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BANKING
• Mountain America Credit Union, West Jordan, has opened a branch at 9640 S. State St., Sandy. The new branch is managed by Lyndzi Elsmore. She has been with Mountain America for more than 15 years, with leadership experience in both managing and consulting in Mountain America branches. The Sandy branch will offer a range of financial products and services, including traditional savings, insurance, investments, auto and RV loans and mortgage loans and services. Mountain America has 87 branches in five states.
CONTESTS
• Nominations are being sought for the 2017 International Person of the Year and the 2017 International Company of the Year, with recipients to be honored Oct. 17 at the Utah Global Forum, at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. Nomination forms can be found at https://utahglobalforum.com. People can nominate one individual “who has distinguished himself or herself in international business within the state of Utah” for the individual award. Up to three companies may be nominated, as long as the nominating person is not employed by or affiliated with any of the companies. Criteria for consideration should include the percentage of revenues derived globally; the number of countries the company exports to and/or imports from; operations established in foreign countries; significant number or size of international transactions; and/or support given to the international business community in Utah. Questions about the nomination process can be sent to david@ustranslation.com.
• Grow Utah is hosting the 2017 Outdoor Rec “Concept to Company” Contest for new and innovative outdoor recreation products or services. The application window for the $15,000 contest opened July 1 and ends Aug. 31. Finalists will be selected and a final pitch event will take place in September. Details about the contest are at http://www.growutah.com/c2c/or17.
EXPANSIONS
• Simplus, Sandy, has opened an office in Manila, Philippines. The consulting and “quote-to-cash implementations” company said the office will allow customers to have access to Simplus service experts at any time. Brad Warnock, director of operations and enablement at Simplus since 2014, will lead the new office.
• Newfi Lending, a residential mortgage lender and portfolio company of Warburg Pincus, has expanded Newfi Wholesale into Utah. Newfi Wholesale is the third-party origination division of Newfi Lending. Newfi Wholesale has hired Shayne Nielson as regional account manager to drive the expansion into Utah. Nielson has spent many years in both wholesale and retail mortgage lending at Headlands Mortgage and GreenPoint Mortgage, working in Utah and Florida. Newfi Wholesale now has services in nine states.
• Protecs, a Pennsylvania-based construction management, design/build and real estate development company, has expanded into the Intermountain region with a Salt Lake City office. To be located in the University of Utah’s Technology Park, the new office will be the hub of the company’s West Coast operations. Protecs has been working throughout the region for 12 years. Donavon Minnis will direct the Salt Lake City office and Utah operations. Minnis has more than 20 years of experience in construction management and oversight of design/build projects, specifically in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas. Prior to joining Protecs, he led multiple project teams, collectively managing a project portfolio over 10 years throughout the Intermountain Region. He graduated from Weber State University with a bachelor of science degree in CM engineering.
GOVERNMENT
• The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board recently approved two changes in leadership. Jerry Oldroyd, senior counsel at Ballard Spahr, will serve as board chair. Mel Lavitt, a senior advisor at Needham & Co., will serve as chairman of the board’s Incentives Subcommittee. The subcommittee assists with corporate expansion and recruitment efforts. A company is first vetted and approved by the subcommittee before receiving approval from the full board to enter an incentive agreement. The GOED executive director oversees and has final approval on all board actions.
• Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski has appointed Russell Pack as interim executive director of Salt Lake City International Airport. He succeeds Maureen Riley, airport executive director since 2007, who announced her retirement in April. Russell was the airport’s properties and property manager from 1983-96. He then became the airport’s director of administration and commercial services until 2007. He also served as interim director prior to Riley’s appointment in February 2007. Pack served on the Airport Advisory Board from 2007-14. He holds a master’s of public administration and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Utah.
INTERNATIONAL
• World Trade Center Utah and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development are inviting people to join a trade mission to Singapore and Vietnam. The mission will be led by Gov. Gary Herbert and will take place Aug. 25-Sept. 3. Delegates will have the opportunity to find new business opportunities in those countries. The registration deadline is July 11. Registration can be completed at or wtcutah.com/singapore-vietnam-2017. Qualifying companies may receive funding for trade mission-related expenses through the State Trade and Expansion Program (STEP) matching grants.
