This year Utah Business has been celebrating its 30-year anniversary. We’ve marked the milestone with a new website and a redesign of the magazine. This month we have another new thing to celebrate—we’ve launched our own podcast, UB Insider.

UB Insider will bring you interviews with local business leaders and insightful takes on the issues and trends shaking up our business community. The first episode is an interview with Bryan Brandenburg, co-founder of Salt Lake Comic Con, who talks about the ways the popular convention is broadening its reach and appeal. Another episode is a conversation with Utah Business editor Adva Biton about her compelling feature story in this issue about the state’s storied film industry.

The podcast is spearheaded by our online content editor, Lisa Christensen, who brings a professional voice and a reporter’s zeal to the endeavor. She’ll be producing a podcast every week and I’m excited for the lineup she has assembled for the coming weeks.

In addition to this regular offering, for the next few weeks we’ll also have a special healthcare podcast. This special edition series was recorded last fall, during our Utah Employers Healthcare Summit. Panelists and speakers at the Summit sat down with our content marketing guru, Pat Parkinson, for in-depth interviews on subjects ranging from corporate wellness programs to escalating healthcare costs for employers and consumers alike.

In fact, in this issue we’ve decided to take a look back at the Utah Employers Healthcare Summit. The day-long event was packed full of informative sessions tailored specifically to the concerns of employers, who are dealing with skyrocketing benefit costs while still trying to attract and retain top talent with as-generous-as-possible benefit packages. Add new employer mandates to the mix, and employers find more and more of their time and resources eaten up by healthcare issues.

Rich McKeown, co-founder of Leavitt Partners with former Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt, keynoted the Summit, and we recap his perceptive speech in our coverage of the event. McKeown takes a high-level look at the healthcare landscape in the United States, discussing how our compassionate social impulses are colliding with the financial and economic realities in the healthcare system.

You can read our coverage of the Utah Employers Healthcare Summit, including McKeown’s keynote address, beginning on page 55.

Utah Business is in the planning stages for our next Utah Employers Healthcare Summit, which will again be held in the fall. We hope this issue’s look back at the Summit will help you look forward to this year’s event. As decision makers and employers, what healthcare topics are most compelling for you? What issues would you like to see us address? Please send me your ideas and suggestions at [email protected].

Best regards,
Heather Dawn Stewart