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AGRICULTURE
• The ninth season of the Tuesday Farmers Market has opened and will continue through September, from 4 p.m. to dusk, at Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City. The market features about 20 vendors during the peak of the harvest season, including those offering produce, meats, cheeses, baked goods and other locally produced food. Details are at www.slcfarmersmarket.org/tuesday-harvest-market.
ASSOCIATIONS
• SecurityMetrics, Orem, is one of 20 organizations named to the first PCI SSC Global Executive Assessor Roundtable, formed by the PCI Security Standards Council. The roundtable will be an executive committee-level advisory board composed of senior executives from PCI assessor companies. SecurityMetrics was named to the roundtable in an effort to secure payment data globally. The privately held company guides organizations through compliance mandates and has tested over 1 million systems for vulnerabilities.
CONSTRUCTION
• Cameron Construction, Salt Lake City, has hired James Kilpatrick and Debra Wickizer as business development and marketing managers. Kilpatrick has more than six years of experience in marketing and business development within the
AEC industry. He earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Utah and is currently pursuing a master’s of real estate development degree from the university. Wickizer has an extensive background in business development and marketing. She is a founding principal and serves as president of a USCIS-approved EB 5 Regional Center.
• PrimeSource Building Products, a building materials distributor, has opened its Salt Lake City distribution center, serving customers in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada. It is the company’s 34th distribution center in the U.S. The 107,000-square-foot center at 6195 W. 300 S. allows for an expanded offering of PrimeSource brands and a full suite of building products from brand partners.
CORPORATE
• The board of directors of Zions Bancorporation, Salt Lake City, has approved a plan to repurchase $185 million of common shares during the third quarter of 2018. Zions said it intends to reduce its capital ratios to levels similar to or slightly stronger than the median levels of its peer group. Assuming economic conditions remain generally stable, Zions intends to accomplish the reduction of its capital ratios in an orderly fashion over the next six to eight quarters, it said.
• The board of directors of Nu Skin Enterprises, a Provo-based developer and distributor of beauty and wellness products, has increased its stock repurchase authorization to $500 million, an approximate $408 million increase.
• Merit Medical Systems Inc., South Jordan, has had a public offering of 3.5 million shares of common stock at a price of $54 per share before underwriting discounts. It closed July. 30. Merit also has granted the underwriters participating in the offering a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 525,000 shares of common stock at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts. Merit said it expects to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay debt under its existing credit facility. Wells Fargo Securities and Piper Jaffray & Co. acted as joint bookrunners and representatives of the underwriters for the offering. Canaccord Genuity, Raymond James, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Barrington Research and Sidoti & Co. LLC acted as co-managers.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Zions Bancorporation, Salt Lake City, has declared a regular quarterly dividend of 30 cents per common share. The dividend is payable Aug. 23 to shareholders of record Aug. 16. It represents an increase of 150 percent from the dividend paid in the year ago period, and a 25 percent increase over the dividend paid in the second quarter. The board also declared regular quarterly cash dividends on the company’s various perpetual preferred shares. The cash dividend on the series A, G, H, and J shares are payable Sept. 17 to shareholders of record Sept. 1. The cash dividend on the Series I shares is payable Dec. 17 to shareholders of record Dec. 1.
• The board of directors of People’s Utah Bancorp, American Fork, has declared a quarterly dividend payment of 11 cents per common share. The dividend will be paid Aug. 13 to shareholders of record Aug. 6. The dividend is a 1-cent-per-share increase from the prior quarter. People’s Utah Bancorp is the holding company for People’s Intermountain Bank, which has 26 locations in three banking divisions; a leasing division; and a mortgage division.
• The board of directors of Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., Provo, has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 36.5 cents per share. The dividend will be paid Sept. 12 to stockholders of record Aug. 31. The company develops and distributes beauty and wellness products.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 22 on a list of “Scoring Tech Talent,” compiled by CBRE. The sixth annual report ranks 50 U.S. and Canadian markets based on 13 metrics measuring each market’s depth, vitality and attractiveness to tech talent. The top-ranked markets are the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Markets registering the greatest rise in the rankings are Cleveland, Columbus and San Diego.
