SILICON SLOPES SUMMIT Oct 13-14, 2021 in Salt Lake City : THE ENTREPEUNERIAL SPIRIT Ryan Smith and Gail Miller

Last week today - here's just two news-worthy stories that point to shared money relationships between Arizona and Utah. Most readers realize what is being talked about

It’s black and white. Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith confirms rebrand is a thing

The Utah Jazz note outside of the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, pictured on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021, has been painted black and white as part of a rebranding effort for the team        

By Art Raymond@DNTechHive Oct 13, 2021, 12:27pm MDT

DNTechHive Oct 13, 2021, 12:27pm MDT

Deseret News

 

Art Raymond: "Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith shared details, sort of, Wednesday on a rebranding effort first noted by sharp-eyed fans that have been speculating on social media the past few weeks.

> Some of those changes to team assets include the well-known J-note sculpture outside of the Vivint Smart Home Arena, which was repainted in a black-and-white color scheme earlier this week.

>Fans also noticed that in addition to black and white, yellow is also featured very prominently on the team’s official online game schedule for this season. The Jazz practice facility, the Zions Bank Basketball Campus, also recently received a fresh coat of black-and-white paint, covering the long-standing navy blue, gold and green.

Smith, who was onstage with minority co-owner and former NBA star Dwyane Wade at the opening day of the Silicon Slopes Summit, said change is definitely afoot and the new color scheme would be black and white but other combinations, too. . .

> Smith said the team will try new things and “push, push, push” to determine what works and what doesn’t, not just with branding elements like uniform color and fonts but with the whole organization.

He said the overall goal for the Utah Jazz boils down this: “We’re all here for one thing, we want a (championship) parade in the city,” Smith said. “That’s it.”

Dwyane Wade, part owner of the Utah Jazz, left, and Jazz owner Ryan Smith laugh as they talk about rebranding effort for the team at the Silicon Slopes Summit at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021.

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The enthusiasm both men shared for the Jazz and where they hope to take the team had the audience at the Salt Palace roaring their approval.

Smith said he and the other owners have had the great fortune to take over a team that was not at all broken, much like their predecessors.

“We’re just grateful to take over a platform that’s setup,” Smith said. “We didn’t come into something that was broken ... we get to take it forward and grow it, like Larry did.” The late Larry Miller bought the team outright in 1986.

Smith and Wade also highlighted that the Jazz are the only team in the league with the name of a state on their jerseys. That, Smith said, plays into exactly how they see who they’re beholden to.

The Silicon Slopes Summit, as it turns out, played a role in the journey that would eventually lead to Smith buying majority ownership of the Jazz. Smith’s first exchange with then-Jazz owner Gail Miller happened at the 2020 edition of the summit. However, Smith said that initial exchange didn’t go quite as smoothly as he had hoped.

Smith told the Salt Palace crowd that when he asked Miller if there was a possibility, any chance, that she would consider selling the Jazz he got a one word answer: “Nope,” Miller told him.

Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith talks about a rebranding effort for the team during the Silicon Slopes Summit in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

-- But that initial barrier would eventually soften and the official announcement of Smith’s purchase of a majority interest in the Jazz came last October.

-- Wade acquired a minority stake in the team this spring, and Smith celebrated the three-time NBA champion and 13-time All-Star joining his ownership team.

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BLOGGER NOTE: As reported by Jenny Rollins below, Gail Miller is assumed to the wealthiest person in the Beehive State of Utah 

Here's what Gail Miller says is next for the Larry H. Miller Group

(Image: Gail Miller speaks at a press conference announcing the sale of the Utah Jazz to Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020.

The sale is part of an upcoming shift in the company to diversify its loot and portfolio to the future, Miller announced Thursday.

 

By Jenny Rollins, KSL.com Oct 14, 2021, 2:08pm MDT

Deseret News |

"Gail Miller announced Thursday that the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies has made $5 billion in strategic changes in the past year, moving on from their most well-known business ventures.

In 2020, Miller, owner and chairwoman of the group of companies, is assumed to be the wealthiest person in Utah.

> A year ago, she sold the Utah Jazz to Qualtrics founder Ryan Smith.

BLOGGER INSERT

Qualtrics IPO could be largest in Utah history

The Salt Lake Tribune

8 months ago · January 28, 2021, 4:00 p.m.. When Utah-born Qualtrics International goes public Thursday, the much-anticipated stock sale is expected to make history.

> Two weeks ago, Larry H. Miller Automotive was named the second-largest privately owned automotive dealership in the nation. Shortly after, Miller announced the group's intention to sell the dealerships to the Georgia-based company Asbury Auto Group. The dealerships will keep the Larry H. Miller name.

So, what's in the company's future? "We're turning our attention to new horizons," Miller said during the Silicon Slopes Summit in Salt Lake City on Thursday.

She added that it's important to know when a certain era is over and when it's time to move on. These "new horizons," she said, include diversifying the company's portfolio, while being agile and using foresight.

Miller stated that one such move is the company's purchase of Advanced Health Care Corp in January, though she did not say whether the company would continue purchasing other health care companies.

During Thursday's conference, she reminisced on how she and her late husband, Larry H. Miller, purchased a single Toyota dealership in Utah 42 years ago, with around 30 employees, because "our roots are here."

From their success and growth and "entrepreneurial spirit," she said, "I can tell you the American dream is alive and well."

"It's through change and challenge that we find opportunity and growth," Miller added."

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