BYU - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Internal Communications
Job Titles:
- Art Director of Video Production
- Senior Videographer / Video Production Coordinator
As an art director of video production, Adam is honored to help tell some of the many inspiring stories of BYU. In addition to his creative duties, Adam appreciates the opportunity to collaborate with incredibly talented colleagues and students.
Adam graduated from BYU with a BA in Media Arts and a minor in Communications in 2005, and a Master of Education from USU in 2011. He has worked as a director, editor, motion designer and videographer for Emmy and Peabody award-winning productions in California, Massachusetts and Utah. Through his work, he's grateful for the many wonderful people he's met and places he's been all over the world.
Hailing from Northern California, Adam served in the Australia Melbourne West Mission, and finds his greatest joys in his faith and family.
Brother Jan E. Newman, Second Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, delivered the Tuesday morning devotional. He taught that making time for the most important things in our lives is essential no matter our stage in life.
Job Titles:
- President
- about President
- University President
C. Shane Reese began his tenure as the 14th president of Brigham Young University on May 1, 2023. Prior to his appointment, he served as BYU Academic Vice President from 2019 to 2023, and dean of the BYU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences from 2017 to 2019. Reese also serves as a member of the Department of Statistics faculty and an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association.
Reese's research has centered on Bayesian hierarchical models and Bayesian optimal experimental designs. He has created statistical models addressing a range of issues from predicting the power of solar storms to determining the safest method for destroying chemical weapons to assessing climate impact on glaciers in high mountain Asia and Antarctica. His work has also been used by the U.S. Olympic volleyball team as well as the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles.
Reese joined the BYU statistics faculty in 2001. He received BYU's Young Scholar Award in 2004 and the BYU Karl G. Maser Excellence in Teaching Award in 2010. Reese was the Melvin W. Carter Professor of Statistics from 2012-2017. Prior to entering academia, he worked in the Computer, Computational, and Statistical Sciences Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Reese earned a doctoral degree in statistics from Texas A&M University and master's and bachelor's degrees in statistics from BYU.
President Reese earned bachelor's and master's degrees in statistics from BYU and a doctoral degree in statistics from Texas A&M. His research has focused on sports analytics, Bayesian hierarchical models and optimal experimental design. He is an elected fellow of the American Statistical Laboratory.
President Reese has used his work in solving problems in professional sports franchises, national security and business. At BYU, he received the BYU Young Scholar Award and the BYU Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award. He was also the Melvin W. Carter Professor of Statistics. Prior to BYU, he worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a technical staff member.
He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Taiwan Taipei Mission from 1990-1992. He is currently serving as the first counselor in the Mapleton Utah North Stake, where he previously served as a bishop. He and his wife, Wendy Wood Reese, are the parents of three children.
President Reese, who started his tenure in this role on May 1, 2023, came through the ranks at BYU. Reese had been serving as the academic vice president at BYU since 2019. He previously served as dean of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences from 2017-2019 and joined the BYU statistics faculty in 2001.
Job Titles:
- First Vice President
- Belonging Vice President
- Law Professor at BYU 's J. Reuben Clark Law School
Carl Hernandez III became the first vice president for belonging June 2022. He leads the university's efforts to develop and implement a mission-aligned strategic approach to building a community of belonging at BYU and assisting the university to achieve the lofty objectives of the BYU Statement on Belonging.
Hernandez is a law professor at BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School and has taught constitutional litigation, community lawyering, fundamental lawyering skills, and clinical courses for legislation, criminal prosecution and defense, immigration, government practice and nonprofit practice.
Hernandez founded the BYU Community Legal Clinic, which provides pro bono legal services to the poor, immigrants, refugees, and other underserved populations and he has served as its director since 2017.
Hernandez credits a visit to his family by two missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with changing his life at 14. He went on to receive bachelor's and master's degrees and then a Juris Doctor from BYU. He was the 2019 recipient of the BYU Karl G. Maeser Professional Faculty Excellence Award and the J. Reuben Clark Professor of the Year Award in 2018.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- President
- Assistant to the President, University Communications
Carri P. Jenkins was appointed assistant to the president for University Communications June 1, 2000. In this role, she acts as the university's primary spokesperson and directs the work of BYU University Communications,
Elder David A. Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with his wife, Sister Susan Bednar, delivered Tuesday's devotional address.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - Day Saints
Elder Evan A. Schmutz, a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, delivered Tuesday's devotional address. He urged the audience to consider the importance of their mortal lives.
