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Snow College Alumni Board

Kay Christensen

Kay Christensen - President

Kay Christensen was raised in Ephraim, UT. He is married to Diane Hougaard Christensen, and they are parents of six children and 21 grandchildren. Kay is a proud Snow College alumnus. He also attended Utah State University and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Kay’s profession has been in sales and marketing within the grocery industry, and he owned a consulting company. He has since retired. Kay has been active in civic affairs throughout his life. He served for 20 years on the board of directors of the Boy Scouts of America Heart of America Council in Kansas City. He was also the chairman of the advisory board of KMBZ and KMBR radio stations in Kansas City and was active in local city affairs for the city of Overland Park, Kansas.

Kay’s service in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints includes functioning as a young missionary to Great Britain; a bishop, counselor and stake president of the Kansas City Missouri Stake; regional director of public affairs, regional representative, Area Authority Seventy in the North America area; president of the Ukraine Donetsk Mission; and counselor in the Kyiv Ukraine Temple Presidency.

John Stewart

John Stewart - Vice President

After earning his Associates at Snow and BA from Utah State University, John went on to Brigham Young University to earn his Masters of Social Work.  Throughout the nearly 35 years of working in the profession, John has extensively supervised up and coming social workers/therapists.  John specializes in working with addictions and recovery, trauma, mood disorders, and attachment issues.  He trains other professionals in the use of family systems and experiential therapy work.  In addition to being a therapist, the majority of John’s career has been engaged in leadership positions.  At his current employment he is CEO.  John has served on other boards.  He is grateful to be a part of Snow College’s Alumni Board to serve with fantastic people and give back to Snow College.
 
John is very fond of Snow College - “I met my wife there and it gave me the opportunity to launch into adulthood.”  John also asserts that Snow College provided him a great education and gave him his career direction.  All three of his sons have graduated from Snow College, two of which from Snow’s new computer software engineering program.  John has volunteered in his church’s youth organization for the past 30+ years.  John is fortunate to be married to a wonderful woman for 36+ years, with whom he has three adult sons, a great daughter-in-law, two cute grandsons, and finally a girl, the cutest granddaughter ever born.  John loves to be in the outdoors with other people to value the history and beauty it offers.

Joseph Anderson

Joseph Anderson

Joseph Anderson is a 2002 Snow College Alumnus.  He went on to graduate with a master's degree in social work and assisted people with barriers to employment for five years.  Later, he worked as a regional manager supporting members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He has served on two non-profit boards, BYU Management Society and Lighthouse Charities in Las Vegas.  He recently moved back to Sanpete County and is looking forward to adding value to Snow College Alumni. Joseph loves adding value and connecting people.  He believes this is needed now more than ever as many millions are finding themselves unemployed.  He wants to be a part of the solution with Snow College as they support Alumni.

“I know the importance of Higher Education.  Having been the first in my family to graduate, I have had many opportunities open up to me that would not have come otherwise.  Snow College started me on this path, providing a quality experience that build the stepping stones to move forward.”

David Carr

David Carr

David graduated from Snow College in 1998 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from BYU in linguistics, with minors in Spanish and Mandarin in 2000. He attended law school at Case Western Reserve University, graduating in 2003 with honors in international law. While at law school, he was executive editor for the Journal of International Law and received the Cox International Law Center Award for excellence in service in international law. He passed the Ohio bar exam and started his legal career at a large firm based out of Columbus, Ohio. A few years later, David moved to Arizona to start a position in the legal department at Honeywell International working on aerospace contracts and dispute resolution. In 2009, he accepted a position as lead corporate counsel at AmSafe International until it was acquired in 2012. He then accepted a position as lead legal counsel at Stryker Corporation, leading the Neurovascular division in Fremont, California. He then moved his family to Utah and accepted a position with a start-up company Owlet Baby Care, and in 2019, he accepted a position as general counsel at Advanced Bionics, a Sonova company based out of Los Angeles.

David has spent much of his career focused on spreading healthcare technology, traveling extensively, and working closely with governments, hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare experts around the globe. Although he has lived much of his career outside of Utah he returned in 2016 to Layton, Utah where he currently resides. David loved his time at Snow and owes a great debt to the education and opportunities it created. Additionally, his mother worked as a professor in the early childhood education department teaching early childhood education for 30+ years.

