Industry Briefs - 7-22-24

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.

ASSOCIATIONS

• Beth Holbrook has become chair of the Utah District Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Utah, succeeding Robert Schmidt. Holbrook will guide the efforts of a 20-person advisory board and a 15-person management committee that runs more than 30 events a year. Holbrook is board trustee of the Utah Transit Authority, a position she has held since 2018, and has worked in several different capacities over the years, including real estate sales, the financial sector as a director of business development, and public sector manager, a government relations role for the private sector, as well an elected official. Holbrook was a Bountiful city council member since 2008 and has served on numerous boards, including the Utility Facility Review Board, as planning commissioner, and president of the Utah League of Cities and Towns in 2018. Beth earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Utah. ULI Utah also announced that Teri Klug is chair of ULI Utah’s programs committee, succeeding Leslie Morton. Klug is national director of business development at Big-D Construction, a position she has held since May 2023. Before joining Big-D, Klug was vice president of strategic alliances at Cato Digital. She also founded and led consulting firm Strategic Development LLC. At the Economic Development Corporation of Utah, she oversaw IT, energy, finance and aerospace clusters. She also founded the Data Center Consortium to help train future data center managers at the University of Utah. She is a graduate of the UofU.

BANKING

• Sunwest Bank, based in Sandy, has hired Robert Faver as executive vice president and managing director of commercial banking. He will steer the commercial lending and sales platform of the bank across multiple states and divisions. Prior to joining Sunwest Bank, Faver spent 13 years at UMB Bank as president of the Arizona region. Before that, he spent 14 years as a commercial/agriculture banker at M&I Bank. He started his career at Bank One, holding various positions and ending as an agricultural banker.
• TAB Bank, based in Ogden, has provided an asset-based lending facility to a Michigan-based global manufacturer, which the bank did not identify. It said the facility, with a credit limit of $7 million, will significantly accelerate the company’s growth and success. The company is known for its custom metal fabrication and machining services and serves various industries. The facility will strengthen a company division that focuses on developing and manufacturing premium optical silicone products for transportation, commercial lighting, machine vision and appliance industries.
• Utah First Credit Union, based in Salt Lake City, has opened a branch at 2111 E. Riverside Drive, St. George. Established in 1935, the credit union has 11 Utah branches.

CONSTRUCTION

• Ground has been broken for The Other Side Pavilion, which will be the main gathering space for The Other Side Village, a sister organization to The Other Side Academy, which supports adults coming off the streets, out of encampments and shelters, and other transitional housing who have been experiencing chronic homelessness. The pavilion will be built by Big-D Construction. It is scheduled to be completed in December. The pavilion will be a 2,200-square-foot building that will serve as a central space for residents of the village and will include meeting space, laundry facilities, restrooms and a kitchen. As part of its commitment to giving back to the local community, Big-D waived various fees on the project. Other trade partners who have pledged to donate time, materials, and/or fees include Artistic Mill, Daw Construction and Golder Inc. The village consists of two parts: The Other Side Prep School, a free transitional residential program, and The Other Side Village, a permanent housing community. Upon completion, Phase 1 of will include 60 cottages; a clubhouse; a wellness clinic with mental, medical and dental healthcare services; and social enterprises offering paid employment on-site.

CONSULTING

• KPMG LLP, a global audit, tax and consulting firm, has named Erika Whitmore as office managing partner of its Salt Lake City office. She succeeds Greg Randall, who is retiring from KPMG after serving as the office managing partner for the past 15 years. Whitmore will be responsible for the strategic direction and growth of KPMG’s Salt Lake City practice and for supporting the career development of nearly 240 local partners and professionals. Whitmore began her career at KPMG in Denver in 1999. She was admitted to the partnership in 2016, and most recently served as KPMG’s Boulder office leader and private enterprise leader for the Colorado market.

