ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT

• Visit Salt Lake is again sponsoring the Sundance Film Festival Café at the Beehive Tea Room in downtown Salt Lake Jan. 20-28. Located between the two main Salt Lake Sundance screening venues of Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center and Broadway Theatres, the cafe will offer live music each night from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. on the NowSaltLake.com Festival Stage. There is no entrance fee.

• The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City has hired Aaron Moulton as senior curator of exhibitions. Moulton will commence his duties at UMOCA on Jan. 16. Moulton joins the staff at UMOCA at a time when the institution is achieving increasing national recognition. Moulton obtained his degree in curatorial studies from the Royal College of Art in London. He was editor of Flash Art International in Milan and for the past five years has been based in Berlin where he founded the exhibition space FEINKOST at the former location of the Berlin Wall. 

• New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts will bring its performances of classical Chinese dance and music to Utah on Feb. 4 in Park City. In a collection of short pieces, audiences travel from the Himalayas to tropical lake-filled regions; from the legends of the culture’s creation over 5,000 years ago through to the story of Falun Dafa in China today; from the highest heavens down to the dusty plateaus of the Middle Kingdom. There will be two performances on Feb. 4, one at 2 p.m., another at 7:30 p.m., at the Eccles Center, 1750 Kearns Blvd. Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketingbox.com or by calling 888-974-3698. For more information on ShenYun, visit www.shenyun2012.com.

 

BANKING

• America First Credit Union has distributed more than $19,000 through its Community Assistance Program in 2011 to seven organizations that help the homeless and less fortunate. The CAP disbursements were made to St. Anne’s Shelter, Catholic Community Services, Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, Christmas Box International, Your Community Connection, SHARE Food Bank and Safe Nest in Las Vegas.

• Bank of Utah has opened a new South Towne mortgage office in the Sandy Realtor Building, 230 W. Towne Ridge Parkway, Suite 520. The branch will house a team of nine loan officers and support staff. John Gonzales, a 20-year mortgage veteran and loan officer, will serve as branch manager.  

 

COMPUTERS/SOFTWARE

• American Fork-based Millenniata received the Visionary Product Consumer Storage Device Award during the Storage Visions 2012 conference at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for its M-DISC permanent storage technology that etches data onto a stone-like material. In August 2011, Millenniata launched the new optical disc technology the firm says permanently etches data onto the write layer of the disc for use anytime and for generations to come without data loss. Millenniata also entered into a manufacturing and marketing partnership with Hitachi-LG Data Storage Inc. to manufacture M-DISC compatible DVD drives under the LG brand.

• SwarmBuilder, Salt Lake City, has rebranded itself as eXperticity, which will continue to connect communities of product experts, brands and retailers to create better consumer buying experiences through the power of experts. The company’s two primary services remain 3point5.com and ProMotive.com. 3point5.com is designed to ensures that retail sales associates receive advanced training on a brand’s product line and that they are able to improve sales based on that knowledge. Similarly, ProMotive.com helps brands connect with hundreds of thousands of credible professionals whose use of a product helps them excel. While eXperticity originally made a name for itself in the outdoor industry, the company is broadening its reach by servicing the footwear and apparel, fashion and beauty and aftermarket automotive industries.

• Simply Mac, a Utah-based Apple specialist, delivered $20,400 worth of food products to the Utah Food Bank in Salt Lake City, the Utah Food Bank Southern Branch in St. George, Utah, the Jackson Cupboard Food Bank in Jackson, Wyo., and the Idaho Falls Community Food Bank in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The donations were a result of the second annual Simply Mac Meals for Macs food drive.

• The Allegiance Engage Voice of Customer (VOC) Platform by South Jordan-based Allegiance Inc. has been selected by TMC, a global integrated media company, to receive a Customer Interaction Solutions 2011 Product of the Year Award. Allegiance was selected due to its innovative approach to delivering products and solutions that enable businesses to be more attentive to their customers. Allegiance Engage gathers and combines customer and employee feedback with operational data (CRM, financial, etc.) to create actionable customer intelligence delivered in the cloud. Allegiance multi-channel feedback collection includes ad-hoc, transaction surveys, solicited feedback through websites and phone, and unsolicited, unstructured feedback of any kind, including through social media.

 

CONSTRUCTION

• Kleinfelder, a global science, architecture and engineering consulting firm, has hired Trent Parkhill, P.E., as a vice president and senior principal engineer in the firm’s Salt Lake City office. Parkhill brings with him more than 30 years of geotechnical engineering experience, including project management, client account management and technical leadership. Prior to joining Kleinfelder, Parkhill spent 31 years with Haley & Aldrich — a Boston-based engineering and environmental consulting firm — where he served in a variety of project management and technical roles.

• SME Steel Contractors, West Jordan, has been awarded the San Francisco 49ers new stadium project. SME will provide approximately 18,000 tons of structural steel fabrication and erection to create a state-of-the-art open air sports stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., that will have 68,500 seats. 