Mark Coombs

Mark Coombs

Mark grew up in Fountain Green and spent those years working on the family farm. Attending Snow College was a fantastic experience and one that he will always treasure. He had the opportunity to meet many friends and was taught by some of the best professors. After Snow College, Mark went to the University of Utah to complete his education. He has spent his career working in the medical profession and currently works for Abbott as a Technical Consultant. As a consultant, he has the opportunity to travel and work with other people which gives him the opportunity to talk about Snow College. During his career, he has served as Vice President and President of USCLS twice, IMSS Chairman, and has been on the Board of Directors of other organizations. Mark believes that no matter what you do, you need to give back to your community, schools and to those that have helped you be successful.

Mark has been happily married to the former Karla Merrell for 38 years, who also was a Snow College graduate. Karla says they first met at Snow College, but Mark cannot remember the meeting since it was at night when he was watching MASH, his favorite show. But they did get engaged the night of the final MASH episode. They have four children, three that attended Snow College. He has convinced many other people to attend Snow College because it is the best school in the country, with small class sizes and a place where you are an individual and not just a number. He believes that the most successful people started their careers at Snow College. Mark currently is the Mayor of Fountain Green and serves as a Branch President.

Dale Darling

Dale Darling

Dale Zane Darling was born in Lehi, Utah and graduated from Lehi High School in 1976. He then attended Snow College and graduated with an Associate degree in 1979. After graduating from Snow, Dale served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Upon his return, he attended the University of Utah and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. Since then, he has graduated from the Kellogg School of Broadcast Management at Northwestern University.

Dale has worked 30 Years in broadcast and digital publishing sales, 20 years with KSL5 Television, 10 Years with Deseret Digital Media. His current role is Senior Vice President of Sales for Deseret Digital Media.  He is a board member of the Utah Section of the PGA and has been on the board of directors of AMICUS Health Services for five years. He has been married to his wife, Renae, for 26 years and has five children and seven grandchildren. Dale’s other interests include golfing, skiing, running, investing, and church involvement. Dale splits his time between homes in Bountiful, Utah and Spring City, Utah.

Mike Durham:

Mike Durham

Born and raised in Utah in what would be considered a traditional Utah household, Mike Durham was raised to value higher education as both his father and grandfather have earned PhD degrees and worked on varied capacities at the University of Utah. Following high school graduation, Mike accepted scholarships in student government and theatre/speech at Snow College. During his time at Snow, he ran for and was elected as a student body officer. Following a two-year mission in England, he returned to Utah and completed a bachelor of science degree at the University of Utah, majoring in organizational communication and minoring in sociology. Married for 29 years and the father of 4, he became a grandfather in October 2018.

Mike has been employed in the field of Human Resources Management for the past 25+ years. Currently, as the Director of HR for several subsidiaries of Sterling Construction Company, he oversees the entire HR function for 750+ employees, in 5 states, responsible for producing $500 million in annual revenue. His career has provided exposure to HR best practices in the automotive (Garff Automotive Group), retail (The Home Depot), and civil construction environments (Ralph L. Wadsworth and Sterling Construction Companies). What he most enjoys about human resources is the opportunity to reconcile the needs of a successful business with that of the people that make that success happen. Productivity through employee satisfaction that is built on communication of a clear vision of growth. He has also chaired the AGC Heavy Civil Apprenticeship Committee on which he served for over ten years.

Linda Ekker

Linda Ekker

Linda Ekker grew up in North Sanpete attended North Sanpete High School, she attended Snow College after graduating. In 2008, she moved to Sevier County where she currently resides. Linda has been married to her husband since 2007 and they have one son. They enjoy spending time in the outdoors. 

Linda worked for Alltel and AT&T from 2008 - 2012 where she was a wireless consultant managing individual and business wireless accounts. She then spent one year working as an office manager at Tebbs Financial, serving 401K and investment accounts as well as health insurance solutions for individuals and businesses. For several years, she has worked for the Utah State Courts. She was initially hired as a Judicial Assistant and then promoted to a Juvenile Court Probation Officer. While working at the courts, Linda attended Western Governors University to obtain a bachelor's degree in business management. Linda now serves as the Clerk of Court for Juvenile and District Courts for the 6th District, supervising the clerical staff for Sanpete, Sevier, Wayne, Piute, Garfield and Kane County. 