DEVELOPMENT

• The Point of the Mountain State Land Authority has announced a nationwide search for an executive director to oversee all aspects of development at The Point in Draper. The executive director will assist the authority in facilitating development. The new director will succeed Alan Matheson, who has accepted a position as the general manager of land and water development for Rio Tinto Kennecott. The Point features 600 acres of state-owned land.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

• Utah is ranked No. 13 on a list of “America’s Top States for Business,” announced by CNBC. The study scores all 50 states on 128 metrics across 10 categories of competitiveness. In the various categories, Utah is ranked No. 4 for infrastructure, No. 6 for economy, No. 12 for business-friendliness, No. 16 for workforce, No. 26 for cost of doing business, No. 28 for access to capital, No. 30 for quality of life, No. 32 for technology and innovation, No. 41 for cost of living, and No. 43 for education. The top-ranked state overall is Virginia, the sixth time since 2007. The bottom-ranked state is Hawaii.
• Salt Lake City International Airport is ranked No. 1 on a list of “top U.S. airports,” compiled by air passenger rights company AirHelp. The airport also is ranked No. 8 globally. AirHelp ranked international airports based on service quality, on-time performance, claims processing, and food and shop offerings.
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 14 on a list of “Best Places to Live in the West,” compiled by Livability.com. The list is based on research into economic variables and factors influencing quality of life, with a unique emphasis on affordability, which includes economy, housing and cost of living, amenities, transportation, environment, safety, education and health. The rankings are of cities with populations between 75,000 and 500,000. The top-ranked city is Broomfield, Colorado. Details are at https://livability.com/topics/where-to-live-now/top-25-best-places-to-live-out-west/.
• Utah has three routes are on a list of “top picks for cool-weather road trips to escape the summer heat,” compiled by Gunther Volvo Cars Daytona Beach. They are No. 22 Alpine Loop Scenic Byway, No. 61 Scenic Byway 12, and No. 77 Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. Gunther surveyed 3,000 families to uncover the most sought-after cool-weather road trips. The top-ranked route is Hatcher Pass Scenic Drive, from Palmer to Willow, Alaska. Details are at https://www.gunthervolvocarsdaytona.com/altitude-adventures.htm.
• Only 9 percent of Utahns turn to alcohol when making big financial decisions, according to a survey by CardRates.com. That ties Oklahoma for the smallest figure among states. The largest is 38 percent, in Arizona. The national average is 21 percent. Nearly two-thirds of Utahns acknowledged that drinking alcohol impairs their ability to make sound financial decisions, much like it affects their ability to do other activities such as driving. However, 18 percent of respondents said they believed that alcohol improved their decision-making abilities. Details are at https://www.cardrates.com/studies/alcohol-and-big-financial-decisions/.
• Three Utah locations are on a list of the top 100 locations in the U.S. to eat healthily and on a budget, compiled by BadCredit.org. It surveyed 3,000 foodies nationwide. The Utah locations are No. 26 Sugar House in Salt Lake City, No. 89 downtown St. George, and No. 95 downtown Provo. The top-ranked location is the South End of Hartford, Connecticut. Details are at https://www.badcredit.org/studies/eat-healthily-on-a-budget/.

GOVERNMENT

• Groundbreaking was held recently for an expanded visitor and learning center building at Antelope Island State Park, expected to open in July 2025. The project will transform the 5,600-square-foot facility into a 27,000-square-foot complex, with added restrooms, office space, an enlarged gift shop, enhanced and updated educational and interpretive displays, a 200-person conference room, and a catering kitchen. The project also includes a large-format theater that will feature the documentary “Secrets of Great Salt Lake” and accommodate over 200 people. The existing building, which will be renovated, will serve as a state-of-the-art learning center for K-12 students and university institutions. The current visitor center was built in 1996 as part of a two-phase project. However, phase two was never completed. The current facility has 1 million visitors each year. Funding for the project came from the Utah Legislature, the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation (routed through the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation) and the nonprofit Friends of Antelope Island.

HEALTHCARE

• AirLife Utah, a subsidiary of Air Methods, has announced the relocation of its Ogden base to Brigham City Community Hospital. The service offers emergency air medical services via an AirLife Utah 1 helicopter. The company said it will continue to provide its services throughout Northern Utah and southwestern Wyoming without disruption. The new base will servie as the primary air medical responder in Box Elder County, and as a backup resource for Weber and Cache counties. Air Methods exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year following a restructuring of its business.

HOSPITALITY

• LivAway Suites, a Lehi-based extended-stay hospitality company, has started foundation work on its newest location in Scarborough, Maine. The company has had eight groundbreakings over the past 11 months, with plans to break ground on nine more locations this year.

