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AGRICULTURE
• The Utah Farm Bureau Federation has promoted Spencer Gibbons to chief operating officer. Gibbons will assume day-to-day management over operations and have a direct management function with staff. He spent the past 17 years as the northern regional manager for the organization. Gibbons grew up in Lewiston, Cache County, on a multi-generational dairy farm and completed his agriculture business and economics degree from Utah State University. Gibbons has continued to work at the family dairy.
BANKING
• People’s Utah Bancorp, the American Fork-holding company for Altabank, has completed its name change to Altabancorp. The rebranding began in November. The company said the unified brand “clarifies the size and scale of the bank and more accurately represents its mission and market position.” The parent company also has a new ticker symbol on the Nasdaq: ALTA.
CONTESTS
• Entrepreneurs have until Sept. 1 to apply for a $10,000 or $5,000 business grant from Nav, a Salt Lake City-based business financing company. The new round of the company’s Small Business Grant is designed to help provide a U.S. small business owner access to capital needed to grow their business. In this round of the grant, Nav will be awarding two monetary prizes: a $10,000 grand prize and a second place grant of $5,000. The grant is open to U.S.-based small businesses that have fewer than 99 employees and have been operating for six months or more. To enter, participants must complete the grant application process. Details are at Nav.com/grant. Since launching in early 2018, Nav has awarded more than $80,000 to businesses across the country.
• Applications are being accepted until 5 p.m. July 29 for the Utah Ethical Leadership Awards, a collaboration of the Daniels Fund, the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Collegiate Program at the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business, and the Community Foundation of Utah and recognizing Utah businesses, nonprofit organizations and government entities that embody best practices in ethical behavior. One organization from each sector will be recognized. The winner of the business category will be recognized with the Bill Daniels Ethical Leadership Award. Details are at https://danielsfundethicsinitiative.business.utah.edu/utah-ethical-leadership-awards-application/?utm_source=none&utm_medium=eccleslink.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• The Economic Development Corporation of Utah updated its fiscal year 2020 business recruitment and retention statistics during the July meeting of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED). The organization had released preliminary figures in June, just prior to the end of the fiscal year. For the 2019-20 fiscal year, EDCUtah had 32 project wins that are expected to result in 13,489 new or retained jobs, $1.2 billion capital investment and the use of 3.1 million square feet.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 50 among U.S. cities for the total value of its residential real estate. The rankings were compiled by LendingTree. Salt Lake City’s total value is $103 billion. The median value is $312,000. The total value of U.S. residential real estate in the database was $32.6 trillion. New York has the most valuable real estate in the U.S. at $2.8 trillion. The least-valuable metro in the study was Battle Creek, Michigan, with real estate valued at $989 million. Details are at https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/lendingtree-reveals-the-most-valuable-cities-in-america/.
• Summit County leads all Utah counties with the strongest small-business presence, according to a study by SmartAsset. The study measured IRS data, determining the number of small businesses operating in each county as well as how much income they generate. Following Summit County were (in order) Wayne, Wasatch, Morgan, Rich, Washington, Utah, Grand, Kane and Cache counties. Details are at https://smartasset.com/retirement/allianz-annuities-review#Utah.
• Logan is ranked No. 9 among the best U.S. small cities to start a business, a list compiled by Go.Verizon.com. The rankings of cities with populations between 50,000 and 75,000 are based on seven metrics: education level of local workforce, average commute times, income per capita, broadband access, availability of SBA loans, number of non-farm businesses and overall tax friendliness. The study said Logan’s tax score is 16 percent higher than average, which lends way to more startups able to establish business; its average commute time is 41 percent lower than average, and its number of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher is 8 percent higher than average. Also in the top 50 are No. 22 Lehi, No. 45 South Jordan and No. 48 Taylorsville. The top-ranked small city is Cheyenne, Wyoming. Details are at https://go.verizon.com/resources/the-best-small-cities-to-start-a-small-business/.
• Morgan County leads all Utah counties in places where residents are donating the most, based on a study by financial technology company SmartAsset. The study measured how much money people in each county donated as a percentage of their income, as well as the proportion of people in a given county making charitable donations. Following Morgan County were (in order) Utah, Davis, Wasatch, Washington, Rich, Cache, Summit, Sanpete and Box Elder counties. Details are at https://smartadvisormatch.com/data/most-generous-counties-2019/utah.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• RizeNext, a Utah-based professional development series company, is partnering with California-based MotherCoders.org to provide the first MotherCoders program in Utah to prepare a set of 20 mothers for technology careers. The part-time, nine-week training program his fall will hold Saturday sessions at Bottega, in Lehi and Weber State University in Ogden to build the skills, knowledge and professional network needed to transition into or re-enter a career in tech. Current plans are for the course to run live, with appropriate social distancing, but, if necessary, the program will be remote. Applications for the fall sessions are open through July 23 at http://bit.ly/mothercodersapply, questions on the application process can be sent to apply@mothercoders.org.
