This week on the Utah Business Report

Friday, December 7th, 2012

In case you missed one or more of the Salt Lake Chamber’s Utah Business Reports on KSL News Radio, here is a recap of what we talked about this week.

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Victims affected by Hurricane Sandy at the end of October saw a lot of relief in the form of solar power from a Utah company.

Goal Zero donated nearly $600,000 dollars in portable solar-powered equipment to New York. A team of employees also went to the disaster zone to distribute the product to power cellphones, emergency lights and critical home and health machines.

From November 1 to 15, Goal Zero tracked all sales made at participating retailers and matched the same in the form of additional donations.

Goal Zero also packed a second truck of rechargers and lights with the help of the Small Business Association’s Global Logistic Services to send over to those affected by the storm.

Goal Zero is the industry leader for renewable and reliable portable solar powers systems that power a variety of devices.

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November 24 of this year marked the 15th anniversary of the opening of the Women’s Business Center. For a decade and a half, the WBC has provided counseling, training and encouragement to thousands of people to help nurture and develop entrepreneurial endeavors.

In this past year alone, the WBC has provided nearly 500 hours of training to over 2,200 people. These trainings focus on marketing, finance, business plan development, sales, management and procurement.

This effort has resulted in 36 new business plans, 35 new marketing plans, 15 new business start-ups and 23 jobs created.

While those numbers are impressive, they are more than just numbers. Each of those numbers represents an individual who took a risk and stepped out of their comfort zone to pursue a dream. Some find success, some may not, and some continue to thrive.

The WBC led by Pam Okumura and her team, Ann Marie Thompson and Mariam Paul, help dreamers become entrepreneurs… and those entrepreneurs make Utah’s economy one of the strongest in the nation.

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The IT industry in Utah continues to expand.

With the help of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Qualtrics will expand its existing operations in Provo. This expansion will create over one thousand jobs, and each job will pay a minimum of 125 percent of Utah County’s average yearly wage.

In the seven-year expansion project, Qualtrics will pay out nearly $30 million in wages, over $43 million in new state taxes and will invest $2.4 million in capital.

Qualtrics is a rapidly growing research and online survey company. It has seen triple-digit growth in the past four years. The company was recently featured in the June 2012 issue of Forbes magazine with the headline “Tech’s Best-Kept Secret is in Utah.”

Utah’s Information Technology and Software Development industry cluster has been a part of Utah’s economy for nearly 30 years.

Qualtrics expansion in Utah County further confirms Utah’s status as one of the best places to do business, especially in the IT sector.

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The National Ready Mix Concrete Assocation recently honored Jack B. Parson Companies with the Producer Excellence in Quality award for the second consecutive year. The company won in the largest producer category.

Jack B. Parson Companies is one of the state’s largest aggregate, ready mix concrete, asphalt, paving and construction materials suppliers.

According to the NRMCA, the Producer Excellence in Quality award goes to companies who demonstrate outstanding performance in customer focus, materials management, testing and other criteria. Companies are recognized in three categories ranging from small-scale production to large-scale production.

President and CEO Scott Parson credits the company’s outstanding employees and customers for maintaining their high quality products and service.

2012 marks the company’s 60th anniversary of safely building the preferred source of quality sand, rock and landscape products, ready-mixed concrete, asphalt, paving and construction services.

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Ground was recently broken for the first phase of Eaglewood Village, a new 96-acre mixed-use community located in North Salt Lake City.

Strategic Capital Partners and Compass Development Group are developing the property in a joint agreement on Eaglewood Village. The property is located at the corner of Eagle Ridge Drive and Highway 89, at the base of the Eaglewood area.

The first phase of Eaglewood Village development includes Eaglewood Lofts, a Class A 214 unit apartment project. The apartments will have an urban yet classy feel and will have desirable features like walk-in closets and balconies. The project is scheduled to be complete by June 2013.

The Village will ultimately include office, retail, apartments and for-sale homes. Henry Walker Homes will build a majority of the homes on-site in the $200 to $500-thousand price range.

Because of proximity to downtown Salt Lake City and affordable pricing, the mixed use of Eaglewood Village is anticipated to see quick success and be a welcome new part of southern-Davis County.

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For the full reports from this week and weeks past, visit KSL Radio online. Remember to tune in between 12:30 and 1 p.m. to KSL News Radio every week day on 102.7 FM or 1160 AM. If your business is doing something great, let us know and we may just feature it on the Utah Business Report. 

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Why it’s important to have employees trained in CPR

Friday, November 2nd, 2012

Does your business implement a safety policy or plan so employees know CPR and/or First Aid?

