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BANKING
• Bank of Utah, Ogden, has hired Karen Geertsen as a reverse mortgage advisor and Hillaree Harrison as a mortgage loan officer. Both will be based out of the bank’s Sandy branch. Geertsen will help seniors understand how reverse mortgages can help them convert part of the equity in their homes into tax-free income. She began her career in the mortgage industry more than 24 years ago as an assistant for a mortgage broker. She was promoted to loan processor and then to mortgage loan officer. Harrison will provide financing solutions for home purchases, new construction, lots and refinances. She began her career in 2012 with the Utah Housing Corp., where she worked as a loss mitigation specialist, helping struggling homeowners find mortgage solutions to keep them in their homes. She also worked as an account manager for Prestige Financial Services, and most recently served as a mortgage consultant for Wyndham Capital Mortgage. Harrison earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah.
• Columbia Bank, a Washington-based subsidiary of Columbia Banking System Inc., has expanded its business lending division into Utah with the hires of veteran Salt Lake City-area bankers Jeffrey Thomas and James Divver. Each has more than 20 years of banking leadership experience in Utah. Thomas joins as a senior vice president and commercial banking lead. He will spearhead Columbia’s Utah operations. Thomas most recently was senior vice president and business banking market leader for U.S. Bank in the Salt Lake City area. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions at Zions Bank in Utah. His education includes graduating from the University of Utah and earning an MBA from Westminster College. Divver joins as a senior vice president and business development officer. He previously was senior vice president of government relations for Zions Bank, part of over two decades at the company. Divver earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Utah.
CONTESTS
• Nominations are being accepted until 5 p.m. July 29 for the 2022 Diversity Summit Awards, a Salt Lake Chamber program recognizing public, private and nonprofit organizations that represent excellence in all areas of diversity, including age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race and religion. The categories are large business (250-plus employees), medium business (50-249 employees), small business (up to 49 employees) and government or nonprofit organizations. Details are at slchamber.com. Utah’s Business Diversity Summit takes place Oct. 28, 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., at Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown at City Creek.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Utah is ranked No. 12 on a list of states with the most privately held, bootstrapped healthcare companies founded in 2021-22, compiled by SourceScrub, a data provider for investors. Utah has such nine companies. The top-ranked state is California, with 69.
• Utah is tied for No. 15 on a list of states with the largest privately held companies, compiled by SourceScrub, a data provider for investors. Utah, Michigan, Missouri and Oregon each have 14 such companies that have started since 2015 and have 500-10,000 employees. California is ranked No. 1, with 117.
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 89 on a list of “2022’s Geekiest Cities,” compiled by Lawn Love. It compared the 200 largest U.S. cities, using metrics like stores selling comics, video games, trading cards and board games. It also looked at the number of geek meet-up groups, costume shops (for cosplayers), and whether the city has hosted events like comic-cons and renaissance festivals. The top-ranked city is New York City. Several cities tied for No. 196. Details are at https://lawnlove.com/blog/geekiest-cities/.
GOVERNMENT
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Multifamily Housing has closed a Rental Assistance Demonstration transaction with the Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake at its New City Plaza site. The transaction will preserve 299 low-income housing units, maintaining long term, stable and affordable housing for low-income seniors and non-elderly disabled residents in Salt Lake County. The RAD transaction includes a $39.8 million construction budget ($133,110 per unit). Currently, the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City and the Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake manage two adjacent buildings, the City Plaza and the County High Rise, as individual projects. While located on the same parcel, the two buildings have lacked any physical connection between them. Through RAD, the project will convert and renovate the two projects and manage them as one project post-conversion. The city-owned City Plaza and the county-owned County High Rise managed and owned by the Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake will lead to a more efficient management of the two adjacent properties, enabling the Housing Authority to free up more funding up to be allocated towards other residential and affordable housing capital needs. The project will add a one-story connecting breezeway and all units will be upgraded.
HEALTHCARE
• Blackrock Neurotech, a Salt Lake City-based company focused on brain-computer interface technology, has hired Nathan A. Smith as chief financial officer. Smith will lead Blackrock’s finance organization, including infrastructure management, capital deployment and investor relations. Smith has more than 19 years of financial executive experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical sector, most recently spending 14 years at Myriad Genetics, where he played a role in growing its finance, investor relations and treasury departments and was responsible for the divestiture of three unique business units.
INVESTMENTS
• Peterson Private Equity, Salt Lake City, has invested in Black Mountain Software, a Montana-based provider of government accounting and billing software. The amount was not disclosed. The investment will help the company accelerate product expansion and innovation, as well as growth beyond current geographies. The company was founded in 1993. In conjunction with the investment, Mike Fabrizio and Nate Quinn will be joining the management team as co-CEOs. Prior to Black Mountain Software, Fabrizio was on the investment team at Accel-KKR. Quinn previously was on the investment team at Menlo Ventures.
LAW
• Ballard Spahr has named litigation partner Jason D. Boren as office managing partner for its Salt Lake City location. Boren is an experienced litigator at both the trial and appellate levels. His litigation practice focuses on complex civil and business litigation disputes involving a wide variety of matters. Boren succeeds litigation partner Mark R. Gaylord, who served as Salt Lake City office managing partner for six years.
PARTNERSHIPS
• The Any Hour Group, an Orem-based provider of home services in the Mountain West, has partnered with three more home services businesses to further expand its operations across the region. The companies are Magic Electric, Plumbing, Heating & Air; Perfect Plumbing, Heating & Air; and Strongbuilt USA. Financial terms of the transactions were not disclosed. Through the addition of Magic and Perfect, Any Hour has solidified its presence in Idaho. The partnership with Strongbuilt extends Any Hour’s existing footprint in Arizona to Tucson while adding a presence in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Each business will retain its respective brand, headquarters and management team.
