Company news information may be sent to brice.w@thecityjournals.com.
ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
• Ballet West has announced three appointments to its board of directors: Courtney Miller Hawks, Jennifer Huntsman and Amanda Schmieder. Huntsman will serve as chair-elect. Hawks has experience in nonprofit leadership, currently serving with the Sherry Black Foundation, where she helped establish the organization’s core objectives and its inaugural fundraising campaign. She serves on the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Growth and Development Committee and previously contributed to Utah Valley University’s Fulton Library Board. Hawks played a key role in the successful 2023 passage of Sherry’s Law, which preserved the use of investigative genetic genealogy in Utah. Hawks graduated from the University of Utah. Huntsman has leadership experience in both legal and nonprofit sectors. A former partner at a private law firm, she currently serves as legal counsel to the Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency. Huntsman previously served on the Ballet West Board for six years, concluding her prior term in 2022, and has contributed her expertise to numerous nonprofit and professional boards over the years. Schmieder is an experienced public relations professional, having developed strategic communications for a diverse set of clients, including corporations, nonprofits and government agencies. Her volunteer leadership includes service on her alma mater’s National Alumni Board, the Draper Chamber of Commerce, the executive committee of a public relations association, and the World Orphan Fund.
ASSOCIATIONS
• Jim Brown has been elected to the board of directors of the Direct Selling Association, a national trade organization for direct sales companies. He was elected by members of the association and will serve a three-year term. Brown is president and CEO of USANA, a Salt Lake City-based company offering nutritional and lifestyle products. He has more than 25 years of leadership experience, with 19 years at USANA serving in multiple capacities, including president, chief operating officer and chief production officer.
• Silicon Slopes has named Jessica “Jess” Ferguson as director of partnerships. She will focus on cultivating partnerships that strengthen its ecosystem and create lasting community impact. Ferguson has more than a decade of experience in communications and community engagement, with a strong focus on building partnerships. Over the past six months, she has worked closely with the Silicon Slopes team and business community to help launch Silicon Slopes Health Plans. Silicon Slopes also has announced a pair of leaders for its chapters: Amy Osmond Cook for the Go-to-Market Chapter and Wes Clark for the Founder Chapter. The Go-to-Market Chapter encompasses sales, marketing and revenue operations. Cook is co-founder and chief marketing officer of Fullcast. Her experience includes being a marketing executive and communications expert in technology, health care and real estate marketing. She founded and led Stage Marketing as CEO for 15 years. It was acquired by Ampleo in 2024. Cook has a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Utah. Clark is co-founder of Green Canyon Cos., former head of marketing operations at Kizik, former director of international sales and marketing at Purple, and an adjunct marketing professor at Utah State University. Cook earned an MBA at Brigham Young University and a global management certificate from Salt Lake Community College.
BANKING
• Zions Bank, based in Salt Lake City, has named Nate Callister as executive vice president of commercial banking. He will lead Zions Bank’s Commercial Banking division across its three-state footprint. Callister has 25 years of commercial banking leadership, previously serving as executive vice president and head of commercial banking at Wells Fargo Bank in Utah and Idaho and leading commercial banking at Community Banks of Colorado and Hillcrest Bank. Callister’s education includes a bachelor’s degree in Russian from Brigham Young University. Callister also currently serves as board chair of the Salt Lake Chamber.
EDUCATION
• Weber State University has named Leslie Durham as provost and vice president of academic affairs. Durham spent the past 24 years at Boise State University, where she most recently served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and taught courses in theater. Durham earned a bachelor’s degree in English and drama at the University of Virginia and a master’s and Ph.D. in theater at the University of Kansas.
GOVERNMENT
• Gov. Spencer Cox has appointed, and the Utah Senate has confirmed, Clint Morris to serve as a member of the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity board. Morris is senior vice president of marketing at Lifetime Products, overseeing the company’s consumer and industrial goods. With more than 29 years of experience in marketing and sales, Morris leads the Lifetime brand’s vertically integrated marketing strategy. He has guided numerous teams while advising operations in the manufacturing sector. Morris earned a bachelor’s degree in business logistics from Weber State University. Morris also has been engaged in public service on the Utah Manufacturers Association board of directors and as its board chair; on the boards of the Davis Arts Council, Career Path High Charter School and the Utah League of Cities and Towns; and as a Layton City planning commissioner and a Layton City Council member. The GOEO board has up to nine members appointed to four-year terms by Cox. It features members with expertise in rural Utah, entrepreneurship, higher education, and key industries driving Utah’s growth.
HEALTH CARE
• Biologic Input Output Systems (BIOS), a University of Utah spinout neural interface technology company based in California, has appointed Dr. Chris Duncan as chief medical officer. An expert in neuroprosthetics, Duncan specializes in restoring movement and sensation for individuals with limb loss through advanced prosthetic technology that intuitively integrates with the body’s nervous system. Duncan joins BIOS at a pivotal moment as the company refines its Universal Neural Interface, working alongside the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab, University of Utah Health, the Craig H Rehabilitation Center and Mayo Clinic.
