Upon the recommendation of Executive Director Jack Hedge, the board of directors of the Utah Inland Port Authority has created the new role of president and appointed Hedge to the position. The board will move immediately to replace Hedge in the executive director position.
The board decided that Hedge in his new role as UIPA president will focus on leading the authority’s external engagement with industry leaders across the country and around the world to ensure UIPA has the right national and global strategic partners to fulfill the vision and mission of the UIPA. In the new president role, Hedge will be a member of the UIPA executive team and engage directly with the board on areas within his portfolio, as the current executive staff does and will continue to do.
The new UIPA executive director will be hired and report directly to the board. The executive director will be responsible for leading the development of the authority’s business strategy and plans, building and managing the UIPA team and overseeing the development of business cases for ongoing and future authority projects. This position will lead stakeholder management to ensure that the authority is transparent and accountable to the general public and the many entities with interests in UIPA’s success. The new executive director will be fully empowered to lead all UIPA affairs with the board’s support as described in state statute. This position has been posted with a recruitment and selection process underway.
Hedge was hired as the executive director of UIPA in June 2019, coming from the Port of Los Angeles. Under Hedge’s leadership as executive director, the UIPA has grown from a startup into a rapidly developing inland port authority with a strong team, strong statewide support, strong partnerships with state and local governments, and strong support from industry leaders across the country, a board release said. Expanding UIPA’s leadership team will help further the board’s vision of the authority being a catalyst for positive and sustainable economic development in the Salt Lake City west side communities, advancing opportunities throughout the state, and improving supply chains, shipping, and logistics across the nation, it said.
“I am proud of the significant progress the entire UIPA team has made over the past three years,” said Hedge. “As we look at the next phase of the UIPA’s development, I am excited about the opportunity I will have to focus my time and energy on those areas of UIPA executive leadership that I am most passionate about and that will be the core focus of the new president role.”
“In his role as the UIPA’s founding executive director, Jack has coupled in-depth industry expertise with innovative vision to launch the UIPA and build the strong foundation that we’re all beneficiaries of today,” said UIPA Chair Miles Hansen. “A tremendous amount of credit and gratitude is owed to Jack, the entire UIPA team and prior board directors, all of whom worked so hard to conceptualize and launch the UIPA.”
“As we enter the next phase of the UIPA’s development, the board of directors strongly supports Jack’s recommendation to enable him to lean all the way in as the UIPA president to build rock-solid strategic partnerships with national and global industry leaders,” Hansen continued. “The board is looking forward to working closely with the UIPA executive team to ensure that the UIPA continues on its path to becoming a business-driven catalyst for smart and sustainable economic development, increasing the competitiveness of Utah companies through improved shipping and logistics systems and infrastructure, and improving the lives and prosperity of Utahns across the state.”