Tom is an Assistant Dean of the Woodbury School of Business at Utah Valley University.
Dr. Astrid S. Tuminez was appointed the seventh president of Utah Valley University in 2018, and is the institution’s first female president. Tuminez brings to UVU a broad and rich experience in academia, philanthropy, technology, and business. Born in a farming village in the Philippine province of Iloilo, Tuminez moved with her parents and six siblings to the slums of Iloilo City when she was two years old, her parents seeking better educational opportunities for their children.
Her pursuit of education eventually took her to the United States, to Brigham Young University where she graduated summa cum laude in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in international relations and Russian literature. She earned a master’s degree from Harvard University in Soviet Studies (1988) and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in political science (1996).
Before assuming her current position, President Tuminez was a world leader in the fields of technology and political science, most recently serving as an executive at Microsoft, where she led corporate, external and legal affairs in Southeast Asia. Tuminez is also the former vice dean of Research and assistant dean of Executive Education at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, the premier school of public policy in Asia. She and her husband, Jeffrey S. Tolk, have three children. In her spare time, she enjoys running, dancing, and martial arts.
Kenneth M. Woolley is founder and Chairman of Extra Space Storage, an S&P 500, NYSE company.
Dr. Michael Buch holds BA, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in Analytical Chemistry and Biotechnology. He has nearly 3 decades of experience in the consumer healthcare industry in various roles of increasing responsibility with some of the world’s leading companies. Michael has broad-based knowledge of consumer healthcare and currently serves as Chief Science Officer and Board Member at Young Living Essential Oils, a rapidly growing multi-billion dollar international wellness company and the largest provider of essential oils in the world. He is directly responsible for leading Research, Development, Product Management, and Quality Assurance across Young Living. Dr. Buch has expertise in leading global strategic development programs, open innovation programs, licensing programs, consumer healthcare R&D, advanced technologies labs, advanced optical analysis labs, and biosensor design and research. His work has directly led to the development of consumer healthcare products with annual sales exceeding $3 billion and his products have been marketed in more than 100 countries. His success has resulted in more than a dozen patents in the health care field, several books, and a numerous published articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Dr. Buch is also a member of several prestigious associations, including the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he was recently installed as a member of the board of directors for the Institute on Science for Global Policy
HYRUM W. SMITH is Co-Founder of Franklin Covey Co. Hyrum W. Smith is a highly sought after keynote speaker and author. For four decades he has been motivating people to see reality more clearly and to gain better control of their personal and professional lives. Hyrum’s speeches and presentations have been acclaimed by American and international audiences. Hyrum is the author of several nationally published and acclaimed books, including 3Gaps-Are You Making A Difference, The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management, What Matters Most, The Advanced Day Planner User’s Guide, The Modern Gladiator, Purposeful Retirement, and is coauthor of Excellence Through Time Management. www.hyrumwsmith.com
Lynn S. Woodbury is the Senior Vice President of Architecture/Construction at Woodbury Corporation. Mr. Woodbury is responsible for the Design and Construction Management for all the Woodbury Corporation real estate development projects which include more than 19-million square feet of retail, office, hotel, apartment and mixed-use facilities. He is currently managing the design and construction of projects valued at over $350,000,000.
Mr. Woodbury is a licensed architect in eight western states including Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Nebraska, Washington, and Kansas. He is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards and a member of the University of Utah College of Architecture and Planning Advisory Board. He is chairman of the Sandy, Utah Auto Mall Area Architectural Review Board and a member of the American Institute of Architects, Urban Land Institute, and the International Council of Shopping Centers. He is on the Board of Directors, a Managing Partner and investor in numerous real estate ventures. Mr. Woodbury earned a B.A. in Business Finance and a Master of Architecture at the University of Utah.
Amy Rees Anderson is the Founder and Managing Partner of REES Capital, an Angel Investing Firm. Amy is also an author and serves as a contributor to Forbes and the Huffington Post. She is currently serving on 13 Boards.
