Young Finance Professionals

Jeremy Neilson, Managing Director, Utah Fund of Funds, Jan 12th, Noon, Zions Bank Founder’s Room

Mr. Neilson was tapped by State Economic Development to launch the newly born Utah Fund of Funds in 2003. As the first staff member, Mr. Neilson has been working for the program’s success for the past five years, three of which he was the sole management team member.  Mr. Neilson sits on the advisory boards of the Women Tech Council and Upstart Ventures.  Prior to the Utah Fund of Funds, Mr. Neilson was an associate with the University Venture Fund where he spent time working closely with local and national venture capitalists on company due diligence. Mr. Neilson started his professional career at Neilson Elggren, in their Los Angeles office, a fraud and bankruptcy forensic accounting firm, where he worked on a number of matters including Adelphia’s billion dollar bankruptcy and one of Americas largest Ponzi schemes.  Mr. Neilson holds a finance degree from BYU, an MBA from the University of Utah and a Juris Doctorate from Wake Forest School of Law.

Scott Anderson, President & CEO of Zions Bank, Dec 17th, Noon, Zions Bank Founder’s Room

A. 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.

Bill Murray, Chair of the Global Real Estate Group for Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliff, Nov 16th, Noon, Zion’s Bank Founder’s Room

Bill Murray, Chair of the Global Real Estate Group, focuses his practice on negotiating and documenting acquisitions and financing transactions, including substantial work for pension fund advisors, construction and long-term lending, ground leasing, sale-leaseback financing, synthetic leases and development transactions. He has been responsible for the leasing of numerous large retail, office, hotel and resort and industrial complexes and has been extensively involved in the workout of troubled financing transactions.

Mr. Murray’s experience includes representing numerous buyers, sellers and developers of real property, including pension funds, individual developers, domestic institutions and foreign investors. He has been active in numerous projects involving securitization of real estate assets, real estate investment trusts, public market financing of real estate companies and pension fund investment in real estate. Mr. Murray also has considerable expertise with large-scale land development projects including representing lenders and developers in numerous golf course and resort projects.

A significant portion of Mr. Murray’s practice is devoted to representing pension funds and other tax-exempt entities and the advisors to such funds and entities. This work involves traditional buying and selling for such entities, negotiating and drafting co investment vehicles, as well as negotiating and drafting agreements for the creation of investment funds.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Murray was a partner in the Real Estate Group at Morrison & Foerster LLP.

Jeff Cardon, CEO, Wasatch Advisors, Oct 26th, Noon, Zion’s Bank Founder’s Room

The Chief Executive Officer of Wasatch Advisors, Jeff Cardon is actively involved with the Wasatch family of funds and has been the Portfolio Manager for the Wasatch Small Cap Growth portfolios since 1986.  He joined Wasatch Advisors in 1980 and has spent his entire career in the field of investment management.

Jeff attended the University of Utah, graduating magna cum laude with a B.S. in Finance. He is a past president and current member of the Salt Lake City Society of Financial Analysts. Outside of the investment world, Jeff is active in philanthropy and enjoys skiing and golf.

Roger McOmber, Partner, Sawtooth Investment Management, Sept 25th, Noon, Zion’s Bank Founder’s Room

Roger McOmber is a partner of Sawtooth Investment Management, a hedge fund firm he started with three partners in the Boise area. Roger McOmber began his career on Wall Street at Salomon Brothers as a research analyst in 1990 covering the electric utility industry. During the following 11 years he worked at Oppenheimer, Brown Brothers, and Lehman Brothers as the senior utility research analyst. While at Lehman Brothers, Mr. McOmber was a senior vice president over the equity electric power group covering over 80 companies including electric distribution, generation, natural gas distribution and fuel cell technology. He was twice named the utility sector’s Top Stock Picker by the Wall Street Journal. He was also highly ranked for earnings estimate accuracy.

The Institutional Investor Magazine named Mr. McOmber as one of the top industry analysts. In 2000, Mr. McOmber moved to the buy-side to work at an energy hedge fund. During the past three years, he worked at Nomura as a managing director where he built and managed an energy hedge fund and then with Carlson Capital, L.P., managing a larger utility book. Mr. McOmber has published numerous reports and articles on the electric power industry. He has been featured or quoted by news organizations such as CNN, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. He received a BA in American studies from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Utah State University.

Eric Jacobsen, Managing Partner & Co-founder, Dolphin Capital, Aug 19th, Noon, Zion’s Bank Founder’s Room

Eric is the managing partner and founder of Dolphin Capital, a boutique private equity fund which focuses on investments in companies with significant growth capital. Eric was CEO of Winder Farms for two years after Dolphin acquired the company and transformed it from a no-growth milk delivery company into the nation’s fastest growing grocery home delivery company.

Before Winder Farms, Eric founded Home Financial Network, a pioneer in the online banking space. That company sold to Sybase in 2000. Mr. Jacobsen also purchased and ran MECA Software, a consumer product tax software company. Under his direction, the company went public and then sold to H&R Block in 1994.

Beyond being an avid entrepreneur, he sits on a number of boards including Ragnar Events, Winder Farms, Dynamic Confections, Little Giant Ladder and St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH.

He is a dedicated adventure racer and recently traveled the world for seven months with his family.

Eric received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University.

