CROSSTALKS

Brad L. Mortensen became the 13th president of Weber State University in January 2019, after serving in several leadership positions at WSU since 2004. He began his tenure as president with a call to action for the Weber State family to become louder and prouder about the university.

Since then, Brad has celebrated numerous accomplishments with campus partners, including establishing a new strategic plan, expanding community partnerships and economic engagement initiatives, and helping WSU maintain and achieve top rankings in multiple areas, including student affordability and return on investment.

Brad guides Weber State’s efforts to be a leader in transforming lives by meeting all students where they are, challenging and guiding them to meet their goals both academically and in life. This includes expanding access as an open enrollment university, increasing retention and completion rates, providing personalized and innovative learning experiences and striving to become an Emerging Hispanic Serving Institution.

He believes it is his primary role to unlock the creative potential within everyone in the Weber State community, and to guide the university in being an institution that is continually learning and improving.

A first-generation college graduate, Brad holds several degrees, including a doctoral degree in educational leadership and policy from the University of Utah.

From Utah’s Miss America to one of the first women signed with ESPN, Sharlene Wells was an award-winning sports broadcaster for nearly 20 years, earning an Emmy nomination and the Miller Lite Womens Sports Journalism award. She covered World Cup Soccer, World Cup Skiing, Kentucky Derby, the French Open, America’s Cup, and was a feature reporter and host with College Gameday, and covered the sidelines for Big 10 Football.

Later, her career shifted to running a production and publication company working primarily in partnership with the Department of Defense to produce major commemorative documentaries and books for the Korean War 60th commemoration, Vietnam 50th and Desert Storm Commemorations. Her recognized work led to her appointment by the Secretary of Defense to the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services, earning her the Secretary’s “Medal for Exceptional Public Service” in 2018.   Sharlene later accepted a position working inside the Pentagon as the Director of Communications for the largest HR department in the country—the DOD Office of Personnel—responsible for over 6 million service members, their families and DOD civilians.

Today, Sharlene is back in Utah as the Senior Vice President over Public Relations and Organizational Communications for one of the largest credit unions in the country, Mountain America Credit Union.  Earlier this year, Utah Business magazine named her as one of their “Women of the Year”, and Ragan Communications listed her as a national “trailblazer” in their “Top Women in Communications” awards program.  Sharlene holds a bachelor’s degree from BYU in Broadcast Journalism, and a master’s degree from U of U in Organizational Communications.  She serves as a board member for the AMAR International board based in London, the Association of the US Army, Utah Chapter, the Utah Symphony, and USO Intermountain Advisory Council.  She has four children, and is passionate about traveling, hiking, biking and most especially, being with her family doing all those things.

Fernanda Böhme, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, co-founded Böhme, a women’s clothing brand, in 2007. Today, the brand operates 17 stores across 7 states and employs over 300 women. Böhme has earned recognition as one of the Top Women-Run Businesses on the Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Companies list, has been featured on Forbes.com, and was awarded the 2019 SBA Small Business of the Year for Utah. Fernanda has been a keynote speaker nationwide, represented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s women’s private sector in supporting women-owned businesses in the Middle East, and has been involved in numerous charity initiatives to empower women globally.

In addition to her fashion career, Fernanda’s architecture and design work has been showcased on the cover of Park City Build magazine. She currently lives in Park City with her husband and their three children.

Jeff Furton is the co-founder of Daily Rise Coffee alongside his wife Beth. Daily Rise started with a double sided drive-thru coffee shop in Ogden in 2004. As of today, there are 6 retail locations and a wholesale coffee roasting operation.

Jeff’s main roles today are primarily on the roast operations, wholesale partnership development and new growth. He also spends a lot of time volunteering in the Ogden area. He serves as chair of the Ogden Downtown Alliance, vice chair of the GOAL Foundation and as an Honorary Commander at Hill Air Force Base.