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ASSOCIATIONS
• The Park City Chamber of Commerce/Convention & Visitors Bureau has appointed vice presidents for three of its divisions. Darla Jones is vice president of partner services, which benefit nearly 1,000 partner businesses in the Park City community. She comes to the organization having most recently served as director of member services at the Davis County Chamber of Commerce. Laura Carlson is vice president of marketing. She previously served as the lead account director at Riester, which has managed the Park City Chamber/Bureau’s account for the past six years. Dan Howard is vice president of communications. He joined the staff in 2016 as director of communications and, before that, was part of the opening team at Montage Deer Valley, serving as director of public relations from 2010-15.
• ULI (Urban Land Institute) Utah has selected its board members for 2021-22. New board members are Leslie Morton, program chair, PE, Kimley Horn; Doug Archibald, membership chair, director of business development, CRH; Katie McDermott, DEI chair, manager of design review, Larry H. Miller Real Estate; and Suela Kaufman, sponsorship chair, office manager and marketing director, MGB+A The Grassli Group.
BANKING
• KeyBank’s Utah market has announced that Ramez Halteh has been promoted to Key Private Bank sales leader. In this role, he will lead a team of Key Private Bank advisors to provide customers with customized solutions. He will also help drive collaboration efforts with Key’s retail, business and commercial banking partners across Utah to generate business growth. Halteh has more than 20 years of banking and wealth management experience. He joined KeyBank in 2010 and has held various positions over the past nine years, most recently serving as senior vice president and business banking sales leader for Utah and Idaho. Prior to joining Key, Halteh served as a private banker at Bank of America and a wealth advisor at Zions Bank. He holds a bachelor of science in economics from the University of Utah and is working to complete his MBA from Utah State University.
CONSTRUCTION
• Pentalon Construction, a Salt Lake City-based multifamily construction company, has named Brittney Boyle as director of marketing. She will develop and implement an overall corporate marketing strategy, directly engaging and managing the marketing team, and translating the company’s business objectives into marketing strategies that drive revenue. In addition, she will determine and administer the marketing budget, identify and track key metrics, and support both multi-family and commercial construction growth. Boyle has over 15 years of experience, including leading the marketing strategy at Hughes General Contractors. Since 2016, she has served as the marketing and recruitment Advisor for Chi Omega-Xi Alpha Chapter at the University of Utah.
• Jacobsen Construction Co., a Salt Lake City-based general contractor, has appointed Chris Field as project executive. He will oversee work in both the public- and private-market segments, using his experience in leading design/build projects. A longtime Jacobsen project manager, Field has been in the construction industry for 19 years, including 11 at Jacobsen.
CORPORATE
• Malouf, based in Cache County, has changed its name to Malouf Companies “to convey the breadth of the company’s lifestyle and wellness interests.” The foundational years of the business focused on fine linens and bedding products, but the company structure has evolved into six key categories (consumer products, services, technology, retail, logistics and venture). Malouf Companies spans 18 years, six states and multiple industries, operating in three corporate offices and seven distribution centers. It now has more than 1,200 employees and offers products in 58 countries. Its family of companies includes Malouf Home, Lucid, Linenspa, Dr. Oz Good Life, Downeast, Impact Suite and Tamarak Capital.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Utah and several of its metropolitan areas are highly ranked in Business Facilities magazine’s 17th annual Rankings Report. Utah is ranked No. 6 among states for Best Business Climate, No. 3 for Recovery Leaders, No. 4 for Fastest-Growing (population), No. 4 for Cybersecurity Leaders, No. 7 for Solar Power Jobs, No. 8 for Best Business Tax Climate and No. 9 for Percentage of Electricity from Solar. Virginia tops the best business climate rankings. Salt Lake City is No. 6 among Cyber Cities and No. 7 for Tech Hubs (growth potential). Provo-Orem is No. 6 for Fastest-Growing Metros. South Jordan is No. 10 for Best Business Climate (population under 200,000). Details are at https://businessfacilities.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BF2021-Rankings_State_Metro-Global-rev2.pdf.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• Kearston Cutrubus has been elected as chair of the Weber State University Board of Trustees, and Karla Bergeson has been elected vice chair. Cutrubus succeeds Nolan Karras, led the board as chair since 2016. Cutrubus is a Weber State alumna, businesswoman and civic leader. She was appointed to the board in 2016 and served as vice chair since 2017. Cutrubus is the customer and community relations director for her family’s multiple automotive dealerships in northern Utah. She serves on various boards and committees for community organizations. Bergeson, an Ogden native, was appointed to the board in 2017. She is the former executive vice president and deputy general counsel for Citigroup’s credit card business in the U.S., where she worked for 23 years before retiring. This is the first time two women have served together in the leadership positions of the WSU board, which advocates for the university and advises the president on issues such as budget, programs, personnel and planning.
