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
• Clay Partain, managing director of Sports Salt Lake, has been selected to serve on the board of directors of the Sports Events & Tourism Association (ETA). His term will run through 2024. As the nonprofit trade association for the sports events and tourism industry in the United States, Sports ETA is a resource for sports commissions, sports destinations, sports event owners and industry partners. Partain oversees Visit Salt Lake’s recently launched sports sales and marketing division, Sports Salt Lake. In the past three years, Sports Salt Lake has booked 88 sport-related events that are projected to attract 420,000-plus event attendees, with a collective direct spend of more than $151 million while in Salt Lake.
BANKING
• Piper Sandler Cos., a Minnesota-based investment bank, has added Benj Becker to the firm’s Utah special district group. The group works with land developers, cities and counties in Utah to fund public infrastructure using public infrastructure districts and tax-increment finance. Becker joins the firm from Zions Public Finance, where he has specialized in real estate consulting and advisory services for the last 15-plus years.
CORPORATE
• Vivint Smart Home Inc., Provo, has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, APX Group Inc., has priced its offering of $800 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes in a private placement. The notes will bear interest at 5.75 percent per annum and are due in 2029. The notes offering was expected to close July 9.
• Varex Imaging Corp., a Salt Lake City-based designer and manufacturer of X-ray imaging components, has announced a partial redemption in the amount of $30 million of its $300 million 7.875 percent senior secured notes due 2027.
CONTESTS
• Nominations are being accepted through Aug. 15 for the 2021 Utah Innovation Awards, presented by Stoel Rives, in partnership with Utah Business. The awards program recognizes the state’s community of innovators, from startups to established companies, and their breakthrough creations. Award nominees undergo a strict evaluation process by peers and leaders from the state’s business, civic, and academic communities. Pioneering innovations can be products, services or processes that are judged on their novelty, market need, economic impact, and disruption of the status quo. Innovations will be placed in the following categories: Innovative Company of the Year, Innovator of the Year, Early-Stage Innovation of the Year, Commercialized Innovation of the Year, Product Innovation of the Year, Service Innovation of the Year and Process Innovation of the Year. Nominations may be made at https://utahbusinessmagazine.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1X312pKDIBv2unY.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Students at Brigham Young University earned the best average starting salaries after graduation, according to a study by financial technology company SmartAsset. The rankings are part of SmartAsset’s overarching study on the colleges that provide students with the best overall value. The study considered starting salary, as well as scholarships and grants, tuition, living costs and retention rate. BYU was followed, in order, by Western Governors University, the University of Utah, Weber State University, Utah State University, Westminster College, Utah Valley University and Southern Utah University. Details are at https://smartasset.com/student-loans/student-loan-calculator#map.
• Cache County is the best county in which to get a mortgage, according to a study by SmartAsset. The study compared the likelihood of mortgage approval in each county, financing costs, property taxes and annual mortgage payments. The study then distilled those four factors into a composite index which compared each county in the state. Cache County was followed, in order, by Box Elder, Wayne, Salt Lake, Sevier, Tooele, Weber, Iron, Daggett and Grand counties. Details are at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/mortgage-rates#Utah/best-markets.
• The average Utahn would pay $4,760 for an aesthetically “perfect” smile, according to a survey by NextSmileDental.com. The national average is $5,62. Floridians would pay the most, $9,970, while Alaskans would pay just $1,700.
EXPANSIONS
• Turner Imaging Systems, an Orem-based developer of advanced X-ray imaging systems, has entered a distribution agreement with MIS Healthcare to market its Smart-C fluoroscopic Mini C-Arm in the United Kingdom and Ireland. MIS Healthcare, with headquarters in London, is an independent medical imaging equipment supplier throughout the U.K. and Ireland, servicing NHS and HSE hospitals as well as private hospitals, clinics, screening centers and diagnostic departments.
HEALTHCARE
• ASEA, a Salt Lake City-based company focused on cellular health, has announced three new members of its Medical Professionals Board: Donnellyn Dominguez, Dr. Roberto Volpe and Dr. Javier Hernandez Covarrubias. They join 16 existing board members in providing advice and expertise in the health and wellness fields. A midwife, Dominguez owned and operated one of the largest birthing centers in Texas and has seen positive benefits the redox technology has made as an ASEA associate. A medical researcher at the Italian National Research Council in Rome, Volpe is an expert in dietary treatment, nutraceutical treatment, and lipid-lowering therapy in addition to preventive cardiology. With specialties in environmental medicine and otolaryngology, Covarrubias is an expert in allergies and has studied integral medicine for mental health treatments.