INVESTMENT

• Montage Partners, an Arizona-based private equity firm, has hired Ben Jenks as director of business development. He will be based in the firm’s Salt Lake City office and will be responsible for sourcing new investment opportunities across all of the firm’s sectors of focus and further developing the firm’s relationships with sell-side intermediaries, founders and management in the lower middle market. Jenks most recently was with Alpine Investors, where his work focused on deal origination across the software, business services and consumer services sectors. Prior to joining Alpine Investors, he worked on the business operations and analytics team at Route. Jenks earned a bachelor’s degree in information systems and a master’s in information systems management from the Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business. Montage Partners invests in companies headquartered in the U.S. or Canada with $1.5 million to $7 million in EBITDA in the technology and professional services, healthcare, industrial products and services, and consumer sectors.

MANUFACTURING

• Metl-Span, a Nucor company, has opened its new insulated metal panel manufacturing facility in Brigham City. It is Metl-Span’s eighth manufacturing facility in the U.S. and Canada. Metl-Span’s parent company, Nucor, produces steel by recycling scrap metal in electric arc furnaces to make steel products. The new $35 million,127,000-square-foot facility will produce Metl-Span’s insulated wall and roof panels for use in various end markets, including warehousing, distribution and data centers. With its headquarters in Lewisville, Texas, Nucor’s insulated metal panel team can design, produce and deliver close to 100,000 tons of insulated panel products every year, serving customers across North America.
• 3form, a Salt Lake City-based company that crafts translucent materials for design spaces, has appointed Lauren V. Smith as director of sustainability. She will lead companywide initiatives, partnering with teams across 3form, 3form Elements, and LightArt to integrate sustainable practices in every facet of the business. Smith’s experience in implementing sustainability strategies at the corporate level includes most recently serving as the corporate sustainability manager at Columbia Sportswear Co. Prior to Columbia, Smith was sustainable materials program manager at General Motors.
• Owlet Inc., a Lehi-based company offering an infant monitoring platform, has announced Amanda Twede Crawford as chief financial officer. She succeeds Kate Scolnick, who is leaving the company but will remain through September in an advisory role for the transition period. Crawford is Owlet’s vice president of financial planning and analysis and has been with the company since 2022. She has over 15 years of finance and accounting experience. Prior to Owlet, she held multiple positions at Swire Coca-Cola USA, including vice president of finance and corporate controller. She began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and is a Certified Public Accountant. She holds a Master of Accounting degree from the University of Utah.

PARTNERSHIPS

• Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah is partnering with DispatchHealth to bring in-home medical care to its members throughout Salt Lake County. The collaboration is part of Regence’s alternative-site-of-care strategy to provide members with affordable, high-value and convenient care. For the first time in Utah, members at high risk for a return visit after being treated at an ER or hospitalized can receive follow-up care in their own homes through DispatchHealth’s Recovery Care at Home. DispatchHealth will operate two vehicles in Salt Lake County and provide same-day medical services by appointment from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., 365 days a year. Its teams also deliver complex medical services such as IV infusions.

REAL ESTATE

• Summit Southeby’s International Realty, Park City, has added Chris Messick as senior vice president of builder and development services. Messick will lead the company’s new development division, supporting over 30 new construction communities throughout Utah. Messick is a real estate professional with extensive experience in new construction and development sales, including holding leadership roles such as director of real estate and president of real estate for development brands including Spanish Peaks, Grand Roatan and Promontory Club. Most recently, Messick served as Engel & Volkers’ mountain region president.
• Pulte Homes is in the pre-sale launch stage of Deep Creek at Jordanelle Ridge in Heber City, marking its return to the Utah market after nearly two decades. The Canyon Series at Deep Creek at Jordanelle Ridge offers eight new home designs. Model homes are scheduled to open in August. Later this year, sales will begin for the Peak Series townhomes, with model homes anticipated for early 2025. The development also will include The Ridge Club, an upscale amenity center.