 

Daron Fowlks

Daron Fowlks

Daron Fowlks graduated from West Jordan High School in 1989 with a desire to play college baseball. He was invited to try out for the team by Coach Gardner; he made the team and became the starting 3rd baseman. Daron loved playing baseball, but also grew to love the social scene at Snow. He also enjoyed completing many general education classes with small class sizes. After his first year, he served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in South Africa and Kenya and then returned for a second year at Snow College following the mission. In his second year, he played baseball again, but this time he played short stop for the team and loved it. Most importantly, during that year, Daron met his wife Melinda who was a member of the Badgerettes. They both graduated in spring of 1993 with their Associates of Science degrees. 

After leaving Snow, Melinda went to work full time and Daron transferred to the University of Utah. He graduated in 1996 with an undergraduate degree in organizational communications. Daron then went to work full time, but eventually returned to the University of Utah and received a Master’s of Business Administration degree in 2001. Since then, he has had many positions with his current position being Vice President of Customer Experience at StubHub. He has global responsibility for the end-to-end customer experience including risk, fraud, sales, service, retail, and field operations. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the company. Prior to StubHub, Daron was at eBay for twelve years as a senior director overseeing many global functions in customer experience. 

Daron and Melinda now have five children; their oldest went to Snow for a semester, and then went on a mission. “Melinda and I both love Ephraim and Snow College and we have very fond memories of our time there.” 

Nicholas Hancock

Nicholas Hancock

Nicholas Hancock was born in Ogden and raised in South Jordan, UT. He graduated from Copper Hills High School in 1999 and then attended Snow College for a year before serving an LDS mission in Buenos Aires Argentina. During his first year, he was a part of the Snow College Ballroom Dance team. Following his mission, he returned to Snow and finished his associate of science degree in general studies in 2003. During that year, he volunteered with the Varsity Experience Team which gave him some wonderful experiences.

Next, he attended Weber State University and finally decided on a degree in health administrative service. During that time, he worked in a nursing home as a CNA and then at Ogden Regional Medical Center. While working at ORMC, he re-met Lynette, also a Snow College graduate, who was in his human anatomy class and lab group in 2000. They married in Manti and are proud parents of five children. Next, he attended the University of Scranton where he earned a master’s degree in health administration. He did an internship where he worked for St. Luke’s University Health Network. Nick and his family moved back to Utah in 2015 and spent the next three years in Logan working for Cache Valley Hospital before starting his current position as a Clinical Informatics Analyst for Intermountain Healthcare.

“I can honestly say that Snow College has given me almost everything I have today. The start of a great education, my wonderful wife and beautiful family, my career. I owe so much, and I am hoping to help others find their own path through Snow College.”

Selicia Kabaira

Selicia Kabaira

In 2013, Selicia (Reyes) Kabaira began her college journey as a first-generation student. Two years later, she graduated from Snow College with her Associate of Science with an emphasis in business. During her time at Snow, Selicia was heavily involved in different organizations and clubs, including the Ambassador Team, Latinos in Action, and Student Mentor Group. After graduating from Snow, she further pursued her education at the University of Utah. In December 2017, Selicia graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in operations & supply chain. As she transferred to a larger university, she realized the solid foundation Snow College had given her. Leadership and relationship-building skills with students and faculty from previous experiences helped her add value at the University of Utah. Additionally, as a Hispanic student, Selicia learned the importance of diversity in student groups and committees and how it adds value to conversations where at times minorities are underrepresented. When she was a student at the University of Utah, she had the opportunity to be part of the Community Mentor Group, in which alumni participate as mentors to students to help them prepare for future careers. This group showed her the value of alumni who actively participate on campus, and it is her wish to do the same.

As an alumna from Snow College, Selicia wishes to add value to the Snow College Alumni Association Board in its interests for the college and its student government. As Snow College continues to grow, she wishes to be part of the development and assist in events that will help and promote such an incredible institution.