• Western Governors University, Salt Lake City, has appointed Jan Jones-Schenk as senior vice president and executive dean of the College of Health Professions. Jones-Schenk will lead all strategic, operational and academic initiatives and processes for the college, which has nearly 30,000 enrolled students and 70,000 graduates. Jones-Schenk joined WGU in 2008, leading the university’s development and launch of the nation’s first competency-based prelicensure nursing program.
EXPANSIONS
• The Jerry Seiner organization has purchased Henry Brown Chevrolet and Henry Brown Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Casa Grande, Arizona. Financial terms were not disclosed. The action introduces the Jerry Seiner Dealerships brand in Arizona, where the dealerships will re-brand to Jerry Seiner Chevrolet and Jerry Seiner Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Both dealerships will be led by Tom Hemmersmeier as general manager.
GOVERNMENT
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded over $1.3 million in the Rocky Mountain region to fight housing discrimination, including $359,580 to the Disability Law Center in Salt Lake City. A total of $40.8 million was awarded nationwide through the department’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) both to help people who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination and to educate housing providers about fair housing laws.
• Utah will receive $39.2 million in payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) funding for 2020, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced. Tooele County led Utah counties, at $3.55 million. Nationwide, more than 1,900 local governments will receive a total of $514.7 million. PILT payments are made annually for tax-exempt federal lands administered by U.S. Department of the Interior agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), for lands administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service (USFS); and for federal water projects and some military installations. Using a statutory formula, the annual PILT payments to local governments are computed based on the number of acres of Federal land within each county or jurisdiction and on the population of that county or jurisdiction. Details are at www.doi.gov/pilt.
LAW
• Armstrong Teasdale has hired attorney Kristin Baughman as a member of the firm’s Financial and Real Estate Services practice group in Salt Lake City. Baughman has more than a decade of experience in commercial litigation and appeals. Her practice includes counseling clients in complex commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation, commercial loan restructuring and receiverships, and real estate litigation.
MEDIA/MARKETING
• Vestar, the owner and developer of The Gateway, Salt Lake City, has engaged Redhead Marketing & PR to manage its public relations activities following the relocation of Karen Boe of Boe Marketing to Boise, where she accepted a position as director of communications for Mayor Lauren McLean.
• Foot & Ankle International and Foot & Ankle Orthopaedic, the official journals of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society published by Sage Publishing, have selected Dr. Charles L. Saltzman as editor-in-chief. Saltzman is chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Utah. Saltzman will begin transitioning into the role in October and will assume full responsibility for leading the journals by Jan. 1, 2021. A researcher, educator and visionary, Saltzman has been actively involved in AOFAS since 1991 and was president of the society in 2009-10. His leadership experience includes roles as president of the International Federation of Foot & Ankle Societies and the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons. He currently serves as a director for the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and is a member of the FAI Editorial Board. He is past chair of the FAI Managerial Board.
PHILANTHROPY
• The Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Dominion Energy, has donated $10,000 to the Needs Beyond Medicine, a Salt Lake City-based nonprofit that plans to use the donation to distribute grants to cancer patients. Needs Beyond Medicine’s Relief Program last year assisted 151 cancer patients.
• The Arctic Circle Restaurant chain has donated $10,000 to Utah Food Bank through the restaurants’ nonprofit organization, Arctic Cares. The donation will provide 38,833 meals for Utahns facing hunger, according to the food bank. Arctic Circle has 67 stores in six states.
REAL ESTATE
• Liberty Crossing, a 95-unit multifamily asset in South Salt Lake, has been sold by Liberty Crossing Associates LLC to Elan Multifamily Investments, a Silicon Valley-based syndicator. Financial terms were not disclosed. Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, announced the sale. Shin and Brock Zylstra, IPA first vice president, brokered the transaction with the buyer. The 102,011-rentable-square-foot property was built in 2019 and is part of a 14.5-acre mixed-use redevelopment project.
• KeyBank Community Development Lending and Investment (CDLI) secured $17.6 million of construction and permanent financing and $9.9 million of tax credit equity on behalf of Hampstead Development Partners, a real estate company based in San Diego that specializes in creating and preserving affordable housing throughout the country, to acquire and renovate the four-story, 80-unit Jackson Apartments, a historic affordable housing property in Salt Lake City. Built in 1916, Jackson Apartments was financed through tax-exempt bonds issued by the Utah Housing Corp.; 4 percent low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) equity; state historic tax credit equity; an Opportunity Zone equity investment; and a loan from the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City. As part of the LIHTC, 80 percent of the units will be restricted to residents age 55 and older, with 20 percent of the units available to non-seniors. All units are restricted to 60 percent area median income and will benefit from a new 20-year, Section 8 project-based Housing Assistance Payment contract. Hector Zuniga and Jennifer Seamons of KeyBank Community Development Lending and Investment structured the financing.