• SkyWest Airlines, St. George, has announced the SkyWest Pilot Career Pathway at Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology’s Tulsa, Oklahoma, flight campus. The partnership helps address high industry demand for certified pilots. While access to the career pathway and milestone benefits are not guaranteed, Spartan Cadets may receive tuition reimbursement from SkyWest as they achieve certain program milestones, as well as Spartan scholarships for those who qualify. After launching this new pilot training partnership, both Spartan College and SkyWest Airlines look forward to developing a similar career pathway for Aviation Maintenance Technicians. Established in 1928, Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology has trained more than 100,000 pilots and technicians.
ENERGY
• Lumio, a Lehi-based technology company and U.S. residential solar provider comprising four regional solar companies and multiple software platforms, has named Steve Buchmiller as vice president of field operations. Buchmiller is a solar operations pioneer who co-founded and rapidly built a team of over 600 employees across 18 states, installing solar in over 15,000 homes and delivering more than 100 megawatts (MW) in renewable energy.
• Balanced Rock Power (BRP), Moab, has forged a long-term partnership in completing its transaction with SB Energy, a U.S. energy company and a fully owned subsidiary of Supergas Energy, an Israeli energy company that is controlled by the Elco group, one of the leading holdings companies in Israel. SG Energy is focused on the US renewable energy market, with the goal of promoting and realizing solar energy and storage projects through partnerships, investments and entrepreneurship. The partnership includes an equity investment in BRP, the funding of ongoing development activities, and a letter of credit facility to support the development of projects in the United States. Financial details were not disclosed. BRP was represented by Lazard Freres in the transaction, and SG Energy was represented by Macquarie Capital. BRP specializes in developing large-scale renewable energy projects with an initial engagement in the western U.S.
• LGCY Power, a Lehi-based private solar company, has announced that in July, it originated 22 megawatts of residential solar contracts, showing more than 200 percent growth year over year. The seven-year-old residential solar company has historically been a Sunrun-only partner but has since expanded to partnerships with multiple engineering, procurement and residential solar construction companies (known as EPCs), while using five customer acquisition channels and the development of a proprietary software platform called Canvass. LGCY has deployed more than 300 megawatts of residential solar to date. It has a presence in 30 states with partnerships with BrightPlanet, Sunrun, Titan and more.
GOVERNMENT
• The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah) has announced that Kyle Palmer has been appointed as its associate director for the Unified Economic Opportunity Commission. The UEOC will develop solutions to the challenges facing the state and evaluate current economic development strategies. Palmer will manage the commission, including its various subcommittees and working groups. Before joining Go Utah, Palmer served in senior policy roles with the Salt Lake County Council and Utah County Commission. At the state level, he has also worked for the executive and legislative branches.
• The Utah Department of Workforce Services has selected Amanda B. McPeck as the director of adjudications and the department’s general counsel. The Division of Adjudication and Appeals is responsible to address all filed fair hearings and appeals for all programs administered by the department, as well as managing information disclosure, constituent services, ensuring compliance with the Equal Opportunity Act and coordinating with the Workforce Appeals Board. McPeck fills the vacancy created by Kathy Bounous, who left to serve as general counsel for Gov. Spencer Cox. As previously announced, Kevin Burt, assistant deputy director, has assumed all legislative affairs for Workforce Services. McPeck has been with the department since 2003 and has served as lead legal counsel, information disclosure officer and administrative law judge. McPeck has been the primary legal counsel to the Workforce Appeals Board, Utah State Office of Rehabilitation, Internal Audit Division, Office of Child Care, Intergenerational Poverty and Unemployment Insurance Division, including programs created under the CARES Act. Her education includes a bachelor’s degree in humanities from Brigham Young University.
