Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Announces Retirement
April 18, 2012
Contact: Larissa Davis Director of Public Relations and Marketing (801) 851-2560 ldavis@thechamber.org
Provo, Utah (Wednesday, April 18, 2012) – Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Steve Densley has announced his retirement effective August 1, 2012 after 30 years with the chamber.
Densley leaves a legacy of service and leadership in Utah County, having served over three decades in his current role. He began work as president in 1982 as the President of the Orem Chamber of Commerce and then merged the Provo and Orem Chambers into the Provo-Orem Area Chamber of Commerce. It became the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce in 2009 and now includes 25 cities.
“It has been my privilege to get out of bed every morning for 30 years and look across the valley to figure out how to lift, build and make the valley better,” Densley said. “I will miss the challenge and honor of representing the chamber and our business community. We have some of the nations greatest volunteers and most charitable people. It would be hard to find a better community in America to raise a family and to live.”
During his three decades of leadership, Densley was elected three times as Utah State Chamber of Commerce President and served on the State Chamber’s board of directors for more than 15 years. He is the second longest sitting Chamber President in the states history and is the longest currently serving President in Utah. He graduated from the Institute of Organization Management at the University of Colorado and the Institute of Advanced Management at Southern Methodist University. Both educational programs are sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. Densley has continued his education each summer for 30 years at a number of universities across the nation.
He was chosen by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to serve on the Western Region Board of Regents for the Institute of Advanced Management at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Brigham Young University. He was given the Provo City Mayor’s Medal of Honor. He was honored by the Utah National Parks Council of the Boy Scouts of America with one of its highest awards, the Silver Beaver, and with the Trailblazer Award in Business by Utah Business Magazine. He has written columns for several publications including a 20-year weekly column for the Daily Herald as well as the former Orem-Geneva Times and Utah County Journal. He was nationally published in Chicken Soup for the Soul in 2006. Over the years Densley has served on over 70 Boards, Committees and Councils on a local, state and national level.
Densley has hosted a nightly TV Show called “Taking Care of Business” on Provo Cable and UVU Cable television for the past five years. He has hosted five radio shows on various stations throughout Utah, most recently with the Citadel Group in SLC. He is currently the President of the Provo Rotary Club and is the only person to have served as both the President of the Provo Club and the Orem Club.
Densley is a 35-year resident of Provo and proud husband of Colleen Densley, Utah’s teacher of the year in 1992. She is currently serving as principal at Wasatch Elementary School in Provo. Steve was recruited to play at BYU as a high school All American football and basketball player out of Jordan High School. He met his wife at BYU and over the past 44 years, the Densley’s have supported 10 foreign students who lived with them while attending school. They have six children and 17 grandchildren scattered around the nation.
Members of the board of directors of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce expressed their appreciation to Densley for his 30 years of service, dedication and leadership.
“For three decades, Steve Densley has been the face of business in Provo, Orem and Utah Valley,” said Val Hale, chairman of the chamber board and vice president for university relations at Utah Valley University. “He essentially built the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce into what it is today. Everyone in the community owes Steve a huge debt of gratitude for his unflagging commitment to business in this region. His legacy will live on long after he rides into the sunset.”
Before Densley’s departure, a selection committee will begin a search for a replacement.
For more information, please contact Larissa Davis at (801) 851-2560, ldavis@thechamber.org.
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