Click Here to view Eric’s Presentation

Exec Team from CHOICE Humanitarian, July 17th, Noon, Zion’s Bank Founder’s Room

We are pleased to announce that the Executive Team from CHOICE Humanitarian will be speaking to the group on July 17th. CHOICE Humanitarian, based here in Salt Lake City, is a global leader in the fight against poverty in third world countries. CHOICE’s Executive Team will highlight some of the successful strategies employed for sustainable rural development and the importance of maintaining a global social perspective. Since 1997, more than 40 villages have graduated from the CHOICE model and continue to improve the standard of living in their communities. CHOICE is currently working with villages around the world in countries such as Bolivia, Nepal, Guatemala, Kenya and Mexico.

This will be a unique opportunity to hear the experiences of those on the front lines of the fight against poverty and to learn more about what we can do as a group, and individually, to get involved. We hope you will join us for this special presentation.

Bruce Bingham, Founding Partner, Hamilton Partners, May 15th, Noon, Zion’s Bank Founder’s Room

Bruce Bingham is a founding partner of Hamilton Partners with the responsibility for overseeing office, industrial and retail development, marketing, leasing, acquisition and management activities in Salt Lake City and Utah.  During the past 30-years, he has been responsible for the development of approximately 5 million square feet of office and industrial properties with a value of approximately $225 million dollars.   Mr. Bingham has had extensive experience in land planning, zoning, entitlement and the development of vacant land and the subsequent use of the property for commercial development.

Prior to joining Hamilton Partners, Mr. Bingham was a partner with the Trammell Crow Company in Chicago.  While at the Trammell Crow Company, he was responsible for the development, leasing and management of suburban industrial properties.

Since moving to Utah to open an office of Hamilton Partners, Mr. Bingham has been involved in the purchase of several office buildings in downtown Salt Lake City including the Newhouse Building, the Boston Building, the Broadway Centre, and the development of a 459,000 square foot Silver LEED certified 22-story office building on Main Street.

Bruce Bingham earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and his Masters in Management from the Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Civic responsibilities in the Salt Lake area include serving on the Executive Committee of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, serving as the Chair of the Downtown Alliance, serving as President of the Days of ‘47 Pioneer Celebration, serving on the Executive Committee of Enterprise Mentors International and serving as President of the English Skills Learning Center.

Greg Miller, CEO, Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, April 21st, Noon, Zion’s Bank Founder’s Room

As chief executive officer of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, Greg Miller oversees all automotive, sports and entertainment, and real estate divisions.  These holdings include 40 automotive dealerships and one motorcycle dealership located throughout six Western states; credit, insurance and advertising agencies; two professional sports teams; a motorsports park and an arena; an independent television station; restaurant and catering companies; a sports apparel retail chain; movie theaters; and an office complex.

Miller assumed his current position in July 2008 but has worked in the family business since 1979, when his father, Larry H. Miller, purchased his first auto dealership – a Toyota store located in Murray, Utah.  Greg Miller, who was 13 at the time, began his career by sweeping floors and working in the parts department.  Since then, the group has expanded into one of the nation’s 200 largest privately-owned companies.

Miller has 29 years experience working in a variety of positions that enabled him to learn the family business firsthand.  During that time, he focused on areas ranging from finance to minor league hockey.  His many accomplishments include: starting up Performance Automotive, which provides chemicals, printing and specialty products to auto dealerships; managing several multimillion dollar construction projects; and serving as general manager of both a Toyota and a Honda dealership.

Prior to his current position, Miller oversaw construction and had operational oversight of Miller Motorsports Park, in Tooele, Utah.  During his tenure, he was instrumental in developing and improving sales and marketing operations.  The state-of-the-art motorsports park garnered international recognition within its first year of opening.

Miller has served on the boards of several philanthropic organizations including: Larry H. Miller Charities; the Ron Boone Golf Classic benefiting the Huntsman Cancer Institute; the Utah Bicycle Coalition; and the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation.

An avid cyclist, Miller logs thousands of miles on his bike each year, and his interest in cycling led to several family vacations at the Tour de France.  He currently is chairman of the Tour of Utah, a multistage bicycle race that climbs 30,000 feet and is over 300 miles long.  Miller has played a significant role in the race’s growth and success.

During his teens, Miller developed an interest and appreciation of cars that continues today.  He still owns his first automobile, a 1965 Mustang fastback.

Miller has three brothers and one sister, and is the oldest child of Larry H. and Gail Miller.  He is married to Heidi Black Miller.  They are the parents of six children (three sons and three daughters), and their family resides in Sandy, Utah.

Cecil Samuelson, President of BYU, March 27th, Noon, Zion’s Bank Founder’s Room

Cecil O. Samuelson began his work as the 12th president of Brigham Young University on May 1, 2003.

President Samuelson is a Salt Lake City native who has served at the University of Utah as professor of medicine, dean of the School of Medicine and vice president of health sciences. Prior to his call as a full-time General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he was senior vice president of Intermountain Health Care. He holds a bachelor of science degree, a master’s degree in educational psychology and a medical degree from the University of Utah.

Dr. Samuelson fulfilled his residency and held a fellowship in rheumatic and genetic diseases at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. He has received numerous scholastic honors and is the author or co-author of 48 original publications, eight books or chapters of books and 13 abstracts. He also has served as a director, officer or member of several national medical and hospital organizations.

Elder Samuelson was called in 1994 to serve the Church of Jesus Christ as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. At the time of his assignment to BYU, he was a member of the Presidency of the Seventy. He has served the Church of Jesus Christ also as a regional representative, stake president, stake high councilor, branch president and missionary and as an area president in the Utah North Area and the Europe North Area. He and his wife, Sharon Giauque Samuelson, have five children and 11 grandchildren.