• Aspen Laser Systems LLC, a medical technology company specializing in Class IV laser therapy systems used in pain relief, recovery and performance applications, and TheraLight LLC, an innovator in whole-body photobiomodulation therapy to support full-body wellness, have appointed Jeff Butler as chief operating officer and Justin Vorwaller as chief financial officer. Butler will oversee all operational areas of the business, including logistics, fulfillment, warehouse management, customer service, internal systems and regulatory compliance. He most recently served as vice president of logistics. Vorwaller is the companies’ first CFO and will direct all financial operations, including strategic planning, budgeting and corporate financial health. In addition to his CFO duties, Vorwaller will oversee the development of strategic partnerships and key global relationships essential for long-term expansion. This year marks his 10th anniversary with the companies. He previously served as chief operating officer for nearly seven years and is a co-founder of TheraLight and several other ventures.
MANUFACTURING
• Gozney, a U.K.-based pizza oven company with North American headquarters in Salt Lake City, has added several people to its leadership team. They include Ryan Bateman, who has been named chief financial officer and is based in the Salt Lake City office; and Scott Loeppert, named as vice president of sales and based in Colorado but also works out of the office at least monthly while supporting key retailer activity alongside more than a dozen territory managers he oversees. The Salt Lake City office also includes CEO Denny Bruce, former executive at Traeger, Dickies and Skullcandy; Jonathan Kantor, chief revenue and marketing officer; and Daylen Bushman, chief operating officer. Among the new announcements are those for Mario Marte, chairman and investor, based in San Francisco; and Steve Hewitt, investor and strategic advisor, based in the U.K. Bateman will oversee financial strategy, operations, budgeting, risk management and strategic growth initiatives at Gozney. He spent nearly 20 years in finance leadership at Amer Sports Winter & Outdoor Co. Since joining Amer Sports in 2007, Bateman held numerous senior leadership positions in general management, finance and operations, for both the parent company and several of its outdoor brands, including Salomon, Arc’teryx, Armada Skis and Atomic. Loeppert will lead Gozney’s retail expansion across North America, focusing on scaling premium wholesale and specialty partnerships. He formerly was with Columbia Sportswear and Salomon.
PUBLIC POLICY
• The Orrin G. Hatch Foundation has added Thomas Wright to its board of directors. Wright is the CEO and principal broker of Summit Sotheby’s International Realty and the president and chief operating officer of Majestic Realty Collective, a leading affiliate group within the Sotheby’s International Realty network. Wright’s public service experience spans business, government and philanthropy, and he has held key roles in various Utah institutions, including the Utah State Board of Regents, the Utah Debate Commission, and the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera Board of Trustees. His civic resume includes past service as chairman of the Utah Republican Party and vice chair of the Republican National Committee.
REAL ESTATE
• Mountain West Commercial Real Estate, a Salt Lake City-based commercial real estate brokerage, has hired Randy Owen as director of management services in its Property Management Services Division. Owen has 30 years of leadership experience, managing significant portfolios and providing growth, supervision and strategic direction to regional management offices throughout the U.S. and South America. His experience includes senior-level director and senior vice president roles with Colliers, JLL and Newmark. Based for several years in Utah; São Paulo, Brazil; and later in Atlanta with JLL, Owen held leadership positions focused on establishing and expanding property management operations in each of those markets. Most recently with Colliers, he served as director of the Utah region, overseeing more than 10 million square feet of managed properties across eight states. Owen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in finance from the University of Utah.
SPORTS
• The Utah Jazz have promoted Marquis Newman to an expanded role as director of pro scouting in the Jazz’s front office and promoted Katie Benzan to general manager of the Stars. Newman had served as Stars general manager since the 2022-23 season. He began his career with the Jazz in 2014 as a basketball operations assistant and has risen within the organization, joining the Stars in 2021 as assistant general manager. Benzan becomes the youngest active GM in the NBA G League and the youngest female GM in league history at 27 years old. She was the Stars assistant general manager and coordinator of pro scouting for the 2024-25 season. She will now also serve as the Jazz manager of pro scouting, ahead of the 2025-26 season. Benzan is a former collegiate and WNBA player. Benzan began her career with the organization as a basketball generalist for two seasons (2022-24).
• Salt Lake Community College has named Gary Verón as athletic director. Verón has over a decade of experience in collegiate athletics administration, including leadership roles at Brigham Young University, the University of Wyoming and BYU-Hawaii. Since June 2021, Verón has served as a senior administrator at BYU. Before that, he worked as director of NCAA Compliance at BYU from 2017 to 2021. His compliance experience also includes serving as chief compliance officer and Title IX coordinator at Charles R. Drew University in Los Angeles. His athletic administration career began at BYU-Hawaii, where he was associate athletic director for compliance and internal operations from 2012 to 2015. His education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from BYU.
TECHNOLOGY
• Waystar Holding Corp., a health care payment software company with main offices in Lehi and Louisville, Kentucky, has appointed Aashima Gupta and Michael Roman to its board of directors. Gupta is global director of health care strategy and solutions at Google Cloud. She has significant expertise in AI strategy and digital transformation to improve health care access and efficiency. Gupta also serves on the boards of Neogen, Mölnlycke Health Care and the HIMSS Global Health Advisory Board. Roman is a former executive chairman of the board and CEO of 3M. He served at 3M for nearly 40 years, including as CEO, chairman and executive chairman. Roman currently serves on the board of Abbott Laboratories and the Board of Trustees for the University of Minnesota Foundation.