Who is behind the forum

Founded with a conviction about public leadership.

Utah Emerging Leaders Forum began as an independent civic initiative: a place where rising leaders could develop character, judgment, and meaningful relationships before seeking position or recognition.

Utah Emerging Leaders Forum mountain and classical column logoPresident · Founder · MMXXVI

President & Founder

Seth A. Villagomez

Seth A. Villagomez is a Marine Corps infantry sergeant and a summa cum laude graduate in National Security Studies. An Eagle Scout and alumnus of the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, he served a church mission in Germany and later completed a year-long deployment to the Pacific. These experiences shaped his conviction that leadership must unite moral character, practical competence, and a genuine sense of duty.

He established the Forum to give Utah's emerging leaders the kind of serious civic community that is often difficult to find: thoughtful, demanding, nonpartisan, and rooted in service rather than self-promotion.

TD
Vice President · Cofounder · MMXXVI

Vice President & Cofounder

Thomas E. Durham Jr.

Thomas E. Durham Jr. is a Marine Corps Reserve infantry sergeant (0311) and a graduate in National Security Studies. He is pursuing a master's degree in Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security online through American University.

The founding team

Additional founding leaders and advisers will be added here as their roles are formally established.

The founding season

Help shape an institution
built to outlast us.

Join the founding circle