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Board of Trustees

The Trust Lands Administration’s Board of Trustees meets monthly to review and consider Trust Lands business. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend all meetings. Please note that meetings are subject to change. Visit the Utah Public Notice website for current meetings and agendas.

Check for Current Meetings

Looking for past meeting information?

Review the agendas and minutes of past board meetings here.
Board meeting documents

Meeting Dates

The Board of Trustees meets monthly. Details for each meeting will be added throughout the year. Click a meeting date to see that month’s agenda.

Meet the Board

Six trustees are appointed to six-year terms by the governor, who makes the appointments from a list of nominees supplied to him from a nominating committee. The seventh at-large member of the Board of Trustees is appointed at the pleasure of the Governor. The Board of Trustees selects its officers from within its ranks.

Tiffany James
Tiffany A. James
Chairwoman
Principal | Flicker Consulting
Background: Industrial and energy infrastructure development and asset management and optimization
TERM EXPIRES JUN 30, 2027
Bryan L. Harris
Co-Vice Chairperson
Development Director | Longroad Energy
Background: Renewable energy development
TERM EXPIRES JUN 30, 2026
Mike Nelson
Co-Vice Chairperson
Professor of Mining Engineering | University of Utah
Background: Experience in the mining industry, metallurgical engineering, applied physics, mining engineering
TERM EXPIRES JUN 30, 2028
Dan Simons
Trustee
Senior Vice President | Colliers International
Background: Real Estate investment, management.
TERM EXPIRES JUN 30, 2029
Michael Mower
Trustee
Senior Advisor for Intergovernmental Relations | Governor's Office
Background: Coordinating state planning and public lands initiatives
TERM DOES NOT EXPIRE
John Baze
John Baza
Trustee
Brian Tarbet
Brian Tarbet
Major General (ret.) Utah National Guard
Imaan Ahmed
Executive Assistant
801-538-5110
Imaan Ahmed
Executive Assistant
801-538-5110

Tiffany James

Co-Vice Chairperson

Ms. James is an energy industry leader with 25 years of experience. She is currently the principal of her consulting firm, advising clients on asset development and regulatory strategies. She began her career as a project scientist. Still, she rapidly advanced to an executive role with a small energy company that developed the largest underground energy storage facility in the western United States.  

Her areas of expertise extend across the value chain of industrial infrastructure development: front-end project scoping of market viability and technical and economic feasibility; land, mineral, and regulatory entitlement; primary resource studies and environmental compliance; political, regulatory, and public stakeholder consultation and mediation; and the development and implementation of company policies, procedures and programs.

Before establishing her consulting firm, Ms. James spent much of her career as an executive developing and operating traditional and renewable energy businesses. She is the former Executive Vice President of Magnum Development, a midstream energy company based in Utah. In this role, Ms. James was part of a five-member executive team that developed a master-planned energy storage and generation hub in central Utah, now owned by Chevron.  Specifically, Ms. James managed the company’s asset base and regulatory and compliance programs. She worked closely with the Board of Managers and CEO to successfully raise over $1B in project financing.

Over the years, Ms. James developed a long-standing working relationship with SITLA. Her detailed understanding of SITLA’s goals and objectives for effectively developing and managing State Trust Lands for the beneficiaries and her industry experience brings a valuable perspective to her role as Trustee and co-vice-chair. 

Other key roles Ms. James has held include principal scientist and project manager for several environmental consulting firms, subject matter expert and third-party consultant to several state and federal agencies and museums, and adjunct University professor of American History at East Carolina University.

Mike Nelson

Trustee

Dr. Michael G. (Mike) Nelson is a senior mining consultant at Stantec Inc. He was previously a professor of mining engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (1989–1994) and the University of Utah (1999–2023), where he was Department Chair for 11 years. He holds degrees in metallurgical engineering (B.S.), applied physics (M.S.), and mining engineering (Ph.D.). He is a Registered Member, Fellow, and Distinguished Member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME).

Mike contributed significantly to handbooks recently published and updated by SME as author or co-author of four chapters in the Mining Engineering Handbook (2011), five in the SME Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Handbook (2019), and two in Underground Mining (2023). He has co-authored or contributed to 11 additional books. He has also prepared 37 refereed publications relating to underground mining, mineral processing, mine health and safety, and mining education.

Mike has worked for Kennecott Copper, Westinghouse Electric, Consolidation Coal, and EIMCO Process Equipment. He holds nine mining and mineral processing patents and has given invited short courses in the U.S.A., Australia, Ecuador, and India. He has served as a consultant and expert witness for 27 clients, as well as a director or advisor to several junior mining companies. He is in the second year of a 6-year appointment as a member of the Board of Advisors for the Utah State Institutional Trust Lands Administration.

 

DAN SIMONS

Trustee

Mr. Simons is a 2nd generation real estate broker. Dan is a licensed Utah real estate Agent/Broker. His peers have recognized him for his experience, knowledge, professionalism, leadership, and people skills. He has been asked to serve in positions of leadership and trust in the real estate profession, governmental affairs, professional organizations, both private and public foundations, and religious organizations. He has received numerous awards and recognitions.

Dan’s real estate expertise has been focused primarily on commercial real estate with a wide area of influence in leasing, sales, site location and selection, exchanges, development, consulting, entitlements, planning and zoning, property, and asset management.

Mr. Simons is an Associate Broker with Equity Real Estate Premier Elite – Commercial. He continues to focus his professional activities on commercial real estate along the Wasatch Front and the greater St George area. He and his wife have three children and seven grandchildren.

 

Mike Mower

Trustee

Mike Mower is the Senior Advisor for Community Outreach and Intergovernmental Relations for Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox. Prior to this appointment, he served as Spokesman and Deputy Chief of Staff and State Planning Coordinator for Utah Governor Jon Huntsman and Governor Gary R. Herbert. He is currently the longest-serving senior staff member in any Governor’s office in the nation.

Mower was raised in Ferron, Utah, where he grew up milking cows at Lemon’s Dairy. He is a graduate of Emery County High School, Brigham Young University, and the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. He served as the President of the Student Bar Association in law school and later as President of the Young Lawyer’s Section of the Utah State Bar, where he was also a Utah State Bar Commissioner.

Along with practicing law, Mower has worked for one Mayor, two Congressmen, and four Governors. He also served as spokesman for Wasatch Constructors during the rebuild of I-15.

He and his wife, Liz Smith Mower, are the parents of a combined seven children and live in Holladay, Utah. He was raised in Ferron, Utah, where he worked milking cows for Lemon’s Dairy.

John Baza

Trustee

Mr. John R. Baza is retired from the Utah State Government, and his last position held was as the Director of the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, having been appointed to that position in May 2005.  He is a petroleum engineer by education and work experience, holding both Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in petroleum engineering from Stanford University.  Mr. Baza’s career spans 45 years working in the energy and mineral extractive industries, and his experience includes engineering positions with several major and independent petroleum companies, including Phillips Petroleum Co., Amoco Production Co., and Flying J Oil and Gas Inc.  He has been involved in petroleum exploration and development in Wyoming, North Dakota, and Utah and has also worked on geothermal power projects in Utah, Nevada, and California.

Mr. Baza has over 34 years of state government service at the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining, with 15 of those years working solely in the Oil and Gas Program before assuming the role of Division Director.  In that program, he had previously been responsible for regulation of the upstream oil and gas industry in Utah, and as the Director of DOGM, he led the Division’s efforts in the areas of petroleum development, coal mining, and mineral mining, along with abandoned mine reclamation.

In addition to his responsibilities as Division Director, he also served as the Official Representative for Governors Jon Huntsman, Jr., Gary Herbert, and Spencer Cox of Utah on both the Interstate Mining Compact Commission (IMCC) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC).  Mr. Baza was elected as the First Vice-Chairman for the IOGCC for a one one-year term in 2013.  In October 2015, John received the E.W. Marland Award from the IOGCC, which is given as the highest achievement award of the IOGCC to recognize outstanding leadership as a state regulatory official.  John was also the State of Utah representative in the National Ground Water Protection Council and was elected by his peers (other regulatory officials) as a member of the Board of GWPC in 2015.  He continued in his GWPC Board position until his retirement from state government in late 2023.  In 2018, Mr. Baza was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry to be a member of the National Petroleum Council for a two-year term.

Mr. Baza is a registered professional engineer in Utah.  He is also a 45-year Society of Petroleum Engineers member, having held various officer positions, including section chairman, program chairman, and scholarship committee chairman.  He and his wife were both raised in Utah. They have four children and are extremely proud grandparents of five grandchildren.  In early January 2010, he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the five-member City Council for the community of West Bountiful, Utah, where he resides, and he served in that capacity for two years.  John appreciates the heritage and diversity of historical, cultural, and recreational experiences that he and his family have enjoyed living in the State of Utah.

In March of this year, John was recognized by the Utah Mining Association as the recipient of their General Patrick E. Connor Award.  This prestigious award is given annually by the UMA to an individual who has given lifelong service in support of Utah’s mining industry.

Brian Tarbet

Major General (ret.) Utah National Guard

Brian L. Tarbet, Major General (Ret.), has served his country and the state of Utah in various capacities since beginning his career as both a member of the United States Army and a lawyer.

Tarbet’s military career spanned nearly 40 years, culminating in his service as Adjutant General of Utah from 2000 to 2012. During this time, he was responsible for 7,500 Soldiers and Airmen of the Utah National Guard. He formerly served on the Army Reserve Forces Policy Committee reporting to the Secretary of the Army.

During his service in the Army as a career intelligence officer, Tarbet received many accolades and honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal and Armed Forces Reserve Medal. The State of Utah has also recognized Tarbet for his service, awarding him the Utah Medal of Merit, Utah Joint Staff Medal of Merit, Utah Achievement Ribbon, State Partnership Award, and Utah Service Ribbon. Internationally, Tarbet has been awarded the Wissam al-Istihkak al-Askari (Order of Military Merit) by the Kingdom of Morocco.

Now retired from the Army, General Tarbet was appointed as General Counsel in the Utah Attorney General’s office in January 2013. Since 2018, General Tarbet has served as Chief Civil Deputy. He retired in January of 2025. He brought more than 20 years of legal experience to that position, including prior service in the Utah Attorney General’s office as the division chief of the Tax and Revenue Division. During that time, General Tarbet was honored as Tax Practitioner of the Year in 1998 by the Tax Section of the Utah State Bar.

From 2015 to 2017, Tarbet and his wife, Mary, served a church service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany.

General Tarbet is a graduate of Utah State University, having earned a BA in political science with business administration and German in 1973. He furthered his education at the University of Utah, where he earned a Juris Doctorate. He was a National Security Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University from 1998 to 1999.

General Tarbet’s wife, Mary, is a USU alumna who graduated with a degree in special education in 1977. The couple has five children and twenty-one grandchildren.

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