LAW
• Kimball Dean Parker has been selected to lead LawX, a legal design laboratory at the Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School. LawX will create products and other solutions addressing issues related to access of legal services. Each term, LawX will solve one legal issue that makes the law inaccessible in Utah. The first project — slated for this fall — will focus on helping self-represented defendants answer a lawsuit. Parker is an associate attorney in Parsons Behle & Latimer’s Salt Lake City office. A member of the firm’s litigation department, Parker concentrates his practice on litigation and intellectual property.
REAL ESTATE
• Property Management Inc. (PMI), Lehi, announced that it added 49 franchises to its network in the first two quarters of 2017. The expansion includes offices in the San Francisco and New Orleans markets, as well as entry into Costa Rica and Malta. The company now has more than 200 franchises worldwide.
RECOGNITIONS
• Busch Technology Solutions LLC, Salt Lake City, and Charmed Collections, West Jordan, have been selected as winners of the 2017 American Small Business Championship, hosted by SCORE, a network of volunteer business mentors. The award was presented to 102 entrepreneurs for their dedication to the success of their small businesses. Each will receive a $1,000 Sam's Club gift card, an all-expense-paid trip to a training and networking event, SCORE mentoring and publicity throughout the year.
• Four Utah chief executive officers have earned a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award for small and medium companies (fewer than 10,000 employees). The list recognizes leaders that employees love working for. No. 2 in the rankings is Taylor Olson, Slingshot (Utah). Eric Rea of Podium is ranked No. 7. Coming in at No. 9 is Dan Burton, Health Catalyst. No. 19 is Jeff Sermon, Utah Community Credit Union. CEOs at 445,000 CEOs small and medium-sized companies were surveyed by Glassdoor. Winners are determined on anonymous employee feedback shared on Glassdoor.com over the past year.
• ClearOne, Salt Lake City, has been awarded an AV Technology magazine “Best of Show Award” for its View Pro 4K IP-based, multimedia streaming products showcased at the recent InfoComm conference in Orlando, Florida. Award winners were selected on the show floor from thousands of products showcased by more than 950 exhibitors, and represent outstanding achievements in product development.
RESTAURANTS
• CoreLife Eatery has opened its first Utah location at 197 NW. State St., American Fork. The restaurant offers green, grains and broth-based dishes.
RETAIL
• Smith’s has opened a Smith’s Marketplace store at 400 S. 1750 W., Springville. It is the third marketplace store to open in Utah County and will have 256 employees. Dal Haderlie, a 33-year veteran of Smith’s who previously managed the Orem store for more than 20 years, will serve as store director. The 123,500-square-foot, multi-department store features the area’s first Starbucks; an assortment of natural, organic and specialty bulk food and locally grown produce; a two-lane drive-through pharmacy; and household and clothing items. Smith’s operates 141 stores in seven states, including 54 stores in Utah.
SCHOLARSHIPS
• Western Governors University, Salt Lake City, is offering two full-tuition scholarships and 20 scholarships of $2,000 for members of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Both full-tuition SHRM scholarships are valued at up to $3,250 per six-month term for up to six terms for a bachelor’s degree and up to four terms for a master’s degree. Each partial tuition SHRM scholarship is valued at $500 per six-month term for up to four terms. New and enrolling students can apply for the scholarships through March 31, 2018.
SERVICES
• Foresight Wealth Management, Draper, has hired Paul Hutchinson as a partner. He will lead the firm’s growth strategy to aid advancement into new wealth management spaces. Hutchinson has 16 years of experience in the wealth management industry. He comes to Foresight from Bridge Investment Group, where he served as director of capital markets. Prior to Bridge Investment Group, Hutchinson founded Midwest Center LLC. Foresight also announced the creation of an advisory board that will be led by newly appointed executive chairman Donaldson Hartman. He has 26 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, investment banking, commercial banking and private equity fund management. His experience includes being co-founder of Bridge Investment Group’s funds management business and family of private equity real estate funds. Hartman serves as vice chairman on the board of directors and special advisor to Bridge Investment Group. Prior to Bridge, Hartman served as the director of the Asia Pacific region’s Financial Institutions Group of Citigroup Salomon Smith Barney.
• PrincePerelson & Associates, a Salt Lake City-based provider of staffing services, has appointed Chip Luman as chief executive officer over its Project Solutions and Temporary Staffing divisions. Luman joins the company from HireVue, where he was co-founder and chief operating officer. Prior to HireVue, he held various executive roles at Charles Schwab, managed software development in the gaming industry at Acclaim Entertainment, and held various human resources roles at Pepsi and Marathon Oil.