Preceded by Dennis J. Nordfelt Role American Politician Succeeded by Ron C. Bigelow Name Michael Winder Party Republican Party | Children 4 Education University of Utah Political party Republican Spouse Karyn Hermansen (m. 2014) Movies The Beast Must Die | |
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Born January 27, 1976 (age 48)
Salt Lake City, Utah ( 1976-01-27 ) Profession Business Executive and Author Religion The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) Books Presidents and Prophets, John R. Winder | ||
Michael Kent Winder (born January 27, 1976) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He was the mayor of West Valley City, Utah between 2010 and 2014. A Republican, he currently represents District 30 in the Utah House of Representatives, a position to which he was first elected in November 2016. He is the author of twelve published books on Utah and LDS history, including Presidents and Prophets: The Story of America's Presidents and the LDS Church. He has received criticism in the press for self-promotion.
Contents
- Education and family
- Business career
- Political career
- Author and historian
- Self promotion controversies
- Publications
- References
Education and family
Winder was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and graduated from Taylorsville High School. From 1995 to 1997 he was a missionary in Taipei, Taiwan for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He holds a Masters in Business Administration and an Honors B.A. degree in History from the University of Utah. He has also completed an executive leadership program with Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Winder is married to Karyn Hermansen, who was elected to the Granite School District Board of Education in November 2014. They have four children.
Business career
Winder was Business Development Manager for West Valley City from 2000-2004, during which time he also chaired the Chamber West Economic Development Committee.
From 2004-2009 he was vice president of marketing for Winder Farms. He was director of public affairs for The Summit Group Communications from 2009-2011.
Winder founded Neptune Strategies in 2012, a marketing and development firm. During the 2016 election cycle, Neptune Strategies was paid at least $65,000 for consulting by Friends of Traditional Banking, a Super PAC.
Winder is the executive director of Friends of Traditional Banking. Since July 2014, Winder has been employed as director of entrepreneurship programs for Zions Bank.
Political career
Winder has served as a member of the state and Salt Lake County Republican Party Executive Committees, deputy campaign manager for Congressman James V. Hansen, and chair of the Research and Policy Committee for the Jon Huntsman, Jr. for Governor campaign. He is the founder of the GenX GOP Network.
He was elected to an at-large seat on the West Valley City Council in November 2005 with 71% of the vote over 12-year incumbent Barbara Thomas.
He was elected on November 3, 2009 as the seventh mayor of West Valley City, Utah, with 76% of the vote; his opponent was Kevin Fayles.
At 29, he was the youngest council person in city history, and when sworn in on January 4, 2010, at age 33, he became the youngest mayor in city history.
In 2012, Winder and former county council member Mark Crockett emerged from the Salt Lake County Republican Convention field of six to face off for the GOP nomination for county mayor. Crockett narrowly defeated Winder in the GOP primary election, 50.7% to 49.3%.
In 2016, Winder ran for the Utah State House of Representatives, defeating his Democratic opponent. He was sworn in as a member of the Utah State House of Representatives on January 1, 2017.
Author and historian
An historian, he is the author of twelve published books on Utah and LDS history, including Presidents and Prophets: The Story of America's Presidents and the LDS Church. In 2005, Winder was appointed by Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. to a four-year term on the Utah Board of State History, and reappointed in 2009. In 2012, he was appointed by Governor Gary Herbert to a four-year term on the Advisory Board for the Office of Museum Services.
Winder presented an academic paper as part of the Abraham Lincoln Sesquicentennial in 2009 and was published in the Journal of the Theodore Roosevelt Association in 2011. As mayor in 2012, he also authored the first photographic history of West Valley City for Arcadia Publishing. Winder is a past president of the Utah British Isles Association.
Self-promotion controversies
In 2011, Winder wrote articles promoting West Valley City for the Deseret News and KSL.com under the assumed name of Richard Burwash. The name was a pseudonym, inspired by a 16th-century ancestor of Winder's. In the articles, Winder quoted himself as mayor and employed a photo of a real person, Peter Burwash, a former professional tennis player.
After Winder's use of a pseudonym was discovered, Winder said he wrote the articles because he was "frustrated that the newspaper had drastically reduced its city government coverage after layoffs last year but not its crime coverage and wanted to try to restore balance." Winder accepted a reprimand by the West Valley City Council, resigned from his job with a public relations firm, and issued a public apology to his constituents.
In 2017, Winder was accused of using multiple accounts to remove unflattering information on his Wikipedia page.