Dr. Ned Hill.

• Position: Dean of Brigham Young University's School of Management - Brief Article

Ned Hill is an avid birder, a business advocate with an environmentalist bent. "Our fragile environment likes technology" says the dean of Brigham Young University's School of Management. "So does our economy"

As a former owner of a technology start-up, Electronic Data Interchange, Hill cites Governor Leavitt's initiatives to lure high-tech industries to Utah as "ingenious."

"I think back to years ago when our state was tied to mining and defense. The strategy to move away from that has been extraordinarily successful."

As en educator, Hill's goal for the next 15 years is to bring more technology training into the traditional liberal arts curriculum. "Kids have to see that if they want to stay in Utah, they need to get educated in technology. At the same time, I strongly believe in a good liberal arts base." Hill doesn't want to create a society of wired robots. "I want to help people make a life while they're making a living."

A BYU study three years ago showed that in the past 15 years, more than 300 technology companies spun off directly from BYU alone. "This state has a robust future in technology because of our highly trained population. As evidence, when Novell lays off 450 workers in Utah, those people are snapped up instantaneously."...