Prior to founding REES Capital, Amy was the CEO of MediConnect Global, a company she grew and sold in 2012 for over $377 million.
After selling MediConnect, she founded the IPOP Foundation, a charity focused on promoting entrepreneurship as a pathway to self-reliance.
Amy has been the recipient of a number of awards, which include being named CEO of the Year and receiving the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. She has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Inc Magazine, Businessweek and many other national publications as a result of her many accomplishments, and in 2015 Amy received an honorary PhD.
Lew Cramer is CEO of Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors (CBC Advisors), which is the largest commercial real estate company headquartered in the Intermountain West and the top performing Coldwell Banker Commercial operation globally. Governor Gary Herbert also recently appointed Lew as a Utah Transportation Commissioner.
Previously, Lew served as founding CEO of World Trade Center Utah. Lew's vision and efforts helped position Utah as the only state in the nation with positive export growth every year for the past decade, including over $19 billion of merchandise exports in 2012.
Lew served in the Reagan and first Bush administrations as the subcabinet officer responsible for U.S. international trade promotion, including leading 1400 commercial officers at 100 embassies and consulates worldwide as Director General of the U.S. Commercial Service. He later spent many years helping develop the first cellular and cable telephone projects in Asia, Europe and the former USSR. For several years Mr. Cramer taught at the business schools of the University of Southern California and Georgetown University. He practiced corporate law in both Silicon Valley and Los Angeles after graduating from the charter class of BYU law school.
Soren Halladay has been with PEG Development for six years. He is currently the company’s Chief Investment Officer and is primarily responsible for overseeing and implementing the company’s overall investment strategy. PEG primarily focuses on ground-up apartment and hotel development in urban and “suburban/urban” markets along the Wasatch Front. PEG also has and continues to develop other types of asset classes (office, retail, industrial, student housing) and acquires existing buildings for value-add opportunities.
Soren is an extremely happily married individual and has five wonderful and very active children. Soren met his wife Kim while they played different sports at BYU – Soren played football and Kim played soccer. Soren considers his hobbies depending on his stage in life – currently his life is his somewhat-young family’s and his hobbies consist of soccer, football, basketball, baseball, Disney, and reading elementary and jr high level books. He occasionally goes on “relaxing” jogs with his wife.
Carolyn McClanahan, M.D., CFP® is a physician and financial planner and is the founder of Life Planning Partners, Inc., a comprehensive fee only financial planning company, and co-founder of Whealthcare Planning, LLC, a software company dedicated to helping our population plan for the challenges of aging.
In addition to working in her financial life planning practice and software company, Dr. McClanahan provides education to financial planners and health care professionals on the interplay between health and financial issues, particularly regarding insurability, health care costs, and health care reform. She writes for Forbes, CNBC, and Financial Planning Magazine covering issues intersecting money and medicine.
Dr. McClanahan is a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA,) the Financial Planning Association, and the American Academy of Family Physicians. She is quoted regularly in numerous publications such as The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Washington Post. She has also appeared on CNBC, Hardball, AC360, and NPR.
Spencer P. Eccles is currently a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of The Cynosure Group, a Salt Lake City based company formed to bring together the resources of a number of the country’s most significant family offices, including the Eccles family of Salt Lake City, to make long-term equity investments in private companies across a range of industries.
Prior to co-founding The Cynosure Group, Mr. Eccles served as the Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) for the State of Utah which oversees statewide business, tourism and film development, international trade, rural economic development, and the Utah Health Exchange.
During his tenure, GOED facilitated the expansion or relocation of strategic anchor companies in Utah’s urban and rural counties – companies that are projected to create more than 32,500 jobs and $2.1 billion in new state revenue over the next decade. Mr. Eccles will remain an advisor to the Governor on economic development issues and has been involved on numerous public and private boards, including as chair of the Governor’s Economic Council, vice-chair of the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative, vicechair of the STEM Action Center, and a member of the Utah Capital Investment Board (UCIB), which supports venture capital investment firms to help grow Utah’s innovative companies.
