Industry Briefs 9-30-24

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.

ARTS

• The Gateway is inviting local artists to participate in “The Art Shop Project – Winter Hues,” a seasonally themed exhibition with murals to be displayed on storefront windows Submissions are due Oct. 10 and selected works must be completed by Nov. 13. As part of the Salt Lake City Gallery Art Stroll, The Gateway offers the opportunity for featured artists to open their space once a month to showcase and sell other art pieces and projects during the citywide event. Artists are invited to submit their proposals to Julissa Breslin at jbreslin@vestar.com and Kenzie McFarlane at kmcfarlane@vestar.com. Selected artists will be compensated $500 for their artwork.

CONSTRUCTION

• Helix Electric, a California-based electrical contractor that specializes in design-build and highly complex electrical projects, has expanded its Salt Lake City team by hiring Ron Dail and Ben Thomas. Dail has extensive industry experience and will be responsible for managing project teams at Helix’s newest division in Utah. In addition to serving in a leadership capacity, Dail will drive portfolio profitability through project execution, ensuring all schedule requirements while handling all financial and management responsibilities for assigned job sites. Thomas is licensed as a Utah journeyman electrician. As a senior project manager for Helix Electric, he will be responsible for leading project teams, driving portfolio profitability through project execution, ensuring projects are completed according to schedule requirements while handling financial and management responsibilities for assigned jobs sites. Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in construction management from Brigham Young University.

CORPORATE

• Owlet Inc., a Lehi-based company focusing on smart infant monitoring, has closed its underwritten public offering of more than 3.1 million shares of the company’s Class A common stock. The shares of Class A common stock were sold at a public offering price of $3.70 per share, before underwriting discounts and commissions. All of the shares in the offering were sold by the company. The gross proceeds to Owlet from the offering were approximately $11.6 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses. Owlet said it intends to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, capital expenditures, working capital and general and administrative expenses. Titan Partners Group, a division of American Capital Partners, acted as the sole bookrunner for the offering and served as financial advisor to the company on its debt refinancing.
• Clyde Companies, based in Orem, has announced that GWC Capital is being rebranded to Clyde Capital Group. GWC Capital was founded in 2014 with two full-time employees and several small infill projects. Clyde Capital Group now has 21 employees, with just over 20,000 acres under development from Eagle, Idaho, to St. George.
• MGT, a Florida-based technology and advisory solutions provider focused on the state, local and education government sector, has rebranded its integrated platform into one unified brand under the name “MGT.” Cicero and Ed Direction, both based in Salt Lake City, have been rebranded as MGT as part of MGT’s national technology and advisory solutions platform. The name change was done as part of the integration of eight specialized companies into one MGT brand. Acquired by MGT this year, Cicero is a strategic advisory solutions specialist. Acquired in 2022, Ed Direction is an academic improvement specialist. MGT employs over 900 people nationwide.

DIRECT SALES

• Nature’s Sunshine Products Inc., a Lehi-based company manufacturing herbal and nutritional supplements, has appointed Kevin Fuller as global chief marketing officer. Fuller has over two decades of experience, most recently serving as president and chief marketing officer at Helo Health. Before that, he was CEO and chief marketing officer at MacuVu Macular Health, led NuSkin’s marketing organization as senior vice president of global product and brand, and held marketing roles at Pharmanex and USANA. Fuller’s education includes an MBA from Brigham Young University and a B.S. in biology from the University of Utah.

DISTRIBUTION

• Service Metal Products, a St. Louis-based industrial piping wholesale distributor, has opened its fourth distribution warehouse in Salt Lake City. The company signed a five-year lease for 70,000 square feet of new warehouse and distribution space five miles west of downtown Salt Lake City. Terms of the lease were not disclosed. The warehouse is to start with more than a dozen jobs in the next 12 to 18 months and is expected to reduce transit times to one to two days for the region. In business for 70 years, Service Metal has distribution centers in Missouri, North Carolina, Texas and Utah and has 141 employees.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

