For immediate release
SOUTH JORDAN, Utah, Oct. 21, 2026 — The Utah Emerging Leaders Forum (UELF), a new nonpartisan civic organization that forms and connects emerging leaders for lives of meaningful service, held its inaugural gathering on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, at the Daybreak Community Center in South Jordan. The kickoff event drew a strong turnout of aspiring and established leaders from across professions, backgrounds, and political persuasions.
UELF President and Founder Seth A. Villagomez opened by asking what kind of people should lead us. He urged attendees to weigh honesty, capability, and accountability ahead of party loyalty, and to help develop the leaders they wish they had.
Pointing to Alexander Hamilton’s support for his rival Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr in the election of 1800, Villagomez argued that “political allegiance must never replace independent judgment.” He outlined four principles for the forum: character before achievement, judgment before ambition, service before self, and statesmanship before partisanship.
“Our standards must apply to our friends as readily as to our opponents.”
Villagomez then moderated a keynote conversation with Utah State Senator Todd Weiler, who has represented Senate District 8 since 2012 and serves as Senate Parliamentarian, and Salt Lake County Councilman Carlos Moreno, a Venezuelan-born human rights advocate who became a U.S. citizen in 2022 and joined the council in January 2025. Both shared candid insights from their personal experiences and counsel for those preparing to serve, in a conversation centered on leadership, public service, character and competence, and the importance of working constructively across differences. An audience Q&A followed.
Photographic record
The inaugural civic forum in photographs.
The kickoff begins a series of monthly UELF gatherings. The next, “An Evening with Representative John Arthur,” is Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. at the Daybreak Community Center in South Jordan. Membership details and the Forum’s Pledge of Statesmanship are available on this website.
About the Forum
Utah Emerging Leaders Forum
Founded in 2026, the Utah Emerging Leaders Forum is an independent, nonpartisan civic organization. UELF forms leaders of character, connects them through civic fellowship, turns conviction and relationship outward through meaningful service, and recognizes those whose character, service, and leadership strengthen the common good.