Reserve Your Spot for Friday’s “Rivalry Day” Meeting!

1. Bring guests and win medals. The member who brings the most guests will win a very special prize.
2. Get set for a fun live auction and chance to win some amazing Rams or Hamilton tickets and a weekend golf getaway.
3. Wear your favorite team colors or gear.

Please take a moment to RSVP and order your meal for you and a guest (or two) for this week’s very special Rotary luncheon.

This week LA5 is honored to present the new and improved “Rivalry Day.”  Our speaker is Val Hale, a journalist, former athletic director, a public official, and jack of all trades. He will enlighten and entertain us.

The meeting will be in-person at The California Club, and we will also have a Zoom option available for anyone who elects to do so.

More about Val Hale

Val Hale has had a varied and interesting career path. He spent a year as a newspaper reporter, 22 years working in intercollegiate athletics, eight years as a university vice president, two years as president and CEO of a Chamber of Commerce, and six and a half years as head of the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

Val began his career as a reporter for the Provo Daily Herald covering politics and business.  He was then hired by the Brigham Young University athletic department as its first full-time marketing coordinator.  He worked his way up through the ranks to become Director of Athletics from 1999 to 2004.  During that time, he served as chair of the NCAA Men’s Golf Committee and oversaw the regional and national championships in that sport.

Val then took a job as a vice president at Utah Valley State College to help lead the political charge to make the school a university. Today, Utah Valley University is the largest university in Utah with over 41,000 students.

After 30 years in higher education, he became President and CEO of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce, home of Silicon Slopes. Utah Valley has enjoyed the highest rate of job growth in the nation for several years and is booming economically.  The Wasatch Front also has the strongest middle class in America.

Governor Gary Herbert then asked Val to head up his Office of Economic Development. He was responsible for corporate recruitment, incentives, international trade and diplomacy, tourism, film, outdoor recreation, and rural economic development. Utah was rated the best economy in the nation by several publications during the time Val served in that role.  He retired in January of this year and came to Los Angeles with his wife to serve as missionaries working with Matt Ball in Public and International Affairs.

Val and his wife, Nancy, have three children and 13 grandchildren. They love to ski, golf, backpack, ride their tandem road bike, play pickleball and spend time with the grandkids.  Val is an avid woodworker and at one time sat on 35 boards of directors simultaneously. He is also a former Rotarian.