Industry Briefs 3-18-24

Industry Briefs are provided as a free service to our readers. Company news information may be sent to brice.w@thecityjournals.com. The submission deadline is one week before publication.

BANKING

• UMB Bank has hired Cathy Keen as senior vice president, private banker, in Salt Lake City. She is responsible for creating customized banking solutions for high-net-worth clients. Keen has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining UMB, Keen was a senior private banker at Wells Fargo for 17 years.
• Sunwest Bank, based in Sandy, has hired Greg Melidonianas executive vice president and managing director of commercial deposits and payments. He will provide leadership and strategic oversight for the bank’s payments and liquidity platforms, including online banking and treasury operations. He also will formulate and execute strategies for new business in the bank’s strategic markets. Melidonian has over 25 years of banking experience, most recently serving as head of business for transaction banking sales at MUFG Union Bank. Prior to that role, he was an industry manager concentrating in commercial banking, commercial real estate and large corporate verticals. He began his career at Wells Fargo within the bank’s large corporate vertical, specializing in hospitality, gaming, consumer goods and technology.

CORPORATE

• Owlet Inc., a Lehi-based company offering a digital parenting platform, has entered into definitive documentation relating to a sale of shares of its newly issued Series B convertible preferred stock and warrants to purchase its Class A common stock in a private placement with certain institutional and other accredited investors for gross proceeds to Owlet of approximately $9 million, before deducting offering expenses. The conversion ratio for the Series B preferred stock and exercise price for the warrants reflects a 25 percent premium to the market closing price Feb. 23.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

• Utah is ranked No. 35 on a list of “Best States for Women,” compiled by WalletHub. Last year, it was ranked No. 37. It compared the states and the District of Columbia across 25 key indicators of living standards for women, including median earnings for female workers, women’s healthcare and the female homicide rate. On a breakout list, Utah was No. 48 for median earnings for female workers. The top-ranked state overall is Massachusetts. The bottom-ranked state is Oklahoma. Details are at https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-for-women/10728.
• Lehi is ranked No. 33 on a list of “Top 100 Cities for a Career Switch,” compiled by Careerminds.com. It surveyed 3,000 professionals nationwide who are considering a career switch, to ascertain which cities in the U.S. have the most appeal for their next chapter. The top-ranked city is Asheville, North Carolina. Details are at https://careerminds.com/blog/career-crossroads.
• Fifty-eight percent of Utahns are willing to risk their careers by whistleblowing, according to a survey by Federal-Lawyer.com. Nationally, 51 percent of people said they would be a whistleblower, while 49 percent said they preferred to not say something. The highest figure for whistleblower willingness is in Arkansas, at 83 percent. The lowest is in Idaho, at 30 percent. Details are at https://federal-lawyer.com/to-speak-or-not-to-speak/.
• Utah is ranked No. 37 on a list of “Best States for Tiny House Living,” compiled by LawnStarter. It compared the 50 states on the legality of constructing a tiny home and looked at the suitability of building in an urban setting based on average yard acreages and in a remote environment based on off-grid lifestyle-friendliness. The top-ranked state is Vermont. The bottom-ranked state is New Jersey. Details are at https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-states-for-tiny-houses/.
• Utah is ranked No. 38 on a list of “Best States for Animal Lawn Mowing,” compiled by Lawn Love. It compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on access to “animal mowing” companies, average yard sizes, and local interest in sheep and goat rentals. The bottom-ranked location is the District of Columbia. Details are at https://lawnlove.com/blog/best-states-animal-lawn-mowing/.

EXPANSIONS

• Recursion, a Salt Lake City-based clinical-stage drug discovery company, has announced plans to open an office in London in June. The 6,700-square-foot office will serve as an extension of both Recursion and Valence Labs, the company’s artificial intelligence research engine. Recursion announced that Michael Bronstein, professor of artificial intelligence at Oxford University, will serve as a scientific advisor. Bronstein is a leader in geometric deep learning, graph neural networks and protein design. Recursion has over 500 employees at sites in Salt Lake City, Toronto, Montréal and the San Francisco Bay Area.