• Daggett County leads all Utah counties in a list of where people in Utah can get the most out of their money, compiled by financial technology company SmartAsset. The study compares median income and the cost of living to determine where people hold the most purchasing power. Following Daggett are, in order, Summit, Uintah, Morgan, Davis, Wasatch, Utah, Tooele, Salt Lake and Duchesne counties. Details are at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/cost-of-living-calculator#Utah
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• The Neumont College of Computer Science has launched hybrid online programs. It now offers a certificate in web development and an associate of science in software development in a predominantly online format. Students enrolled in these part-time programs will take courses online and meet on campus once a week for mentorship and guidance as they develop projects. The certificate in web development is offered on a part-time, nine-month program plan and is intended for students who want to keep working while going to school. The programs are now accepting applications. Classes start Oct. 1.
• Athlos Academy of Utah, a tuition-free, public charter school in Herriman, has hired Jeffrey Herr as executive director. Herr previously was a senior regional director for K12 Inc. in the Middle East and head of school for Utah Virtual Academy. He has also taught in the Weber School District and served as an administrator at various schools in the Salt Lake City School District. He also was head of school of Utah Connections Academy, a Woods Cross-based online school. He earned his bachelor’s degree in European history from Weber State University and a master’s degree in education administration from the University of Utah.
ENERGY
• The Utah Division of Public Utilities and Office of Consumer Services have created a website for electricity customers using or considering solar resources. The site, https://rooftopsolar.utah.gov/, provides background information for customers considering solar energy to ensure they are aware of applicable rates and rules to avoid pitfalls that may accompany sales and installations of solar panels and systems. It contains information about Rocky Mountain Power’s tariffs governing use of rooftop solar resources, including the different rates that might apply to different customers.
• Vivint Solar Inc., Lehi, has promoted Jeremy Sabin to vice president of human capital. He will serve as a member of the company’s senior management team; lead cultural strategy; and oversee HR operations, including talent acquisition, compensation, training and development, benefits and equity administration. Previously Vivint Solar’s senior director of human capital, Sabin has more than 15 years of human capital experience. He joined Vivint Solar in 2014 as director of human capital. Prior to Vivint Solar, Sabin served as senior HR manager for Sun Products/Henkel Corp. and was a business partner supervisor at Intel-Micron Flash Technologies.
EXPANSIONS
• Vivint Solar Inc., a Lehi-based residential solar provider has announced plans to expand availability of its residential solar energy systems into Illinois, with services beginning in the greater Chicago area. Marking the company’s first expansion into the Midwest region, Vivint Solar plans to create over 100 jobs in the state within the year. Vivint Solar operates in 22 states.
FINANCE
• Bart Wagstaff, a wealth and retirement planning expert, has joined Capita Financial Network, a Sandy-based independent advisory firm. Wagstaff has more than a decade of experience in wealth planning. He previously was a financial advisor at Fidelity Investments and has also worked for Zions Bank and Goldman Sachs. Wagstaff earned a degree in finance from the University of Utah.
GOVERNMENT
• The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) has announced the appointment of Andrea Moss to its board of directors. Moss is president and CEO of Nelnet Bank, which is in formation. She previously was president of Comenity Capital Bank, executive vice president of operations and risk management at Zions Bank, and president and CEO of American Express Centurion Bank. Moss earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from BYU and is a Certified Public Accountant. She will replace board member Bob Frankenberg.
• The Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, in collaboration with the Salt Lake City Police, Human Resources and Business Development departments, recently held a job fair targeting adult learners, member of refugee communities and graduating high school seniors, juniors and undergraduate college students. The job fair at the Horizonte Instruction and Training Center. Representatives from the University of Utah Hinckley Institute of Politics and David Eccles School of Business, Salt Lake Community College and Neumont College of Computer Science also were available to offer education options. Among participating employers were the Salt Lake City Corporation’s fire, police, dispatch and airport departments; Salt Lake City School District; Utah Department of Workforce Services; Henkel; Sephora; Amazon; UPS; Sweet Candy Co.; Specialized Bicycles; Workforce Staffing; C.R. England; M&M Distributing; Advanced Storage Products; Stadler Rail; ARUP; FedEx; Harland Clark; and the African American Chamber of Commerce.