• The average Utahn suffers 23 financial “micro-stresses” per week, according to a survey by BadCredit.org. That equates to 1,196 per year, which is above the national average of 1,144. For Utahns, the financial events that contribute most significantly to stress levels is unexpected fees or charges, followed by missing a bill payment and a drop in a credit score. The highest per-week number is in Connecticut, at 48. The lowest is in South Dakota, at 11. Details are at https://www.badcredit.org/studies/weekly-financial-microstressors/.
• Utah experienced a 1 percent increase in levels of homeownership over the past four years, equating to 82,667 new homeowners, according to a study by TurboDebt. That ranks Utah No. 34 among states. Hawaii had the largest percentage increase, at 4 percent. Washington, D.C., saw a 1 percent homeownership decrease. In Utah, Beaver and Wasatch counties had the greatest increase, at 6 percent, while Garfield and Carbon counties each saw a 6 percent decrease. Details are at https://www.turbodebt.com/mortgage-debt/homeownership-hopes.
• Two Utah locations are on a list of the “most instagrammable towns” in the U.S., compiled by TemporaryDumpster.com. They are No. 21 Midway and No. 25 Springdale. TemporaryDumpster.com surveyed people to determine small-town hidden gems across the nation. The top spot went to Cold Spring, New York. Details are at https://temporarydumpster.com/blog/100-most-instagrammable-towns/.

ENERGY

• The Utah Office of Energy Development has launched Phase II of the Utah GRID Grant Program, with utilities across the state encouraged to apply for the matching-funds grant program for projects that strengthen and modernize Utah’s electrical grid. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office, Utah’s GRID Grant Program will help offset the cost of infrastructure improvements and upgrades that protect the grid against extreme weather events, wildfires and natural disasters. OED will distribute over $17.8 million to utilities for Phase II of the program. The funding will help utilities absorb the cost of making improvements while also benefiting local communities with well-paid jobs and workforce development opportunities. Applicants interested in Phase II funding are encouraged to register for Utah’s Grid Resilience Kick-Off Meeting on Oct. 1. Applications for Phase II are due Nov. 1. Details are at https://energy.utah.gov/homepage/funding/grid/.
• Weber State University has earned a gold rating in the Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating System. STARS is a self-reporting system from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education that helps institutions track and measure their progress across five areas: academics, engagement, operations, planning and administration, and innovation and leadership. Since 2011, STARS has been providing Weber State with guidelines on how to make the institution more sustainable. Earning a gold rating puts Weber State a year ahead of its goal to earn gold by 2025.

GOVERNMENT

• The Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission has appointed four new commissioners: Lisa Watts Baskin, Mary T. Noonan, Ally Isomand Christian Hansen. Established in 2008, JPEC is an independent state commission that evaluates the performance of judges for voters. Utah’s three branches of government appoint JPEC’s 13 commissioners to staggered terms. Baskin served as associate general counsel to the Utah Legislature’s Judiciary Committee and executive director of the Utah Constitutional Revision Commission. She is the administrative law judge with the Utah Office of Inspector General, formerly the ALJ with Utah Insurance Department, and most recently a hearing officer with DABS. At Smith Hartvigsen PLLC, she is the city attorney to various cities. Baskin has practiced law in Utah since 1988 and is a graduate of the Brigham Young University law school. Noonan is a retired judge and served as a Juvenile Court judge for 16 years in Wasatch, Utah and Juab counties. After her initial retirement in 2018, she returned as the State Court Administrator, working closely with the Supreme Court, Judicial Council and Legislature. She began her legal career in 1986, serving in various significant roles, including director of the Utah Division of Child and Family Services. Isom has been involved in brand, policy, communication and public engagement. Currently the chief strategy and marketing officer for Clyde Companies, Isom’s experience also includes a 2022 Republican candidacy for the U.S. Senate and global branding for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hansen is a shareholder at the law firm of Hillyard, Anderson & Olsen PC, where he specializes in litigation. His practice areas include domestic relations law, general civil litigation and criminal defense.
• Gov. Spencer Cox has appointed and the Utah Senate has confirmed Joel Ferry as the state’s water agent. Ferry currently serves as executive director of the Department of Natural Resources and will continue in that role while assuming water agent duties. SB211, created during this year’s general legislative session, addresses the need for a cohesive strategy to tackle water scarcity, optimize usage and ensure water sustainability. It also establishes a Water Development Council, which acts in an advisory capacity to the state Legislature and the governor. The water agent will be responsible for developing comprehensive water management strategies and facilitating communication between different entities involved in water use and regulation.
• Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall announced a partnership with Solar Stewards to fund solar, air quality and community resilience projects in historically underserved areas of Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City is exchanging renewable energy certificates produced on its solar array at the Sorenson Multicultural Center through a unique Social REC model with Solar Stewards for financial contributions. Okta is the first identified buyer of Salt Lake City’s Social REC via the Solar Stewards’ Marketplace. RECs allow renewable energy generators to connect with clean energy buyers, regardless of where the energy is generated or used. Solar Stewards has taken that model and combined it with a social mission focused on restorative justice commitments from private-sector leaders. Its marketplace aggregates solar sites into portfolios of scale to attract Social REC buyers. The 115-kilowatt rooftop solar system on the Sorenson Campus was installed in 2020, using Salt Lake City funds and a grant from Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky Program. The initiative aims to produce an ongoing source of cash donations that can be used to benefit the city’s historically underserved neighborhoods. Okta will be the Social REC buyer within the Solar Stewards’ Marketplace, contributing over $10,000 per year for three years with an opportunity to invest more as additional solar projects are identified or the agreement extended.

