Company news information may be sent to brice.w@thecityjournals.com.
EDUCATION
• The University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business recently appointed Jeff D. Davis as director of the Master of Business Creation (MBC). The program provides founders with personal mentorship, applied curriculum, access to funding, marketing resources and more to help them grow their business while also earning an accredited master’s degree. Davis is an experienced international executive, entrepreneur, investor, and professor of entrepreneurship and marketing. He has been a faculty member of the marketing department and a co-founder of the MBC program, and has led the MBC Global option since it launched last year. He enrolled the first global cohort in Africa starting in fall 2025 and will lead an expansion to Europe. Before joining the UofU, Davis built brands at Procter & Gamble in numerous product sectors and in several countries for 23 years. After that, he became an angel investor, board member and eventual CEO of Orabrush. He also is the founder of Molio. He earned a B.S. in marketing and a B.A. in German from the UofU. Davis succeeds Paul Brown, who stepped down after serving as co-director of the program since 2023. Brown will continue to serve as an instructor, mentor and strategic advisor to the MBC program and a faculty member in the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy. His experience outside the classroom includes practicing law as a partner of the Kirkland & Ellis law firm in Chicago, founding and co-managing Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s $300 million national venture capital fund, serving as a managing director at Sandbox Industries, and co-founding Upstream Ventures. His education includes dual bachelor’s degrees from the UofU.
• Salt Lake Community College has named Jamie Cooper as provost of academic affairs and Jason Wood as vice president of Salt Lake Technical College, part of SLCC. Cooper has nearly 30 years of experience in higher education, joining SLCC from York Technical College in South Carolina, where he served as executive vice president for academic affairs. His career includes leadership roles at The Evergreen State College and George Mason University, where he oversaw advising, multicultural services and academic operations. Wood has more than two decades of experience in higher education leadership, most recently serving as president of Southwest Wisconsin Technical College. Wood’s career spans several institutions, including Central Wyoming College, Klamath Community College and Southwestern Oregon Community College. His education includes a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University.
HEALTH CARE
• Canary Speech, a Provo-based voice biomarker health tech company, has appointed Dr. Kang Hsu Jr. as chief medical officer. He will lead the company’s medical strategy, clinical innovation, and help the company’s position in vocal biomarker technology. He will oversee Canary Speech’s clinical direction, support product development, and work closely with strategic partners and major health systems, and contribute to the company’s research efforts. Hsu has more than two decades of clinical, operational and digital health experience, most recently serving as associate vice president for acute medical informatics at Providence. He also has held senior leadership roles at Providence, St. Joseph Health and Meditech.
INVESTMENTS
• Sorenson Capital, a Lehi-based early and growth-stage venture capital firm, has promoted Eric Hilton to partner. Hilton focuses on early-stage investments in B2B software. He joined the firm in 2015. Hilton’s education includes earning a B.S. in exercise science from Brigham Young University.
LAW
• Ballard Spahr has added Marcus Simon, Jonathan P. Rowe and Joshua W. Hoggard in its Salt Lake City office. All three join from Dorsey & Whitney. Rowe and Hoggard are senior attorneys who work with Simon on strategic patent counseling, patent prosecution before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and related services. Simon and his team work across an array of industries, including medical, health care, life sciences, higher education, energy, mining and aerospace. A significant part of the practice involves representing clients from outside of the United States before the USPTO. Simon has joined Ballard Spahr’s Intellectual Property Department and Patents Group as a partner. He is an intellectual property attorney with more than two decades of experience in patent prosecution and counseling across industries. He was a partner at Dorsey & Whitney. Before practicing law, Simon earned a master’s degree in materials science and engineering and worked as a materials engineer and fracture mechanics specialist in the aerospace industry. He earned his J.D. from the University of Utah. Rowe earned both a bachelor’s and master’s from Brigham Young University. Hoggard earned both a bachelor’s degree and his J.D. from the University of Utah.
• Ogletree Deakins, a labor and employment law firm, has hired Seth Ensign for its Salt Lake City office as a shareholder. Ensign has more than a dozen years of legal experience, most recently as associate general counsel at private equity investment firm Fifth Partners for four years. His experience includes litigating complex employment and commercial matters. His practice focuses on employment law, including advice and counsel for employers on risk management, class actions, business torts, restrictive covenants, intellectual property disputes, workplace policies, employee discipline, executive departures, and day-to-day operations. Ensign earned both his undergraduate degree and his J.D. from Brigham Young University.
• Spencer Fane LLP has hired David R. Rudd for its Salt Lake City office as an of counsel attorney in the Corporate and Business Transactions practice group. Rudd assists public and private companies operating in domestic and foreign markets with a range of corporate transactions and related financings, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, minority investments, strategic alliances, asset sales and purchases, private equity and venture capital investments, intra-company mergers and reorganizations, and debt and equity financings. He also advises clients on corporate governance, creating effective and compliant business strategies and systems for operations that benefit all key stakeholders. He spent more than a decade of his practice operating out of Mexico City. Outside of private practice, Rudd lectures at the University of Utah’s David Eccles Graduate School of Business, presents at major conferences on international and domestic business and legal matters, and serves on the board of advisors and as a panelist in events sponsored by World Trade Center Utah. His education includes a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University.
RETAIL
• Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc., a West Jordan-based outdoor specialty retailer, has appointed Jennifer Fall Jung as chief financial officer and secretary of the company. She succeeds Jeff White, who is serving in a consulting role to assist with the transition until Sept. 9. Fall Jung has over 25 years of experience in the consumer goods industry, including serving as executive vice president and CFO of The Duckhorn Portfolio Inc.; serving as CFO of Funko Inc.; holding a variety of roles at The Gap Inc., including senior vice president of corporate finance and investor relations; serving as CFO and senior vice president of Old Navy Global Stores and Online; and serving as head of international of Old Navy Global.