• Jacobsen Construction Co., West Valley City, has reorganized its upper management. Gary Ellis has been named chief financial officer. Ellis joined Jacobsen as company controller in 2000 and was made a vice president in 2006. Ellis succeeds Richard Kirkham, who served as CFO for 23 years. Kirkham, a senior vice president, will continue in his role as corporate secretary and treasurer. Jacobsen has also reorganized its operating units — each headed by a project executive team — to focus more effectively on its market segments and, ultimately, better serve Jacobsen clients. Executive vice president John Fortuna will continue to serve as Jacobsen’s overall construction manager while also maintaining leadership over Jacobsen’s public/institutional project portfolio with vice president Jim Cavey. Vice presidents Doug Hronek and Steve Shrader are focused on bringing the Jacobsen Experience to private clients. Vice presidents Blake Court and Matt Radke. have led Jacobsen’s health care construction specialists on a wealth of medical projects throughout Utah. Vice president Steve Nelson will continue to oversee Jacobsen’s projects in Hawaii. Religious projects will be led by vice presidents David Wills and Jon Moody. Jacobsen’s industrial projects are being tended by vice president Kirk Dickamore, who previously served as Jacobsen’s liaison over religious projects. He assumes this position from Terry Wright, who has been made a senior vice president at Jacobsen. Wright will be focusing his efforts on pre-construction services and planning for current projects, as well as long-range project development, in all market segments.

• McKay M. Parrish has passed the NCEES structural engineering I and II exams and received his structural engineering license in Utah. Parrish has worked for ARW Engineers, Salt Lake City,  for seven years and has recently provided structural design services for significant religious and institutional facilities.  He received his M.E. degree in structural engineering in 2004 from Utah State University.

 

EDUCATION/TRAINING

• Ed Catmull, president and cofounder of Pixar Animation Studios, will deliver the University of Utah general commencement address on May 4. Catmull contributed to the world of computer graphics while a student at the University of Utah, but his main goal was always to one day create a full-length feature film entirely generated by computer graphics. In 1995, Catmull achieved his goal and revolutionized the film industry with the Pixar motion picture “Toy Story.” 

 

FINANCE 

• Lendio, a Salt Lake City company that matches qualified small-business owners with active banks, credit unions and other lending sources using proprietary matching technology, has published a white paper on the 12 best ways to secure business financing in 2012. To download the white paper or listen to a podcast around it, visit http://www.lendio.com/blog/entrepreneur-addiction-18-12-business-financing/.

• Salt Lake City’s Revolving Loan Fund granted more than $1.6 million in funding to local businesses in 2011. It was a record year for the fund, which began in the 1990s and has lent in excess of $14 million to Salt Lake City businesses since its inception. The fund makes low-interest loans available to businesses within city boundaries. It is managed to achieve three primary objectives: stimulate business development and expansion, encourage private investment and economic development and enhance neighborhood vitality. Recipients of the 2011 Revolving Loan Fund include The King’s English Bookshop, Bluehouse Skis, Liberty Park Concessions, Discrete Headwear, Dolcetti Gelato, Drake Powderworks, Red Iguana, Eiffel Tower Catering and Babinski’s Baby.

 

HEALTH CARE

• California-based The Ensign Group Inc. has acquired the underlying real estate and other operating assets of Orem Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, a 108-bed skilled nursing facility in Orem. An Ensign subsidiary has been operating the facility since May of 2008 under a lease that did not include a purchase option.

• Gregory Hageman, Ph.D., professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Utah and director of the John A. Moran Center for Translational Medicine, has been selected for the 2011 Lighthouse International Pisart Vision Award. Presented annually, the award honors an individual who has “distinguished himself or herself by invention or otherwise in the prevention, cure, treatment or care of blindness.” The $30,000 award will be presented to Hageman in New York City on Jan. 19. For the past two decades, Hageman has focused his research on age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the elderly.

 

LAW

• Elijah L. Milne has joined the St. George office of Durham Jones & Pinegar as an of counsel attorney. Milne received his B.A. from Brigham Young University in 2003. He graduated, summa cum laude, from Michigan State University College of Law in 2006, and received his LL.M. from Columbia University School of Law in 2011. His practice focuses primarily on litigation and family law. In addition, he also represents clients in criminal defense cases and state administrative proceedings.

• Clyde Snow & Sessions attorney Diana L. Telfer will launch a series of new community courses Jan. 17 tackling issues arising from divorce by addressing legal, financial, emotional and spiritual perspectives in a collaborative and empowering approach. The courses will prepare and educate students about the divorce process and offer basic strategies to resolve critical concerns including custody, parent-time, child support, debt distribution, property distribution, alimony and career adjustments. Telfer’s course will be broken down into two brief class meetings. Courses will be offered through the community education departments of the Granite School District, Canyon School District and the Salt lake City School District on specific dates January through April from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Jan. 17 and 24 – Butler Middle School, Jan. 31 & Feb. 7 – Eastmont Middle School,Feb. 21 and 23 – Skyline High School, March 6 and 13 – CTEC and April 11 and 18 – West Community Learning Center. For more information visit http://www.granitepeaks.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=1010#, http://entrada.revtrak.net, or www.ClydeSnow.com.

