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CONSTRUCTION
• Granite, a California-based company, has been selected as construction manager/general contractor for a project to fortify and modernize the Deer Creek Dam and Reservoir in Heber Valley. The approximately $73 million project was awarded and funded by the Provo River Water Users Association. Granite’s work includes adding a bypass intake onto the existing infrastructure, which will permit the PRWUA to shut down the existing intake for the first time since it was constructed over 80 years ago. This will allow for the rehabilitation of the existing guard gates that also haven’t been inspected for more than 80 years. If the water quality changes in the future, PRWUA will be able to draw from two different elevations to help ensure the water quality feeding the river below the dam remains high. The project is expected to be completed in March 2026.
DIVIDENDS
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The board of directors of LifeVantage Corp., based in Salt Lake City, has approved a quarterly dividend of 3.5 cents per share of common stock. The dividend will be paid Sept. 22 to stockholders of record Sept. 8. LifeVantage identifies, researches, develops, formulates and sells nutrigenomic activators, dietary supplements, nootropics, pre- and pro-biotics, weight management, skin and hair care, bath and body, and targeted relief products.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
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Annual pay in Utah increased 6.9 percent in August, compared with a year earlier, according to a study by ADP. It was down from 7.2 percent in July. The Utah median annual salary in August was $50,500 for workers who had stayed in their role for the past 12 months. Nationally, the year-over-year median change in annual pay was 5.9 percent and the median annual pay was $57,700 for those workers. Utah’s year-over-year increase was No. 9 nationally. Wyoming had the largest increase, at 8.5 percent.
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The cost of owning and operating a new car in Utah is $12,253, according to AAA’s annual “Your Driving Costs” data. Nationally, after taking into account the costs associated with fuel, maintenance, insurance and depreciation, the average yearly expense of a new car is $12,182 per year, or $1,015 per month. That’s a 12 percent jump over 2022 where costs were $10,728 per year, or $894 per month. AAA attributed the national increase primarily to global supply chain issues and limited inventory.
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Salt Lake City is ranked No. 23 and West Valley City is No. 191 on a list of “Best Cities for Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse,” compiled by Lawn Love. It compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on five zombie survival categories: vulnerability, hideouts, supplies, protection and mobility. We considered population density, access to “bunkers,” and hunting gear stores, for example, among 30 total metrics. The top-ranked city is Houston. The No. 200 city is Miramar, Florida. Details are at https://lawnlove.com/blog/best-cities-zombie-preparedness/#rankings.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
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Davis Technical College and the Utah Department of Corrections have launched three certification programs for women at the Utah State Correctional Facility. The programs, which include automation and robotics, information technology, and web and graphic design, are designed to provide skills and knowledge to help incarcerated women transition back into their communities. The programs are part of a larger effort by UDC and Davis Tech to provide incarcerated individuals with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed upon their release.
ENERGY
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American Battery Factory Inc., an American Fork-based battery manufacturer developing the first network of lithium iron phosphate battery cell gigafactories in the United States, has hired Jun Liu as chief scientist to lead and support all aspects of ABF’s research and development. In addition to his role at ABF, Liu serves as the director for the Innovation Center for the Battery500 Consortium, Washington Research Foundation Innovation Chair in Clean Energy, Campbell Chair of Materials Science & Engineering, and Battelle Fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Liu has more than 30 years of leadership and experience, ranging from his roles as department manager for chemical synthesis and nanomaterials at Sandia, the thrust leader for complex materials for the Integrated Center for Nanotechnologies, and lead scientist for cross-cutting sciences for the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research.
GOVERNMENT
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The Salt Lake City Council has approved a $100,000 Economic Development Loan Fund loan for Leavity LLC, a new, locally owned bakery business at 47 Orange St. Working with the Business Development Division of the Department of Economic Development, Leavity received the loan to assist with funding the purchase of equipment and working capital previously owned by Bread Riot, a local Salt Lake City sourdough bread bakery that ceased operations in late 2022. Leavity will take over the Bread Riot brand, equipment and location and continue making bread, focusing on wholesale sales to local markets. Leavity is owned and operated by Todd Bradley.
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Salt Lake City has announced that construction will begin in September at two intersections: 2100 South in Sugar House at 1300 East and Highland Drive. Through October, the Highland Drive/2100 South intersection will be reduced to one lane in all directions with limited left turns while crews replace deep underground utilities and reconstruct the intersection as part of the Highland Drive/1100 East project. Construction to replace a 100-year-old sewer line between 1400 East and Highland Drive will also begin with impacts to the 1300 East/2100 South intersection. Sewer replacement will continue west towards Highland Drive and extend east of 1400 East to Yuma Street later this year through 2024. More information about the impacts is available at HighlandSLC.org, https://www.slc.gov/utilities/projects/2100-south/ and by following @SLCMoves and @SLCPU on social media.