HEALTHCARE

• PhotoPharmics, a Lehi-based, privately held, clinical-stage medical device company developing light-based therapies for neurodegenerative disorders, has added three people to its Clinical & Scientific Advisory Board: Dr. Charles H. Adler, Dr. George Brainard and Dr. Robert A. Hauser. Adler is a professor of neuroscience research and a professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic Arizona, where he co-leads the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders. His research also includes exploring biomarkers for early Parkinson’s diagnosis and investigating chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Brainard is a professor at Thomas Jefferson University, where he has directed the Jefferson Light Research Program since 1984. His pioneering research examines how light affects human neuroendocrine physiology and circadian rhythms. Hauser is the director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center at the University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine. His research focuses on developing new treatments for Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.
• BlueWind Medical, a Park City-based company focused on products of urge urinary incontinence, has appointed Lori Chmura as chair of its board of directors. Chmura is an executive with over 30 years’ experience in the medtech industry. Chmura is currently CEO and board director at Nyra Medical, a medical device company developing a next generation transcatheter mitral valve repair technology. Prior to joining Nyra Medical, she served as CEO and board director at Soundbite Medical Solutions and Dune Medical Devices. She also held positions at Medtronic, Covidien and Johnson & Johnson. She also previously served on the board of directors, Audit Committee and deal team at OpSens Medical and on the board of Standard Molecular.
• Powered By MRP, a Park City-based aesthetic device company that resells new and pre-owned energy-based aesthetic and surgical devices, has appointed Dan Howellas vice president of field sales. Howell has nearly two decades of experience, holding positions at brands including CoolSculpting, Candela, miraDry, Cartessa and Solta.

HOSPITALITY

• Peachtree Group, an Atlanta-based investment management firm, has acquired AC Hotel by Marriott in Park City, a 100-room hotel. Financial and other details were not disclosed. It is Peachtree’s sixth hotel acquisition this year. The six acquisitions, totaling 789 rooms, include three Hilton hotels and three Marriott hotels. All hotels are operated by Peachtree’s hospitality management division, which currently manages 93 hotels across 27 brands with 11,837 rooms located in 26 states.
• POWDR, a Park City-based adventure lifestyle company, has appointed Charles Willis as general manager for Destination Zion Lodge. He will assume the role when POWDR subsidiary Destination Zion Lodge LLC begins a 10-year concession contract Jan. 1. The National Park Service recently selected Destination Zion Lodge LLC to operate visitor hospitality services at Zion National Park. Willis currently serves as general manager at Stovepipe Wells Village in Death Valley National Park, role he has held since POWDR took over the Death Valley concessions in January of this year. Prior to Death Valley, Willis served in management positions with national park concessionaires at Mt. Rainier National Park and Crater Lake National Park Resort; and for companies serving hospitality functions at Walt Disney World, Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas, the Louisiana Superdome, Wembley Stadium, and Deer Creek State Park in Ohio, among others.
• West77 Partners and LivAway Suites have announced the groundbreaking of a new 126-key LivAway Suites extended-stay hotel in Vineyard. It will be the third location in Utah. LivAway Suites plans to break ground on over 50 hotels across the United States by the end of 2026.

INDOOR ENTERTAINMENT

• Sky Zone, an indoor active entertainment company, has opened its first Utah location at 659 N. Saratoga Road, Suite 340, Saratoga Springs. A grand opening event will take place Oct. 12. The over 33,400-square-foot location is operated by franchisees and siblings Katherine, Dalton and Myreya Paspuel.