• Denver-based Holland & Hart has added three new partners to its Salt Lake City office — Mark Miller, Sherilyn Olsen and Bryan Pratt. Miller’s practice focuses on intellectual property and patents. Olsen focuses on bankruptcy and subprime mortgages while Pratt focuses on patents, copyrights, trade secrets and intellectual property. 

 

MANUFACTURING

• Provo-based Tahitian Noni International, a worldwide purveyor of products using the noni plant, will soon change its name to Morinda Bioactives in part to help with the entry into the bioactives industry. Morinda citrifolia is the scientific name for noni. The firm’s bioactive platform will include bioactive products from multiple sources, not just noni, which is a bioactive-rich, adaptogenic plant containing iridoid compounds.

• Orem-based Aribex Inc., a manufacturer of handheld X-ray technologies, has qualified for up to $350,000 in financial incentives from the state of Utah for expansion of its manufacturing capacity. Aribex will receive the incentive in the form of tax credits that are contingent upon the company hiring 30 more employees in the next three years. The incentives were authorized under the new Technology and Life Sciences Economic Development Act passed by the Utah Legislature in 2011, and administered by the Board of the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

• Control4, a Draper-based innovator in residential and light commercial automation systems, unveiled two new models of its family of automation controllers. At the center of Control4’s updated line of controllers is the new HC-800, a powerful, flexible, multi-zone controller designed to serve as the cornerstone of any Control4 installation, no matter how large or demanding. The HC-800’s 1.8GHz high-performance dual-core processor delivers instantaneous, interactive on-screen control and browsing of even the largest media libraries.

• Setpoint Systems, an Ogden designer and manufacturer of custom lean automation solutions and manufacturing equipment, has hired Shane Aardema as project manager. Aardema has a B.S. degree in general chemistry from Weber State University, an endorsement from the American Chemical Society and more than 17 years of industrial chemical experience in a variety of industries.

 

REAL ESTATE

• Edgewater Corporate Park at 5205-5225 Wiley Post Way has been sold. The park consists of two main buildings offering nearly 214,000 square feet of office space. The buildings are 100 percent leased. The CBRE team of Eli Mills and Tucker White represented the seller, Cawley Partners, a Dallas-based private investment group. Trent Snarr, a CBRE professional specializing in debt and equity finance, arranged $14.6 million in bank financing for the buyer. The purchase price and buyer’s name were not disclosed. The buyer is a first-time investor in Utah. 

 

RESTAURANTS

• Apple Spice Junction, a 23-year-old corporate catering company based in Salt Lake City, is slated to open a new restaurant concept in Logan in March called Apple Spice Cafe & Bakery. To be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Apple Spice Cafe & Bakery will feature breakfast sandwiches, yogurt parfaits and boutique style fresh roasted coffee. Lunch selections will include a menu of 14 sandwiches, 14 salads and a variety of soups and chili. 

• Having opened the first Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse restaurant outside the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex last year at 11400 S. State in Sandy, Smokehouse Hospitality is expanding the iconic brand along the Wasatch Front. Smokehouse Hospitality opened a second Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse in Salt Lake City in the Foothill Village Shopping Center at 1414 Foothill Blvd. on Jan. 10. The Foothill location will be a hybrid service operation similar to the Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse located in downtown Dallas in the West End offering quick service for lunch and full service in the evenings with full liquor service available all day and will feature tributes to University of Utah athletics. The third Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse is set to open the first week of February at the Valley Fair Mall in the new buildings developed by the mall on 2700 West. The Valley Fair location will be operate with the Smokehouse’s traditional casual service as the company’s first location in Sandy.

 

RETAIL

• Sycamore Ventures, based in Park City, has acquired Trunk Health Products, based in San Diego. Financial terms were not disclosed. Trunk Health Products resells and markets health and nutrition products through wholesalers and retailers. It plans to develop additional private-label organic and alternative health products from the Far East. Trunk’s single operating subsidiary, Trunk Condoms, sells condoms, T-shirts, hats and other novelty items through its website, www.trunkcondoms.com. Sycamore Ventures focuses on the nutrition, health and education sectors.

 

SCIENCE

• University of Utah biology professor Nalini Nadkarni is being honored by the world’s largest general science society – the American Association for the Advancement of Science – with the group’s 2011 Public Engagement with Science Award. The award recognizes Nalini’s “unique, persistent and innovative public engagement activities that have served to raise awareness of environmental and conservation issues with a broad and exceedingly diverse audience.”

 

SPORTS

• Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele Valley, has signed an agreement with DRIFT that names DRIFT as the Official Point-of-View (POV) Camera of Miller Motorsports Park. DRIFT is a London-based company that manufactures and markets a wearable point-of-view camera offering consumers wide-angle recording capabilities. Designed with real-life use features, it is highly recommended by specialists in outdoor sports, motorsports and snow sports.