HEALTHCARE
• R1 RCM Inc., a Murray-based provider of technology-driven solutions that transform the patient experience and financial performance of healthcare providers, has appointed Agnes Bundy Scanlan to its board of directors. Bundy Scanlan has more than 30 years of experience across regulatory risk management, compliance and consumer financial protection. She has served as president of The Cambridge Group LLC, a regulatory risk management advisory firm, since May 2020. Prior to this role, she served as senior advisor at Treliant LLC; served as northeast regional director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; served as the chief regulatory officer, chief compliance officer and global chief privacy officer at TD Bank; practiced law at Goodwin Procter LLP; held various C-Suite roles at Bank of America and FleetBoston Financial; and was counsel at the United States Senate Budget Committee. Bundy Scanlan also serves on the boards of AppFolio Inc., New Tower Trust and Truist Financial Corp.
• Clene Inc. and subsidiary Clene Nanomedicine, Salt Lake City, have appointed Dr. Vallerie McLaughlin to its board of directors as its seventh independent director. Clene is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of neurodegenerative disease using nanotechnology to treat energetic failure. McLaughlin is the Kim A. Eagle MD Endowed Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and associate chief clinical officer for cardiovascular services of the University of Michigan Medical Group; associate chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. McLaughlin has been the principal investigator of several major clinical trials in pulmonary arterial hypertension.
• Dymicron, an Orem-based medical device company that has developed a next-generation total disc replacement system for the cervical spine, has named Gunther Peeters as senior vice president of commercial operations. He will lead all aspects of international commercialization, including sales, market development and logistics. Peeters has more than 15 years of spine industry experience. He played a critical role in the expansion and clinical use of both the M6 discs driving market leadership status for Spinal Kinetics, prior to joining German R&D company Orthobion GmbH as director of business development. He also served as vice president of the European business for Vexim prior to an acquisition of Vexim by Stryker in 2017. Most recently, he served as vice president of international market development for Mainstay Medical. He co-owns Bryonix, a distribution and 3PL provider of innovative technology for cardiology and vascular surgery in Belgium and Luxembourg.
INSURANCE
• Fidelity National Financial Inc. has announced a direct title operation, Fidelity National Title Agency of Utah LLC, which has a physical location in the state. Fidelity and its subsidiaries provide title insurance and escrow services. Fidelity National is one of the nation’s largest title insurance companies operating through its title insurance underwriters, including Fidelity National Title Insurance Co., which has been a title insurance underwriter in Utah for many years. Joshua Hall has been picked as president of Fidelity National Title Agency in the state of Utah, overseeing the transition and continued growth of this Utah operation.
INVESTMENTS
• TaxBit, based in Salt Lake City and Seattle and a provider of tax and accounting software, has announced a $130 million Series B funding round at a $1.33 billion valuation. The round was led by IVP and Insight Partners, with additional participation from Tiger Global, Paradigm, 9Yards Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Madrona Venture Group and Anthony Pompliano. In conjunction with the financing, Tom Loverro, general partner at IVP, has joined TaxBit’s board of directors. Ajay Vashee, general partner at IVP, and Nikhil Sachdev, managing partner at Insight Partners, will join the company as board observers. The new investment comes just five months after the company raised a $100 million Series A. TaxBit said it will use the funds to scale its multi-channel ecosystem of tax and accounting offerings across enterprise, consumer and government sectors. The company plans to double its headcount by year-end and continue to open new offices in the USA and U.K. to fuel international expansion.
• Brandless, a Draper-based omnichannel commerce platform, has raised $118 million in equity and debt financing. The round was led by Clarke Capital Partners and included other strategic corporate and institutional investors. Keystone National Group provided a senior debt facility. Brandless raised these funds to accelerate growth and its acquisition of mission-driven digitally-native brands. Led by CEO Cydni Tetro, the company previously was funded by SoftBank’s Vision Fund. Clarke Capital Partners acquired Brandless in 2020.