• Elevar Therapeutics Inc., a Salt Lake City-based biopharmaceutical company, has appointed Dr. Maureen Conlan to chief medical officer and member of the executive leadership team, Julie Boisvert to vice president of regulatory affairs, and Dominick DiPaolo to vice president of quality assurance. Conlan will oversee the company’s clinical development, data management and biostatistics, clinical operations, regulatory affairs, drug safety and pharmacovigilance, clinical pharmacology, and medical monitoring activities. Conlan has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, most recently at Radius Health Inc. Before joining industry, she completed fellowships in hematology and oncology at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, respectively, and served as assistant professor of medicine at the Section of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Texas Medical School. Boisvert has more than 20 years of experience in regulatory affairs at multiple companies and in the U.S. and Canada, most recently as senior director of regulatory affairs at BeiGene USA Inc. DiPaolo has more than 20 years of experience in developing and delivering strategic plans and reengineering systems to reduce both risk and cost, with strategic objectives to increase organizational reliability. He joins Elevar from Quality by Design, a quality and compliance consultancy.
INVESTMENTS
• Entrata, a Lehi-based technology platform for the multifamily industry, has raised $507 million, led by Silver Lake, Qualtrics founder Ryan Smith and Vivint Smart Home founder Todd Pedersen, with participation from Dragoneer, Domo founder and CEO Josh James, and other strategic investors. It is the largest private investment round in Utah history. Pedersen and Kyle Paster, Silver Lake managing director, will join Entrata’s board of directors. Entrata processes more than $20 billion in rent payments annually through its platform and serves more than 20,000 apartment communities across the United States. It is the fastest-growing software company in real estate, with over $200 million in annual recurring revenue, and more than 2,100 employees with plans to add hundreds more in 2021 alone. Entrata said the capital will allow it to more than double its research and development spend in the Entrata platform in the coming years and to adopt a strategy including international expansion planned in the near future. As the first institutional round of capital raised by Entrata since its founding in 2003, the investment will represent a minority ownership in the company, with founder and chairman Dave Bateman retaining majority ownership. Adam Edmunds has joined Entrata as CEO. He has founded, grown and exited several SaaS companies, including Allegiance, which sold to MaritzCX in 2014. He was most recently president of the communications and payments platform Podium. Industry veteran Chase Harrington, president and COO of Entrata, will partner closely with Edmunds to set company strategy, establish the product roadmap, and promote industry best practices.
• LoanPro, a Farmington-based SaaS-based loan management, servicing and collections platform for alternative, fintech and traditional lenders, has raised a $100 million growth equity investment from FTV Capital. LoanPro will use the investment to enhance its platform functionality, enter new lending verticals, and further invest in client-centric growth initiatives. LoanPro has more than $15 billion of loans under management and over 600 clients across a diverse range of loan types and lending programs in the United States and Canada. As part of the transaction, Robert Anderson, a partner at FTV Capital who led the investment, will join LoanPro’s board of directors. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP advised FTV Capital.
MANUFACTURING
• Nature’s Sunshine Products Inc., a Lehi-based manufacturer and seller of nutritional and personal care products, has appointed Tariq H. Hassan to its board of directors. Hassan will serve on the Audit Committee. Nature’s Sunshine’s board will consist of nine directors, with eight serving as independent directors. Hassan has over 25 years of senior management experience in global brand strategy, communication, innovation and insights at several leading international companies. He currently serves as the chief marketing officer at Petco. Prior to Petco, Hassan was a senior vice president at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and served in various global leadership roles with Hewlett Packard and Omnicom. He began his career in advertising, progressing through international assignments with D’Arcy, Leo Burnett and FCB before helping found Element79 Partners.
MEDIA/MARKETING
• BYU Broadcasting, based in Provo and owned by Brigham Young University, has appointed Jeff Simpson as its new managing director, overseeing multiple channels, including BYUtv and its companion network, BYUradio. Simpson began his career working at Walt Disney Studios in the Television and Motion Picture production group. He then built Excel Entertainment Group, which became a top independent media distributor. The Excel Entertainment Group was acquired by Deseret Book Co. in 2004. Simpson served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Deseret Book until he was named president and CEO of Bonneville International in 2010. In 2013, he was named president of Deseret Book and subsequently became the president and publisher of the Deseret News in late 2017. Simpson received his bachelor’s degree from BYU in business and film. Simpson succeeds Michael Dunn, who in April accepted a new full-time ecclesiastical assignment as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He continued to serve as managing director of BYU Broadcasting until Simpson began as managing director July 1.
PHILANTHROPY
• Nu Skin, a Provo-based beauty and wellness products company, has announced that its annual Force For Good Day will feature Nu Skin employees, brand affiliates and families participating in local service projects focused on benefiting the lives of thousands of at-risk children around the globe. The 18th annual day of service will include employees and their families at the company’s global headquarters working with the Boys & Girls Club, the Franklin Community Center, the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and KultureCity to create 2,600 items, including backpacks filled with books and learning materials, flashcards for second-language learners, trauma and sensory kits and blankets.