FOODS

• Kodiak, a Park City-based breakfast company, has appointed Steve Katzenberger as chief operating officer and Sonali Dalvi as vice president of product development. Katzenberger joins Kodiak following his tenure at Campbells Soup Co., where he served as senior vice president of supply chain. Prior to that, he held positions at Hearthside Food Solutions, Kraft Foods and more. Dalvi will be the brand’s first ever vice president of product development. Her experience includes leading research and development for brands including Olam Food Ingredients, PureCircle, PepsiCo and Quaker Foods.

GOVERNMENT

• Salt Lake City has launched a consumer protection complaint portal at https://www.slc.gov/housingstability/consumerprotection. It aims to be a centralized hub for residents to submit consumer-related complaints and empower residents to actively participate in protecting themselves and their neighbors from deceptive practices. The city invites residents to use the portal to voice concerns, report scams, and seek assistance related to consumer issues. Through the portal, residents can specify the business and business type (e.g., retail, automotive, housing, etc.) against which they are filing a complaint and detail their grievances. Within five business days, Salt Lake City staff will reach out to the resident with resources and information about the next steps regarding their specific complaint. City staff will use complaints to identify specific businesses and practices that warrant better regulation and to identify trends in complaints.
• Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson has designated Greg Bell to serve as an independent advisor for any complaints that may arise during the 2024 gubernatorial election. Bell is a former lieutenant governor. Should an issue arise, Utah Director of Elections Ryan Cowley will make all decisions that have a clear answer under state law. For more difficult or controversial questions, Cowley and the lieutenant governor’s assistant attorney general will ask Bell to study the matter and make a recommendation to Henderson. Those recommendations will be made public.
• The Central Wasatch Commission has launched a “call for ideas” for projects specific to the project area of the Central Wasatch Commission, which includes Millcreek Canyon, Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons and the Wasatch Back. The call is focused on projects that protect the ecosystems or watershed originating in the project area, improve canyon transportation or transit, steward year-round recreation, and sustain the economic vitality of the Wasatch canyons. The call will collect short-term project ideas in project area that are largely “shovel-ready” for the commission to consider for funding (not more than $20,000 total). The call deadline is March 25. Details are available by emailing Sam Kilpack at samantha@cwc.utah.gov.

HEALTHCARE

• The Utah Postpartum Retreat has opened at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City. It offers a wellness experience dedicated to supporting new parents through the immediate days and weeks of their postpartum journey. The retreat is offered year-round, and each guest can decide on a stay of three, five or seven nights. It accepts health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts for guests’ stays. It also collaborates with select add-on service providers who accept insurance, expanding the range of accessible resources for the guests.

HOSPITALITY

• LivAway Suites, a Salt Lake City-based economy extended-stay hotel brand, has appointed Jeremy Raymond as general legal counsel. Raymond has 15 years of corporate and real estate legal experience in both private practice and in-house counsel roles. For the past 10 years, he has represented local and regional real estate development companies, including a regional developer of extended-stay properties. Over the past two years, he has been instrumental in managing LivAway Suites’ franchise registrations and LivAway Suites’ various trademark registrations. In addition to his appointment as general legal gounsel, Raymond was recently added to LivAway Suites’ board of directors.
• Western States Lodging and Management, a South Jordan-based management and development firm focused in hospitality, senior living and multifamily housing, has promoted Dave Egbert to vice president operations senior living. Egbert has nearly 20 years of experience in the senior living and older adult healthcare field. With beginnings as a direct care provider, Egbert has served in leadership positions, most recently as WSLM’s executive director at Legacy Village of Sugar House in Salt Lake City. Legacy Retirement Communities, WSLM’s senior living business line, offers independent living, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation services across Utah and four other states. Western States manages 94 properties, has more than $1.6 billion in assets under management with two developments opening in early 2024.

