Company news information may be sent to brice.w@thecityjournals.com.
ACCOUNTING
• Tanner LLC, a Salt Lake City-based accounting and advisory firm, has expanded its transfer pricing team with the additions of David Cheney and Harmony Loy Sessum. They work in Phoenix. Cheney has more than 30 years of transfer pricing experience. He most recently helped to establish and lead a transfer pricing team in the Phoenix market for a Big Four firm. During his extensive career as a transfer pricing specialist, he has advised global companies across a wide range of industries — including semiconductors, manufacturing, renewable energy, transportation, technology-enabled services, and consumer goods — on structuring and defending complex transfer pricing arrangements. His expertise spans the implementation of global operating models, intangible property migrations, cost-sharing agreements, global documentation strategies, and intercompany financial transactions. Sessum is a transfer pricing director who consults on all aspects of intercompany pricing arrangements between related business entities. Her areas of focus include analyzing transfers of intellectual property, transfers of tangible goods, provision and receipt of services, and intercompany loans and other financing transactions. Her experience includes 10 years in transfer pricing at a Big Four firm.
BANKING
• Bank of Utah, based in Ogden, has hired Brian Paniagua as banking manager and Stockton Christensen as banking manager of the company’s Providence location. Paniagua has 14 years of experience in the finance industry. Before joining Bank of Utah, he was a skills trainer at University of Utah Health. He held various positions at Mountain America Credit Union over a seven-year period, including talent and development assistant manager, service center assistant manager, assistant branch manager and loan officer. He also spent seven years at Wells Fargo, where he held positions ranging from banker coach to customer service sales supervisor, and learning and development facilitator. Christensen has nearly a decade of branch leadership. He started his career as a bank teller and advanced through various roles, eventually serving as a branch manager. Before joining Bank of Utah, Christensen spent seven years at a local credit union, where he held several roles, including department manager, assistant branch manager, loan officer, financial services representative and teller. Christensen received both a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Western Governors University.
• Sunwest Bank, based in Sandy, has appointed Raymond Rindone as chief financial officer. Rindone has more than three decades of experience in the financial services and banking industry and has expertise in accounting, finance, treasury, strategic planning and investor relations. Before joining Sunwest Bank, Rindone served as deputy chief financial officer and head of corporate finance at Banc of California. Earlier in his career, he was deputy CFO at City National Bank.
• TAB Bank, based in Ogden, has hired Sam Cirelli as vice president of business development. Based in New York, he will be part of the Northeast lending team.
Cirelli has over 30 years of experience as a corporate lender and advisor to small and mid-sized companies. He has experience in executive management, portfolio management, underwriting, loan origination and structuring. He was previously an originations manager and sales manager at Triumph and founded and led two prominent asset-based lending startups. Cirelli was a founding managing partner of Northern Lights Partners, a boutique investment bank raising capital and debt and advising on mergers and acquisitions. He has also served as global loan origination director for General Motors Finance, where he was responsible for the U.S., U.K. and Canadian markets. He has been an adjunct professor at New York University and Wagner College.
COMMUNICATIONS
• Sorenson Communications, a Salt Lake City-based company focused on communication services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities, has appointed Pipier Bewlay as chief human resources officer. Prior to joining Sorenson, Bewlay held senior human resources roles at Bridge Investment Group Holdings Inc. and Imagine Learning Inc.
CONSTRUCTION
• Steel Encounters, a Salt Lake City-based company focused on steel joist/deck and glass/glazing, has announced Mo Sabbagh as executive vice president of its Architectural Division. Sabbagh provides strategic oversight of the division, collaborating closely to ensure the full value and expertise of Steel Encounters’ glass and glazing division. His portfolio includes the Apple Headquarters, 66 Hudson and One Vanderbilt Tower NYC, and he has worked at Enclos, Permasteelisa North America and Clark Pacific.
• Geneva Rock, a subsidiary of Clyde Cos. Inc., has hired Jess Anderson as director of safety. Anderson is responsible for managing, developing, training and improving client programs in safety, risk management, accident prevention, regulatory compliance and crisis management. Anderson is a former commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, where he also served as the governor’s homeland security advisor. While with the Utah Highway Patrol, he was promoted through several ranks and served in key administrative positions. He served on the executive board of the National Governor’s Security Association from 2009-2016, including a term as president. Anderson earned a master’s degree in criminal justice from Weber State University.
