The Top 11 Utah-focused Monetary, Financial and/or Business News Nuggets from the Second Half of July 2024 that You Might have Missed

{AUTHOR'S NOTE: Clearly, not every news announcement deserves to be the top story of the day. Nevertheless, many news items are significant and should be acknowledged as such. And in this writeup, you'll find info about 11 Utah-based firms and eight separate executives that we feel are "newsworthy." This being the case, welcome to this writeup on Utah's Top 11 Monetary, Financial and Business News Nuggets from the Second Half of July 2024.}

Enclosed below (in no particular order), are Utah's 11 Top Financial and Business News Nuggets from the Second Half of July 2024 that may not have hit your radar.

Specifically,

• Springville, Utah-based Gotcha Covered has named David Dunsmuir President of this Five Star Franchising brand. According to the company news release, Dunsmuir "... brings more than 20 years of experience to the position, including roles in sales, operations and leadership at Home Depot, Cabinets to Go and Re-Bath." Dunsmuir replaces Paul Linenberg who spent 16 years with Gotcha Covered, a blinds, draperies, and smart home solutions company.
• Tokyo, Japan-based Misawa Homes Co. has acquired 51% of Logan, Utah-based Visionary Homes. According to the Visionary news release announcing the transaction, "... Visionary Homes was founded in 2004 and is a privately held homebuilder with the largest footprint of Utah builders from Logan to St. George." Terms of the transaction were not disclosed by either party.
• Clearfield, Utah-based Lifetime Products has named BJ Haacke as the company's new President and CEO. The move follows the untimely death of the company's former President/CEO, Richard David Hendrickson, and his daughter, in a freak vehicular accident in Ogden Canyon over the Independence Day holiday weekend. As noted in the company news release, Haacke has been with Lifetime since 1999 and "... been a member of Lifetime’s board and ... actively participated in executive meetings over the past two years."
• The Utah Avalanche Center, has named Caroline Miller as its Executive director. Before joining the Salt Lake City-based nonprofit, Miller was most recently employed as Director of Mountain Operations at Kirkwood Ski Resort.
• Salt Lake City-based LW Traveling Title has been acquired by Verus Title, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fathom Holdings (Nasdaq: FTHM), based in Cary, North Carolina. According to the Fathom news release, Traveling Title is a title insurance agency serving clients in Utah, Colorado, and Virginia. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
• Lindon, Utah-based hands-free footwear brand, Kizik, has named Elizabeth Drori as its new Chief Marketing Officer. According to the Kizik news release, "Drori joins Kizik from Sperry, where she served as Global Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager of the Sperry e-commerce business."
• Lehi, Utah-based PCF Insurance Services is continuing its strategic roll-up efforts as it has acquired Montalvo Insurance Agency of Weslaco, Texas. According to the PCF news release, Montalvo has been providing various insurance products to business clients in south Texas for over 65 years. Although financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed (as is the case for all PCF acquisitions thus far), PCF Insurance Services is now ranked as the 19th largest insurance broker in Business Insurance's 2024 Top 100 Brokers list and the 12th largest Property/Casualty Agencies in Insurance Journal's 2023 ranking of such agencies.
• Heber City, Utah-based Renew Biotechnologies has hired Steven Abbott as its Chief Operating Officer. According to the company news release, "... Abbott brings extensive experience in genomics and biotechnology operations to lead Wasatch BioLabs, a core Renew Biotechnologies subsidiary, from its current research and development phase into full-scale commercial operations."
• Provo, Utah-based venture services firm, RevRoad, has promoted Jenney Rees to Chief Executive Officer. According to the RevRoad news release, Rees joined RevRoad in August 2023 as its Chief Operating Officer. She replaces Derrin Hill, RevRoad Co-Founder and Managing Director, who will "... continue as its Chairman of the Board and will take on a larger role in the capital fund and will lead raising the next fund with RevRoad Capital." 
• Lehi-based Awardco has promoted Isaiah Bryson to Chief Operating Officer from EVP Operations & Customer Success. According to the company news release, Bryson has been with the company since late 2017 when he joined the firm as a member of its Customer Success team.

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