Weber State University Board of Trustees

Kearston Cutrubus

Chair, Term 2023

Weber State University alum and Ogden native Kearston Cutrubus was appointed to the university's Board of Trustees in 2016 and began serving as vice chair in September of 2017. In 2021, she was elected to serve as the chair of the Board of Trustees.

Cutrubus is the customer and community relations director for her family's automotive dealerships, which include Cutrubus Cadillac, Wasatch Front Kia, Cutrubus Volkswagen/Audi, Cutrubus Mitsubishi and Layton Hills Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. She also owns a gift basket business, Kearston's Basket Case, which she started in 1991.

Cutrubus serves on various boards and committees for community organizations, including the Top of Utah Military Affairs Executive Committee, YCC (Your Community Connection), the WSU Wildcat Club Executive Board and many others. She also has membership with the Junior League of Ogden, Davis Chamber of Commerce Women in Business, Ogden/Weber Chamber Women in Business, Ogden/Weber Chamber Spikers, Ogden City's Diversity Connections Committee and the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks (BPOE).

She has served as honorary commander of three squadrons in Hill Air Force Base's 388th Fighter Wing. Her involvement earned her a Community Wingman Award. A mother of three children, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, skiing, music and volunteering.

Karla K. Bergeson

Ogden native Karla K. Bergeson is an accomplished corporate legal professional who has never forgotten her northern Utah roots.

A former executive vice president and deputy general counsel for the Citi Cards business, she began working there as in-house counsel in New York City in 1987. In her most recent role, she was a member of the senior business team. She retired from Citi after 23 years.

Early in her career, Bergeson worked for former U.S. Congressman K. Gunn McKay in Washington, D.C., which inspired her to get her law degree. She started her legal career in 1983 at General Electric’s corporate headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut, before joining Citi.

At Weber State University, Bergeson created an endowment in her mother and aunt’s names to support students studying to become teachers. She began serving on WSU’s National Advisory Council in 2014 and was recognized with the Lewis W. Shurtliff Award for Contributions to Education in 2015. She was WSU’s commencement speaker in April 2017 and was appointed to the Board of Trustees later that year. In 2021, she began serving as vice chair of the Board of Trustees.

Bergeson is a proud graduate of Ogden High School. She received her undergraduate degree in English and law degree from Brigham Young University. Since returning to Utah, she has served on various nonprofit boards, including the SelectHealth Insurance Board of Trustees. She enjoys participating in nonprofit organizations that promote education, economic advancement and leadership for women and girls.

Brent Bishop

With an educational background in management and finance, Brent Bishop has excelled in business and in the community throughout his career. In 1991, he founded Greenbacks All-a-Dollar, where he served as CEO and was responsible for growing the company from one to 100 retail stores in 10 states over 12 years. In acknowledgment of Bishop's role in the success of Greenbacks, he was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2001. Under Bishop's leadership, Greenbacks was sold to Dollar Tree in 2003. Previous to starting Greenback's, Bishop was a co-founder of Franklin Covey.

He has served on several boards at the Marriott School of Business at BYU, including current membership in the National Advisory Council. Additionally, he serves on the Broadcast Leadership Council, Athletic Leadership Council and the President's Leadership Council at BYU. He has served on the Judicial Review Board of the Second District for the State of Utah, and is founder and chairman of Sharetix Foundation. He also contributed to the success of the Salt Lake 2002, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympics as a volunteer.

Bishop earned a bachelor's degree in business management and finance from Brigham Young University. He enjoys spending time with his wife, 10 children and 29 grandchildren.

Amanda K. Covington

Amanda Covington is chief corporate affairs officer for the Larry H. Miller Company. She has served as senior vice president of communications and government relations for Vista Outdoor Inc. Covington has more than 20 years of experience leading corporate communications and government relations strategies impacting financial communications, crisis communications, domestic and international public relations, branding and advertising, digital media, employee relations, public policy and legislation, industry associations and community relations

Prior to Vista Outdoor, Covington served as vice president of corporate communications for ATK, an aerospace, defense and commercial products company. Before joining ATK, she was the assistant commissioner for public affairs at the Utah System of Higher Education. While there, she led communications and legislative relations strategies for the State Board of Regents. She also served as the deputy for communications and spokesperson for Utah Gov. Olene S. Walker and the director of communications for the Utah Department of Transportation. She has a background in broadcast journalism with Utah's NBC and ABC affiliates.

In addition to serving as a trustee for Weber State University and Davis Technical College, Covington is an executive board member for the Utah Women's Leadership Institute, a board member of World Trade Center Utah and an advisory board member for First Lady Abby Cox’s ShowUp Utah! Initiative.

She earned an honors bachelor's degree in mass communications and a master’s in public administration from the University of Utah. Covington enjoys spending her free time playing outside with her husband and two teenage sons.

Louenda H. Downs

A longtime public servant and education advocate, Louenda H. Downs joined the board in 2014. Downs is also a former Davis County Commission chair.