INDOOR ENTERTAINMENT

• Sky Zone, a Provo-based company focused on indoor entertainment, has announced that private equity firm Ex Nihilo Capital has acquired 10 locations in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin and Tennessee. It is the largest franchisee in the system. Roger Duncan, the founder of Ex Nihilo, leads the 17 parks in their portfolio. Founded in 2004, SkyZone is expected to have 300 parks by the end of 2024.

INVESTMENTS

• Halia Therapeutics, a Lehi-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has completed a $30 million Series C financing. The financing was led by Todd Pedersen, with continued participation from existing investors. The company said proceeds from the financing will be used to support the advancement of Halia’s lead asset, HT-6184.
• Tava Health, a Salt Lake City-based mental health company, has completed a $20 million Series B funding round. It was led by Catalyst Investors, based in New York. Existing investors Peterson Partners, Toba Capital and SpringTide, along with new investor Blue Heron Capital, also participated. The new capital will be used for product development, expansion of Tava Health’s provider network, and bolstering partnerships with employers and health insurance carriers. Kapil Desai, partner with Catalyst Investors, will join the company’s board of directors as part of the investment.

MANUFACTURING

• Clarus Corp., a Salt Lake City-based company that designs, develops, manufactures and distributes outdoor equipment and lifestyle products, has appointed Roger Werner to serve on its board. With the appointment, the board is composed of six directors, five of which are independent. Werner has over 40 years of executive leadership experience, including serving as chief operating officer and later president and CEO at ESPN; helping to build Prime Ticket Network (now Fox Sports West); developing Speedvision (now Fox Sports 1) and Outdoor Life Network (now NBC Sports), serving as both networks’ president and CEO; and serving as president, CEO and co-chairman of Outdoor Channel Holdings Inc. Werner also has been an advisor and a director at The MotorTrend Group and currently serves as chairman of ACCUS (the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States).

MILESTONES

• Crumbl, a Lindon-based dessert chain, has opened its 1,000th store. The company has been in business six years, with the first store in Logan. The 1,000th store is in Burbank, California. The company has locations in all 50 states, plus Canada and Puerto Rico.

NONPROFITS

• Utah Food Bank recently collaborated with faith-based congregations and other organizations for the third statewide Feed Utah food drive. Residents across the state received door hangers during the days leading up to the food drive and placed bags of non-perishable food outside their front doors on March 16. Volunteers will pick up donated food and collected and delivered it to Utah Food Bank’s warehouses, Macey’s Grocery, Lin’s and agencies and partner locations across the state. The effort is the result of a partnership between Utah Food Bank and its partner agencies, Macey’s Grocery, Lin’s, JustServe and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These donations will help provide food to the estimated 317,000 Utahns.
• USANA Kids Eat recently brought together hundreds of new volunteers from the local community to pack 2,000 bags of food items for children and their families in need around the state. Along with packing the bags, USANA Kids Eat used the opportunity to secure new sponsors in order for six Utah schools to receive the Kids Eat food bags during the next school year. Established in 2019, the USANA Foundation acquired KidsEat!Utah to form USANA Kids Eat. It provides backpacks filled with food for at-risk youth to schools and organizations along the Wasatch Front.
• Visit Salt Lake, a private, nonprofit corporation that promotes Salt Lake as a convention and travel destination, has named Lizzie Fillo as associate vice president of marketing. She will oversee Visit Salt Lake’s core marketing functions, leading strategic initiatives to develop Visit Salt Lake’s brand identity and narrative. Fillo’s experience includes serving as a senior marketing lead at PepsiCo UK. Over the past year in the U.S., she helped develop owned and earned social strategies for Lyft and Dolby.
• HealthTree Foundation, a Salt Lake City-based nonprofit, has released the HealthTree Research Hub. It is an online research portal that facilitates real-world data research, providing researchers access to over 14,000 myeloma patients who contribute anonymized data to the HealthTree Cure Hub patient portal. Patients can also respond to investigator surveys or studies inside of HealthTree Cure Hub. The HealthTree Research Hub will facilitate more than 100 research projects in the next 20 months for myeloma researchers. It also will be open for beta research projects in lymphoma, leukemia and MPNs in 2024.