Job Titles:
- Manager of Visual Communications / University Photographer
Job Titles:
- Life Vice President
- Student Life Vice President
Julie L. Franklin was appointed student life vice president August 1, 2019.
Job Titles:
- Director of Video Strategy and Production
Job Titles:
- Vice President
- Academic Vice President
Justin Collings was appointed as the academic vice president June 21, 2023. He is responsible for the academic enterprise of the university. The academic vice president works collaboratively with the BYU President, other vice presidents, associate academic vice presidents and campus deans and directors to achieve the Mission and Aims of a BYU education.
Collings joined the J. Reuben Clark Law School faculty in 2013 following a clerkship for Judge Guido Calabresi with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Before joining the university administration he served as associate dean for faculty and curriculum, as well as for research and academic affairs at BYU's law school. Collings served as an associate academic vice president for faculty development before being appointed academic vice president in June 2023. He is a member of the advisory group and a former fellow of the BYU Wheatley Institute, whose mission is to fortify society's core institutions of family, religion, and constitutional government.
Collings double-majored in English and Italian as an undergraduate student at BYU. He earned a doctoral degree in history from Yale University, as well as a juris doctorate from Yale Law School.
Along with his teaching and research on constitutional law and constitutional history, Collings has championed religious freedom and the principles of the U.S. Constitution. He is the author of many articles and book chapters on constitutional topics, as well as two books: Democracy's Guardians: A History of the German Federal Constitutional Court, 1951-2001 (Oxford University Press, 2015) and Scales of Memory: Constitutional Justice and Historical Evil (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Job Titles:
- Vice President
- Advancement Vice President
Keith Vorkink was appointed advancement vice president May 18, 2020. In addition to general university administrative duties, Vorkink oversees Athletics, BYU Broadcasting, University Communications, Alumni & External Relations, and Philanthropies.
Prior to serving as the advancement vice president, Vorkink served as an associate dean in the Marriott School of Business, where he held the Douglas and Effie Driggs Professorship in Finance. He has also been a visiting professor for the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research focused on behavioral economics and on asset pricing. More specifically, Vorkink studies how variance or skewness in a security's payoff distribution and the preferences of investors affect asset pricing.
Vorkink received an undergraduate degree in economics at BYU in 1994. He then went to the University of Rochester, where he earned an MA and then a PhD in economics in 2000. After working for a year as an assistant professor at Bryant College, he returned to his alma mater, teaching in the BYU Marriott School of Management, first as an assistant professor, then an associate professor and, since 2011, as a full professor.
Vorkink has received multiple research awards in the BYU Department of Finance, was honored with the top research award in the Marriott School of Business in 2005. He was awarded BYU's Young Scholar Award in 2007 and a teaching excellence award from the Marriott School in 2012. His work has appeared in several top finance publications. He is a member of the American Finance Association, the Western Finance Association and the Econometric Society. A lesser-known fact about Keith: he played basketball for Snow College.
Kylie graduated from BYU with a bachelor's degree in English in 2011 and a master's degree in mass communication in 2020. Prior to joining University Communications in 2020, Kylie worked as the Marketing & PR Manager at the BYU Museum of Art for five years. She also is adjunct faculty in the BYU School of Communications.
Among Kylie's earliest memories are visiting the BYU campus #byucreameryforlife She considers it an honor to now work on campus and be inspired by the students and her colleagues every day.
Job Titles:
- Director of Digital Communications
Job Titles:
- Assistant Manager of Visual Communications / Asst. University Photographer
Job Titles:
- International Vice President
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Assistant to the President
- President
- Assistant to the President, Assessment and Planning
Rosemary Thackeray was appointed assistant to the president for assessment and planning July 8, 2019. In this role, she oversees university accreditation, institutional research and assessment, the university's continuous improvement process, and annual strategic resource planning.
She is also a professor of public health and has taught graduate courses in survey and research methods and undergraduate courses in evaluation methods, health communication, social marketing and women's health.
Thackeray served as an associate department chair in the BYU Department of Public Health from 2015 to 2018. In this role, she led a faculty team through the department's first systematic, in-depth analysis of the curricular structure and course offerings in over 28 years. The three-year process resulted in a new curriculum that aligned with The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health Framing the Future undergraduate education framework and the public health discipline-specific, competency-based frameworks. She also served as an associate dean in the College of Life Sciences from 2018-2019 where she oversaw graduate studies, college communications and student mentoring initiatives.
