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BANKING
- Bank of Utah, Ogden, has hired Dirk Wilson as mortgage loan officer, working out of his office in Logan. Wilson has worked as a loan officer for 15 years. Prior to that, he managed an automobile leasing company with over 400 units. He earned a bachelor’s degree Utah State University in business administration and marketing.
CONSTRUCTION
- Pentalon Construction, a Salt Lake City-based general contract, has promoted Melanie Poulsen to project manager and hired Andy Mair as director of project management. Poulsen previously was assistant project manager. Her responsibilities will be to manage the overall health of assigned projects, including the budget and schedule. Poulson has more than 15 years of experience in the construction industry, specializing in residential, multifamily, healthcare and government construction projects. Her experience includes project estimating, project planning and schedule management, OSHA safety procedures/practices for both project subcontractors and the advancement of trending technology throughout projects. Mair will be responsible in helping develop and direct project operations and strategic planning to meet project goals. He has more than 15 years of experience in project management and development, most recently as vice president of operations for a development firm, where he was responsible for work in preconstruction and construction, including developing process and procedures for both groups. Mair earned a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management from Brigham Young University.
CONTESTS
- Nominations are open through September for the 2023 Utah Life Sciences Awards, presented by BioUtah at its annual Utah Life Sciences Summit on Nov. 9 to individuals who have made a significant impact in furthering the life sciences industry in Utah. The awards include the Lifetime Achievement Award, Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Innovation Impact Award and Friend of Industry Award. Nominations may be made at https://bioutah.typeform.com/to/TWaaizBK.
DIRECT SALES
- DoTerra, a Pleasant Grove-based health and wellness company and in the aromatherapy and essential oils market, has appointed Jeff Singer as chief operating officer. Singer has over two decades of experience in senior management and executive roles, including at Nasdaq and SAP. He also worked as group CEO at YBA Kanoo, CEO at both Nasdaq Dubai and then at the Dubai International Financial Center. Singer’s education includes a B.S. in international finance from Brigham Young University.
DIVIDENDS
- The board of directors of Extra Space Storage Inc., Salt Lake City, has declared a dividend of $1.01 per share on the common stock of the company, as permitted by the terms of the merger agreement the company entered into with Life Storage Inc. The dividend is payable July 19 to stockholders of record July 13. Following the closing of the merger with LSI, Extra Space expects to pay an additional dividend for the third quarter, keeping with its customary quarterly dividend timing. The pre-closing dividend will be attributed to the total amount paid for the third quarter, so that between this pre-closing dividend and the additional quarterly dividend to be paid, an Extra Space stockholder will receive a total dividend consistent with the amount that the EXR board of directors would have otherwise declared for the whole third quarter absent the closing. Extra Space is a real estate investment trust that owns and/or operates 2,388 self-storage properties, making it the second-largest owner and/or operator of self-storage properties in the United States and is the largest self-storage management company in the nation.
EDUCATION
- Weber State University has been selected as an education partner for Amazon’s Career Choice program, providing Amazon’s hourly employees access to over 200 certificate and degree programs. The program is an educational benefit that empowers employees to learn new skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere. In the U.S., the company is investing $1.2 billion to upskill more than 300,000 employees by 2025 to help move them into higher-paying, in-demand jobs. More than 130,000 Amazon employees worldwide have participated in Career Choice.
- Brigham Young University has named David H. Moore as dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School. He succeeds D. Gordon Smith, who had been serving as dean of BYU’s law school since 2016 and will return to teaching and research at the law school following a sabbatical. Moore joined BYU Law in in 2008. Moore comes to his new position holding the Sterling and Eleanor Colton Endowed Chair in Law and as the associate director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies. He is a scholar of foreign relations law, international law, international human rights and international development. Before joining BYU, Moore clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. He has researched and taught at George Washington University Law School, University of Kentucky College of Law and University of Chicago Law School. He also was an Honor Program trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch. Between 2017 and 2019, Moore served as the acting deputy administrator and general counsel of the U.S. Agency for International Development. He is a graduate of BYU’s law school and received a bachelor of art’s degree from BYU.
- A group of 50 University of Utah students completed the Lassonde+X program during the past academic year. It is a three-course program that allows any undergraduate student at the UofU to “entrepreneur your major,” with the “X” as their major. The program is offered by the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, in partnership with the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, at the David Eccles School of Business. Each of these students will receive a Lassonde+X designation on their academic transcript and they learned entrepreneurial skills and how to apply them to their majors and life goals.