RECOGNITIONS
• The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) has received a Gold Shovel Award from Area Development. GOED last year earned a Silver Shovel Award. The annual awards program recognize states for their achievements in attracting high-value investment projects that will create a significant number of new jobs in their communities. Information was gathered from all 50 states about their Top 10 job-creation and investment projects initiated in 2019. Utah received the Gold Shovel Award for the 3 million to 5 million population category. Based on a combination of weighted factors — including the number of new jobs to be created in relation to the state’s population, the combined dollar amount of the investments, the number of new facilities, and the diversity of industry represented — six states achieving the highest weighted overall scores were awarded Area Development’s Gold Shovels in five population categories.
• Clarion Suites of St. George was awarded “Best of Choice 2020,” the highest honor of Choice Hotels International Inc., at the company’s 66th annual convention. The hotel has been a Platinum and Gold Choice Award winner since 2001, which represents the top 1 percent within the brand. Award criteria is evaluated by Choice Hotels through its official property ranking reports.
• Several Utah credit unions earned Diamond Awards for outstanding marketing and business development achievements in the credit union industry. The awards were presented by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Marketing & Business Development Council. Awards were given in 35 categories. Winners are Complete Campaign category, Deseret First Credit Union, West Valley City; Internal Marketing Recognition/Incentive Campaign category, Cyprus Credit Union, West Jordan; Logos category, Deseret First Credit Union; Multifaceted category, America First Credit Union, Ogden; One-Time Event category, Deseret First Credit Union and Mountain America Credit Union, Sandy; Outdoor category, Mountain America Credit Union; Segmented Marketing category, Deseret First Credit Union; and Video (Non-Commercial) Series category, America First Credit Union. Details are at https://www.cunacouncils.org/events-calendar/mbd-awards/.
SCHOLARSHIPS
• Mountain America Credit Union’s scholarship program has awarded more than $20,000 in scholarship opportunities. Three students were awarded the Mountain America Scholarship, which is available to Mountain America Credit Union members and their families: Lily Crowell, University of Utah (technology and trades); Austin Harsh, New Mexico State University (community and social services); and Winston Teagle, Brigham Young University-Idaho (finance) were each awarded $2,000 to further their academic pursuits. Mountain America will present its Keys to Success Scholarships in August. The $1,000 Mountain America/Utah Public Employees’ Association Scholarship, for Utah Public Employees’ Association employees and their dependents who are also members of Mountain America, were awarded this year to Tracia Sullivan, Brian Prettyman and Trevor Lorenz Gasser.
SERVICES
• National Processing, an Orem-based merchant processor, has named Keith Strumpler as vice president of strategic relationships. Strumpler will be responsible for supporting agents and affiliates. He worked at TSYS for 18 years in various leadership positions in sales, business development, account management, product development and operations management. He also was director of business development at Choice Technology Solutions.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Ivanti, a Salt Lake City-based IT and security operations automation company, has hired Nayaki Nayyar as executive vice president and chief product officer. She will lead Ivanti's global teams on product direction, development and operations. Nayyar joins Ivanti from BMC, where she was the president of the Digital Service and Operations Management Business Unit. She previously spent over five years at SAP, where she was general manager and global head of SAP's Internet of Things (IoT) division. She assumed that role after holding strategy and senior management positions with SAP's Cloud, CRM and Mobile business units. Before her work with enterprise software vendors, Nayyar held technology leadership roles at Valero and Shell. She currently serves on the boards of Corteva Agriscience and Veritone Inc.
• EFORCE, a public safety software company, has announced it will move its headquarters this fall less than a mile from its current location at 168 N. Gateway Drive, Providence. The 20-year-old company said the move, officially set for November, will mean more space for the company to expand operations.
TRANSPORTATION
• VIA Motors International Inc., Orem, has appointed Thierry Caussat as chief technical officer. Caussat had been serving as the company’s vice president of software and systems engineering since mid-2016. Caussat has more than 30 years of automotive experience.
• Two Utah airports are among those across the country that will receive a total of nearly $800 million in safety and infrastructure grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Salt Lake City International Airport will receive $6.9 million for rehabilitation of taxiways and taxiway lighting. St. George Regional Airport will receive $772,000 to develop a new airport master plan or study. The national total includes $689 million from the Airport Improvement Program and $104.4 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act grants.