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
• Troy Mason has been named president of the board of directors of the National Windshield Repair Association (NWRA). Mason is chief executive officer of TechnaGlass, which he founded in 1991. The company operates at 44 retail locations in 12 states, employs 258 people and has annual sales of over $30 million.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Roy is the “most affordable place to live in Utah,” according to a study by financial technology company SmartAsset. The third annual nationwide study ranked communities on an index that weighed property taxes, homeowners’ insurance fees and mortgage payments relative to income. Roy had average closing costs of $2,690; annual property tax of $1,326; annual homeowners’ insurance of $434; average annual mortgage payment of $7,424; and median income of $62,598. Following Roy on the list was Clinton, Plain City, Kearns, Stansbury Park, Enoch, North Ogden, Magna, Roosevelt and West Point. Details and an interactive map are at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/how-much-house-can-i-afford#Utah.
• The beer industry has a total economic impact of $1.59 billion in Utah, according to a study commissioned by the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) and the Beer Institute. Nationally, the industry supports 2.23 million jobs, generates nearly $350 billion in economic activity and produces $63 billion in tax revenue. The report indicates that the industry supports 12,690 Utah jobs paying $491.6 million, and generates $177.6 million in business and personal taxes and $93.6 million in consumption taxes.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
• The Utah STEM Action Center has launched the Utah K-16 Computing Initiative, designed to address needs for more high-tech, high-wage opportunities in rural Utah. The initiative support to schools and districts to build computing programs. It will target rural communities, where computing skills can be leveraged for working remotely. The initiative was created in partnership with industry, the Utah State Board of Education, Talent Ready Utah and the Utah STEM Action Center.
FINANCE
• Snap Finance, Salt Lake City, has secured what it says is the largest bank revolving credit facility ever for a private consumer lease-to-own company. The $100 million facility will enable Snap Finance to service more than $1 billion in lease—to-own finance agreements. The fintech company provides lease-to-own financing at the point of sales to customers of c-commerce and brick-and-mortar merchants. The company serves over 10,000 merchant partners. The credit facility is being provided by a syndicate consisting of BMO Harris Bank, First Tennessee Bank and BankUnited.
HEALTHCARE
• Intermountain Healthcare has appointed John Wright as vice president of supply chain. Wright most recently was vice president of supply chain at MedStar Health in Maryland. He also has worked in supply chain roles at Bon Secours, Cardinal Health and Inova Health System. Intermountain’s supply chain organization operations encompass category management, purchasing, services, logistics and materials management employing over 700 people.
LAW
• Michael Best has expanded its Salt Lake City office with the addition of six attorneys from the law firm of Kruse Landa Maycock & Ricks (KLMR) LLC. James Kruse, Kevin Timken and Lyndon Ricks join as partners in the Corporate & Transactional Practice Group, alongside Betsy Voter, who joins as senior counsel. Ellen Maycock and Jennifer Falk also join as partners in the firm’s Litigation Practice Group and will continue to practice family law. Kruse has more than 40 years of experience with corporate, securities law and broker-dealer regulation. Timken focuses his practice advising public and private companies on various securities matters, equity financings, commercial transactions and regulatory compliance and has experience managing broker-dealer compliance, particularly regarding resales of restricted securities, and regulatory enforcement defense with the SEC and CFTC. Timken received his J.D. from the University of Utah College of Law. For more than 30 years, Ricks has advised clients on general corporate and commercial transactions, securities matters, domestic and international acquisitions and divestitures. He earned his J.D. from Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School. Voter focuses her practice on financial regulatory compliance and corporate securities law. She served as in-house counsel to a broker-dealer prior to joining KLMR. Voter received her J.D. from the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney Law School. Maycock has more than four decades of commercial litigation and family law experience. She received her J.D. from the University of Utah’s College of Law. Falk divides her practice between family law and litigation matters. As an advocate of her family law clients, she represents them through complex divorces, division of property, alimony and custody matters. She also advises clients in both government and private sectors on complex labor and employment matters. Falk received her J.D. from the University of Utah’s College of Law and her Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford’s Linacre College.
