CORPORATE
• Skullcandy, an audio brand that creates headphones, earbuds and speakers, will move its corporate headquarters from 6301 N. Landmark Drive, Park City, to the Redwood Shopping Center, 1640 Redstone Center Drive, Park City, in October. It will lease 4,580 square feet on the first floor and a 26,000-square-foot space on the second level for its headquarters. The announcement was made by Savills. Executive Managing Director Brett Lessman and Senior Managing Director Nick Teseros oversaw lease negotiations on behalf of Skullcandy. The former headquarters was purchased by Summit County in May 2024. The county plans to convert it into a new, multi-purpose civic center.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Utah workers who stayed in their jobs saw their pay rise an average of 4.7 percent from August 2024 to August 2025, according to data from ADP Pay Insights. That put Utah No. 11 among states for wage growth. ADP, focused on HR and payroll solutions, also found the median annual salary for job-stayers in Utah in August was $56,400. Nationally, the median annual pay for job-stayers in August fell slightly to $60,500, while the median annual wage growth was little changed at 4.4 percent. Nationally, wage growth for people who changed jobs remained unchanged at 7.1 percent over the year. Industries with the highest year-over-year pay growth in August were financial activities with 5.1 percent growth and manufacturing with 4.7 percent growth. Nationally, the industries that added the most jobs in August were leisure and hospitality, construction and professional and business services, adding 50,000, 16,000 and 15,000 jobs, respectively. Details are at https://payinsights.adp.com/.
• Black Diamond Equipment is Utah’s “Most Loved Homegrown Brand,” according to a survey by financial media company MarketBeat.com of each state’s most beloved local brands. It is followed by BYU Creamery Ice Cream, Provo; High West Distillery, Park City; Mrs. Cavanaugh’s Chocolates, North Salt Lake; and Maverik Adventure’s First Stop, Salt Lake City. Details are at https://www.marketbeat.com/originals/the-most-beloved-american-made-products-in-every-state/.
• Lehi, at No. 274 nationally, is the top-ranked Utah location on a list of “Cities Where Lawn Care Services Cost the Most,” compiled by Lawn Love. It compared lawn care needs and spending on professional services across 460 of the biggest U.S. cities. It considered average yard sizes, rates of overgrown grass, and frequency of mowing needs, among six total metrics. The bottom-ranked Utah location on the list is No. 445 Salt Lake City. The most-costly nationally is Conroe, Texas. Details are at https://lawnlove.com/blog/most-expensive-metro-areas-lawn-maintenance/.
EXPANSIONS
• Owlet Inc., a Lehi-based smart infant monitoring company, has launched its Dream Sock product in South Africa. It enables parents to track a baby’s vital signs and receive real-time health notifications.
INVESTMENTS
• Salt Lake City Angels has invested in Freyya, a San Antonio-area women’s health medical device company developing a wearable, real-time rehabilitation device to monitor pelvic floor therapy for improved outcomes. The amount was not disclosed. Freyya is focused on a sensor-embedded wearable that measures pelvic floor support and loading, then transmits the measurements wirelessly to a smart device, providing real-time feedback to the user and remotely to the health care provider.
• Epic Ventures, based in Salt Lake City, has received $200 million of fresh capital to support early-stage founders in health care, software, AI and beyond. The company will be investing locally and globally.
MILESTONES
• MasterControl, a Salt Lake City-based provider of quality, manufacturing and asset management software for regulated industries, has announced it has surpassed $200 million in annual recurring revenue. The company has more than 1,250 customers in nearly 40 countries.
MINING
• Nearly 700 people gathered in Milford to celebrate Labor Day with Milford Mining Company Utah, enjoying an afternoon and evening of live music, food, community presentations and a fireworks show. During the event, company leaders highlighted MMCU’s current and future growth plans, which will enhance production capacity and extend the current projected life of its mining operations. Since reopening its doors in 2023 under new ownership, MMCU has already hired 160 new employees and contractors, invested $40 million in revitalizing mine infrastructure, and significantly increased copper production capacity within Utah. Looking ahead, the company plans to scale operations; explore adjacent mining sites; and integrate innovative, cutting-edge extraction technologies to meet the growing global demand for copper. MMCU is also pursuing university partnerships in Utah to establish apprenticeship programs that will prepare the next generation of skilled workers. MMCU also is jointly exploring with the State’s top academic institutions ways to adapt and implement state-of-the art research and technology advances for metals mining applications.
