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Show ~ BUSINESS A Local Industry | DailySHerald FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2006 BUSINESS EDITOR Grace Leong - 344-2910 - gleang@heraldextra.com v A A Dow Jones| Nasdaq EXCHANGING THE DOLLAR S&P 500 Gold Silver Final Final Final Per ounce Per ounce 11,382.51 +28.02 2,344.95 +11,32 1,309.72 +431 $633.30 -5.5 $12.470 ~0.34 \ E \ \ IS & NO | E S Yen 11408 11470 Fill be ah ‘= Canadian dollar Mexican peso 1.1227 11.1235 1.1279 11.1475 Orem leadership firm sued Award Orem tech exec nominated for 2006 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur — Greg Cole, president and founderof Bright Builders of Orem,is a nominee for the 2006 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year.. Nominated by Merrill Lynch.Cole, along with others are judged by their vision leadership. achievement and social responsibility. The winner will be announced June 16at the Salt Palace ConventionCenter in Salt LakeCity Zenger Folkmanandseveral executives accusedof copyright law violations Robert Houk, CFM of Merrill Lynchin Salt LakeCity, said he nominated Cole becauseofhis contributions to the Internet technology industry in difficult market conditions. Foundedin 1997. Bright Builders. which provides eCommerce and Web site development tools ahd education for small-business owners, achieved morethan 9,000 percent growth over thelast GraceLeong Al FERALD five years ‘Our focusis not just providing tools and software tohelp smallbusiness owners develop Websites,” Cole said. “Our focusreally lies in educating business owners to usethe tools and then develop a strong online presencethroughinnovative marketing strate- Several executives of an Orem leadership and organiza-. tional development company have been accused of misappro- gies Cole also developed thé Bright Business Center, a teamofcerti- priating the intellectual proper- fied and experiencedInternet business coaches whoassist small business owners with online marketingtools People On the Move UTA namesnewgeneral counsel — The Utah Transit Authority's Boardof Trustees named Bruce T. Jonesits general counsel. Jones Buckner, an independent contractor, were also named as defendants. The defendants,all of whom were former executives and employees of Boston-based Novations andits former parent, Provant Inc., were accused and property their own business. While Zenger wasserving as of Ballard Spahr Andrews& Ingersoll solutely deny any wrongdoing, Novations. The Provant agree- mentdidn’t extend to Novations,”he'said. are completely different under- Wednesday’s lawsuit Training Co., an Orem provider of customized companysurvey alleged similar claimsof fraud, copyright lawviolations, unfair copyright violations, seeks to and unjust enrichmentagainst Strong & Hanni named HeatherE. Waite-Groverits newassociate. Waite-Grover, who received her J.D. in 2005 from Brigham Young University and became a member of the Utah State Bar and the US. District Court this vear, specializes in areas including construction and insurance defense. against these complaints in court if they choose to pursue this to trial,” he said. “There. conspiracy, unfair competi- The suit, which alleges fraud, com" in his name. and will vigorously defend Lynn Nicholson, its senior software engiheer; KerriPrice, and reporting products, andits founder, Garrett Galley, also competition, misappropriation tion, breach of contract and Training Co. also filed Cyberpiracy Prevention Act claims against Nicholsonforallegedly Zengerdisagreed. “We ab- non-compete agreement with their clients for competing Extraordinary Performance products andservices,the suit said. its client manager, and Kathy SLC lawfirm adds new attorney — TheSalt Lake City lawfirm of Zenger disputed the suit's allegations. “| didn’t have any Zenger Folkman CEO.