Nolan E. Karras has been the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Karras Company, Inc., an investment advisory firm, since 1997 and is a certified public accountant. In 2015, Mr. Karras was appointed the Chairman of the Governor’s Education Excellence Commission. In 2013, Mr. Karras was appointed a member of the Board of Trustees of Weber State University where he serves as the chair of the Audit Committee. In 2015, Mr. Karras was appointed a member of the Board of Share, In., an Ogden emergency food delivery service serving Weber County. Mr. Karras current serves as a member of the Board of Directors, of Merit Medical Systems, Inc., a publicly held healthcare company. Mr. Karras also serves as Co-Chair of an education advocacy group called Education First.

From 2009 to 2014, Mr. Karras served as a member of the Community Board of Directors of the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics where he served as the Chairman of the Finance Committee. Mr. Karras also serves as a member of the board of directors of Western Hay Company, Inc., an agricultural products company located in Ogden, Utah, where he also served as chief executive officer from 1995 to 2012. Mr. Karras previously served from 1996 to 2009 on the board of directors of Beneficial Life Insurance Company, a privately-held life insurance company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was chair of the finance committee and a member of the executive committee. In 2013, Mr. Karras completed a 12-year term as a member of the Utah State Board of Regents, where he served as board chairman from 2002 to 2006. Mr. Karras previously served as a director and member of the audit and compensation committees of the boards of directors of PacifiCorp, a public utility operating in the northwestern United States, and Scottish Power, a multinational energy company. Mr. Karras has held several positions in elected public service, including service in the Utah House of Representatives for ten years where he served as Speaker of the House and House Majority Leader.

Mr. Karras received a bachelor’s degree from Weber State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Utah.

He is married to Lynda Purrington, has 3 children and 13 grandchildren.