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The Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, the Department of Airports and Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games have partnered to unveil the resurrected Hoberman Arch at Salt Lake City International Airport’s exit to welcome travelers to Salt Lake City. The arch was an iconic structure that served as the backdrop of the medals plaza stage during the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The arch is a mechanical curtain that at the time of its construction was the largest unfolding structure in the world.
HEALTHCARE
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Co-Diagnostics Inc., a Salt Lake City-based molecular diagnostics company, has hired Ivory Chang as chief regulatory affairs officer. Chang’s regulatory affairs experience has included time spent with Roche, Boston Scientific, BD Biosciences, Cepheid, Thermo Fisher Scientific and others. Her background has involved regulatory and registration submissions to major regulatory bodies around the world for infectious disease, oncology, point-of-care, in vitro diagnostics and software diagnostic products.
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Nursa, a Salt Lake City-based company offering a nationwide platform facilitating nursing talent for per diem shifts, has announced the completion of its executive leadership team following an $80 million Series B funding raise led by Drive Capital and joined by existing partners Pelion and Kickstart. The company has added Amanda Duke as chief revenue officer. Duke brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in sales, account management and business development within the healthcare industry and is a former registered nurse. Melissa Matross is the company’s new chief product officer. Matross has nearly 20 years of leadership experience in product management and user experience across enterprise and consumer platforms. She most recently served as the senior vice president of product management on service cloud and senior vice president of product design and user experience for the sales cloud portfolio at Salesforce. Earlier, she held senior product and user experience leadership roles at Rodan+Fields and Hotwire (Expedia). Brad Taylor, the company’s new chief technology officer, has led teams across a variety of industries, including healthcare, accessibility, gaming and payments throughout his 20-year career. Most recently, he served as chief technology officer at Galileo Health and previously led multiple engineering verticals at Marqeta through its IPO. Early in his career, Taylor led the development of the world’s first open-source electronic medical record, OpenVista CIS, while at Medsphere. Founded in 2019, Nursa has nearly 300 employees at its headquarters and in remote positions. Its community includes more than 1,300 facilities and 95,000 nurses nationwide.
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Amare Global, a company focused on mental wellness, has appointed Skyleur Steffensen to general manager of the United States, appointed Yiru Zhou to regional vice president of Asia, and promoted Andrea Neipp to chief marketing officer. Steffensen will be responsible for overseeing the growth and expansion of the U.S. market. He has held various leadership roles over the past 17 years in the direct selling industry. Zhou’s leadership has been instrumental in Asia in the various global leadership roles he has held throughout his career in the direct sales industry. Neipp previously was executive vice president of global marketing. She will continue to oversee the global marketing organization with responsibility for building the brand, providing marketing tools to field leaders, and driving customer demand in Amare’s 50 markets around the world. Neipp has over 20 years of marketing experience and business strategy and has worked with lifestyle and wellness brands including Oakley, Adidas, Zarbee’s, Aveda and Young Living.
HOSPITALITY
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Lodging Dynamics Hospitality Group, a Provo-based hotel management company, has been appointed to manage the Hilton Garden Inn and the Homewood Suites by Hilton Los Angeles/Redondo Beach. Financial terms were not disclosed. The hotels are two of several Southern California hotels developed and owned by Mogul Capital. They are located side by side. The Hilton Garden Inn has 147 rooms. The Homewood Suites has 184 suites.
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A Utah-based private investor has acquired a 156-room hotel portfolio in Cedar City. The announcement was made by the Mogharebi Group, which advised the seller on the transaction. The unidentified investor paid $8.9 million for the portfolio, which consists of a 106-room Quality Inn and a 50-room America’s Best Value Inn on North 1100 West. Built in 1984 and renovated in 2014, the Quality Inn at 250 N. 1100 West consists of two-story buildings situated on three parcels totaling 2.03 acres. Built in 1998 and renovated in 2004, the America’s Best Value Inn at 333 N. 1100 West consists of a two-story building situated on two parcels totaling 1.69 acres. The property was co-listed with Kip Paul, vice chairman of investment sales with Cushman & Wakefield.
INVESTMENTS
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Qualiti.ai, a Lehi-based company offering software test automation, has closed a $6.5 million seed round. Sierra Ventures led the funding round, with participation from Epic Ventures. Qualiti uses AI to test any software product without human input. Qualiti said it will use the funding to expand sales and its engineering team.
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Rasa Legal Public Benefit Corp., a Salt Lake City-based company focused on affordable criminal record expungement, has raised an additional $1.1 million in an over-subscribed pre-seed extension funding round. New investors include Acumen America, Sorenson Impact Foundation, Dream.org and GoodLight Capital. Since it launched in September 2022, Rasa has helped more than 8,000 people with Utah records determine their eligibility for expungement, and the company has more than 2,000 cases currently moving through the criminal record expungement process. Rasa will now expand into several more states.