‘ack Zenger: Joe Folkman, its co- founderand president: Kurt Sandholtz, a senioraffiliate; law firm of Suitter Axland, and later as a partnerwith the national Jones also servedas past president of the Salt Lake County Bar Association andchair of the Salt Lake County Planning Commission andbyfalsely designating his wrongfully registering its domain names, “performancesurv om”and “avasurveys. these checks. _ sued by two corporate training software without authorization, dress as the mailing addressof. Folkman allegedlyinstructed theirclients to make checks— whichtotaled more than $1 mil_lion — payable to themselves. andlisting Folkman’s home ad- Co.'s software andconfidential information to process leadership surveys andreports for using his proprietary survey software as copyrighted by Extraordinary Performance. agreements whenthey allegedly used Novations’ and Training PerformanceGroupInc., and several ofits executives were Zenger Folkman. Galleysaid the defendants have made about$3 million property. The suit said Zenger and of violating their non-compete executive, they allegedly billed ence including Serving as managing director with the Salt Lake also seek a court order to stop Zenger Folkmanfrom continuing to use tneir software and other proprietaryintellectual violating their fiduciaryduties. Zenger Folkman Co., formerly known as Extraordinary Inc. and The Training Co.Inc. He replaces Kathryn H.S. Pett. who left UTA last December. Jones has morethan 30 years of legal, accounting andcivic experi- recover several million dollars in damages. The plaintiffs tyof their former employer and companies, Novations Group specializes in finance. government relations, business transactions law firm PAGE6 standings that we have on each of thoseissues, and we have extremely different positions and the truth will comeout in a court trial. We absolutely deny that those allegations are a complete story. They have omitted significant other information.” PAIN IN THE PUMP Real Estate Modest Casual clothing store opensin St. George — KneeShorts Clothing Co., a Sandy-basedretailer of modest casual clothing with storesin areas including Orem. openedits third store at 1055 W Red Cliffs Drive. Ste. A. in St. George. NATIONAL BRIEFING Exxon's record first quarter disappoints Wall Street DALLAS — ExxonMobil Corp. postedthe fifth highest quarterly profit for any public companyin history on Thursday, and with oil prices above $70 abarrelit could go downas the company's weakest quarter for the vear. Exxon Mobil’s first-quarter was lower thanits record fourthquarter, when the world’s largest oil companyreported the highest profits ever for any publicly traded company. And the earnings, whichrose7 percent to more than$8 billion, still fell short of analysts’ estimates Small companiesacquireoil field from Exxon MAX WHITTAKER/Associated Press PHOENIX — ExxonMobilhas sold a swath of land to two small companies Mike Meyerfills a gas can at an Exxon gas station in Marysville, Calif., on Thursday. Consumers are priceshoppingforgas Resolute Natural Resources Co. and the Navajo Nation Oil and Gas Co. announced Wednesday that they had acquired the Greater Aneth Fiel southeast Utah. lowa companyplans meatplant at Pleasant View ASANT VIEW, Utah — lowa-based WestLiberty Foods LLC John Rogers plans to build a meat processing plantin Pleasant Viewthat even- ATED tually could employ 500 and produce 1.6 million poundsof product per week. The announcement came after $5.7 million inincentives.to bring the company to Utah wasapproved Tuesdaybya subcommittee of the state Department of Community and Economic Development. ny I( XC k 5 ( F L¢ IC: AL INTEREST day's performanceof selected publicly traded companies SYM COMPANY LAST CHANGE SYM COMPANY LAST CHANGE Mich Cap Gaerne MynadGenetes Natue’s Sunshine Pred 57 +003 1105 +0.10 Micon Tetmoony PRE 5 LOS ANGELES It’s the great gasoline conundrum. | | | | 1740 +060 | | Los Angeles. Indeed, the nearby station bucks down the road. are several cents higher than a Like so manyoflife's most vexing questions, there are no vasy answers. “It’s all related to how recently you got your shipment,” said Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for If gas is gas, howcanthis be? competitor.on the next block. Ata time whenit’s costing him $40tofill up and keephis aging maroon Ford Mercury onthe road, Brian Graves has learned to drive with financial was charginga nickel a gallon morethan the $3.17 Graves paid for regular grade gasoline. About four miles away on the samestreet, the price was 28-- Industry officials say several factors comeintoplay. Retailers whodealin large volumecancuttheir prices a bit, while those who take credit defensiveness, keeping oneeye cents