Prior to joining the BYU faculty, Thackeray was employed for nine years at the Utah Department of Health, Bureau of Health Education. In these positions was responsible for program planning and evaluation of several public health programs. She also worked part-time as a health educator with Salt Lake Community Health Centers, and FHP Health Care. In 2006, Thackeray spent a sabbatical year working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Marketing in Atlanta, GA.
She earned a B.S. in Community Health Education from Utah State University and M.P.H. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Utah.
Job Titles:
- Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, Shared a Message That Jesus Christ Brings Relief into Our Lives.
Sister Kristin M. Yee, second counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, shared a message that Jesus Christ brings relief into our lives.
Job Titles:
- CFO
- Vice President
- Administration Vice President and CFO
Steve Hafen was appointed administration vice president and chief financial officer August 1, 2020. In his role at BYU, he oversees the following divisions of the university: Financial Services, Physical Facilities, Human Resources, Purchasing and Travel, Auxiliaries and Programs, and BYU Police and BYU Security. Hafen also serves on many university committees and chairs the Campus Planning and Use Committee, The University Investment Committee and the Human Resources Committee.
Prior to joining BYU, Hafen was a senior business executive with experience in multiple industries. His career path consistently expanded in oversight and leadership responsibilities, culminating in Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Chief Operations Officer (COO) roles across several companies, including CEO of Devcon Security Holdings - a company that Hafen led through a successful transaction process for Golden Gate Capital. Hafen's career experience spans the technology, education, training and certification, and consumer goods industries.
Hafen's background also includes business and marketing instruction at BYU's Marriott School of Business, where he was an adjunct faculty member for more than 13 years. He is a graduate of BYU with a master's degree in business administration and a bachelor's degree in international relations with a minor in Japanese.
Steve Sandberg - Chief Legal Officer, President
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Assistant to the President
- General Counsel
- President
Steve Sandberg was appointed assistant to the president and general counsel December 1, 2018. At BYU, he oversees the Department of Risk Management and Safety, the Integrity and Compliance Office, and the Office of the General Counsel and he also serves as a liaison for BYU on state and federal government relations matters. In addition to his roles at BYU, Sandberg is the general counsel for BYU-Hawaii, BYU-Idaho and Ensign College.
Prior to working for BYU, he clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld in Fairbanks, Alaska, and was an associate at Morrison & Foerster, LLP in Irvine, California. Sandberg is licensed to practice in California, Hawaii, Idaho and Utah.
After joining BYU as an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel in 2006, Sandberg worked on projects as diverse as negotiating the ESPN contract when BYU went independent in football and joined the West Coast Conference in other sports, working with Congress on federal legislation that allowed BYU to buy the Y on Y Mountain from the U.S. Forest Service, representing BYU in multiple court cases, including two cases he argued before the Utah Supreme Court, and negotiating the UTA contract that provides free mass transit to all BYU students, personnel and their families.
Sandberg received a B.A. in English summa cum laude from BYU and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. At Columbia, Sandberg was a Hamilton Fellow, a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a senior editor of the Columbia Law Review.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
- Vice President of Information Technology
- Information Technology Vice President and CIO
Tracy Flinders was appointed vice president of information technology and chief information officer on May 18, 2020.
Prior to his appointment, he served as the chief information security officer and chief privacy officer from 2018 to 2020. In this role, Flinders was responsible for protecting the university's information and providing security services to BYU, BYU-Idaho, and BYU-Hawaii. As BYU's CISO, Flinders helped establish and manage a cybersecurity program for the university and created the CES Security Operations Center. He has worked in BYU's Office of IT since 2004 in various management roles and has performed with distinction in all of them. Prior to accepting a position at BYU, Flinders worked in executive management at PowerQuest Corporation, and held positions of increasing responsibility at Novell, Inc. and WordPerfect Corporation.
Under his leadership, the security team won IDG's CSO50 award, noting outstanding business value and thought leadership in BYU's security operations center, projects and initiatives.
Flinders holds a bachelor's degree in communications studies from BYU, where he played on the men's baseball team.
Tyler helps tell the story of BYU and enhance the academic reputation of the university by covering the top research and quality work of BYU students and faculty.
Tyler graduated from the University of Kansas with a master's degree in digital content strategy. Prior to joining BYU, Tyler worked for FamilySearch International as marketing and communications manager. During his undergraduate years, Tyler was a student-athlete at William Penn University as a member of the men's basketball team that reached the NAIA Final Four.
Tyler joined University Communications in 2021 and is inspired by the mission of the university and enjoys collaborating with talented students and faculty.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the President