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Tower Arch Capital, Salt Lake City, has announced that it has recapitalized TD&I Cable Maintenance LLC in partnership with its founders, Tim and Debbie Stanke, and management team Donavin Berg, Jeff Antonuk, Spencer Pannhoff and Carroll Wheaton. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Minnesota, TD&I provides directional drilling, trenching and other related infrastructure services for the installation and maintenance of fiber optic networks and other infrastructure. TD&I’s customers consist of national, regional and local telecom providers and utility cooperatives, tech companies and municipalities. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Financing for the transaction was provided by Zions Bank and Hillcrest Bank. Advisors for Tower Arch Capital included Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and BDO USA LLP. Advisors for TD&I included Hennepin Partners and Fabyanske, Westra, Hart & Thomson PA.
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Maddix Capital Services Fund II, a Lehi-based private equity fund, has launched to infuse funds into scalable, service-based investments. Thirty percent of the fund has been soft-committed, with plans to segment the remainder among family offices, ultra-high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors. Maddix Services is a target $125-plus million closed-end fund ($100 million in equity plus a $25 million opportunistic credit piece).
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Baird, an employee-owned, international wealth management, asset management, investment banking/capital markets and private equity firm, has added three advisors to its wealth management office in Salt Lake City: Greg Aiken, Ben Blake and Jonathon Bult. Aiken and Blake will both serve as a director and financial advisor; Bult will serve as a vice president and financial advisor. They come to Baird from Zions Wealth Advisors. Aiken has 21 years of industry experience. He graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Blake has 18 years of industry experience. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brigham Young University and an Executive MBA from the University of Utah. Bult has nearly a decade of industry experience. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Utah and an MBA from Utah State University. Baird’s Private Wealth Management business encompasses more than 1,300 financial advisors serving clients from over 160 locations in 33 states.
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RevRoad, a Provo-based venture services firm, has appointed Jenney Rees as chief operating officer. Rees has experience in both the public and private sectors. In the public sector, she served as an executive director in the Utah governor’s cabinet, leading a state agency with over 1,300 employees across nine divisions. She also served as both a member of the city council and mayor of Cedar Hills. In the private sector, Rees worked at MediConnect Global. More recently, Rees has been serving as chief operating officer of Orkid. She will continue to support Orkid through its initial launch.
PHILANTHROPY
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The CommonSpirit Health Colorado/Kansas/Utah Division has announced that 48 organizations, including eight nonprofits in Utah, will receive funds through its $5 million Health Equity & Advancement Fund. The program, which was created in 2021 and has awarded more than $11 million to date, helps support local organizations that meet the mental health, food security, and social justice and health equity needs in Colorado, Kansas and Utah. The fund awarded grants that ranged between $50,000 and $150,000 and to programs that serve diverse and underserved populations. Additionally, the program collaborated with existing regional partners to increase social impact, including Russell Wilson and Ciara’s Why Not You Foundation and the Denver Broncos Foundation. Grant recipients in Utah are Adopt-A-Native-Elder, Salt Lake City; Alliance Community Services, Salt Lake City; Family Promise of Ogden; Midvale Community Building Community; Navajo Strong, Lehi; Ogden Valley Adaptive Sports; Red Barn Farms, Farmington; and The Children’s Center Utah, West Valley City. CommonSpirit operates 142 hospitals and more than 2,200 care sites across 24 states. The Colorado/Kansas/Utah Division includes 20 hospitals, 240 physician practices and clinics, emergency and urgent care centers, home care and hospice services, and Flight For Life Colorado.
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The Security Service Charitable Foundation, the charitable arm of Security Service Federal Credit Union, has donated a total of $17,500 to four nonprofit organizations in Utah. The organizations help the community with a variety of causes from providing major appliances to providing assistive technology like hearing aids. The donations went to Children’s Justice Center, Dove Center, Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind Education Foundation, and YCC Family Crisis Center.
REAL ESTATE
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Mountain West Commercial Real Estate, a Salt Lake City-based commercial real estate brokerage, has appointed Rich Lachowsky as head of research. Lachowsky will spearhead research initiatives throughout the Intermountain West region of the U.S. His experience spans over two decades and includes being a research director, where he not only managed research but also supervised GIS, marketing and research operations.
RECOGNITIONS
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Elite Turf Supply, a Lindon-based artificial-turf supplier, has won the annual “Small Business Spotlight” contest hosted by America First Credit Union and the Utah Jazz. The company will receive a single-season sponsorship agreement with the Utah Jazz valued at about $200,000. Other finalists from about 150 entries are Caffé Molise, Intergalactic, Modelic, Premier Day Spa and Utah Sunrooms LLC.