• Utah state government has announced it is launching a statewide customer experience program focused on improving the experience of its residents. The program, run on the Qualtrics XM Platform, will save the state money by doing more in-house research, consolidate all customer experience programs on a single platform, and help the state achieve its goal of 25 percent greater efficiency in government, Qualtrics said. Utah is the first state in the nation to adopt a statewide citizen experience program. The state will deploy a robust citizen experience feedback program to better understand the needs of its citizens, proactively develop experience programs, and act on real-time feedback, the company said.
• Emma E. Houston has been appointed chair of the Utah MLK Human Rights Commission. Houston has served on the commission since 2016. Her two-year term as chair will begin this fall. She is the director of the Salt Lake County Office of Diversity & Inclusion, as well as a longtime, active community volunteer. She is the former chairwoman of the Governor’s Office of Ethnic Affairs and currently serves on the Pastor France A. Davis Scholarship Board, the Anne Stirba Cancer Foundation Board, the Huntsman Cancer Institute Community Action Board, the “You Got This” Women’s Interfaith Board and The HistoryMakers Regional Board and is the president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. (Upsilon Beta Omega chapter).
HEALTHCARE
• Dr. Don B. Olsen, a key member of the University of Utah team that developed and implanted the world’s first artificial heart, died Aug. 5 at his Cottonwood Heights, Utah, home of causes incident to age. He was 88. Olsen, who was professor emeritus in the U’s departments of biomedical engineering and surgery as well as president of the Utah Artificial Heart Institute, was a veterinarian who implanted early prototypes of the Jarvik-7 artificial heart into animals – mostly calves and sheep – and was instrumental in developing the final design of the device that was implanted into patient Barney Clark in 1982. Prior to working on the artificial heart, Olsen started a veterinarian practice in 1956 in Smithfield and was a veterinary researcher at the University of Nevada in Reno. He was a professor of surgery at the University of Utah as well as a research professor in the then bioengineering (now biomedical engineering) and pharmaceutics departments. He was director of both the U’s Center for Artificial Hearts and Medical Devices and the Institute for Biomedical Engineering. He also was president of medical devices company SynCardia, as well as vice president of research and development for Micromed Technology Inc., in Texas. He retired as president of the Utah Artificial Heart Institute at the age of 82.
INVESTMENT
• DivvyPay Inc., a Lehi-based corporate spend management platform, has raised $35 million in a Series B funding round, which was led by Insight Venture Partners.
• RiskRecon, a Salt Lake City-based third-party cyber risk management provider, has raised $25 million in Series B financing. The round was led by Accel and included existing investors Dell Technologies Capital, General Catalyst and F-Prime Capital. Existing individual investors Mickey Boodaei, Rakesh Loonkar and Paul Sagan also participated in the round. In conjunction with the investment, Accel partner Nate Niparko will join the company’s board of directors. RiskRecon will use the capital to meet increasing global market demand for third-party cyber risk management solutions. The most recent round brings RiskRecon’s total funding to more than $40 million.
MEDIA/MARKETING
• KUER has hired Joel Meyer as director of programming and promotion. Meyer is a podcast and talk show producer whose work includes “Making Oprah,” “Making Obama” and “American Fiasco.” Meyer was most recently an executive producer at WNYC Studios. Before that, he was an executive producer of talk programming at WBEZ Chicago, a managing producer of podcasts at slate.com and the executive producer of “Soundcheck” at WNYC.
MILESTONES
• Zions Bank’s Military Internship Program has hit a milestone with its 100th military intern being placed in a full-time position. The program was created in 2011 to help veterans of any age transition back into civilian life. It gives veterans an opportunity to learn more about banking, networking and professional development, with the ultimate goal of helping them find a new career.
