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ASSOCIATIONS
• ULI (Urban Land Institute) Utah, an organization focused on people in real estate development and land use, has announced that Darlene Carter will be chair of its 2026 Housing Summit Committee, and that Lexie Sills will serve as chair and Taylor Moore as co-chair of the Young Leaders Group Executive Committee. Carter is CEO of Cole West, a Utah-based, privately held real estate development firm specializing in multifamily, residential, mixed-use, land and retail development throughout the state. Carter oversees company operations and has participated in over $3 billion in residential and mixed-use development projects. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Utah State University and has been a licensed real estate broker since 2005. She currently serves on the ULI Utah Advisory Board. Sills is a business development manager for Mortenson in its Salt Lake City office, where she is responsible for partnering with business unit market leaders in developing and supporting positioning strategies with existing and potential customers. She worked as a project engineer on various hospital jobs throughout the Denver metro area before working on a data center in Eagle Mountain. Moore is a real estate developer and home builder with experience across residential construction and land development. He began his career in commercial real estate brokerage before moving into home building, where he has overseen the construction of more than 100 units, managing everything from design and budgeting through construction and final sale.
BANKING
• Milestone Bank, a Salt Lake City-based company focused on equipment finance and SBA lending, has hired Daniel Godfrey as senior vice president of asset-based lending as part of the launch of its new asset-based lending (ABL) division, which expands its credit solutions for small and mid-sized businesses nationwide. The new ABL offering provides revolving working-capital lines of credit secured primarily by accounts receivable and inventory, helping manufacturers, distributors, production companies, and other B2B operators bridge cash-flow gaps and fuel growth. Godfrey has 23 years of specialized ABL experience, including 18 with Celtic Bank. His expertise spans conventional ABL and government-guaranteed lending (GGL) programs, including SBA CAPLines.
HEALTH CARE
• IBEX Preclinical Research Inc., a Logan-based provider of preclinical testing services for pharmaceutical and medical device companies, has hired Dr. Braden Tye as attending veterinarian. Tye will help guide programs with oversight in animal welfare, scientific excellence and regulatory compliance.
LAW
• Shareholders of Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar, Salt Lake City, have elected nine lawyers to the firm’s board of directors to serve a one-year term. Brent N. Bateman is a co-chair of Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar’s Real Estate practice group. He practices land use, zoning and development law, serving developers, builders, contractors, landowners and private citizens who need assistance navigating interactions with local governments. He serves on the board of directors of the Utah Land Use Institute, the Utah Valley Home Builders Association, and the Utah Land Use and Eminent Domain Advisory Board, and previously served as the Utah property rights ombudsman. Bradley R. Cahoon is a co-leader of Dentons’ USA Environmental and Mining groups. He is an environmental lawyer who represents clients throughout the United States. He litigates CERCLA, RCRA, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, toxic tort, civil and criminal enforcement actions, and citizen and environmental group lawsuits. He has handled environmental matters affecting complex business transactions in multiple states across the country and internationally. He advises on purchasing, selling, financing and cleaning up contaminated properties, minimizing environmental liability risks, and negotiating pollution insurance. Ashley M. Gregson is a member of the firm’s Litigation practice. She has extensive experience handling all phases of litigation in Utah state, federal and appellate courts as well as administrative proceedings. She helps clients navigate complex and contentious cases, including breach of contract, constitutional claims, employment discrimination defense, enforcement of post-employment restrictive covenants, white-collar criminal defense, government investigations, governmental immunity, access to government records, and judgment collection. Gregson also consults with Utah employers regarding compliance with state and federal employment laws in all facets of the employment relationship. Rick L. Guerisoli is a member of the firm’s Corporate and Real Estate practices. He represents individuals and private and public entities in business matters such as entity formation and operation, corporate governance, contract preparation and negotiation, as well as corporate finance and business combination transactions. Guerisoli regularly advises commercial and residential real estate developers and investors, governmental entities and other property owners in connection with a variety of real estate-related transactions. He has also developed a niche practice advising social media influencers in connection with their commercial agreements and other related business matters. Jeffrey M. Jones is a member of the firm’s Corporate, Corporate Governance, Mergers and Acquisitions and Venture Technology and Emerging Growth practices. He also serves on the firm’s Executive Committee. Jones represents both public and private companies, including startup and early-stage companies, in the information technology, restaurant, manufacturing, retail, dental services, controlled environment agriculture, vaping devices and real estate brokerage sectors. He regularly