Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has appointed—and the Utah Senate has approved—Christena Huntsman Durham to the University of Utah’s Board of Trustees.

Huntsman Durham begins her term at the Feb. 10 meeting. She fills a seat vacated by David Parkin. Parkin served on the board for two full terms.

Huntsman Durham is the director, executive vice president and vice chair of the Huntsman Family Foundation. She also serves as the CEO of the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation, which supports the Huntsman Mental Health Institute at the University of Utah.

“My father taught us it’s very important to give back to the community,” Huntsman Durham said during the Senate Education Committee confirmation hearing Jan. 14. “He grew up in very poor circumstances, and it was important to him that he instill in us the value of giving back.”

Huntsman Durham is deeply committed to advancing mental health and substance use disorder research, advocating for policy and health care reform and supporting innovative, community-based solutions. She is an active board member on multiple boards, including the 2034 Salt Lake Olympics Steering Committee, National Ability Center, Catholic Community Services, The Road Home, the Moran Eye Center and the Jon M. Huntsman Community Shelter Trust.

Huntsman Durham recounted her early memories of getting basketball tickets at the U—Row M, seats 20 through 24, in the then Special Events Center (now the Jon M. Huntsman Center)—one of her father’s first investments in the university when the family moved to Utah in the 1970s. They were there every Thursday and Saturday night.

“The partnership with the university runs deep in our family,” she said.

With an initial $100 million pledge in 1995, Jon M. Huntsman created the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) in collaboration with the University of Utah. The family also donated $150 million to establish the Huntsman Mental Health Institute (HMHI) at the university in 2019. Paid out over 15 years, the gift is designed to advance mental health research, care, and education, specifically targeting genetic research into mental illness, student wellness and services in rural areas.

At the January hearing, Huntsman Durham thanked lawmakers for their support of both efforts, and particularly a new crisis center, which opened in 2025, and a mental health translational research center set to open in 2027.

“We couldn’t do it without these partnerships,” Huntsman Durham said.

A lifelong athlete, she urged everyone to take up a new sport or try the Huntsman World Senior Games, held every fall in St. George. Huntsman Durham noted she is “very, very competitive,” and “willing to compete against anyone who’s willing to put up a race.” She and her husband, Rick Durham, share seven children and 16 grandchildren.

The Utah Senate approved her appointment on Jan. 30.