• Cordell & Cordell has hired associate attorney Jake Cowdin for its Clearfield office. Prior to joining the firm, Cowdin practiced family law, criminal defense, social security disability and general litigation. He is the third attorney for the Clearfield office. The firm has more than 250 attorneys in more than 95 offices in the U.S.
PHILANTHROPY
• Several Utah companies and company-related organization have contributed to relief efforts tied to Hurricane Harvey. Ultradent Products Inc., South Jordan, donated $250,000 to the Saint Bernard Project (BSP) in response to the Hurricane Harvey damage. BSP will use the funds to aid in the rescue, relief and rebuilding efforts. Ultradent also launched a discount program to help dentists whose practices have been damaged by the hurricane. On Aug. 28, it began offering dentists negatively affected by Hurricane Harvey $500 worth of free product, with 40 percent off all consumable products and 15 percent off all equipment purchases exceeding the initial $500. The USANA True Health Foundation donated $130,000 to be used for food, nutrition and other aid through the foundation’s longtime partners, the Children’s Hunger Fund and International Relief Teams, as well as Houston-based officials who will assist in distribution. The foundation will be able to distribute 27 pallets of food equaling over 15,000 meals. The KeyBank Foundation made a $100,000 donation ($50,000 each) to the American Red Cross and the Houston Food Bank in support of the relief efforts. Personal donations to the American Red Cross by KeyBank employees across the bank’s 15-state territory will be matched by the KeyBank Foundation. Extra Space Storage Inc., Salt Lake City, said it would provide the first month of rent free on new rentals at affected locations in the greater Houston area in September, and that it would waive the administrative fee on new rentals. The company said shortly after the storm that 30 of its properties totaling 2.6 million net rentable square feet and 20,000 units had reopened in the area but that four with 375,000 net rentable square feet and 2,500 units remained temporarily closed.
• All 58 Kneaders Bakery & Café locations nationwide will sell elephant-shaped sugar cookies and “Hope Fights Childhood Cancer” campaign-themed retail items to benefit cancer research. All proceeds from the cookie sales and a portion of the retail items sold both online and in-store will be donated to Dr. Joshua Schiffman and his team at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, helping to further exploration into what role the elephant protein called p53 might play in the fight to end childhood cancer. Kneaders raised approximately $145,000 for the research through sales of the cookies in 2016.
RECOGNITIONS
• Utah Valley University’s “Roots of Knowledge” has earned a CODAawards “People’s Choice” honor. The fifth annual awards program, by CODAworx, celebrates the top 100 design projects that most successfully integrate commissioned art into interior, architectural or public spaces. “Roots of Knowledge” was one of 44 entries in the education category and was chosen as one of two winners. “Roots of Knowledge” is a stained-glass panorama that explores humankind’s quest for knowledge since the dawn of time. The 80 individual panes total 10-30 feet in height and 200 feet in length, and involved the work of 40 artists, 25 faculty, and 350 UVU students. It was unveiled last November.
RETAIL
• Marsha Gilford has been promoted to regional director of corporate affairs for The Kroger Co. Gilford previously was vice president of public affairs for the Smith’s Food & Drug Store Division. She will oversee the Southwest Region of the U.S., comprising the Fry’s, Smith’s, Dallas, Dillons and Houston divisions of Kroger. She joined Smith’s in 1992 as public relations manager for the Smith’s Division, after a career in television advertising sales and cause marketing. Aubriana Martindale has accepted the position of corporate affairs manager for Smith’s Food & Drug Stores, succeeding Gilford. She will oversee 142 Smith’s Food & Drug Stores throughout seven states of operation in media, external communications, philanthropy and community relations. She joined the Smith’s corporate affairs department in 2014 as public affairs coordinator. Martindale graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications.
SCHOLARSHIPS
• Eric Weiss of Sandy is one of 22 Class of 2017 Mister Car Wash scholarship recipients nationwide. The scholarships are open to eligible company employees and their dependents in 21 states. The scholarships total $25,000. Weiss attends Utah Valley University.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Qualtrics has appointed Lori Kun as head of social impact. In the newly created position, Kun will lead all of the company’s social impact initiatives, including “5 For The Fight,” a campaign to raise $50 million for cancer research. Since 2008, Qualtrics has donated $1.9 million to cancer research. Kun previously was director of development at Huntsman Cancer Foundation and worked at the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.