Idaho Falls company presenting at Utah investors' conference

BiologiQ, an Idaho Falls company that has invented a way to make potato starch waste biodegradable plastic resin pellets, will be one of two Idaho companies presenting Thursday at the Wayne Brown Institute’s Investors Choice Conference in Midway, Utah.

All of the company’s products, which are used in everything from bags and bottles to cutlery, are competitive with products made from petro-chemicals. The starch comes from potato processing plants in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Zions Bank is the founding sponsor of the conference. Additional principal sponsors include the law firm Ballard Spahr LLP, Tanner LLC, the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development and the Utah Division of Securities.

The Wayne Brown Institute is America's oldest and most successful non-profit venture accelerator. To date, more than 800 groundbreaking high tech companies have presented in a WBI program; 70% have participated in financial transactions totaling more than $8.5 billion in private equity, accounting for nearly 1 percent of venture capital deal flow in the United States.

”Last spring, Zions Bank CEO Scott Anderson encouraged our board and the team at The Wayne Brown Institute to set up an office in Boise," said Brad Bertoch, president and CEO of the Wayne Brown Institute.  "Scott's vision paid off immediately this year with GenZ Technology, BiologiQ, Inc. We have three more presenting companies from Idaho, plus companies from surrounding states."

Ulta Beauty coming to Ammon Town Center

Renovation work at the Ammon Town Center

Ulta Beauty is coming to the Ammon Town Center, next to Boot Barn, in the space that was subdivided after Circuit City closed. The 10,344-square-foot project is being managed by MC Construction Management of Cave Creek, Ariz.

The largest beauty retailer in the United States, the company says its aim is to provide one-stop shopping for prestige, mass and salon products and salon services. Online and in retail outlets, the Illinois-based chain sells cosmetics, fragrance, haircare, skincare, bath and body products and salon styling tools.

Ulta Beauty also offers a full-service salon in each of its stores. The store format includes a 950-square-foot salon area with eight to ten stations. The whole salon has a concierge desk, skin treatment room, and semi-private shampoo and hair color processing areas. ULTA Beauty also has Benefit Brow Bars in select stores nationwide, offering such services as brow arching, brow tinting, facial waxing and eyelash application.

The company was founded in 1990 by Richard E. George, former president of Osco Drug, Inc. As of Nov. 1, 2014, it operated 765 retail stores across 47 states, including one in Pocatello. The Ammon store will be the second in Idaho.

As far as charitable giving goes, since 2008 the company sole focus has been the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Reed's Dairy opens store in Ammon

Sam Reed, son of Alan Reed, at the new Reed's Dairy store in Ammon.

Those of you on the east side needing a Reed's ice cream fix or cheese curds now have a lot less of a drive, as the Idaho Falls dairy opened a second store Wednesday at 2523 E. Sunnyside Road, formerly Sunnyside Sweets.

Sam Reed, who manages the store, said they learned the space was available in November when Sunnyside Sweets owners Tara and Jarom Christensen said they were closing their shop. Reed's had been selling ice cream to Sunnyside Sweets and had been thinking about second location for a while, Reed said.

There will be a number of grand opening specials, starting Saturday morning at 10 with ice cream served on French toast, in observance of National Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day.

The hours for the new store are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

TEDxIdahoFalls speakers announced

Organizers of TEDxIdahoFalls are pleased to announce the eight presenters at the TEDxIdahoFalls event scheduled for Feb. 20 at the MC Theater, located at the ARTitorium on Broadway.
The speakers were selected from a pool of 23 potential presenters who either applied or were recruited.

“We are extremely pleased with the caliber of presenters we’ll have at the event and are looking forward to the opportunity to hear exciting ideas on a variety of subjects,” Brad Christensen, the event organizer.

The speakers are as follows:

• Kristie Scott — Creating quintessential sensoryscapes
• David Pennock — Community dialogue, Galileo, and the powerful potential of museums
• Joo Yang — The price of love and freedom
• Rita Foster — Power internet
• Michelle Ziel-Dingman — Love > Fear
• Fahim Rahim — How to trap an alien
• Aaron Turner — It doesn’t matter where you came from, it’s where you’re going
• Janet Allen — Rebounding from bad outcomes: A formula for resilience

Also, the application process for attendees has been closed and there is no more seating available. Anyone interested can watch the live stream on www.TEDxIdahoFalls.com on the night of the event.

More information about each of the speakers and their presentations is available at the Web site.

Netmark.com names new CEO

John Broadbent

Netmark.com, an Idaho Falls-based internet marketing agency, has named John Broadbent its new CEO. Josh Dalton, the former CEO, is maintaining an administrative role for several months to help the transition.

"John was made for this new role,” Dalton said, in a press release. “He's an amazing individual with many extraordinary talents. It's only a matter of time before more people within our industry recognize him as one of its key leaders.”

Broadbent was originally hired in 2012 and was promoted to chief operating officer at the beginning of 2014. His accomplishments at Netmark include improving systems and processes within the company’s marketing, sales and fulfillment areas. He has been involved with Internet marketing since 2006.

Regarding his new position, Broadbent said, “We intend to revive the identity we possessed as a boutique Internet marketing agency and infuse that throughout the current enterprise."