INTERNATIONAL

• World Trade Center Utah has announced that Jeff Flake has been selected as the new chair of its board of directors and added Paul Burdiss to the board. Flake is a former U.S. senator who completed his ambassadorship to Türkiye on Sept. 1. Flake has over two decades of public service, including his time in the U.S. Senate representing Arizona from 2013 to 2019. Burdiss is president and CEO of Zions Bank and former chief financial officer of Zions Bancorporation. Burdiss succeeds Scott Anderson on the board. Anderson was a founding member and board chair for 12 years. He and outgoing chair Jon Huntsman Jr. will remain active on WTC Utah’s board as chairs emeriti.

INVESTMENTS

• ReferPro.co, a Lehi-based company offering referral automation software for businesses, has raised $2.7 million in seed round funding. The round was led by RevRoad Capital, with participation from Upstream, Ollin Ventures and angel investors.

MANUFACTURING

• Packsize, a Salt Lake City-based company offering right-sized, on-demand packaging, has appointed Brian Reinhart as the company’s chief revenue officer. Reinhart has over 15 years of experience in global strategy, sales, marketing and business development, most recently serving as chief revenue officer at Hai Robotics.
• SINTX Technologies Inc., a Salt Lake City-based ceramic manufacturer, has completed an equity public offering that provided for the offer and sale, from time to time, of shares of its common stock having an aggregate sales price of up to $3.12 million. The company received aggregate gross proceeds of $3.11 million through the sale of 595,560 shares, at an average share price of $5.23 per share, resulting in total net proceeds to the company of $3.05 million. The company said proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures, working capital, financing of possible acquisitions and other business opportunities. Maxim Group LLC acted as the sole agent for the offering.

PARTNERSHIPS

• Vizient Inc., a Texas-based healthcare performance improvement company, and Qualtrics, a company focused on experience management company co-headquartered in Provo and Seattle, have announced a strategic partnership to employ experience metrics to transform the way health care organizations measure and improve performance. The partnership aims to help organizations better understand relationships between quality, safety and patient experiences. University of Utah Health, Memorial Hermann Health System and Stanford Health Care participated in a pilot analysis for this initiative.
• Pontera, a New York-based company helping retirement savers receive professional 401(k) account management from their financial advisor, has announced a strategic partnership with 401GO, a Sandy-based retirement plan provider that uses advanced technology to better serve plan sponsors, their participants and financial advisors. Working with Pontera’s technology, 401GO will be able to empower plan participants to receive holistic, personalized 401(k) account management from their own advisor, helping them to realize better outcomes, it said. The agreement marks Pontera’s first recordkeeper integration that lets advisors debit directly for their services from the retirement plan accounts they are managing.
• Ambient Enterprises, serving the HVAC solutions industry, has announced a strategic partnership with Midgley-Huber, Including McCoy Sales, based in Salt Lake City. Midgley-Huber has been a provider of HVAC solutions for eastern Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado since 1892. The partnership expands the collective into the Rocky Mountain states. Together, both industry leaders aim to increase operational efficiency and provide the region’s clients with a broader range of solutions with its co-divisions MHI Service, MH Technical Service, MHI Controls and Seismic Restraint Systems (SRS).
• Awardco, a Lindon-based company focused on employee recognition and rewards technology, has announced a collaboration with Amazon Business. New enhancements include a better customer ordering experience with real-time order and tracking updates, better communication and resolution for high-profile orders. Awardco and Amazon Business began their relationship in 2017 to offer a unique, streamlined solution for employee recognition. This collaboration allows new Awardco clients to link their existing Amazon Business accounts with the Awardco platform, and consolidates expenses and provides greater transparency across various layers of spend.

PHILANTHROPY

• D.L. Evans Bank, based in Idaho, has announced the winners of the 2024 D.L. Evans Bank “Education Pays” Program, rewarding nine students in grades 6-12 in Idaho and Northern Utah with laptops for excelling in their core classes. The winners list includes Ashley Boone for Northern Utah.
• Bank of Utah, based in Ogden, has announced that the winner of its 2024 “Where’s the Wallet” Cash Quest, Chris Shane, will use half of the $20,000 prize to fund a pair of scholarships for first-generation students at Utah Valley University. The quest challenged Utahns to explore their state in search of a hidden wallet placed on the Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail near Echo Reservoir in Summit County.

