Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has nominated four tech company executives and two board members of technical institutions to serve on the Utah Board of Higher Education. The nominations are subject to approval by the Utah Senate.
The nominations are due to SB 146, “Higher Education Governance Amendments,” which passed during the 2023 legislative session and changes many of the higher education governance board duties, narrowing the board to 10 total members. As a result, Gov. Cox is appointing 10 new members.
The four tech executive appointees are:
- Tina Larson who serves as the chief operating officer of Recursion, a biotech company, and is a member of the Utah System of Higher Education’s Deep Technology Initiative;
- Steve Neeleman who is the founder of the financial technology company HealthEquity;
- Aaron Skonnard who is both the co-founder and CEO of the tech workforce development company Pluralsight and a co-founder and board member of the tech nonprofit Silicon Slopes; and
- Cydni Tetro who is the CEO of Brandless, an e-commerce platform.
The board members of technical institutions are:
- Amanda Covington who serves as a trustee for Weber State University and Davis Technical College and is also the chief corporate affairs officer for the Larry H. Miller Company; and
- Danny Ipson who is on the board of trustees for Utah Tech University and is the chief financial officer of DATS Trucking and Overland Petroleum.
“I’m grateful to the current board members who have guided the Utah Board of Higher Education through significant changes in recent years,” Gov. Cox said. “From merging technical colleges and degree granting schools into the same governance structure to keeping tuition low, members of the board have served Utahns well and helped create a path for all future post-secondary students in Utah. I appreciate their dedicated service.”
