Board of Advisors
Board Members
- James V. Hansen - Former Congressman for Utah
- James V. Hansen was born in Salt Lake City in 1932. He attended public schools in Salt Lake City and then served in the United States Navy during the Korean War. He returned to Salt Lake City to study at the University of Utah, where he completed his Bachelor of Science degree in 1961. As a businessman, he has been involved in insurance and real estate. His political career began in 1960 when he was elected to the Farmington City Council. He served as a councilman from 1960 to 1972, at which time he was elected as a Republican to the Utah State House of Representatives. He served as a state representative from 1973 to 1980 and was Speaker of the House in 1979 and 1980. During the 1980 election he defeated four-term Democratic incumbent K. Gunn McKay for Utah's First Congressional District seat in the United States House of Representatives. As a member of Congress, Hansen has served on three committees: the Armed Services Committee, where he is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations; the Natural Resources Committee, as ranking member of the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee and a member of the Oversight, Investigations, Water and Power Subcommittee; and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Other activities include being co-chairman of the Western Public Lands Study Committee, and membership on the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Republican Study Committee, the Insurance Caucus, the Depot Caucus, the Congressional Aviation Forum, the Sportsman's Caucus, the Army Caucus and the Congressional Space Caucus. He has been a strong supporter of Utah's defense industry and advocate of multiple-use development of natural resources on public lands. James Hansen married Ann Burgoyne of Salt Lake City, and they have five children. The Hansen's live in Farmington, where they have resided since 1959.
- Michael S. Leavitt - Chair of the Michael and Jackalyn Leavitt Foundation
- Robert K. Reynard - Attorney and First Student Director for the Center for Politics
- Mr. Reynard was the first Student Director for the Center for Politics. Currently, Mr. Reynard is a partner at the law firm Pia Anderson Dorius Reynard Moss in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. Reynard works in the Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice, Banking & Finance, Commercial Litigation, Construction Law, Labor & Employment, Health Care, Insurance Coverage Litigation, OSHA/MSHA, Real Estate, and Restaurants, Hospitality & Alcohol Beverage Licensing & Compliance practice groups at PADRM. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Reynard attended Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1999. While a student at SUU, he assisted in the formation of the Center for Politics & Public Service (now known as the Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics & Public Service). Mr. Reynard interned for the Utah State Legislature in 1997 and for the Honorable United States Senator Orrin Hatch in 1999. He served as the Student Regent for the State of Utah’s State Board of Regents from 1998-1999. Mr. Reynard is married with children.
- Darin G. Bird - Deputy Director, Utah Department of Natural Resources
- Stuart C. Jones - Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Southern Utah University
- Stuart Jones is Southern Utah University’s Vice President of Advancement . He returned to SUU’s campus after spending several years working as vice president for development at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California and as vice president of institutional advancement at Dominican University of California in San Rafael, respectively. Jones left SUU as the Vice President of Advancement and Regional Services in 2002. He left SUU the first time in 1986 after serving as the student body president his senior year. He returned in 1992 and spent 10 years in leadership roles on SUU’s campus, where he led two successful comprehensive capital campaigns, helping to raise nearly $60 million for student scholarships, academic and athletic facilities, endowment, student housing, and faculty development. In his returning role, Jones will direct the most ambitious and aggressive fundraising campaign in SUU’s history. Stuart Jones earned his B.A. in political science at Southern Utah University, his MBA at Utah State University, and his Juris Doctorate and MPA at the University of Utah. In addition to his work in higher education, Jones also practiced law with one of Utah’s largest and oldest statewide law firms, worked as a judicial clerk for the United States Court of Claims in Washington, D.C., and served as a political campaign director for two successful U.S. senate campaigns. His professional activities and affiliations include several board appointments, and he’s worked as volunteer legal counsel as a member of the Utah Summer Games Board of Governors. Among his many awards and honors, Jones was named Man of the Year by the Cedar City Chamber of Commerce and was a gold medalist in the Men’s Open Tennis Tournament in the Utah Summer Games. When he’s not working, Jones enjoys travelling, athletics, and spending time with his wife Michelle and their family.