RECOGNITIONS

• ChamberWest has announced that Rick Clasby will be inducted into its Hall of Fame. He will be recognized at the chamber’s annual awards gala, set for Aug. 28, at the Viridian Event Cener in West Jordan. Clasby is executive director of the Utah Trucking Association and is recognized for his dedication and leadership in advancing the interests of Utah’s trucking industry. Clasby’s background in transportation and logistics spans over two decades. In addition to that role, Clasby has been on the ChamberWest Board of Directors and Board of Governors since 2017. He has held several leadership roles, including chair of the board in 2021 and 2022, and is the current past chair and chair of the Nominations Committee. He also has served as chair of the Transportation Subcommittee.
• USANA Hong Kong was recently recognized as a top brand for calcium supplements by market research giant Euromonitor International. The distinction is based on market research of USANA’s MagneCal D supplement and its retail value sales data compared to other brands in the industry. This is the second consecutive year that USANA and its MagneCal D supplement have been recognized by Euromonitor in Hong Kong.

RESTAURANTS

• Fatburger and Round Table Pizza have announced a partnership with franchisee Blacksheep Hospitality Group LLC to bring a total of 12 co-branded Fatburger and Round Table Pizza franchised restaurants to Utah over the next six years. The first unit set to open in 2025. Salt Lake City will be a key area of focus. This will mark the first time Fatburger and Round Table Pizza have operated in Utah. Fatburger opened its first location in Los Angeles over 70 years ago. Round Table Pizza was founded in 1959.

RETAIL

• Outlets Park City, an outdoor shopping destination, has announced a new local leadership team to oversee the operations of the center. The team includes Gregory Brown, general manager Gregory Brown; Abby Phillips, marketing and specialty leasing manager; and Mayra Cornejo, administrative assistant. Brown began his career with Outlets Park City in September 2021 as the assistant general manager of the property. He was promoted to general manager in April of this year, which has him overseeing all day-to-day functions of the center including operations, capital improvements projects, and supervising the on-site staff. Prior to joining Outlets Park City, Brown was operations manager of ModSpace in Salt Lake City. Phillips, in her newly created role, will work with existing retailers and search for new locally owned retailers. Before joining Outlets Park City, she was executive director and co-founder of Arrow Creative in Memphis, Tennessee, which works with entrepreneurs to start up their small businesses. She previously worked in marketing and community relations for the Arts Council of Park City and Summit County. Cornejo has been promoted from part-time to full-time in her role as administrative assistant. She joined the center in October 2019 as a part of the customer service team.

SERVICES

• Medspa brand SEV will open a new location Aug. 12 at 4655 S. 2300 E., Unit 102, Holladay. It is the spa’s first location in Utah. The brand now has 42 locations and offers machine technology and service for laser hair removal, injectables, body contouring and other aesthetic services. The new location will launch with laser hair removal services and plans to roll out additional services later this year, including injectable procedures and advanced skin and body treatments. SEV was founded in 2010 by Sevana Petrosian in Glendale, California.

TECHNOLOGY

• FireFly Automatix, a Salt Lake City-based company focused on agtech autonomy and electric mobility, has hired Lindsay Jones as chief financial officer. He succeeds Michael Pettinghill, who left the firm. Jones’ career spans over 35 years. He has served a variety of high-growth, startup and established firms in executive roles ranging from founder/CEO to CFO and consultant. He has both strategic and functional expertise in financial controls, margin creation and audits, as well as direct / regular interactions with various regulatory bodies. Most recently, Jones was CFO of TruGolf Holdings. His career also includes co-founding an industrial loan corporation, a Utah-chartered ILC bank; leading fundraising activities for both startup and established companies in both private and public markets; and serving as executive vice president and CFO of a privately held, pharmacy benefits data analytics corporation and the in-house leader responsible for establishing a SaaS financial model.
• Avetta, a Lehi-based company offering supply chain risk management software, has appointed Gretchen Eischen as chief marketing officer. She will oversee Avetta’s brand positioning, marketing strategy and communication initiatives. Eischen has over 20 years of experience in global technology marketing, client engagement and SaaS customer success, most recently serving as chief marketing officer at Icertis. Previously, she spent 18 years working in various roles at SAP, including as CMO for SAP Ariba, SAP Fieldglass and SAP Business Network brands.
• EKA Solutions Inc., a Salt Lake City-based provider of a cloud-based integrated freight management platform, has announced a collaboration in which it will be using Google Cloud to enhance its freight management services. EKA said it will transition in the third quarter to using Google Cloud’s data, AI and security solutions, including Vertex AI, Cloud Run, CloudSQL and more, to develop and operate its SaaS freight management software services.