Ross Livingston

Ross Livingston

Ross was born and raised in Sanpete County. After graduating from North Sanpete High School in 1987, he went to Snow College for a quarter before serving an LDS mission to France and Switzerland. He returned and finished his associate degree at Snow College in 1991. He graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in 1994 and an MBA from the David Eccles School of Business in 1997. Ross’s career has been focused on building great products and services. He has developed solutions for managing complex IT operations for the military and government, workflow and customer management solutions in financial services, and consumer electronics in the home automation space. He is currently working in a startup in the IT and home services area.

Ross met and started dating his wife Andrea while at Snow. She grew up across the street from Snow College and graduated with an associate degree in 1991. Ross and Andrea loved their time at Snow and said, “We are a Snow College family.” He has always known that at some point he wanted to give back to Snow and is excited to serve on its Alumni board. Ross also serves as a volunteer advocate for children in the foster care system, he is taking flying lessons and looks after about 200,000 bees. He and Andrea have been married for 31 years and have four adult children, including three Snow College graduates. They live in South Jordan, but get back to Sanpete as often as they can.

John Van Orman

John Van Orman

John Van Orman is a communications professor at Snow College where he teaches Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, Media Writing, and Organizational Communication. John was raised in Ephraim and is proud to be from Sanpete County and rural Utah. John is a Manti High School Templar, a Snow College Badger, a Utah State Aggie, and a Liberty Flame. Of all the institutions John has attended, he shamelessly professes that Snow College was his favorite. He says, “there is just something about Snow where you feel pushed academically but supported by everyone around you. At Snow I felt like I was a part of something and that I could do it! – Everywhere else I felt like I simply had to do it.” John earned his associate of science at Snow, his bachelor’s in human resources, and his master’s in communications. He is married to his high school sweetheart (from Manti) and together they have four wonderful children. John wishes everyone would take a moment to really consider the value and experience Snow College offers. He feels that if they did, they would realize there is no better place to start your academic journey.”

Aleksa Porter

Aleksa Porter

Aleksa (Gappmayer) Porter was born and raised in the quaint town of Mapleton, Utah. In 2013, she was recruited as a shooting guard and was given a full-ride basketball/academic scholarship to Snow College. In between years at Snow College, Aleksa served a mission in the Japan Tokyo South Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In 2016, she graduated from Snow with an Associate of Arts degree and went on to receive a scholarship to Utah Valley University. Aleksa recently graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications. She currently works in Salt Lake City and resides in Vineyard, Utah. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, serving, and coaching basketball.

Karl Rostron

Karl Rostron

Karl is from Spring City, Utah, and attended North Sanpete High. He attended Snow College on a music scholarship, was elected to the Student Senate, and served as the student body president. He earned his Associate of Arts degree from Snow College and was listed twice in Who’s Who among Junior College Students. He went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science from Southern Utah University.

Karl worked at the Utah Department of Workforce Services in the School to Careers program. He was twice honored with the Outstanding Service to Veterans award and an Outstanding Achievement in American Business Award from Ohio State University. He completed his Master of Social Science degree from Utah State University, spent three years as an Adjunct Instructor at Snow College, and many years as the public address announcer for Snow College athletics. Karl relocated to Las Vegas to run a program for homeless youth assisting them in finding stable housing, getting back into school, and finding employment. He developed curricula for a program at the Nevada State Correctional Facility, instructed inmates, and started a life skills program.

Karl has been active in civic and community events, community and church responsibilities, coaching youth sports, teaching, and announcing for radio sports. He is currently a national recruiter for State Farm Insurance.

