Bruce Bingham: business and community builder.

• Author: Beers, Heather
• Position: Spotlight - Downtown Alliance - Occupation overview

It's tough to choose which of Bruce Bingham's many accomplishments have made the most impact on Utah's business community. It might be his time on the Salt Lake Chamber's executive committee. Or perhaps it was his service as president of the Days of '47 Pioneer Celebration, or when he recently headed the Downtown Alliance.

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But it could also be the millions of square feet of office, retail and industrial space he's developed, the vacant acres he's transformed for commercial use, or the benchmark 22-story, LEED Silver-certified office building at 222 South Main he helped build.

Bingham is one of those rare super-achievers who sees himself as the "everyman." When you ask Bingham about his career, he starts with his stint as a barn-painting salesman rather than leaping to his time at Trammell Crow Company, one of the nation's preeminent real estate development firms, or telling how he co-founded Chicago-based Hamilton Partners and single-handedly launched the company's Salt Lake branch.

When you beg him to share the secret to his success, as an employee's spouse did at a recent company Christmas party, he shrugs and says, "As soon as I have some, I'll let you know."

When you try divining his business philosophy, he replies, "Oh nuts I've made mistakes. But we have been very fortunate in finding people who have integrity, who are loyal, competent. My business philosophy is you get good people to do good work and you get out of the way."

Perhaps Bingham's down-to-earth sensibilities sprouted from his childhood on a Midwestern farm. Although he's a bona fide city slicker now, Bingham grew up raising hogs, cattle, soybeans and. corn. He first came to Utah to earn his undergraduate at Brigham Young University, then returned to Illinois for a master's degree at Northwestern University.

He called Chicago home...