advises companies with respect to corporate governance, public disclosure, middle-market M&A and capital raising transactions, distribution, procurement, licensing and similar commercial agreements, restructuring transactions, equity compensation arrangements and risk management issues. N. Todd Leishman is a member of the firm’s Corporate, Corporate Governance, Mergers and Acquisitions and Venture Technology and Emerging Growth practices. He is managing partner of the Dentons Salt Lake City office and serves on the firm’s Executive Committee and the U.S. Region board of directors. His practice focuses on middle-market M&A transactions representing both buyers and sellers, including strategic and financial acquirers as well as closely held and family-owned sellers and targets. Leishman also advises corporations, limited liability companies and partnerships, as well as majority and minority owner groups on entity governance issues such as shareholder and partner disputes and “corporate divorces.” When needed, he works closely with litigation teams in connection with corporate governance lawsuits. He also negotiates and drafts buy-sell and other shareholder agreements in closely held entities and advises on other general corporate, transactional and contract matters. Joshua Little is a member of the firm’s corporate practice and serves as the firm’s president and CEO. He also serves on the firm’s Executive Committee and as a member of Dentons’ Global Board. He advises businesses in meeting their strategic objectives and focuses his practice in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, public company compliance, private equity transactions, securities offerings, commercial contracts and licensing, corporate governance and other general corporate matters. Little has extensive experience representing private and public companies in stock and asset acquisitions and divestitures, mergers and other reorganizations. He also regularly assists technology companies in negotiation of commercial and licensing contracts. Sarah W. Matthews is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property practice and serves on the firm’s Executive Committee. She focuses on patent prosecution. Matthews is experienced in intellectual property licensing, the intellectual property aspects of mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions, intellectual property portfolio management, intellectual property opinions, domain name dispute proceedings under the ICANN, and DMCA take-downs. Matthew J. Orme is a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation and Employment practices. He represents clients in disputes involving a variety of legal issues, including contracts, business torts, real estate, business organizations and employment law. Orme has developed a specialty in representing employers against former employees or competitors in matters involving allegations of trade secret misappropriation, theft or infringement of intellectual property and breach of restrictive covenants.
LOGISTICS
• The Utah Inland Port Authority, focused on logistics solutions for Utah, has hired Doug Pierce as geospatial and financial data administrator. Pierce has more than 30 years of technical leadership and public service, most recently serving as the GIS administrator for Layton City for over three decades. In that role, he oversaw every aspect of the city’s GIS system and played a critical role in managing 911 GIS operations for both Layton City and Davis County. Pierce earned a bachelor’s degree in geography from Weber State University.
NONPROFITS
• The Road Home, a Salt Lake City-based nonprofit organization helping people on their journey to a permanent and stable home, has named Sarah Nielson as director of communications. Nielson will lead The Road Home’s media relations, crisis communications, messaging strategy and storytelling efforts. Nielson has extensive experience navigating homelessness systems, public policy and high-stakes communications, most recently serving as the public information officer for Utah’s Office of Homeless Services, where she led communications efforts across state agencies, municipal partners, nonprofit providers and community stakeholders. Nielson also has held senior communications and marketing roles and consulted for a range of nonprofit, healthcare and tourism organizations. She has served on the board for Habitat for Humanity and currently serves on the board of Family Promise.
REAL ESTATE
• Promontory Club, a 7,200-acre recreational, private mountain community in Park City, has promoted Kelli Brown to managing director and named Jonathan Fillman as general manager. Brown will continue to oversee all development, construction, sales, marketing, legal and financial teams at Promontory. She will also continue to work on strategic matters involving the club and serve as the developer representative for the Promontory Conservancy, the HOA. Brown, previously general manager, has been with Promontory and its developer, Pivotal Group, for more than 24 years. Fillman will have direct oversight of all aspects of the Promontory Club, including operations, food and beverage, golf, membership and events. He will also become involved with the Promontory Foundation, providing support for the community’s annual fundraising and giving efforts benefiting local nonprofits. Fillman has 20 years of leadership experience across luxury hospitality; private clubs; and complex, multi-asset portfolios. He joins Promontory from his role as vice president of asset management, private clubs and sustainability for Aspen Hospitality (Aspen Skiing Co.), where he managed a portfolio of five hotels and two private clubs. He previously served as general manager of The Little Nell in Aspen. The Promontory community consists of 1,924 total homesites, with 965 homes built. There are approximately 1,139 members of the private Promontory Club.