REAL ESTATE

• Colliers, a commercial real estate brokerage, has been appointed as the exclusive leasing agent for 2.3 million square feet of office space at The Point, a mixed-use development in Draper, and Mountain West Commercial Real Estate, a Salt Lake City-based commercial real estate brokerage, has been selected to oversee retail leasing there. Colliers will oversee pre-leasing for a pair of buildings during Phase 1 construction set to break ground in 2025: Promenade One, a seven-story building with 75,000 square feet of office space, and Rockwell One, an eight-story structure with 225,000 square feet of Class A office space. Colliers’ Brandon Fugal, Josh Smith and Angela Kroneberger will lead office marketing and leasing for the development. MWCRE agents Andy Moffitt, Garrett Blomquist and Scott Brady, in coordination with Matthew Heisley and Hunter Brous of Lincoln Property Co. of Dallas, will oversee the retail leasing. The Point development covers 600 acres, 2.3 million square feet of office space, 380,000 square feet of retail and entertainment, 380,000 square feet of hospitality and 3,200 multifamily units.
• Mountain West Commercial Real Estate, a commercial real estate brokerage, has hired Peter Black. He has over 15 years of experience in the office, industrial and land markets. His focus will be on driving growth in MWCRE’s office sector.

RECOGNITIONS

• Gold Cross Ambulancehas received the American Heart Association’s Mission: LifelineEMS Gold achievement award for its commitment to offering rapid and research-based care to people experiencing the most severe form of heart attacks and strokes. Lifeline EMS is the association’s national initiative to advance the system of care for patients with high-risk, time-sensitive disease states, including severe heart attacks and strokes. Gold Cross Ambulance specializes in basic life support, paramedic, critical care, neonatal and non-emergency transportation services.

RESEARCH

• University of Utah Health has announced it approached a half-billion dollars ($492.3 million) in research funding in fiscal year 2024, which ended on June 30. This amount accounts for 71 percent of the University of Utah’s overall research funding, totaling $691 million in the same period. A total of 736 principal investigators in the health sciences received 1,876 awards. The largest funder of research across UofU Health is the National Institutes of Health, with awards totaling $232.7 million. Funding from industry partners was the second-largest source, reaching $85.2 million. Other federal agencies — including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Defense — provided $78.2 million. Support from other organizations, including the state, other universities and foundations, came to $96.3 million.

RESTAURANTS

• Kneaders Bakery & Café has had the grand opening of its newest location at 1595 W. State Road, Pleasant Grove. The new location will be the first to showcase an overhauled restaurant design and features new technology in its digital drive-through menu boards. Founded in 1997 in Orem, Kneaders Bakery & Cafe currently has locations in six western states.
• Bubbakoo’s Burrito’s, a Mexican-fusion restaurant concept, has signed a multi-unit franchise agreement to expand into Utah for the first time. Loco Rico LLC will bring more than five Bubbakoo’s locations over the next three years. Bubbakoo’s Burrito’s has existed for 16 years.
• Graze Craze, a charcuterie concept, has opened at 1748 W. Redstone Center Drive, Suite 115, Park City. The 1,075-square-foot store features charcuterie boards and picnic boxes.

RETAIL

• Sola Salons has opened its newest location at 6405 S. 3000 E., Suite 100, Holladay. It offers 32 studios and 7,000 square feet of amenities for salon professionals and their clients. Local franchisees are Sean and Shawna Manning. Founded in 2004, Sola has more than 730 locations in the U.S. and Canada that provide independent beauty professionals the benefits of salon ownership without the risk and overhead of opening a traditional salon.

SERVICES

• Lugg, an on-demand moving service, is now available to Salt Lake City residents. Its offerings include moving furniture and other items, handling junk removal, donating items, and help with heavy lifting. Its movers arrive within 30 minutes. Lugg also partners with local businesses for last-mile delivery.

TECHNOLOGY

• Fullcast, a Salt Lake City-based provider of go-to-market solutions designed to streamline revenue operations and optimize sales strategies, has appointed Mitch Macfarlane as vice president of customer experience. Macfarlane’s career spans over two decades and includes customer experience and operational leadership. His career began in software engineering and led to project management and eventually to client-facing roles. Before joining Fullcast, Macfarlane served as chief operating officer at Pathify and Artemis Health.