LAW
• Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar, Salt Lake City, has added shareholders David R. Rudd and Travis Marc Wilson along with associate Nina Kim Bertelli to its corporate practice. All three previously practiced in the Salt Lake City office of Husch Blackwell. Rudd is a corporate lawyer with decades of experience in mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, corporate restructurings and recapitalizations, corporate and private equity financings, and general business and corporate matters. Wilson works with clients in several industries, from artificial intelligence (AI), health technology, e-commerce, blockchain, telecommunications and consumer products. Bertelli specializes in the design, launch and expansion of emerging growth companies. In addition to her corporate practice, she works with clients on issues related to data privacy and security laws.
• Dorsey & Whitney LLP has hired Josh Erekson as of counsel in the Capital Markets Practice Group in Salt Lake City. Erekson’s practice focuses on securities and capital markets. He assists issuers and underwriters with 1933 Act and 1934 Act filings, public offerings and private placements. He also advises clients in all realms of corporate law. Before joining Dorsey, he was a partner at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP in Salt Lake City, and part of that firm’s transactional practice group focusing on securities and capital markets. Erekson also served as corporate counsel at Huntsman Corp., where his practice focused on SEC regulatory compliance and general corporate legal matters. He also was an attorney at two California-based firms. Erekson’s education includes a B.A. in political science and B.S in economics from the University of Utah.
LOGISTICS
• The Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA) has announced a partnership with QuayChain Technologies to build and operate the world’s first private LTE/5G network dedicated to the supply chain. The Intelligent Crossroads Network (ICN) aims to create the foundation for a more resilient, secure and sustainable supply chain for Utah. QuayChain’s partners include Intel, Athonet and the Wireless Industrial Group. The organizations said developing the ICN will help create new logistics jobs using technologies based on industry 4.0 and 5G and also bridge the digital divide for many industries and essential workers that support a robust supply chain. The long-term objective is to expand the ICN across Utah.
MEDIA/MARKETING
• Silicon Slopes, a Lehi-based nonprofit corporation focused on Utah’s startup and technology community, has acquired Deseret Business Watch, a publication for startups and business in Utah. Financial terms were not disclosed. In connection with the acquisition, David Politis, founder, CEO and editor of the publication, has been named publisher and editorial director of Silicon Slopes. For more than 35 years, Politis has worked as a consultant serving hundreds of clients across multiple industries to help them launch new companies, introduce new products and services, grow revenues, take firms public, and overcome challenges along their business journeys. He is an author, journalist and tech industry commentator.
PHILANTHROPY
• High West Distillery & Saloon, Park City, has donated $10,000 to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation to support wildfire relief efforts. The foundation is a national nonprofit that provides assistance to families of wildland firefighters who have lost their lives or have been injured in the line of duty. The donation announcement coincided with the company’s limited release of High West Campfire Whiskey, a blend of scotch, bourbon and rye whiskeys. It is available at High West General Store in Old Town Park City; High West Distillery on Blue Sky Ranch in Wanship; and at state liquor stores.
REAL ESTATE
• Pacific Industrial, a California-based, privately held investment firm that focuses on the development and acquisition of industrial real estate in select West Coast markets, has broken ground on the Pacific Summit Logistics Center, an 824,000-square-foot, cross-dock industrial building at 885 N. John Cannon Drive in Salt Lake City’s Northwest Quadrant. The company purchased the 48-acre property in an off-market transaction and began construction the day after closing. The project will feature 131 dock high doors in a cross-dock configuration, oversized truck courts that are up to 213 feet deep, and a minimum clear height of 40 feet. Construction is projected to be completed in the 2022 second quarter.
• EverWest Real Estate Investors, Denver, has acquired a two-building industrial portfolio in Salt Lake City’s Northwest Quadrant. Built in 2019, the “Ace & Apollo” portfolio provides the infrastructure and amenities required by modern logistics users. The 23.35-acre, 413,352-square-foot portfolio includes two Class A industrial buildings totaling 311,658 square feet and 101,694 square feet at 260 N. Ace Yeager Court and 5725 W. Amelia Earhart Drive. It is 78 percent leased to seven tenants. The Ace Yeager Court building has 93,104 square feet available for lease. Phil Larger, EverWest director of acquisitions, directed the transaction on behalf of EverWest in collaboration with Wick Udy of JLL.