For one Utah company, having a safety program in place helped save a man’s life this year.

The man in question is Scott Hicken, a mechanic at Staker Parson Companies. On May 8, Hicken became dizzy and passed out while at work. His coworkers Mike Rentmeister, Travis Hager, Garrett Butler and Darin King, all rushed to his aid and found he wasn’t breathing. They administered CPR and called the paramedics–they saved his life.

“We didn’t think twice,” said Rentmeister. “The dispatcher kept us calm and explained everything we needed to do. The four of us worked together and we just did what had to be done. We continued doing chest compressions until the paramedics arrived.” At that point, the paramedics stabilized Hicken with a defibrillator.

What should be noted here is that all four of the mechanics had completed CPR certification as part of Staker Parson Companies’ safety program. This fact made a huge difference in this potentially fatal situation.

“The knowledge of my supervisors to react calmly in an emergency situation is the reason I survived,” Hicken said. “Luckily they have the skills to properly complete CPR, and the 911 dispatcher was able to walk them through the steps. The doctors told me multiple times that most people do not survive the type of cardiac arrest I experienced. Thanks to the quick and appropriate response of my coworkers, I survived and the doctor was able to find that a genetic defect caused the problem. It was easily repaired and I should have no future problems. I am very thankful to everyone involved—the 911 dispatcher, first responders, and of course my coworkers. They saved my life.”

Hicken’s colleagues, as well as the police dispatcher, were all recently honored by the Lehi City Fire Department with the Citizen Life Saver Award at the Lehi City Council meeting.

When presenting the award, the Lehi City Fire Department praised the group, saying, “Because of the actions of the Staker Parson team, the expertise of the emergency medical dispatcher and the help of the Lehi City Fire Department, Scott Hicken has recovered fully and is back at work.”

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This week on Utah Business Report

Friday, October 19th, 2012

In case you missed one or more of the Salt Lake Chamber’s Utah Business Reports on KSL News Radio, here is a recap of what we talked about this week.

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This week, the First Annual Utah Small Business Summit took place and was a resounding success! If you’d like to see what happened, see our recap of the event along with lessons learned from the keynote speakers.

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As part of the Chamber’s 125th anniversary, we want to share the rich history of the members who have made the Chamber so successful.

Maxine Turner founded Cuisine Unlimited, Inc., in 1985. Today, Cuisine Unlimited is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning company specializing in gourmet, off-premise catering and special event services. It has been ranked as the top catering service in the U.S.

The Turners attribute their success to the support of their family, the strength of the business community and their involvement in the Salt Lake Chamber for the past 20 years. They also credit the 85 exemplary professionals that make up their staff.

In 1998, when Salt Lake was chosen to host the 2002 Olympic Games, the Chamber referred Cuisine Unlimited to a newscaster. As a result, Cuisine Unlimited was featured on CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.

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Today was the Grand Opening Celebration for the Sweet Cake Bake Shop. The gluten-free bakery is opening a larger second location in downtown Salt Lake, located at 457 East 300 South, to better meet gluten-free demands for delicious baked goods.

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The Lehi City Fire Department recently honored a few employees from Staker Parson Companies’ shop in Lehi. Dispatcher Jenny Snyder and the employees were honored with the Citizen Life Saver Award for saving a co-worker’s life at the City Council meeting.

On May 8, Scott Hicken became dizzy and passed out while working. His coworkers Mike Rentmeister, Travis Hager, Garrett Butler and Darin King came to his aid. They found Hicken wasn’t breathing and called 9-1-1. Dispatcher Snyder instructed them to perform CPR until paramedics arrived.

All four of the mechanics completed CPR certification as part of the Staker Parson Companies’ safety program. Because of their help, Hicken has completely recovered and is back at work.

This is a great example of why it’s valuable to have your employees certified in CPR. It could save another’s life.

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We’re pleased to talk about one of the women receiving a 2012 Pathfinder award: Dr. Vivian Lee of University of Utah Health Science.

Dr. Lee leads one of the country’s foremost academic health systems and world-renowned medical research centers. She works to ensure Utahns have the best and most cost efficient health care available.

She has launched two signature initiatives. One is to leverage the School of Medicine’s world-class human genetics program to become a leading center in personalized health care. The other is to establish University of Utah Health Care as a model for maintaining financial stability while giving each patient an exceptional experience.

Dr. Lee has also received the Outstanding Teacher Award twice from the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Dr. Lee, along with the other Pathfinder recipients, will officially receive their awards at the 2012 Women and Business Conference and ATHENA Award Luncheon, on Nov. 15 at the Little America Hotel.