Previously, Mr. Eccles provided leadership to web-based software and materials technology companies in the U.S. and abroad. He was formerly affiliated with Wells Capital Management (Wells Fargo Bank). In 1997, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games tapped Mr. Eccles to develop and oversee the premier Olympic downhill competitions as well as all of the alpine Paralympic events. Mr. Eccles received his MBA from BYU’s Marriott School of Management and his BA in history from the University of Utah.
Spencer is part of a multi-generational Utah family. The Eccles have been strong supporters of Utah's outstanding quality of life including sports, music and most of the cultural arts. Spencer has been involved with international ski racing since his youth, and has a love for hunting, fishing, mountain-biking and rock climbing. Consequently, Spencer, Kristine and their 3 young children enjoy Utah's great outdoor venues as often as their busy school and work schedules will allow.
Peggy Larsen is a senior vice president at WCF Insurance and the president of Univantage
Insurance Solutions. She has been in the insurance industry since 1972 and was previously
named one of Utah Magazine’s top 30 women in Utah and received a Pathfinder Award
and Athena Award, given to just one woman each year by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce.
At an early age, Peggy Larsen experienced significant life challenges of addiction,
domestic abuse and cancer. As she developed her career, Peggy turned her personal
experiences into professional application that helped her lead and become WCF Insurance's
first female executive. She recently published a memoir, which chronicles her experiences
and aims to help struggling mothers and young women in need through Amberco Services,
a foundation she established in honor of her late daughter, Amber.
Anthony is regional head of Investment Management Division (IMD) Operations in Salt Lake City. He also oversees the global IMD Operations Product Data, Pricing and Benchmarks team and global Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) Servicing team. Anthony is a member of the Goldman Sachs Veterans Network.
Previously, he was global head of Asset Servicing, Data and Pricing, and Benchmarks, as well as regional head of GSAM Operations in Salt Lake City. Before that, Anthony was global head of Securities Lending and Inventory Management Operations and regional head of Securities and Tax Operations in Salt Lake City. Prior to the firm’s transition to a bank holding company, he was chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs Bank USA and chairman of the Bank’s Risk Management and Operating Committees. Before that, Anthony managed various departments in Treasury Operations. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2000 as an associate and was named managing director in 2013.
Prior to joining the firm, Anthony was a captain in the United States Air Force, responsible for securing key government contracts and developing strategic relationships across the defense industry.
Anthony is chairman of the Board of Directors of the Suazo Business Center, a nonprofit that provides qualified applicants in diverse communities with education, training, networking opportunities and small business loans. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Ballet West, a dance company promoting and encouraging participation in the performing arts to all demographics across the Mountain West Region.
Anthony earned a BS in Management from the United States Air Force Academy and an MBA in International Business from the University of Dayton, Ohio.
Steve Peterson is the Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager of Millrock Capital and Millrock Development, founded in 2001. Millrock is a value investor and developer in long term real estate investments. In addition, Mr. Peterson is actively investing in new business startups that involve innovative ideas that tackle important business issues of the day.
Scott Anderson is president and chief executive officer of Zions First National Bank. Zions Bank is
Utah’s oldest financial institution and is the only local bank with a statewide distribution of branches. Zions operates 107 full service branches throughout Utah and 25 full service branches in Idaho. In addition to a wide range of traditional banking services, Zions offers a comprehensive array of investment, mortgage, and insurance services and has a network of loan origination offices for small businesses, nationwide. Founded in 1873, Zions Bank has been serving the communities of the Intermountain West for nearly 130 years.
A native of Salt Lake City, Anderson joined Zions Bank in December of 1990.
Anderson received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and economics from Columbia University in New York. He also received a master’s degree in economics and international studies from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Active in community affairs, Anderson is currently serving on a number of business and non-profit boards.