PHILANTHROPY
• Employees from Ken Garff dealerships across the Wasatch Front recently participated in and volunteered at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s “Out of the Darkness Walk” at Veterans Memorial Park in West Jordan. The dealership group served as the presenting sponsor as part of its Mental Health Matters initiative, focused on making mental health in the workplace a priority. Garff employees helped with greeting participants, creating luminaries, and hosting a kid’s zone with carnival games and crafts, as well as participating in the walk.
• The Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort, Utah’s annual PGA Tour event, has announced its official community impact initiative, the Bank of Utah financial literacy program. This new initiative will support financial education, life skills programming and entrepreneurial confidence for youth across Utah. Developed in partnership with The Policy Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, Bank of Utah will bring practical financial literacy programming to Teen Centers, where students can learn to manage money, plan for the future, and build the confidence to become tomorrow’s leaders. The financial literacy program will launch during the 2025-26 school year. Twenty Teen Centers will open this fall, bringing the total to 86 statewide. Bank of Utah will contribute its expertise to help design a financial literacy program that is both practical and relevant to the needs of the Teen Centers. Once developed, Bank of Utah employees will be invited to volunteer in Teen Centers across the state to serve as mentors and role models who help teens put financial concepts into practice.
• Nearly 650 volunteers gathered at the Jon M. Huntsman Center at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to pack and donate 235,000 meals in honor of the 9/11 National Day of Service. The meals were for those at risk of hunger. They were donated to Utah Food Bank for distribution to local individuals and families in need. In its inaugural year, the Salt Lake City Meal Pack for 9/11 Day was one of 25 large-scale volunteer service projects organized in 24 cities throughout the nation by the nonprofit 9/11 Day, which began the observance in 2002. Across the U.S., more than 30,000 people were expected to volunteer, assembling more than 9 million shelf-stable meals for food-insecure Americans. Nearly 30 companies and organizations from throughout the Salt Lake City community supported and participated in the Salt Lake City Meal Pack for 9/11 Day, including local lead sponsors AgReserves, One Kind Act a Day (Semnani Family Foundation), Clarke Capital Partners and Big-D Construction.
REAL ESTATE
• Cole West, a Centerville-based real estate development company, recently held a ribbon-cutting event for theYARD, a build-to-rent townhome community in Salt Lake City, located directly adjacent to the Power District. Formerly a steel fabrication yard for Mark Steel Co., theYARD is a 8.5-acre community that features 157 three-story townhomes. Residents also enjoy a clubhouse, fitness center, pool, landscaped greenway, and direct access to the Jordan River trail. The project incorporates steel and industrial elements into signage, seating and architecture as a way to preserve the legacy of the land while offering a new identity. The project was developed, designed and built by Cole West in partnership with Argosy Real Estate Partners, with support from local and state leaders.
RECOGNITIONS
• Silicon Slopes has announced the finalists for its Hall of Fame and Company Hall of Fame. Top honorees are scheduled to be announced at an event Sept. 18. In the company categories, Marketing finalists are Big Red Jelly, Lease End, Disruptive Advertising, Red Olive Marketing, Searchbloom Marketing Agency, Avalaunch Media and Sixth Media; Health and Wellness finalists are Owlet Baby Care, Tava Health, Momentous, Clean Simple Eats, 4Life Research, UofU Health and Select Health; Software finalists are Domo, Lucid Software, Entrata, MX, Observe Point and Tax Bit; Services finalists are Listo Global, Moss Adams x Baker Tilly, Bloom, Big Red Jelly, Deloitte and Vivint; Startups finalists are SponsorCX, Music.ai, Boostly, School AI, Leland, Signals and Pantomath; Community Champions finalists are Tech Ridge, Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy, PROG Foundation, Build Then Bless, Zion Health Share and Innovation Hub; Company Culture finalists are BrainStorm, Fullcast, Comma Copywriters, Instructure, Lendio and Traeger; and E-Commerce finalists are Crumbl, Swig, Minky, Nomatic, Gimme, Owlet Baby Care and Pattern. In individual award categories are CEO finalists Nate Randle, Gabb; Felix Morgan, Trucordia; Brian