NONPROFITS
• Asma Ishaq, chief executive officer of Modere, a Springville-based clean lifestyle products company, has been elected to the board of directors of the Direct Selling Education Foundation. DSEF is a nonprofit organization providing students with an accurate understanding of the direct selling industry. Ashaq was appointed CEO of Modere in January after leading her company, Jusuru International, Inc., through its acquisition by Modere in February 2017. Previously, Ishaq served on the board of directors of the Direct Selling Association, the parent industry association of the DSEF. Ishaq also has served as a committee member of the Council for Responsible Nutrition and an advisory board member of the Fragrance Creators Association.
PHILANTHROPY
• The D. Gary Young, Young Living Foundation recently raised more than $1 million to help end modern slavery in Africa during the foundation’s “Ride of a Reason,” Foundation 5K and other activities at the Young Living Essential Oils 2018 International Grand Convention. All funds raised will go to support Hope for Justice, a nonprofit that exists to bring about the end of modern slavery by preventing exploitation, rescuing victims, restoring lives and reforming society.
• Employees and partners of Vista Outdoor Inc., Farmington, recently donated more than $146,700 for the Veterans Community Project (VCP) during the company’s recent Hunt/Shoot sales conference. VCP, a nonprofit corporation, strives to eliminate homelessness in the military veteran community. The funds were raised during a silent/live auction at Vista Outdoor’s annual sales conference, held in Overland Park, Kansas, which also is home to the company’s Outdoor Products segment.
• AvantGuard Monitoring Centers, Ogden, is organizing its sixth annual 5K benefit race, set for Sept. 15 in Ogden. Each year, AvantGuard team members nominate families in the area who are facing financial strain from medical issues. The members of the committee then select one family for which to run, and the family receives money from “AG Run For A Reason” race registrations and sponsorships. This year, AvantGuard is holding the event to benefit Leo Thurgood, who was born with an omphalocele, a thin layered sac that contained his liver outside of his body, and who has an atrial septal defect. Support from the race will help his parents pay for the care he needs and gather community support for his family.
REAL ESTATE
• Colliers International has named Blake Rigby as managing director of Utah. He will be responsible for leading and managing the Colliers team in Salt Lake City as they advise investors, corporate users and landlords in commercial real estate transactions. Rigby is a CPA with over 36 years leading high-growth companies, including Gastronomy, Miche Bag, O’ccurance Teleservices, Challenger Schools and Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors. He joined Colliers earlier this year as part of the acquisition of Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors, where he served as chief financial officer and chief operations officer. In addition to brokerage oversight in Utah, Rigby will also oversee brokerage operations in Alaska.
• The Utah Production Facility building at 1811 W. 1700 S., Salt Lake City, has been sold by Reser’s Fine Foods Inc. to Globus Relief, a nonprofit healthcare organization. Terms were not disclosed. Newmark Grubb ACRES announced the sale of the 92,831-square-foot facility on 5.82 acres. Industrial real estate specialists Skyler Peterson and Jaden Malan of Newmark Grubb ACRES represented the seller in the transaction. Globus Relief was founded in 1996 with a mission to improve access and delivery of quality healthcare worldwide. It achieves the mission by gathering, processing and distributing surplus, trade-out and obsolete medical resources to its network of qualified charity partners. Globus Relief has distributed over $1 billion of supplies to date to more than 800 charities in over 140 countries.
RECOGNITIONS
• O.C. Tanner, a Salt Lake City-based employee recognition and culture company, has been ranked No. 1 on HRO Today’s 2018 “Baker’s Dozen” in the category of Employee Recognition and received first place in the Quality of Services segment. To determine the rankings of its Baker’s Dozen list, HRO Today collects feedback through an online survey that is distributed to the clients of service providers. Companies are ranked in three areas: breadth of service, deal size and service quality.