- Stacee Y. McIff - Assistant Professor, Snow College
- Olene S. Walker - Former Governor of Utah
- Olene Smith Walker (born November 15, 1930) was Utah's 15th Governor. She was sworn into office on November 5, 2003, shortly before her 73rd birthday, as Utah's first, and, to date, only female governor. Walker's political background includes eight years in the state legislature including a term as Majority Whip. She served as the fourth Lieutenant Governor of Utah for the 10 years prior to becoming governor. She founded the Salt Lake Education Foundation and served as its director. She served as director of the Utah Division of Community Development. She has chaired the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, the Utah State Housing Coordinating Committee, the Governor's Commission on Child Care, and the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors. She assumed the office of Governor of the State of Utah after previous governor Mike Leavitt was nominated by President George W. Bush to lead the Environmental Protection Agency in 2003. Walker served as governor until the end of Leavitt's term on January 3, 2005. Shortly after becoming governor, she selected former State Representative Gayle McKeachnie to be her lieutenant governor. Olene Walker was the first female governor to be sworn in by a female Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, Christine M. Durham.
- Evan Vickers - Current Utah State Legislator
- Vickers was born in Panguitch and raised in Beaver. He graduated from Beaver High School in 1972, and received his Pharmacy degree from the University of Utah in 1977. Evan is a 32-year resident of Cedar City, and currently owns and operates Bulloch Drug and Township Pharmacy in Cedar City. While continuing to run his successful businesses, Vickers has served for the last 3 years in the Utah House of Representatives serving District 72, and is currently vice-chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee. Vickers has also served southern Utah extensively through numerous positions and organizations: as a councilman on the Cedar City Council from 1987 to 1999; on the Iron County Board of Adjustments; assisted with securing funding for the new Dixie Commons Building at Dixie State College; as a board member on the Cedar City Water Board, Airport Board and Parks and Recreation Board, Utah Pharmacist Association Board of Directors member; worked with the Washington County School Board, as well as the Iron County and Beaver County school boards, in crafting and monitoring legislation that supports public schools; long-time supporter of the Utah Farm Bureau; serves on the advisory board of the Leavitt Center For Politics & Public Policy at SUU; on the national American Associated Pharmacies Board of Directors; worked on water projects in rural Beryl, Escalante, and Parowan Valley; heavily involved in tourism promotion activities and other economic development efforts in southern Utah; supports the arts including the Utah Shakespeare Festival; and continues efforts to fight for sovereignty and access to public lands.
- Michael T. Benson - President, Southern Utah University
- Michael T. Benson was appointed 15th President of Southern Utah University by the Utah State Board of Regents on November 10, 2006. In addition to serving as President, Dr. Benson holds the rank of full professor within the Department of Political Science. He has taught at Brigham Young University, the University of Utah, Snow College, and SUU in the following areas: international conflict, theories of international relations, comparative politics, American history, the U.S. Presidency, and public administration. Michael also holds an appointment as professor (adjunct) within the Department of Management at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, where he teaches a course on public policy. Benson has nineteen years of administrative experience in higher education, over a decade of which has been spent as an institutional president. Prior to his tenure at SUU, Michael was the 14th president of Snow College. Age 36 at the time of his appointment, he is the youngest college or university president in the history of the Utah System of Higher Education. Benson is former chair of the Executive Committee of the Utah State Campus Compact, part of a national coalition of nearly 1,000 college and university presidents representing over five million students committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. Before his service at Snow, Dr. Benson was special assistant to the president and secretary to the University of Utah, a cabinet-level position on that campus.
- Cyndi Gilbert - Attorney and Owner of Gilbert Development
- Eric M. Kirby - Executive Director, The Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics & Public Service
- Dillon Rosdahl - Current Student Director of the Leavitt Center