ENERGY
- The Utah Housing Corp. board has approved new incentives for energy efficiency and electric vehicle charging at affordable housing developments. The corporation is an independent entity that administers federal low-income housing tax credits in Utah, which play a vital role in supporting affordable housing developments across the state. The State of Utah 2024 Federal and State Housing Credit Program Allocation Plan governs how low-income housing tax credits are allocated to affordable housing projects in Utah. Among many other things, the updated plan expands energy efficiency incentives that lower utility costs, improve construction quality, and support improved public health through reduced indoor and outdoor emissions. The plan also adds incentives for EV charging in affordable multifamily developments which will help lower-income communities access the reduced operating costs and clean air benefits of driving EVs. Utah Clean Energy, a local nonprofit organization that works to support clean air address climate change, collaborated with a group of affordable housing developers to propose the energy-related updates. The developers and development professionals involved in creating and proposing the updates are Ivan Carroll and Amanda Dillon, Giv Group; Peter Corroon, Sentry Financial; Bryson C. Garbett, Garbett Homes; Arlie Green, Utah Nonprofit Housing Corp.; Peter Tomai, Specific Performance Inc.; and Tony Tyler, Columbus Pacific. The allocation plan is available at https://utahhousingcorp.org/pdf/2024_Final_QAP-230614.pdf.
HEALTHCARE
- Intermountain Health has opened a new Intermountain Surgery Center on the campus of The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital-TOSH in Murray, which will specialize in outpatient orthopedic procedures for hips, knees and spinal procedures among other orthopedic treatments. It is the seventh ambulatory surgery center (ASC) that Intermountain has opened in Utah. An additional eight surgery centers are planned by 2024. The state-of-the-art facility includes eight operating rooms.
- Myriad Genetics Inc., a Salt Lake City-based company focused on genetic testing and precision medicine, has established a new $90 million asset-based credit facility with JPMorgan Chase Bank NA as administrative agent and issuing bank, and the other lender parties consisting of Wells Fargo Bank NA and Bank of America NA. The facility includes an option to increase the maximum principal amount by up to $25 million for a total of $115 million. Myriad said the facility will provide additional financial flexibility to support its growth strategy. It replaces the company’s previous credit facility and matures on June 30, 2026.
- Select Health, a nonprofit health plan serving more than 1 million members across the Mountain West, has announced updated branding that includes a new color palette, updated logo, and adjustment to the organization’s name. Select Health said the changes reflect its “continued focus on offering a simple, seamless health insurance experience in an industry known for its complexity.” The change to the brand name adds a space between the two words, which it said “modernizes the name and emphasizes ‘select’ as an adjective that highlights its reputation for high-quality health insurance.”
INSURANCE
- WCF Insurance, a Salt Lake City-based commercial insurance provider, has appointed Jan Frank to its board of directors for a four-year term that began July 1. Frank has nearly three decades of experience in insurance, most recently serving as chair, CEO and president of Pacific Compensation Insurance Co., a specialty workers’ comp carrier in California. Prior to that, Frank served as president and chief operations officer of Zenith Insurance, as well as CEO and president of the California State Compensation Insurance Fund.
INVESTMENTS
- RevRoad, a Provo-based venture services firm focused on helping entrepreneurs succeed, has raised over $15 million from private investors. RevRoad has helped grow 73 companies to a total enterprise value of more than $1.5 billion. It also has been involved in community and its nonprofit organization, which organizes rescue trips for refugees in Ukraine. The new funding round will support its core purpose to support entrepreneurs and increase the success rate of startups, with a focus on expanding services to other parts of the nation. It also will result in additional hires, a new location in Florida, and other locations yet to be determined.
- Ovation, an Orem-based real-time guest feedback platform for restaurants, has closed a $4 million funding round. Led by York IEand TIA Ventures, the investment will enable Ovation to continue innovating and bringing its platform to more restaurants. Other investors in the round included Summit Capital, Peak Capital, OneValley, Tenzing Capital, Greg Golkin of Kitchen Fund, Fred LeFranc, Gregg Majewski of Craveworthy Brands, and Deric Rosenbaum of Groucho’s Deli.
LOGISTICS
- XPO Logistics, with U.S. headquarters in Connecticut and a provider of asset-based less-than-truckload transportation in North America, has announced an expansion of its Salt Lake City service center. It currently has more than 200 employees at the facility. The project includes a 170,000-square-foot expansion of the service center’s yard, located near the airport, allowing employees to operate more efficiently and increase freight capacity, and job opportunities starting in late July for dock workers and dock service representatives. XPO is aiming to add dock workers and drivers for both pickup and delivery drivers and linehaul drivers by the end of this year. The service center expansion includes a full office renovation and an additional employee parking lot. Nearly doubling capacity, XPO is adding 58 doors to the terminal (for a total of 138 doors) to support transport of goods from companies across different industries, not only to Salt Lake City but to the broader Pacific Northwest. XPO serves approximately 48,000 shippers with 554 locations and 38,000 employees.