Downs was elected to the Davis County Commission in 2006 after serving as partnership coordinator and assistant director of the Davis Education Foundation.

Downs, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Weber State, was born in Brigham City, Utah. She was a teacher for seven years in the Davis School District and was then elected to serve for eight years on the Davis Board of Education. Downs then took a partnership coordinator and assistant director position at the Davis Education Foundation. She has been a professional musician for more than 30 years.

Her tenure as an educator and education administrator has also been punctuated by service on education, active transportation, wildlife, ecological, community hospital and health and human services boards. Downs is a proponent of economic development and community planning.

Parents of two daughters and grandparents of six, Downs and her husband reside in South Ogden. She and her husband served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2017-2019 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Karen White Fairbanks

Appointed to the Weber State University Board of Trustees in 2013, Karen White Fairbanks is owner of Fairbanks, Inc.

She and her husband manage The Distribution Group, a national purchasing cooperative/buying group in the water, sewer and drainage industry. Her experience includes time as the human resources manager of W.R. White Company and director of mission for the Ogden Weber Chamber of Commerce. She was also an asset manager and leasing agent for Wallace Associates.

Fairbanks has dedicated herself to community service and leadership. Among her long list of service appointments is trustee for Intermountain Healthcare, trustee and board member for McKay-Dee Hospital and board member for the Ogden Nature Center.

Fairbanks earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah. A mother of three children and grandmother to 11, she enjoys reading, biking, traveling, cross-country skiing and hiking.

Rob Higginson

Rob Higginson graduated from Weber State University in 1980 with a degree in business Administration and a minor in marketing. The knowledge and experiences he gained through his degree benefitted his professional career, helping him find success in his many pursuits.

After graduating from WSU, he teamed up with his father to establish H&W Industrial Sales in Ogden, Utah, which he later purchased and ran for 18 years. He currently owns HCS, an elevator consulting firm that utilizes his 25 years of experience in the elevator industry. He has also begun testing out his baking skills by co-owning several Crumbl Cookies franchises.

Currently, Higginson serves as the president for the board of the Alumni Association.

Ashley Potokar

Ashley Potokar is from North Ogden, Utah, and received her bachelor’s degree from Weber State University. She is currently pursuing a master’s of education at WSU, and she hopes to eventually become a high school digital arts teacher. She has a passion for helping students and making sure that they know they belong.

Potokar loves traveling, exploring the world, trying new foods and meeting new friends. She also enjoys spending time outdoors, game nights with her friends and relaxing with a good book.

Potokar will serve as the student body president for WSUSA for the 2022-23 school year.

Donald J. Salazar

Donald J. Salazar, president and CEO of an Ogden-based design-build construction company, Creative Times Inc., joined Weber State University's Board of Trustees in 2017.

In his leadership role, Salazar oversees all management activities, which include business planning, accounting, bonding, finance, marketing, resource allocation, contract negation and on-site job performance. He has successfully performed on contracts ranging from $200,000 to $34 million.

Salazar has been active in many organizations on national and local levels. He currently serves as chair of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. With 4.3 million members, the chamber is the largest Hispanic business organization in the nation. He also serves as an advisory board member of the Utah Hispanic Chamber and Zions Bank, and he previously served as chair of the Ogden Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He is also a past president of the Northern Utah Public Employees Association.

At Weber State University, Salazar serves on the National Advisory Council and is a past member of the Arts and Humanities Advisory Council (AHA!). He has served on many other boards throughout the community in the sectors of health, finance, environment and legislation.

Salazar has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Small Business Administration’s Contractor of the Year award in 2005.

Salazar graduated from the Business Transformation Program at Dartmouth University’s Tuck School of Business and has a Master of Arts degree in organizational management.

Keith Titus

Keith Titus, President, and CEO at MarketStar, an Ogden-based global sales organization, joined Weber State University's Board of Trustees in 2021. He is responsible for leading MarketStar in long-term strategic planning, revenue growth strategies, business innovation, client success and corporate operations. He was named CEO in January of 2019. Under his leadership, MarketStar has evolved into a highly focused and specialized B2B Sales as a Service™ provider, launching sales and revenue solutions for some of the largest companies in the world. Titus is committed to growing an organization where people find purpose, belonging and growth, and can give back to their communities.

Titus earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Weber State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Utah. He serves on several community boards, including the Salt Lake Chamber Board of Governors, Ogden School District Foundations and the Weber State National Advisory Council. He is passionate about how quality education fuels growth for people, communities and businesses.

Titus has been recognized by Utah Business Magazine with the 2016 RevGen Award, 2018 CXO of the year award, Utah State University Huntsman Pro Sales Program with the 2019 Annual Founder's Award and Weber State University with a 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award. He is also an Honorary Commander with Hill Air Force Base.

Titus was born and raised in Smithfield, Utah, and lives in Pleasant View with his family. He is an avid golfer, fly fisher, skier and enjoys cooking.