PARTNERSHIPS

• Nomi Health, based in Orem, and CHG Healthcare, based in Midvale, have announced a partnership designed to radically expand medical support to underserved communities throughout the United States. The partnership aims to deliver a seamless, integrated solution that includes multi-channel patient engagement, access to virtual care, and performance tracking metrics with clinical and claims-based data. The partnership enables providers to immediately launch a virtual visit with at-risk patients at the point of engagement. It also utilizes text, email, chatbot, and live agents to engage in on-the-spot telehealth visits with patients. The program is available in all 50 states and in multiple languages.
• Intermountain Health, based in Salt Lake City, and PharmaLogic, based in Florida, are partnering to build a new cyclotron facility in Murray that will produce radiopharmaceuticals, which are used to diagnose certain medical conditions or treat various types of cancer. The new facility will ensure more of these products are available locally to be used for a wide range of imaging applications for certain cancers and other ailments involving the heart and brain. Unlike an MRI or X-ray that provides a still image, PET-CT imaging, which uses radiopharmaceuticals, allows doctors to see the anatomical and physiological function of the body. The new facility is expected to begin production this year.

REAL ESTATE

• Hughes Marino, a corporate real estate advisory firm, has opened an office at Union Park Center in Midvale. The office will be led by Lora Munson, executive vice president. She has decades of commercial real estate experience in the region. Hughes Marino has offices in Utah, San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, Inland Empire, San Francisco, Oakland, Palo Alto, Seattle, Denver, New York, Boston, Raleigh-Durham and Dallas.

RECOGNITIONS

• The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the University of Utah has announced the finalist teams in the 2024 Utah Entrepreneur Challenge. The student startup teams advance to the final round of the business-model competition for college students across the state. Teams are competing for over $100,000 in cash and prizes, including a $30,000 grand prize. The winners will be announced March 23 at a public showcase and awards ceremony at the UofU. The competition is managed by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, a division of the David Eccles School of Business at the UofU, and sponsored by Zions Bank. The finalist teams are Alchemy Herbal Tea, Salt Lake Community College; Bigman Outdoors Seasonings, Snow College; Bleeped, Utah State University; Brokie Studios, Neumont College of Computer Science; Conscious, University of Utah; GeoTechnical Rock Lab, UofU; Gourmet Grazing, SLCC; Hannah Camille Events, Weber State University; Honey Haven, Utah Valley University; Iso Retractor, Ensign College; Minnow, UVU; Mystery Excape City, Southern Utah University; NexHub, SUU; Noda, Ensign College; Powder Baby Dry Shampoo, Brigham Young University; Red Rock Consulting: NIL Advertisement, Utah Tech University; Spot Parking, BYU, UofU; Smarter Cattle, Utah Tech; Stelle, Neumont College of Computer Science; The Port Studio, Snow College; and Velocity Boards, USU.
• ACG Utah, a middle-market networking community, has announced its Deal of the Year Award winners, celebrating the most innovative and impactful transactions in Utah across different financial sectors. For Private Equity Buyout, the recipient is Platform Accounting Group, a national network of boutique accounting firms, awarded for its successful private equity buyout, recognizing its strategic growth and potential within the accounting industry. For Growth Equity, the recipient is Nursa, a healthcare company dedicated to improving patient outcomes through data and analytics, commended for its growth equity investment, highlighting its significant market potential and impact on the healthcare landscape. For Strategic Merger, the recipient is Maverik, a convenience store chain, lauded for its strategic merger, acknowledging the creation of a stronger, more competitive entity and its positive implications for the industry. For Public Markets, the recipient is Recursion, a biotechnology company using artificial intelligence for drug discovery, recognized for its successful public offering, showcasing its groundbreaking technology and contribution to the advancement of scientific research.

TECHNOLOGY

• Consensus, a Lehi-based company focused on enterprise demo automation, has promoted Whitney Jones to chief financial officer. She previously was vice president of finance and business operations.