HOSPITALITY
• Grand Hyatt Deer Valley has appointed Nate Hardesty as general manager and area vice president. Grand Hyatt Deer Valley is the first resort in Deer Valley’s recently expanded East Village. Hardesty will oversee the operations and strategic direction of the property, alongside The Residences at Grand Hyatt Deer Valley, leading all hotel operations, overseeing strategic planning and guest experience initiatives, and driving growth for the property. With Hyatt for 23 years, Hardesty has over two decades of hospitality leadership experience, most recently serving as managing director at Thompson Austin and Tommie Austin, following his role as general manager at Andaz West Hollywood in California. He also served in leadership roles at properties including Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa, Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe and Grand Hyatt Denver. He also previously was regional vice president of sales in the Americas for Hyatt Hotels Corp.
MANUFACTURING
• ATL Technology, a Springville-based engineering and manufacturing partner to medical device OEMs, has hired Kelly Himle as global director of marketing. Himle’s career spans from agency roots in the Upper Midwest to leadership roles at Bard and BD, and, most recently, marketing at Transit Scientific.
NONPROFITS
• The Children’s Center Utah, a nonprofit that provides comprehensive mental health care to infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families, has appointed six people to its board of directors. Utah Sen. Heidi Balderree, who also is chair of the Public Education Appropriations Committee, has deep civic experience, a global perspective, and a strong belief in service to her legislative and nonprofit work. Jenniffer Clark is senior assistant general counsel at Enbridge Gas Utah; leads legal teams across multiple states; and has long supported The Children’s Center Utah, including serving as co-chair of its annual Jewelry Luncheon. Utah Rep. Jake Fitisemanu, a longtime public health leader, has decades of experience in health equity, civic service and community advocacy. He currently serves as community health program manager at Intermountain Health and has held national advisory roles under the Obama administration and the U.S. Census Bureau. David “Dave” Petersen is vice chair of the board at O.C. Tanner and former CEO and has been an advocate for employee well-being and community involvement through leadership with United Way of Salt Lake, One Refugee and more. Albert R. “Bert” Zimmerli is a retired executive vice president and chief financial officer of Intermountain Health. He continues to serve on numerous health care and investment boards and has decades of financial and philanthropic leadership. M. Craig Zollinger is a retired managing director at JPMorgan Chase whose 40-year career in commercial banking and national leadership roles have provided expertise in strategic growth, governance and risk oversight. Entering the role of board chair is Dave Engel. He succeeds Greg Summerhays.
TECHNOLOGY
• Strider Technologies Inc., a Salt Lake City-based strategic intelligence company, has named Robert C. O’Brien to its advisory board. He will support Strider’s artificial intelligence strategy. O’Brien currently serves on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and is the co-founder and chairman of American Global Strategies LLC. He served as U.S. national security advisor from 2019 to 2021, advising President Trump on all aspects of American foreign policy and national security affairs. Before serving as NSA, he was the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs with the personal rank of ambassador. During his career, he served as co-chairman of the U.S. Department of State’s Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan; in 2005 was nominated by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a U.S. representative to the 60th session of the UN General Assembly; served as a senior legal officer for the UN Security Council commission that decided claims against Iraq arising out of the first Gulf War; was a major in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve; was elected as the chairman of the board of directors of the Richard Nixon Foundation; serves as co-chair of the Nixon Seminar on Conservative Realism and National Security; and is co-founder and partner emeritus at law firm Larson LLP in Los Angeles.
• Ordr, a payment technology company that recently moved from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Salt Lake City, has appointed Chris Gargano as chief marketing officer and announced that Jade Chiles, a company co-founder, shifts from CMO to chief strategy officer. Gargano will lead Ordr’s brand, marketing and communications efforts. He has more than two decades of experience in professional sports media, most recently spending seven seasons as vice president and executive producer for the New York Jets, where he led content, video production, social media, and editorial. Before the Jets, he spent eight seasons working on the San Francisco Giants’ media and entertainment efforts and earlier served six years as director of broadcasting for the Oakland Raiders. Gargano also has been an adjunct professor at New York University since 2018, teaching courses on leadership and sports management, and in 2023, he launched the Gargano Leadership Group to mentor and inspire emerging leaders. Chiles, who helped shape Ordr’s early vision and go-to-market presence, will now lead the company’s long-term strategy, partnerships and product innovation.