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Congratulations are in order for the Utah Department of Workforce Services. They recently received the 2012 Full Employment Best Practices Award from the American Institute for Full Employment.

The award is given to a state agency that exemplifies a commitment to reemployment insurance claimants through proactive policies and innovative programs.

President of the American Institute for Full Employment John W. Courtney commends the Department of Workforce Services for establishing a clear vision and also using effective tools to make that vision a reality.

This isn’t the first time the creative thinking of the Workforce Services staff has been recognized on a national scale. Utah’s low duration rate for people receiving unemployment insurance has been consistently in the top ten of the 53 states and territories.

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For the full reports from this week and weeks past, visit KSL Radio online. Remember to tune in between 12:30 and 1 p.m. to KSL News Radio every week day on 102.7 FM or 1160 AM. If your business is doing something great, let us know and we may just feature it on the Utah Business Report. 

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This week on the Utah Business Report

Friday, August 3rd, 2012

In case you missed one or more of the Salt Lake Chamber’s Utah Business Reports on KSL News Radio, here is a recap of what we talked about this week.

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Intermountain Healthcare has been named on this year’s Most Wired Hospital list by Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association. In fact, Intermountain has been named on the list representing the nation’s top 100 most technologically savvy hospital systems in 13 of the 14 years the survey has been conducted.

Assessments on hospitals and health systems nationwide were based on achievement in four areas: infrastructure, business and administrative management, clinical quality and safety, and care continuum. This year’s rankings evaluated over 15-hundred U.S. hospitals.

U.S. News & World Report recognized three Intermountain Healthcare hospitals for their high-performing medical specialties, including Murray’s Intermountain Medical Center, McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden and Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo.

LDS Hospital was also recognized as one of the “Best Hospitals in America” by that report, ranking 29th nationally in gynecology and as the overall top hospital in Utah.

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As part of the Chamber’s 125th anniversary, we want to share the rich history of the members that have made the Chamber so successful.

A passion sparked inside Jack B. Parson when he helped his father build roads at age 15. Jack learned to operate all of the fleet’s equipment, gaining a wealth of experience and passion in construction.

In 1952, Jack founded Jack B. Parson Companies in Smithfield, Utah, which later merged with Salt Lake-based Staker Paving and Construction in 2001 to create Staker Parson Companies. The company quickly became one of the region’s leading suppliers of quality sand, rock, landscape products, ready-mixed concrete, asphalt, paving and construction services.

Today, Staker Parson Companies employs nearly two thousand people at over 50 locations in the western U.S. Staker Parson is regularly named one of Utah’s fastest growing companies and is also an eight-time recipient of Utah’s Best of State medal among other awards.

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The Utah State Fair is coming up! The fair opens September 6th and runs through September 16th at the State Fairgrounds. Gates will open each day at 10 a.m.

The best prices for Carnival Wristband vouchers will be available until September 5th. It’s $20 for Regular Carnival Wristband vouchers and $15 for a new Matinee Carnival Wristband voucher… so purchase early to save some money! Right now you can also save $3 on regular adult gate admission tickets at Smith’s Food and Drug checkout stands.

There’s a great line-up of performers this year including Parachute, Wilson Phillips, Jars of Clay, Sheena Easton, Victoria Justice, Lonestar, and Blues Traveler. Most of the concerts are free with Fair gate admission.

Other entertainment includes the PRCA Rodeo, Horse Shows and the Barrel Racing Series.

If you’d like to learn more or want to be a sponsor for the Utah State fair, visit UtahStateFair.com.

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The Chamber would like to congratulate Boart Longyear for receiving the distinguished Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program, or SHARP award, from the Utah Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The SHARP award is granted to companies that maintain an exemplary health and safety management system. Boart Longyear is one of only nine Utah companies to earn this award.

With the help of the Utah Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Boart Longyear’s Salt Lake City plant developed an innovative management system that implements the best practices to protect their employees.

The company showcases their commitment to safety through volunteer employee Safety Champions who look for safety risks every day. With this emphasis on safety, the Salt Lake City plant is able to produce more diamond drill bits in two shifts than they had been able to in three shifts.

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We also talked about the Chamber’s new international alliances.

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For the full reports from this week and weeks past, visit KSL Radio online. Remember to tune in between 12:30 and 1 p.m. to KSL News Radio every week day on 102.7 FM or 1160 AM. If your business is doing something great, let us know and we may just feature it on the Utah Business Report. 

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