• Inside Self Storage recently recognized Extra Space Storage Inc., Salt Lake City, has a 2018 “Best of Business” winner. Industry professionals voted Extra Space Storage as the Best Third-Party Management Company for the seventh consecutive year. The company recently added its 500th store to its third-party management platform, ManagementPlus. ManagementPlus has added more than 80 third-party managed stores to its platform in 2018, and expects to add approximately 150 stores before year-end. In addition, the Company currently manages over 200 joint venture locations, and almost 900 wholly owned locations, for a total of approximately 1,600 stores.
• Walker Center recently was presented the Kilowatt Cup Award by the Utah chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA). Walker Center, a 20-story office building at 200 South and Main Street in Salt Lake City, achieved the award by reaching superior accomplishments in energy efficiency during 2017. It saw a 10 percent improvement in the energy bill cost per square foot and improved its carbon footprint by 11 percent. Buildings in the Kilowatt Cup award were judged in five categories: energy star score, energy use intensity (EUI), site EUI, cost savings per square foot, and greenhouse gas emissions. Walker Center scored in the top three in each category.
• The Governmental Research Association, the national organization for public policy research professionals, has recognized Utah Foundation’s work with two of its top awards. Utah Foundation is a nonpartisan public policy research group. The selections were announced at GRA’s national conference in Detroit. The three-part Utah Health Cost Series was honored with the Most Distinguished Research award. Research Analyst Sam Brucker was the principal author of the series explaining trends in medical service costs, health insurance premiums and Utah’s Medicaid programs.The multi-part Utah Tax Policy Series and related educational materials won GRA’s Most Effective Education award. Research Analyst Christopher Collard was the principal author of the reports looking at Utah’s property, income and sales taxes.
• O.C. Tanner, Salt Lake City, has ranked No. 28 in a list of “50 Companies That Care,” a list compiled by Great Place to Work and People. It is the second consecutive year for the company to make the list. Rankings represent feedback from over 4.5 million U.S. employees. PEOPLE partnered with Great Place to Work, a global people analytics and consulting firm, to analyze employees’ survey feedback on how their workplaces make a difference in their lives and communities, and to consider the generosity of each organization’s benefits, philanthropic and community support.
• AlphaGraphics Sandy, a print, marketing and design firm, is ranked 92nd in the list of “Top 100 Quick and Small Commercial Printers,” compiled by Printing News. It is the fourth consecutive year for the company, founded in 1996, to be listed.
SALES
• MarketStar, an Ogden-based outsourced sales and marketing company, has published a guide detailing the benefits of an AOR (activities, objectives, results) selling approach. The e-book, Sales Coaching to Win: Transforming Your Sales Process with AOR, is available for free download at www.marketstar.com/sales-coaching-to-win-transforming-your-sales-process-with-aor. It shows how to construct an AOR framework as a sales accountability platform to motivate sales teams and generate measurable results.
SERVICES
• Dry Spell, a part-time dry bar hair salon that also provides rent-by-the-hour co-working space for hairdressers, has opened at 350 E. 800 S., Salt Lake City. A dry bar specializes in “blowouts,” simple and quick treatments that wash and style a client’s hair for a fraction of the cost of a regular salon. The 625-square-foot space offers amenities for the hairdressing professional aimed at stimulating entrepreneurship, small-business development and community engagement.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Central Logic, a Sandy-based transfer center software company, has hired Scott Booher as chief operating officer. He will oversee several critical areas, including product, engineering, IT infrastructure and client success. Booher has 20 years of experience in healthcare and technology. He previously was the principal at HIT Reboot, an interim health IT consultancy, and held several senior positions with organizations including Ascension and UnitedHealth and served as senior vice president and chief information officer at Medica Health Plans.
• Wilson Electronics, a St. George-based wireless communications infrastructure company, has hired Nicole Beer as chief marketing officer. She will lead all corporate and product marketing operations, including marketing strategy, business development, market positioning and demand generation. Beer previously was vice president of marketing at ExpertVoice and Clearlink, was senior director of marketing at Overstock.com, and held positions at Hewlett-Packard and Walmart.