New Members Added to Utah State University's Board of Trustees

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has appointed two new members to the Board of Trustees at Utah State University. 

Jacey Skinner and Wayne L. Niederhauser will officially begin their four-year terms on July 1. They will take the place of outgoing trustees Mark K. Holland and J. Scott Nixon.

In addition, David H. Huntsman, who was appointed by the governor last year to fill a vacancy has been reappointed to the board for an additional four-year term.  

Two ex-officio members of the board have also been added, with new president of USU’s Alumni Association, Laurel Cannon Alder, replacing David Butterfield, and recently elected 2019-20 Student Body President Sami I. Ahmed stepping into the seat of outgoing president Jaren Hunsaker. 

Clark L. Whitworth, who was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2017, recently resigned, leaving one vacancy on the board to still to be filled by Gov. Herbert. The CEO of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, Whitworth has been called to serve as a mission president for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Villa Hermosa, Mexico. 

Skinner graduated cum laude from Utah State University in 1996 before going on to complete her law degree at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. Currently Of Counsel in the Government Relations and Public Policy Group of Ballard Spahr’s Salt Lake City office, Skinner spent five years as the general counsel to Gov. Herbert before being named deputy state court administrator for the state of Utah in 2017.

Skinner’s experience also includes serving as deputy district attorney for Salt Lake County from 2003-09, and as director of the Utah Sentencing Commission and president of the National Association of Sentencing Commissions. 

“I’m grateful to the Governor and the Utah Senate for the honor of the opportunity to serve on the Utah State University Board of Trustees,” Skinner said. “It’s been my pleasure to work with Utah’s elected representatives and policy makers on so many important issues, and I’m pleased to have the opportunity to work with my alma mater to help advance its mission of educating our leaders of tomorrow.”

Like Skinner, Niederhauser also has a history of serving the state of Utah. Niederhauser was first elected to the Utah State Senate from District 9 in 2006, and he served as the Senate president from 2012-18. 

A real estate broker and certified accountant from Sandy, Niederhauser earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Utah State. He is the owner of CW Management Corporation in West Jordan and has also served as adjunct professor at Westminster College. 

The Board of Trustees is the governing board of Utah State University. Its functions and responsibilities are derived from Utah statutes and those delegated to it by the State Board of Regents. Membership of the Board of Trustees consists of nine persons appointed by the governor to four-year terms, and two ex-officio members who are the president of the Alumni Association and the president of the student body.