimates each renovated unit will cost no more than $50,000. Applications for the $1 million notice of funding availability are due June 29. Details are at www.slc.gov/hand/funding-programs.
INVESTMENT
• JJUMPP, a Lehi-based software-as-a-service company, has completed a $3 million venture funding round from Arthur Ventures. The venture capital firm, based in Minnesota and North Dakota, also was an investor in Infusionsoft, where several JJUMPP team members worked previously.
• Taft, a Provo-based direct-to-consumer men’s footwear brand, has raised $5 million in seed funding. The investment was led by Kickstart Seed Fund, with participation from M3 Ventures; Fifth Wall Ventures; Peterson Partners; NBA players Dwyane Wade and Andre Iguodala; Skull Candy CEO Jeremy Andrus; and Clarke Miyasaki, executive vice president of business development at Stance Socks. Miyasaki has joined the company board of directors. Taft was founded in 2014 by the husband-and-wife team of Kory and Mallory Stevens.
• Polar Star Capital Partners, a new Salt Lake City-based private equity firm, has announced its launch with its recent purchase of a controlling interest in Meridian Restaurants Unlimited, a 126-store franchisee in the Burger King system. Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed, although total enterprise value was noted to be greater than $80 million. Meridian Restaurants Unlimited operates 114 Burger King restaurants and recently acquired 10 Chili’s restaurants and two El Pollo Loco stores. The transaction also included capital outlay to support the acquisition of an additional 25 existing Burger King restaurants in the Kansas and Nebraska markets. Founded by David Harper in 2002, Meridian has been developing restaurants in eight states over its operating history, and now with Polar Star Capital Partner’s support, has expanded operations into two states, increased locations by more than 25 percent and obtained the opportunity to almost double its locations in the coming years in those regions.
• Sorenson Capital, Salt Lake City, has promoted Matt Marsh to managing director. He has played a foundational role in the firm’s success with technology and growth equity investments since joining in 2011. He will continue to help drive the firm’s growth and technology practices. Prior to Sorenson Capital, Marsh spent time on both coasts, working in mergers and acquisitions advisory and capital markets transactions. His education includes bachelor’s degrees in finance and Spanish from the University of Utah.
LAW
• Litigation Services, based in Las Vegas, has announced new team members for its Utah location. Tammy Breed will serve as Utah manager, leading and overseeing the development, performance and advancement of company services in the Utah region. A certified court reporter for nearly 25 years, Breed previously owned a court reporting firm. Lindsay O’Driscoll is the new director of business development, responsible for managing and developing business opportunities. She has held various marketing and sales management positions. The location’s receptionist is Jessica Penrod, who will focus on providing customer service.
REAL ESTATE
• Richmond American Homes of Utah Inc. has opened Miner’s Grove at 849 W. 1150 S., Springville. The community includes homesites with ranch and two-story floor plans and three to six bedrooms and up to about 2,660 square feet.
RECOGNITIONS
• The Utah Optometric Association recently recognized members who have made a significant contribution to the organization within the past year. Dr. Mark Taylor received the OD of the Year Award for his involvement with the legislation for the profession, his work with insurers, and his continuous service on the board of directors for years. Dr. Ross Chatwin received the 2018 Young OD of the Year Award from past president Dr. Robert Gray for “his service on the board of trustees, as well as his time and efforts on the legislative committee visiting legislators on a state and national level.” Reagan Harris received the Para Optometric of the Year Award for her efforts to go above and beyond when working with patients.
• Two products of ClearOne, Salt Lake City, won AV Technology Best of Show Awards at InfoComm 2018 in Las Vegas. The Collaborate Space video collaboration app and View Lite AV over IP stream solution earned the awards from among thousands of solutions showcased by more than 950 manufacturers. Six AV professionals judged each product live on the show floor on two InfoComm days. The products were evaluated using multiple criteria, including innovation, performance against category standard, richness/relevance of feature set, ease of installation/maintenance, network friendliness, and value/ROI.
RETAIL
• Verizon Wireless recently brought a new retail store to 1842 S. 300 W., near Costco Wholesale. It offers phones; accessories; and unique services, including Redux, a technology that dries out wet smartphones in less than an hour.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• BrainStorm Inc., an American Fork-based software-as-a-service company, has hired Karen Peterson as chief marketing officer and Chris Lee as vice president of client success. Peterson previously worked at Ancestry, most recently as senior vice president of U.S. marketing and interim chief marketing officer. Lee most recently was president of Deseret Digital Media.
• Skyworks Global Inc., a Salt Lake-based gyronautics company, has hired Don Woodbury as chief technology advisor. Woodbury will lead the scientific and technological initiatives within the organization and assume responsibilities for leading the maturation and realization of gyronautics technology globally. Woodbury has more than 30 years of experience within the government science and technology community, including serving as an office director with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).