I serve as an associate dean in the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah and director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. When I’m not working on campus or in downtown Salt Lake City, I love to cook something special for my family, ride my bike on the Jordan River Parkway, hike in the Wasatch Mountains, or read various forms of literature on economics, public policy, religious studies and other life experiences. 

I’m a native Utahn and westerner. I love rugged mountains and expansive red rock. One of the greatest gifts in my life has been the opportunity to grow up skiing and hiking in the Wasatch Mountains, backpacking in the Uinta Mountains, and camping or hiking anywhere on the Colorado Plateau.

I’m a passionate soccer fan — having played for 25 years — and an avid supporter of Real Salt Lake. I also enjoy the Utah Jazz. 

The greatest gift in my life is my dear family  — craftsman and husband, Chris Gochnour; engineering student, Theo Gochnour; hydrologist philosopher, Jake Serago; and English literature/religious studies expert, Rose Serago. 

My career working in the Utah governor’s office, with a Cabinet member in Washington, D.C., with the Salt Lake Chamber and at the David Eccles School of Business has exposed me to incredible life lessons about economic leadership, community building and civil society. I share my views occasionally in the Deseret News. I also represent the political center — yes, I’m a moderate — on a weekly radio program featured on KCPW Public Radio in Salt Lake City.

I’m blessed to have come from a large family and a caring community that afforded me opportunities to grow and learn and give. I place a high value on authenticity, kindness, spirituality, civility, patience, gratitude and balance. I live in a modest home and yearn for a simpler life for everyone.

The great German writer Goethe said something that captures the way I view daily living. He said: “To live within limits. To want one thing. Or a few things very much and love them dearly. Cling to them, survey them from every angle. Become one with them — this is what makes the poet, the artist, the human being.”