Christian Gardner is president and CEO of The Gardner Company, a full-service real estate firm that specializes in the development of corporate office, retail, industrial and medical buildings. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah and a master’s degree in real estate development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gardner is active in many community and charitable causes, including serving as a member of United Way’s Alexis de Tocqueville Society and on the board of directors of: United Way; the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce; and the National Advisory Board of the university’s David S. Eccles School of Business.

Katie Eccles is an attorney, Of Counsel, at the law firm Ray, Quinney & Nebeker. She previously clerked for the Honorable Stephen H. Anderson of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. After graduating from Stanford University, with distinction in history, she earned a juris doctorate from Stanford Law School; she was a Note Editor for the Stanford Law Review and president of the Stanford Law Association. Eccles currently sits on the American Cancer Society Board of Directors, where she chairs the governance committee. She also serves as a director of the Goldener Hirsch Inn and vice chair of the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation and the Goldener Hirsch Inn. She also serves on the advisory committees for the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation and the George S. & Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation. She has served on numerous boards, including Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Hogle Zoo, the Natural History Museum of Utah, the Children’s Museum of Utah, as president of the University of Utah’s Young Alumni Association, chair of the Dilworth Elementary School Community Council and on the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School.

Joe is a Junior at the David Eccles School of Business, a return LDS missionary, and started and helped with multiple clubs on campus. He devotes his time to serve others through humanitarian work with YMAD, advocating for students as newly elected Student Body President, and has hosted events on campus to enhance student experience and community. As Student Body President he will overlook the operations of the Executive Branch of ASUU, serve on many University Committees, and advocate on campus on behalf of students.

Maria Garciaz is the CEO of NeighborWorks Salt Lake, a nonprofit community development corporation that has worked since 1977 to revitalize neighborhoods experiencing blight and decline. She oversees 19 staff members and an operating budget of $3.2 million and a development budget of $8 million, with $32 million in assets. She was an early supporter and community partner of University Neighborhood Partners and brings a fresh and important perspective on the needs of Salt Lake City’s westside communities. Over the past 30 years, Garciaz also has been involved in “high risk” youth intervention strategies and supporting fine arts and cultural events. Garciaz received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Utah and a master’s degree in education from Utah State University.

David Parkin is co-founder and partner at Tower Arch Capital, a Utah-based private equity fund, where he leads investments in new and existing companies. He previously was a partner for Huntsman Gay Global Capital. Parkin also worked in various capacities for the Huntsman Corporation, including his last role as global vice president of intermediates. Parkin serves and has served as a board member for numerous Tower Arch Capital and Huntsman Gay Global Capital investments, along with Huntsman Family Investments and Taylor Derrick Capital. He received a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Utah.

Steven Price is the founder of Price Real Estate. He develops and manages industrial/distribution and manufacturing commercial real estate buildings with a portfolio of more than 120 local, regional, national and international tenants in a wide range of economic clusters. In addition, his company acquires and preserves historic buildings in the urban core of Salt Lake City’s Central Business District. Price currently serves as a board member of the Salt Lake Airport Authority Board, the John and Marcia Price Family Foundation, EDCUtah, the World Trade Center Utah, the SLC 2030 Olympic Winter Game Pre-bid Committee, the Utah Sports Commission and was a key partner in the renovation of the Utah Tibetan Community Center. Price attended the University of Utah before moving to work for a family media business in California, where he graduated from California State University with a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication.

Bassam was born in Cairo, Egypt; before his 14th birthday, he had lived and attended school in Egypt, France, England, and the United States studying in Arabic, English, and French. This diverse upbringing shaped his core beliefs centered on multicultural globalism and humanitarianism.

As the son of a mother who was a chief computer engineer and a father who was a retired air force pilot with PhDs in Economics and Political Science, both of whom immigrated to the US nearly 40 years ago, Bassam's upbringing prioritized academic achievement entering high school at age 12, starting college at age 15, programming professionally at age 16, and starting his first Master's degree at age 20. He completed BS, MS, and MPhil degrees in Computer Science as well as an MBA, all from the University of Utah.

His early professional career was a software engineer and architect at Philips Electronics and IBM Global Services; he spent much of his career building and scaling services organizations within high-growth tech start-ups such as Siebel Systems (acquired by Oracle), Omniture (acquired by Adobe), inContact (acquired by NICE Systems), and MaritzCX (acquired by InMoment). He managed teams as large as 2,100 professionals across 18 offices around the world with responsibility for over $200m.

In late 2015, Bassam founded startup consultancy Mindshare Ventures followed in early 2016 with the incubation of conversational AI company AtlasRTX, the first company started, funded, and scaled within Mindshare Ventures. AtlasRTX was acquired in late 2022 by NICE Systems amid the move to AI-powered customer experience.

Bassam's current passions center around education, immigration, and entrepreneurship, and their impact on socioeconomic opportunity. He does so with a focus on supporting those who are underrepresented or are underprivileged. He is honored to serve on the board of trustees at the University of Utah among other non-profit and cause-based association boards.

Randy Shumway founded Cicero Group, a global management consulting firm, in 2001. In 2017, he was recognized as Utah’s CEO of the Year. Today, Shumway serves as chair of the company, in addition to leading Cicero’s social impact private equity spin-off. Prior to founding Cicero, Shumway was an executive vice president and managing director at Answerthink. He worked for Bain & Company and Dow Chemical before attending graduate school. Shumway currently serves on a host of corporate and non-profit boards. Before being appointed to the U’s Board of Trustees, Shumway also was an adjunct professor of strategy at the David Eccles School of Business. He received a bachelor’s degree in international business from Brigham Young University and an MBA, graduating with highest honors, from the Harvard Business School. 

James Sorenson is an attorney practicing in the Salt Lake City office of Ray Quinney & Nebeker P.C.  He is a member of the firm’s Bankruptcy and Creditor’s Rights and Litigation sections. His practice is concentrated in creditor’s rights and commercial and bankruptcy litigation. His practice includes commercial and trustee representation in Chapter 7, 11, and 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. Mr. Sorenson also has experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in actions involving preference, fraudulent transfer, and avoidance actions. As part of his creditor’s rights practice, Mr. Sorenson represents parties in all aspects of collection matters, foreclosures, replevins, and evictions. In addition to Mr. Sorenson’s bankruptcy and creditor’s right practice, he also represents multiple parties in general commercial litigation, including real property disputes, business disputes, and disputes arising in probate court.

Mr. Sorenson currently serves as President of the Board of Governors for U Alumni.  He has previously served as the President of the Utah Minority Bar Association, Chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the Utah State Bar, as an ex officio member of the Utah State Bar Commission, President of the Utah Asian Chamber of Commerce, and on the founding board for the Utah Center for Legal Inclusion.

Mr. Sorenson graduated from the University of Utah with degrees in Political Science and French.  Mr. Sorenson joined Ray Quinney & Nebeker upon graduation from The George Washington University Law School in Washington D.C. While in law school, Mr. Sorenson interned with the United States Department of Justice, Tax Division.