• Marathon Petroleum Foundation Inc. recently awarded Ducks Unlimited (DU) a $100,000 grant to complete on-the-ground restoration and management projects to maximize use of limited water resources and improve water quality and quantity in Utah. The grant will support DU’s conservation efforts in Utah in direct alignment with Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum’s environmental sustainability and conservation priority. The projects will positively impact areas near Marathon Petroleum’s Utah operations and provide long-term benefits for the state’s people and wildlife, the foundation said. In Utah, DU has made substantial conservation gains restoring, enhancing and protecting more than 28,000 acres in the Great Salt Lake ecosystem over the past 15 years.
RECOGNITIONS
• England Logistics, Salt Lake City, has been named as one of the “50 Best Companies to Sell For,” a list compiled by Selling Power. The company has climbed in the rankings each year since it first appeared on the list in 2017. This year the company reached No. 28 on the 2021 list. To assemble the list, Selling Power’s research team scored companies using data across four main categories: compensation and benefits, sales culture, onboarding and sales enablement strategies, and sales training and coaching.
RESTAURANTS
• Carver Road Hospitality, based in Las Vegas, will open Flanker Kitchen + Sporting Club in September on the second floor above the Olympic Legacy Plaza at The Gateway in Salt Lake City. The 17,500-square-foot multi-concept complex will feature a restaurant, three bars, 400 square feet of LED screens, private karaoke and golf simulator rooms, a central sporting club/nightclub, and a cocktail lounge. Flanker will serve adults ages 21 and over.
SCHOLARSHIPS
• Mountain America Credit Union, Sandy, has announced that its scholarship and grant programs have awarded nearly $50,000, with a total of 16 education grants and 11 scholarships presented during 2021. Three students were awarded the Mountain America Scholarship, which is available to Mountain America Credit Union members and their families. Mykenna Dutton (community and social service), Andre Ramos (finance) and Packer Evans (technology and trades) were each awarded $2,000 to further their academic pursuits. In partnership with Keys to Success, a program that motivates students to excel academically and lays the foundation for future successes, Mountain America awarded Sage Patterson, Karlee LeFevre, Katie Awerkamp and Max Larsen each with a $2,000 scholarship. This coming fall, Mountain America will award one additional $2,000 Keys to Success scholarship. For more than 20 years, Mountain America has provided scholarships for Utah Public Employees’ Association employees and dependents who are also members of Mountain America. This year, Mountain America presented Jacob Richardson, Chiana Rossiter and Matthew Harris each with a $1,000 scholarship. During the 2020-2021 school year, Mountain America provided a total of $30,000 in education grants to support classroom learning and students’ needs. For the fifth year, it awarded education grants to teachers and school leaders to provide hands-on learning experiences in K-12 classrooms. In total, 10 grants were awarded to fund a variety of programs, including entrepreneurial, music, STEM and development programs. Mountain America also partnered with the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to provide $15,000 in COVID relief grants to help meet the critical needs of students. Six PTAs in Arizona were each awarded a $2,500 grant.
SERVICES
• Any Hour Services, an Orem-based provider of home services, and Knox Lane, a San Francisco-based investment firm focused on partnering with businesses in the consumer and services sectors, have formed the Any Hour Group. The partnership will provide Any Hour with capital and new capabilities as it looks to continue its expansion through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Any Hour’s management team, which includes CEO Wyatt Hepworth, COO Jeremy Hansen, CFO Lincoln Walpole and CMO Mike Wilson, will continue in their roles. SF&P Advisors acted as financial advisor and Greenberg Taurig acted as legal counsel for Any Hour. Jefferies and Lazard acted as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal counsel for Knox Lane.
• NewEdge Wealth LLC, a registered investment adviser specializing in ultra-high-net-worth, family office and institutional clients, has appointed Glen Mintz as managing director and portfolio manager. In his new role, Mintz will be responsible for developing long-term, growth-oriented investment strategies that follow a distinctive portfolio management style and are designed to meet the financial objectives of NewEdge Wealth’s elite client base. He will also be responsible for spearheading NewEdge Wealth’s expansion to Park City, slated to open this summer. Mintz will operate out of the Pittsburgh office with his team until the Park City office is established. Mintz has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry and specializes in managing equity portfolios. Prior to joining NewEdge Wealth, Mintz served in various portfolio management and financial services leadership roles for the past three decades.
• Assisted Living Locators has launched its franchise for the Central Wasatch Front. Assisted Living Locators provides the full continuum of adult care, offering free guidance on locating quality assisted living and in-home care options throughout Salt Lake, Utah, Summit, Wasatch, Uintah, Duchesne, Morgan, and Daggett counties. The new franchise is operated by senior living advisor Earl Webster of Salt Lake City. Assisted Living Locators has 140 franchisees in 36 states and the District of Columbia.
TRAVEL & TOURISM
• Visit Salt Lake (VSL), a private, nonprofit corporation responsible for the promotion of Salt Lake as a convention and travel destination, has appointed Ryan Mack as director of media and communications. Mack will manage public relations and communication efforts for VSL, targeting local, national and international media sources to build awareness of Salt Lake to key markets, publications and media while supporting meetings and conventions. Mack most recently served as the director of marketing and communications for the Downtown Alliance.