a gallon higher. cards or pay higher rent and on the highway andthe other onprices posted in front of the | gas stations. | 30-year-old handymansaid this weekashefilled his tank at a Shell station east of downtown “| knowthatthis station is cheaper than the one down the street, consistently,” the = With prices now above $3a gallon across muchof the coun- try, few things are more exas- 554 Novell inc Nu Skin Ei Qwest Communicators < .1 Syst in ae ee ee ea tases ees = oie SIC Schein (Henry) ar peratingthan filling up at one goup every day, it's not unusu- dayto see prices go up are not —_al for a station on one corner to have prices that forafew days watchingall day whenprices go down.” S — = ae % aa a . boomin e 8 : E@ucation workforce, lowercostof living attract more out-of-state tech manufacturers " Grace Leong DAILY HERALD tech employment was up 61,000 eee Utah’s technology economy no the techi.oe is booming, thanks to growing venturecapital investments in Utah seem small, these ceanpared wihCale oa a s anies locating in Utah.” Secal in terms of software —Snpioymenwan 4700os TS Pro-business policies also help their manufacturing functions , encourage more tech companies So poe nee said. eas, sai “There's lot of sie ck AeA ranked the states’ hitech cy in - of companies know- employment, wages, exports and other key economic factors ing w ce projects are available in Utah, and how to ta Ta 22 22 Neieosgorernmespoloa Ingatteheapbyuattce INGACamiteSactydae Sintogonrmea,ael United Dominion Rity Tr 2729 -0.03' | highly-educated workforce, and California lost 10,600 jobs in Overview of the High-TechnolAs result, the number of Target Comp 5346 +011 UnitedHealth Group, US Banco 4775 12 | a relatively lowercost ofliving 3098 +039 attract more tech-based manu- fee eeBle ioe | siness govel ee 228 Lxent Technologies Southwest Aifines McKesson Comp | WRC | WMT WN! Wells Fargo WalMart Stores Schiff Nutrition int’ x | HEL. DRC siten Nex torts US. Steel Kort Eney, pies aera . 6717 +157 4564 034 597 003 6618 277 1854 +044 8203 +06 emp! . | le le ove 1 2004, and Texas, whichhasthe nation’s second-largest tech em- ogy Industry. “Utah's eid work ethic and new start-up, or out-of-state hi-tech businesses rel to tFelocateto the state. Venturecapital investments in Utahj 23 percent to Jessica Wright, executive director of the American Electronics Association’s (AeA) Mountain an attractive location for technology companies to develop new products and techniques,” to. 3,579in 2004,she said. Utah's high+ech exports, which “count for r 16 $248 million last year from 2004, While the state's tech sector added 800 jobs to 49,300 jobs in States Council. “Tech employmentin Colorado, which is knownas a hub for vou said. “Electro-medimanufacturing, mene services and software percent of Utah's total exports, grew to$1 billion in 2005, from more than $354,000 in 1999. Na- Were available. Nationally, U.S. companies there are outsourcing these are the types of techcom- facturers and services providers ployment,Jost 10,500 jobs," said IMO Utah Medial Products 31.053 0247 V2 Velach Combunickens 2352 028: WEN Wendy's int 6250 40.74 MER Memiliynch wi y MITY Enterprises 2004, the most current year for whichstate employment figures ‘ ‘ ‘ Bee ¥ if a 0.40 2 eee= _people watching the store all station,only to learn youcould have saved two or three or four 9 6 78 +007 5 an an | UR | UNH | US8_- oa LU” LUV CK meen | TGT 18M. Intl Bus, Machines INTC intel Comp peaswane 7 0.09 +017 0.11 masons #% a secon pele one _.® 2” Sith int 4219 1.00 Disney (Watt) Co as besor cu oe ewe 2 1651 3902 2486 “But consumersdon't see it During periods when prices 007 842 +029 ses A PG&E Com Pfizer, in Overtime, he said, prices should evenout _—other overhead must charge a__that way,” Lenard acknowllittle more. edged. “Thereality is that ==: “= Utah’s tech economy NetManage Inc the National Association of ConvenienceStores.“Retailers base prices on replacementcosts.” storage and semi-conductor in_dustries, is also slowing assome highlevel of education makeit publishing are seeing the most employment growth because t Utah jumped 6.9 percent, or 230, tionally, U.S. high-tech exports totaled $199 billion in 2005,up 4 percent from the previous year. mae ‘ eo aston eS EES eee ace lin hh hit Lah =. | |