Outstanding directors: honoring Utah's top board members.

• Author: Francom, Sarah Ryther

Utah's business community is rich with professionals who have led the state to success. Often shying from the spotlight are the board members who help guide a company or organization's direction. Each year, Utah Business is proud to honor a selection of outstanding directors who play an integral role in building the companies and organizations in which they serve. Numerous nominations were submitted by company and government leaders, and Utah Business editors, with the guidance of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Utah Chapter, selected eight outstanding directors who have made extraordinary contributions to their affiliated organizations. Please join us in recognizing these impressive professionals whose mentorship, sound business strategies and governance have strengthened companies, organizations and ultimately the Beehive State.

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Robert Myrick

Workers Compensation Fund of Utah Board Member

Growing up, Bob Myrick heard how his grandfather, an orphan, was taken in by a Summit County couple and later, couldn't decide which last name to use. A local judge in Coalville told his grandfather that what mattered more than the name he chose was what his name would come to represent.

For Workers Compensation Fund (WCF) of Utah, the name, Myrick, represents strength, understanding and compassion.

Ray Pickup, CEO and president of WCF, says that when Myrick joined the board 15 years ago, his vast experience in the banking industry was crucial since the company was undergoing a large financial transformation. "Myrick helped the company make significant changes and has been involved in all of the company's important decisions since then."

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Myrick's exposure to the banking industry came early in his life; as a young boy, he swept floors in Valley Bank and Trust, a bank his father founded. Eventually, Myrick earned degrees from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking and a master's in finance from the University of Utah. When he took his seat on the WCF board, he was chief operating officer at Morgan Stanley Bank, and brought with him experience from American Express as well. And five years ago, the Utah Bankers' Association recognized him as the state's top banker.

These accomplishments, among others, led to Myrick receiving an unprecedented number of appointments to the WCF board. But, Pickup says, Myrick's value to the company has gone beyond his financial expertise to developing strategies that magnify the company's mission and purpose.

"Bob Myrick has always been concerned about WCF injured workers," Pickup says. "He recognizes the human and family impacts of suffering an industrial injury." Myrick also recognizes the loss when an industrial accident costs a life, strongly endorsing WCF's Legacy of Learning scholarship program. It provides educational assistance to spouses and children of workers who have lost their lives in work-related accidents.

"When a breadwinner is killed, the dynamics of a family is changed, right now, immediately," says Myrick. "Not only have they lost a loved one, but now, particularly if they are young family with a stay-at-home mom. How does she raise a family and get a job in today's environment?"

Myrick's own legacy of learning includes teaching principles of banking for 10 quarters at the University of Utah through the American Institute of Banking. And he's gone back to school himself, participating in the Osher life-long learning program at the University of Utah. "It's the best kind of school because there's no homework, no tests and no required reading," says Myrick about his constitutional law and Darwin's theory classes.

Miguel R. Rovira

Regence BlueCross BlueShield Board Member

As the Latin America director of International Trade and Diplomacy for the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) since 2005, Miguel R. Rovira's office is furnished with a myriad of plaques and photos indicating his experiences in the U.S. and abroad, including the American, Mexican and Puerto Rican flags. But front and center, among all of them, are numerous paintings created by his six-year-old daughter.

"The key to anything I've been able to achieve comes from my family," says Rovira of his participation on the Regence BlueCross BlueShield board of directors. "This is something of which I give my own time, so their support gives me the ability to be on the board. Essentially, we as a family are committed to this."

Rovira's commitment helps Regence senior executives meet with numerous business and community leaders around the state. "If we research a company and...