PHILANTHROPY
• The Miracle of Agriculture Foundation and Utah Farm Bureau recently held a “Miracle Project” at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy. This event provided food donations to approximately 400 families in Sandy and the surrounding area. The foundation is a nonprofit organization set up as the charitable arm of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation. Additional logistical and in-kind support has come from several partners, including Utah State University, its Hunger Solutions Institute and Create Better Health Program, and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. Additional donations and contributions for the project have been made from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, DairyWest and Farm Bureau Financial Services. Since the Miracle Projects started in 2020 with the onset of the pandemic, the foundation has provided approximately 1.6 million pounds of food, with a retail value of approximately $3.5 million, to more than 40,000 residents in Utah.
• Nilson Homes has spearheaded the effort to construct a home at no cost for the family of former North Ogden Mayor killed in action in Afghanistan in 2018 while on leave from his duties as mayor. Jennie Taylor and her seven children are poised to move into their new home, located on existing property where Jennie and Brent Taylor planned to one day build their dream home. The 5,070 square-foot, five-bedroom home is included in the Northern Wasatch Parade of Homes, taking place through July 23. The philanthropic initiative began in early 2019 and Nilson Homes began to coordinate with the Have a Heart program and a team of generous contractors on the project. The Taylor’s home marks the first in what will become an annual Nilson Homes initiative to build a home for a local veteran family in need.
REAL ESTATE
• Mortenson, a Minnesota-based builder, developer and real estate investor, has promoted three people for its leadership team in Salt Lake City: Sarah Narjes to general manager, Corey Furst to director of operations, and Jon Hines to development executive. Narjes joined Mortenson in 2007, overseeing a variety of complex projects in the Denver market. In 2014, she transitioned to the Mortenson Sports+Entertainment Group, serving in a variety of leadership roles for high-profile sports stadiums. Furst joined Mortenson's Federal Contracting Group as a project executive in 2015, leading multiple projects for the U.S. Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy. In 2020, he relocated to Utah to lead the Eagle Mountain Data Center Building 3 project with Meta. Hines joined Mortenson's Chicago team in 2008, providing leadership for new development and partnerships across asset classes.
• Capstone Cos., based in North Carolina, has launched the brokerage firm’s new regional office in Salt Lake City. The new office is led by investment sales advisor William Moss, who has extensive experience in commercial banking and real estate investment. Moss joins Capstone after working as a vice president and business banking officer of Hillcrest Bank. Prior to joining Hillcrest, Moss was a manager of portfolio management at Member Business Lending. Established in 2008, Capstone Cos. has maintained an exclusive focus on multi-housing brokerage, and the growth and expansion of its service lines in the commercial real estate industry.
• Benloch Ranch recently held a “vertical” groundbreaking event for the 2,550-acre sustainable development near Park City. Just south of the Jordanelle Reservoir on State Route 32, Benloch Ranch currently has street signs, asphalt, charged fire hydrants, entrance features and bridges. The construction of homes began after the groundbreaking event.
RECOGNITIONS
• Jason Olsen, CEO of Image Studios, Salt Lake City, has been named to a list of the most inspiring leaders by CXO magazine, which features a variety of global leaders in the franchise industry. Image Studios was established in 2010 and began franchising in 2016. It has awarded 190 licenses across 22 states.
• Six Utah companies are among the “Top 100 Pest Control Companies in 2022,” compiled by Pest Control Technology Magazine. They are No. 6 Aptive Environmental, Provo; No. 13 Fox Pest Control, Logan; No. 15 Greenix Pest Control, Orem; No. 21 Saela/Edge Pest Control, Orem; No. 47 Evergreen Pest Solutions, Highland; and No. 62 Ardent, Highland. The list is based on the previous year’s revenues.
• KURU Footwear, based in Murray, has been named to a list of “fastest-growing online shops of 2022,” compiled by Newsweek in partnership with data and research firm Statista. The company was categorized as “extremely high growth” by Newsweek. KURU Footwear was founded in 2009 by CEO Bret Rasmussen and creates and sells orthopedic shoes that don’t look orthopedic. To compile the annual ranking, Newsweek partnered with Statista to determine which 1,000 shops across 37 categories are the fastest-growing online shops.
RESTAURANTS
• Island Fin Poké, a fast-casual restaurant known for its Hawaiian-style build-your-own poké bowls, has announced it will enter four new markets by the end of 2022, including Salt Lake City. Founded in 2017, I has more than 20 locations open, with several others in various stages of development.
TECHNOLOGY
• IFIT, a Logan-based global fitness and well-being subscription technology company, has named Dale R. Gerard as chief financial officer. Gerard has more than 25 years of finance, treasury and operational experience, with significant consumer technology and subscription services experience after spending the past 12 years at Vivint, most recently as its CFO. Gerard currently serves on the board of M-3 Brigade Acquisition II Corp.
• Weave, a Lehi-based company offering a customer communication platform for small business, has hired Erin Goodsell as chief legal officer. Goodsell most recently was director and associate general counsel at Qualtrics for nearly six years. Before that, she spent over eight years at tech law firm Cooley LLP.
WAREHOUSING
• Portal Warehousing has opened at 1580 S. 500 W., Salt Lake City. It is the state’s first flexible industrial space solution, with 50 percent of its tenant space already occupied by e-commerce and distribution companies. It offers a flexible warehousing and community solution specifically for growing e-commerce merchants that can’t afford or justify their own warehouse space. The 30,000-square-foot space features 22 office suites ranging in size from 250 square feet to 2,500 square feet. It will also double as a space to host a variety of community events, art installations and other activities. Capstone Equities, a New York City-based private equity firm, developed the Portal Warehousing concept in 2021 and selected Salt Lake City for its first location.