MANUFACTURING
- RS Technologies Inc., a company with manufacturing facilities in St. George and Canada that design, engineer and manufacture composite utility poles and related products for the electric transmission and distribution sectors, has entered into credit agreements with J.P. Morgan, Bank of Montreal, the Toronto-Dominion Bank and Export Development Canada totaling $148.5 million. The company said the financing will fund further expansion plans as demand for the company’s composite utility solutions continues to grow. The company recently announced an expansion into Houston to serve demand across the Gulf Coast and Southeast United States.
MEDIA/MARKETING
- Host Hospitality, a new digital marketing agency founded by hospitality veterans in New York City and solely dedicated to restaurants, has expanded into Salt Lake City. Led by co-founders and siblings Breno and Camila Santos, New York-based Host Hospitality offers a suite of digital marketing services, including social media management, influencer partnerships, content creation, advertising and email marketing. Breno Santos will oversee the agency’s operations from its new local office in the Sugarhouse neighborhood.
NONPROFITS
- AARP Utah has announced three organizations in Utah will receive 2023 Community Challenge grants, part of the largest group of grantees to date with $3.6 million awarded among 310 organizations nationwide. Grantees will implement quick-action projects that improve public places; transportation; housing; digital connections; diversity, equity and inclusion; and more, with an emphasis on the needs of adults aged 50 and older. The Utah projects include SLC Neighbors for More Neighbors, with the grant supporting a campaign to promote accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and other affordable housing options through creative concepts like a home-tour of ADUs in Salt Lake City and the promotion of an ADU design challenge; Epicenter, Green River, which will build a pavilion at Pearl Baker Park designed to be accessible to older visitors, with handrails and a soft pathway surface to reduce the potential of injuries from falls; and TreeUtah, Salt Lake City, which will use a group of volunteers to plant 7500 trees statewide and create recreational opportunities for older adults in the communities in which they live and work. The grant program is part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative, which supports the efforts of cities, towns, neighborhoods and rural areas to become great places to live for people of all ages, especially those age 50 and older. Since 2017, AARP Utah has awarded 19 grants and $214,704 through the program to nonprofit organizations and government entities across the state.
RECOGNITIONS
- Several Utah companies received safety awards at the recent Safety Awards Expo, presented by the Utah Manufacturers Association. The Safety Leader of the Year Award was presented to Michael Olsen, facilities manager at RAM Aviation, Space & Defense. Superior Safety Awards were presented to Aerospace Aluminum Processing (small manufacturer); RAM Aviation, Space & Defense (medium manufacturer); and Campbell Scientific (large manufacturer). Awards of Excellence Honorable Mention were presented to small manufacturers Aerospace Aluminum Processing, Torus Inc., American Alloy Steel, S&S Worldwide Inc., BetterButter, NRP Jones and Clean Machine LLC. Awards of Excellence Honorable Mention were presented to medium manufacturers Wilson Electronics; Komatsu; Mechanical Service & Systems; RAM Aviation, Space & Defense; JD Machine; HHI Corp.; Barnes Bullets-Mona LLC; Malnove of Utah; and Smith Optics MFG. Awards of Excellence Honorable Mention were presented to large manufacturers Nucor Steel Utah, Compass Minerals and Stryker Salt Lake City.
- The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) (NASE), an advocate and resource for the self-employed and micro-business community, has awarded Fungal Focus of Salt Lake City a $4,000 first-quarter 2023 Growth Grant to help expand business operations. Owned by NASE member Kathryn Lawson, Fungal Focus seeks to support and expand Utah’s community of mushroom growers and fungal advocates by seeking to build affordable, accessible and engaging grow kits and workshops for people of all ages. NASE said Fungal Focus was chosen because of its well-defined plan for growth, ranging from executing new marketing initiatives, purchasing new equipment, and other creative ways to grow and expand. Last year, NASE awarded $88,000 in total grants to 22 small businesses to support their growth and expansion of business operations while also helping them emerge from the COVID pandemic.
SERVICES
- GPS Capital Markets LLC, a Salt Lake City-based fintech firm offering corporate foreign exchange services, has hired Alice Abbott as global general counsel. She will establish a legal department and oversee all legal matters for GPS Capital Markets as it continues to widen its international presence. Abbott has over 30 years of working in law in a variety of companies and regulators in the financial services industry, most recently working as chief legal officer and chief compliance officer for Fabriik/Round Rock, a cryptocurrency company, and global general counsel for Associated Foreign Exchange. She has experience in the foreign exchange industry as well as specialization in international law, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing.