Meet The Mentors

“I love the creative challenges of business and systems thinking. As a perpetual entrepreneur, I am always up for a new challenge or idea. The energy from new ideas and thinking in the classroom continues to ignite my passion for teaching and mentoring. My mantra, “Work hard, play hard,” fuels my endless passions. I love to travel the world, visit national parks, spend countless days at Lake Powell. Oh, and I own over 2,000 board games.”

Gary Johnson grew up in Heidelberg, Germany but calls Utah his home. He has worked at the intersection of sales and education his entire career — beginning with IBM Marketing Education where he specialized in complex, technical sales. He then pursued a doctoral degree in Instructional Technology — further specializing in the education vertical. He now brings both worlds together as the director of UVU’s Professional Sales Program.

Steven Huff holds a Ph.D. in marketing from UC Berkeley, an M.B.A. from Brigham Young University, and a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Utah State University.

In addition to teaching product management at the Executive Education Center at UC Berkeley, he also teaches marketing in the Executive MBA programs at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and the Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. His full-time position is Associate Professor of Marketing in the Woodbury School of Business at Utah Valley University where he teaches marketing strategy, data-based decision making, and creativity and problem-solving in the MBA program and digital marketing in the undergraduate program. He is a co-creator of two novel programs at UVU: the first full digital marketing degree offered by a public university in the United States and a new MBA program that weaves the development of thinking, leadership, and interpersonal skills through every course in the curriculum.

Steven has taught marketing at the university level since 2001 across five different universities comprising over fifty courses and reaching over 2,500 students to date. He holds one teaching award from UC Berkeley, four university-wide teaching awards from Utah Valley, and he recently won an award for the top university-level teacher in the State of Utah.

“I enjoy outdoor activities such as rafting, skiing, snowmobiling, and farming. Yes, that’s right – I drive a tractor for fun. Professionally, I am most content finding creative solutions to complex problems while collaborating with my colleagues and mentoring students.”

“I develop markets, but above all, develop minds. My job is to cultivate new mindsets that drive innovation and create new solutions for better brands. I love to transform lives and improve the world.”