News Release
Gardner Policy Institute announces Informed Decision Makers of the Year™ Awardees
May 23, 2019 (Salt Lake City) – The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute today announced the 2019 Informed Decision Makers of the Year™, a group of individuals and organizations who are helping the community prosper.
“The 2019 Informed Decision Makers work behind the scenes, with little fanfare, to make Utah a place where we all want to live,” said Natalie Gochnour, director of the Gardner Institute. “It is our pleasure to recognize their extraordinary contributions to our state.”
The following is a list of the 2019 awardees:
Beth Ehrhardt, Senior Charity Care
- Senior Charity Care improves the lives of Utah’s seniors in care facilities and senior apartments.
- Ehrhardt and her team at Senior Charity Care work with service providers who agree to take care of seniors at a reduced rate.
- In 2017, Senior Charity Care launched a mobile dental clinic and are developing mobile services for vision and audiology exams.
- Under Ms. Ehrhardt’s leadership, Senior Charity Care is working to expand their services statewide and in two additional states in 3-5 years.
- The mission of Globus Relief is to improve the delivery of health care worldwide.
- Globus Relief partners with over 800 charity organizations where they supply reusable and disposable medical supplies and devices.
- Approximately 80% of the resources they supply are donated and 20% are purchased on the secondary market.
- They are internationally recognized for their humanitarian work in more than 150 countries and territories.
- Giv Development is motivated every day by creating sustainable and innovative structures that fit in the area they reside.
- For every square foot of traditional development projects, they create another for a community benefit project.
- They are driven by the idea of stewardship, and being mindful and responsible of how our land is being used. This formidable team wants their buildings to maintain their vitality long after the last brick is placed.
Michelle Kaufusi, Provo City Mayor
- Michelle Kaufusi serves as the Mayor of Provo City — the #1 city in the US.
- Her commitment to Provo City is unmatched. She loves her job, the people she works with, and the people she is serving.
- Mayor Kaufusi makes decisions that place her community in a position of strength to handle the enormous growth and impact that comes with it.
- Her accomplishments include saving the Peaks Ice Arena, resolving a lawsuit over convention center parking, and helping to find common ground on divisive issues.
- The Spice Kitchen Incubator has added new flavor to Salt Lake City since its founding in 2013 by the International Rescue Committee through a partnership with Salt Lake County.
- Spice Kitchen brings together refugees and other disadvantaged community members interested in starting a full or part-time food business.
- Spice Kitchen ensures participants receive technical assistance and training, have affordable access to commercial kitchen space, and learn the steps to establishing a successful food business.
- Spice Kitchen Incubator has provided assistance to over 25 new food businesses, including 2 brick and mortar restaurants, 3 food trucks/trailers, and 17 catering businesses.