Joe Strain

Joe Strain

Joe Strain is currently a Partner with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.  He Graduated from Snow College in 1997 and continued his education at Utah State University.  After graduation, Joe started his career as a CPA working in the PwC Salt Lake City office.  In addition to his duties in Salt Lake City with PwC, he spent seven years teaching accounting at Westminster college before his career took him to the PwC National Office.  Joe spent two years in the PwC National Office in SEC services primarily focusing on IPOs with retail and consumer companies. Once his two-year tour at national was done, Joe embarked on another two-year tour to work at PwC in Tokyo, Japan. Joe ended up spending seven years in Tokyo primarily serving his firm's largest technology client navigating the US regulatory environment. During the summer of 2019, Joe finished his time in Japan and moved back to the US, and is now the Assurance Leader for PwC in San Diego. Outside of work, Joe is dedicated to his family. He has a wife and three kids who have accompanied him all over the world. He loves the outdoors and loves Utah. Even while living in Japan, Joe has always kept a residence in Utah and visits often.   Outside of PwC, Joe has spent time as a Vice President of the Mountain West Capital Network and is on the Board of Connect San Diego and a member of the Audit Committee of Community Housing Works in San Diego.

Nobue Swenson

Nobue Swenson

Nobue Swenson is from Osaka, Japan. When she was a junior high school student, she met an American friend. It changed her whole life. Since then, she has been studying English and likes to learn about different cultures. She came to Snow College in 2001. While attending Snow College, she met and married her husband. After he graduated from Utah State University, they moved to Tokushima, Japan. She was excited that her three children live in Japan, learned Japanese, and experienced Japanese culture. They came back to Utah after living there for five years. She came back to Snow College and earned her TESL certificate. She taught English at public schools in Japan, and has taught in ESL at Snow College. She works at the Center for Global Engagement at Snow College, helping international students adjust to the United States. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading, and spending her time with her friends and family. 

Nobue graduated from Otemon Gakuin University with Bachelors of Arts. Her major was American language and literature with the specialty in linguistics. She worked at Moriguchi Prince Hotel for two years as a part of the sales planning division and ladies club. After working at the hotel, she came to Snow College to study more English. After being a stay-at-home mom for ten years, she started working as an assistant English teacher at three different elementary schools in Japan. Since coming back to Ephraim, she has been working at Center for Global Engagement at Snow College and sometimes teaches English in ESL.

Paul Tidwell

Paul Tidwell

Paul Tidwell started his coaching career as a volunteer at Richfield High School. He also volunteered at Southern Utah University while completing a degree in education in order to teach and coach at a high school level. Paul got his first full time job at North Sanpete High School where he taught and coached for five years. He was hired at Snow College in 1984 as the defensive coordinator, and was hired as the head football coach in 1987. He left Snow in 1995, and coached at Eastern Arizona for three years, went to Louisiana Tech for three years, and then to Brigham Young University for the past 20.5 years (15 as an assistant football coach and the last 5.5 years in the athletic department). He coached 40 years and worked another 5.5, and then retired in July 2021. 

He is married to Colleen, we have 7 children and 21 grandchildren. Relevant Experience: My education was 4 years at Utah State University and 4 semesters at Southern Utah University where I earned a degree in Business Education. My job experience for 46 1/2 years has been working with students and student athletes.

Rick Wheeler

Rick Wheeler

Rick Wheeler is a retired educator, community servant, and owner of SynerComm Training and Development. He served for 34 years at Snow College as a vice president and faculty as well as interim president twice. Wheeler served two terms in the Utah House of Representatives. After retiring, he served as mission president in the Arizona Gilbert Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and currently serves as the Manti Utah Temple President. Wheeler graduated from Snow College and Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a masters in organizational and interpersonal communication. He is currently a member of The Utah Board of Higher Education. The govening board for Utah's 16 Colleges and Universities. He is Married to Linda Nielson Wheeler and they enjoy 6 children and 14 grandchildren.

Ian Wright

Ian Wright

Ian Wright is the Director of Business Development for the National Energy Foundation (NEF), a 501 (c)(3) energy education organization. His responsibilities include managing and implementing NEF’s Natural Gas and Electric Safety Education programs, the sale of NEF programs, materials, and implementation of strategic projects.

Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Ian holds an Associate of Arts from Snow College, a bachelor’s degree from Southern Utah University, and a master’s degree from Westminster College. Prior to joining NEF, Ian worked in many fields from steel construction to archaeological cultural resource management.

Currently, Ian is Vice-Chairman of the Resource Advisory Committee for the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache & Ashley National Forest. He has been married for five years to his wife, Tyra, together they have a young son named Conrad a dog named buffalo, and a desert tortoise named Winston. Ian is passionate about western history, outdoor recreation, and woodworking.