Beutler, Alianza; Sterling Snow, Redo; Curtis Anderson, Nursa; Nate Walkingshaw, Torus; Ryan Porter, LVT; and James Clarke, Clearlink; CMO finalists Amy Cook, Fullcast; Mark Boothe, Domo; Rob Brough, Mountain America Credit Union; Todd Smith, Traeger; and Chris Baird, Weave; chief product officer finalists are Jim Nye, Vivint; Shren Vijasingam, Instructure; Jeffrey Harmon, Angel Studios; Rick Boggs, Limble; Brandon Moss, Marq; and Brad Anderson, Qualtrics; CTO finalists are Ryan Packer, BambooHR; Siriam Thiagaran, Ancestry; Brian Pugh, Lucid Software; Mike Brown, Strider Technologies; Corey Ercanbrack, Vasion; Joe Turner, Mobly; and Gabe Gunderson, Previ; COO finalists are Michael Moran, Trucordia; Brian Stucki, Qualtrics; Joshua Walker, Nomi Health; Eric Levesque, Strider Technologies; Jeff Lind, Brandless; and RJ Schultz, Blip Billboards; chief people officer finalists are Kat Judd, Lucid Software; Alison Pickett, Kenect; Jessica Dixon, Logistic Specialties Inc.; Jared Olson, Job Nimbus; and Jennifer Clark, iFit; and CFO finalists are Chad Curtis, Mountain America Credit Union; Jon Pexton, Alteryx; Mark Hansen, Entrata; Justin Judd, BambooHR; Miglena Aaron, Marq; Seamus Hennessy, Lucid Software; and Ted Kendrick, Zonos.
• ChamberWest recently announced the finalists for its 2025 ChamberWest Annual Awards Gala, which took place at the Viridian Event Center on Sept. 10, after Salt Lake Business Journal deadlines. Business of the Year finalists were CommonSpirit Holy Cross Hospitals West Jordan and West Valley, Novva Data Centers and Summit Vista. Small Business of the Year finalists were Chick-fil-A West Valley, City Journals and Peel Funeral Home. Finalists for Best Place to Work were Embassy Suites West Valley, Granite Credit Union and Markosian Auto. Finalists for Volunteer of the Year were Davina Spencer, Ruff Tuff Products (retired); Mitch Ross, Express Recovery Services; and Steve Pluim, TalentTeam. The event also recognized Ben Horsley, superintendent of Granite School District, as the 2025 ChamberWest Hall of Fame Award recipient, and Utah Rep. Matt MacPherson as Legislator of the Year.
• The Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City has earned the WELL Health-Safety Rating from the International WELL Building Institute, making it the only convention center in the world to currently hold the designation. The third party-verified rating recognizes excellence in operational policies, maintenance protocols, stakeholder engagement and emergency preparedness. More than 4,500 projects globally have achieved the standard, but the Salt Palace, managed by Legends/ASM Global, is unique among convention centers. The WELL Health-Safety Rating was created to guide organizations in implementing evidence-based strategies to protect people’s well-being — first in response to COVID-19, and now as a benchmark for ongoing public safety and operational resilience. To earn the rating, the Salt Palace significantly strengthened its emergency preparedness and communications. Honeycomb Strategies served as a WELL Accredited Professional advisor for the project. The Salt Palace also earned the GBAC STAR facility accreditation, recognizing its high-level cleaning and maintenance regime, as well as the Gold LEED certification.
RESTAURANTS
• DonutNV has announced the latest addition to its franchise family, DonutNV WasatchUT. Matt Johnson is franchise owner/operator. It offers mini doughnuts and fresh-squeezed lemonade. Originally founded as a kiosk in 2014, DonutNV transformed exclusively into a quick-service food truck concept in 2015. DonutNV is available for public and private events.
RETAIL
• Two Utah business owners recently got a surprise invitation to pitch their products at Walmart headquarters in Arkansas during the retail’s “Open Call” event. Ambrosia Collective, based in Draper, and Norse Roots Beef Tallow Potato Chips Utah Chips Co. (dba SnackCo of America), based in Logan, will pitch their products to Walmart buyers at the event, taking place Oct. 7-8. Open Call is an annual opportunity for entrepreneurs with shelf-ready products made, sourced or grown in the U.S. to potentially get their product before Walmart customers on store shelves and at walmart.com. The two unsuspecting business owners were asked to come to a Salt Lake City Walmart store prepared to pitch their product to a store manager, while the store manager was waiting for the opportunity to share that their spot at “Open Call” had already been secured. Norse Roots creates a variety of flavored beef tallow kettle chips without the use of seed oils. Ambrosia Collective is a sports nutrition and bio-hacking supplements brand whose signature product is Planta, a plant-based protein powder.