LaPray joins Mountain America team as adviser

David LaPray

David LaPray has joined Mountain America Credit Union and LPL Financial as a wealth adviser.

LaPray, who will work out of the credit union's Idaho Falls branch, is a Brigham Young University graduate with more than 10 years of experience as a financial adviser.

Investment representatives at Mountain America are jointly employed by the credit union and LPL Financial. Mountain America has 75 branches in five states, and provides access to more than 30,000 ATMs and 5,000 shared branching locations nationwide. It has more than $3.5 billion in assets and serves more than 420,000 members. LPL Financial is an independent broker-dealer with more than 12,000 financial advisers and 750 financial institutions.

For information about LPL Financial, visit www.macu.com/lpl-financial or contact LaPray at 403-9425.

2013 building permit numbers for Idaho Falls down from 2012, but still healthy

These building permit numbers are posted on the city of Idaho Falls' Web page every month, and there's usually a few things that jump out.

In the case of the year-end numbers, 2013 was a down year only by way of comparison with 2012. This is an instance were a big project can skew things in a big way. Say the Watkins Distributing warehouse or the new Smith Chevrolet/Honda had been in Idaho Falls rather than unincorporated Bonneville County. The total for 2013 might have been higher than 2012.

Also interesting, Idaho Falls permits for single family dwellings in 2012 and 2013 -- 279 total -- were not that far below the previous four years' cumulative total, 311. It could be some time before we get back to the boom numbers of 2005-2007, but that's necessarily a bad thing.

Wray joins Sperry Van Ness High Desert office

Greg Wray

Greg Wray has joined the Idaho Falls office of Sperry Van Ness as a commercial real estate adviser. Previously, Wray was a division director at the Idaho National Laboratory responsible for contracting, property management, logistics and supply management. Contractual commitments and acquisitions under his purview approached $400 million annually. He holds a Master of Supply Management degree, is a certified professional contract manager and has 22 years of progressive management experience.

Sperry Van Ness High Desert Commercial is an independently owned and operated office in Idaho Falls. For more information, visit www.svnhd.com.

Idaho Falls readies for 'changing of the guard'

Idaho Falls Mayor-elect Rebecca Casper

A farewell reception will be held in honor of Idaho Falls Mayor Jared Fuhriman and City Council members Ida Hardcastle, Karen Cornwell and Ken Taylor on Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m.

The reception will be held at City Council Chambers in the annex building, at 680 Park Ave. The public is welcome to attend.

Mayor-elect Rebecca Casper, along with incoming City Council members Dee Whittier, Ed Marohn and Barbara Dee Ehardt will be sworn in at the City Council meeting Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will also be held in the City Council chambers in the annex building.

Those unable to attend the City Council meetingcan view the live or archived meeting at www.idahofallsidaho.gov.

With social media, the job you save may be your own

Holiday season is officially over!  That’s right -- for at least another 11 months, there are no holiday-themed company parties, open houses or gatherings with friends and family.

Looking back at your holiday season, how did it go? Did you celebrate throughout the season?  Did you take pictures? Maybe even post them on Facebook, Google Plus or Twitter? Now that you are back in the swing of things, has that impacted your job or business relationships?

You think to yourself, “Well no, and it shouldn’t; it’s what I did after hours.” But you might be surprised to know what we do after hours is starting to affect what, how and who we interact with during business hours -- from co-workers and bosses, to clients, vendors, suppliers and others you may have business relationships with.

Think about it this way: Facebook has more than 500 million users and LinkedIn has over 70 million users worldwide. This means there is access to public information about you worldwide and round the clock.

I understand there are privacy settings and different ways to try to block that information, but keep in mind that anything on the Internet can become public at any time in many various ways.

Again, the argument you hear is, “Well it’s my private profile; it doesn’t matter.” Actually, it does. There is a growing number of court cases involving employees terminated due to their social networking. For example, a flight attendant lost her job for posting a picture of herself online in her uniform. A producer for CNN was fired for blogging about work, even though he didn’t identify himself as a CNN employee. In a nationwide survey of human resources professionals it was found that 43 percent of respondents reported using social networking sites to gain information about job applicants. In turn, only 5 percent had a policy against allowing that practice.
 
You might ask, aren’t there any federal or state rules or regulations prohibiting the use of this information against individuals by employers or businesses? Not at this time. It has been recognized that action needs to be taken. In Congress and at the White House the topic has emerged as a leading technology issue. Bills have been introduced in Congressional committees, but are still in limbo.

Social media is becoming more of a driving force in business, especially when it comes to employment.  While your employer and those with whom you do business cannot control what you do or do not post on social media, it is best to keep in mind that someone may be always watching. Your personal actions in social media can have a profound professional impact on your career.
Monica Bitrick is CEO of Bitrick Consulting Group, a small business offering customized business and management solutions. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (208) 932-8436.