SALT LAKE CITY — The Board of Regents has unanimously elected Harris Simmons to serve as vice chair of the Board of Regents of the Utah System of Higher Education. Simmons will be replacing France Davis, who has been vice chair since 2014 and whose term expires this year.
Simmons was appointed to the Board of Regents in 2012. In addition to his service to the board, he is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Zions Bancorporation. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Utah and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He lives in Salt Lake City.
Davis, a regent since 2008, called higher education one of his passions in a press release.
“Especially making higher education more accessible for all the citizens of Utah,” he said. “It has been an honor serving on the Board and helping advance higher education in our state.”
Davis is a former member of the Salt Lake Community College Board of Trustees and has served as pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Salt Lake City for 40 years. He holds degrees from the University of California Berkeley, Westminster College, University of Utah and Northwest Nazarine University. He lives in Salt Lake City.
Daniel Campbell, current chair of the Board of Regents, said they are grateful for Davis and his years of service to higher education in Utah.
“(We) are pleased to welcome Regent Simmons as Vice Chair,” Campbell said. “He is a dedicated, longtime leader in our community and will continue to serve Utah and its citizens well.”
Several other regents also recently attended their final meeting. Dr. John Zenger, appointed in 2007, is finishing his 10th year on the board.
Zenger is the cofounder of Zenger Folkman, a consulting firm that develops leaders and improves institutional effectiveness. He served as a trustee of Utah Valley University from 1997 to 2005 and as its chair from 2003 to 2005. He received a doctorate in business administration from University of Southern California.
In addition to Zenger, nonvoting members Laura Belnap and Spencer Stokes, both representing the Utah State Board of Education, and Steven Moore, representing the Utah College of Applied Technology, will no longer be serving on the Board of Regents as a recent state statute change eliminated the board’s nonvoting positions.
The board will hold elections for the position of chair and vice chair in summer 2018 for the full two-year term.
The Utah System of Higher Education is governed by the Board of Regents and comprises Utah’s eight public colleges and universities. The CEO of USHE is the Commissioner of Higher Education. For more information, visit their website.
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