• Asana Partners, based in North Carolina, has acquired Foothill Village, a 260,000-square-foot neighborhood center at 1400 S. Foothill Drive, Salt Lake City. It was built in 1954 and is anchored by Dan’s Fresh Market. Financial terms were not disclosed. Asana plans significant renovations to the existing buildings and parking garage on the 11-acre site. The company’s plans for the 30,000 square-foot space previously occupied by Stein Mart are to modify the format to accommodate smaller, neighborhood-serving shops and dining while also creating an outdoor amenity for the community. Renovations are scheduled to begin next spring with completion slated for the end of 2022. Kip Paul of Cushman & Wakefield and James Burgess of The Burgess Co. assisted in the transaction. Mountain West Commercial Real Estate and Newmark will lead the retail and office leasing efforts, respectively.
RECOGNITIONS
• Five Utah companies have been named to the Forbes 2021 Cloud 100, a ranking of the top 100 private cloud companies in the world, published by Forbes in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures. They are No. 55 Lucid, South Jordan; and No. 63 Weave, No. 67 MX, No. 73 Podium and No. 86 Entrata, all of Lehi. Cloud 100 evaluation process involved ranking companies across four factors: market leadership, estimated valuation, operating metrics, and people and culture. Its judging panel included 34 public cloud company CEOs.
• TCN Inc., a St. George-based provider of a cloud-based call center platform for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs and collection agencies, has announced that its TCN Operator platform has been selected as a finalist in the 2021 SaaS Awards in the Best SaaS Product for Customer Services/CRM category. Launched in May 2021, TCN Operator features automated agent tools and advanced apps that are designed to boost agent productivity and improve customer experience. The Saas Awards, part of Awarding & Consultancy International, celebrate software innovation.
SPORTS/RECREATION
• Adventure Cycling Association has announced the designation of 18 new U.S. Bicycle Routes in five states, adding 2,903 miles to the U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS). The new routes include two in Utah. USBR 77 is 349.8 miles from the Idaho border to Torrey. USBR 677 (40.6 miles) runs from the west side of Utah Lake, while USBR 877 (88.8 miles) connects USBR 77 in Sigurd to USBR 79 in Panguitch. USBR 79 (269.3 miles) and USBR 679 (9.4 miles) run from Nevada border to the Arizona border near Kanab. USBR 679 connects USBR 79 at U.S. Highway 89 and USBR 70 at Duck Creek Village. With the new designations, the USBRS now has 17,734 miles of routes in 31 states and Washington, D.C.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Aligned, based in Plano, Texas, has expanded in the Salt Lake City area with the development of a new data center campus. The company said the expansion supports its geo-redundant growth in the region, following the first-quarter launch of its second Salt Lake Metro data center and in advance of a third master-planned facility on its West Jordan campus. Completion is expected in December.
• Aktify, a Lehi-based conversational collective intelligence (CI) platform for enterprise businesses, has appointed Craig Daly as chief revenue officer. Most recently, Daly was vice president of enterprise at Podium. Prior to Podium, he served in sales leadership roles at Qualtrics.
• Entrata, a Lehi-based company offering a technology platform for the multifamily housing industry, has promoted Heather Gagon to chief people officer. Gagon has worked on Entrata’s people team for more than nine years, most recently as vice president of human resources.
• CleanSpark Inc., a Salt Lake City-based clean Bitcoin mining and diversified software and services company, has closed on its acquisition of an additional nearly 87,000 square foot data center in Norcross, Georgia, to increase its Bitcoin mining operation. The $6.55 million purchase of the former Sprint/Nextel data center situated on over seven acres is located 33 miles from the current ATLData Center and CleanBlok operations in Atlanta. It will provide 20 megawatts of additional power to CleanSpark’s mining business, with the opportunity for significant expansion. The company expects to complete the installation of the mining infrastructure and have the miners running by late 2021.