UFTN Leadership

Technology executive, founder, and strategic business-development leader with a career spanning emerging and frontier technologies, enterprise technology, strategic accounts, partnerships, commercialization, and ecosystem development. Proven ability to identify growth opportunities, build high-value relationships, develop strategic alliances, and operate across corporate, technology, government, investment, and institutional environments.

Current leadership experience includes building and advancing organizations within Utah’s emerging-technology ecosystem, with work across blockchain/Web3, artificial intelligence, digital identity, technology policy, strategic partnerships, and ecosystem development. Experienced in engaging senior government and industry stakeholders, developing national and state-level networks, working with venture and angel communities, and translating emerging-technology opportunities into strategic initiatives and practical applications.

Amelia Powers Gardner leads APG Strategy LLC, a policy consulting firm working at the intersection of government innovation, civic engagement and energy. As Utah County Commissioner and Clerk/Auditor, she led nationally recognized firsts in digital government — including the nation's first blockchain-based verifiable digital credential and the first blockchain-enabled accessible voting program for voters with disabilities — earning recognition as one of Government Technology's Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers.

Based in Utah, Amelia advises state and local leaders on emerging technology policy, including blockchain and digital identity. She serves as National Chair of the Rainey Center's Leadership Alliance (LAMP), sits on the board of several community organizations and companies, engages with the Government Blockchain Association's policy community, and serves on the advisory group of the Civic Right Fund at Johns Hopkins University.

Layne Smith is a partner at Dorsey & Whitney LLP, where he specializes in mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures for corporate clients. Layne also has experience advising boards of directors and assisting clients with outside general counsel work. He works with clients in various industries, including among others healthcare, financial services, software, technology and blockchain. Layne is ranked by Chambers USA and he served for six years as the co-chair of Dorsey & Whitney’s mergers and acquisitions practice group, overseeing a team of over 60 attorneys.

Mr. Headlee was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Utah Bankers Association, April 1997. The Utah Bankers Association is a trade association serving the banking industry in the state of Utah, the 5th largest banking state in the U. S. Its membership consists of state and nationally chartered banks, savings banks and FDIC insured industrial banks. Mr. Headlee has been recognized as one of Utah’s 100 most influential people.

As leader of the UBA, Mr. Headlee has launched several national initiatives to serve the banking industry including the Regulatory Feedback Initiative to introduce transparency and accountability into the bank examination process; Friends of Traditional Banking, the industry’s first “Super PAC”, and the Society of Bank Executives.

Mr. Headlee was elected by his peers to serve as Chairman of the National Alliance of Bankers Associations and served in that role during the COVID pandemic where he helped direct the banking industry’s response to the pandemic, including the roll out of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP.)

Mr. Headlee is passionate about public education. He founded one of the largest charter public schools in Utah and in 2012, he was appointed by Utah Governor Gary Herbert to serve on the Utah State Charter School Board where he served as Chairman until he retired in 2016. He now serves on the advisory board for the Center for the School of the Future.

Mr. Headlee also served as Chairman and founder of Utah Center for Neighborhood Stabilization. He has also served as Chairman of the Legislative Policy Committee for the Utah Partnership for Education and Economic Development and Chairman of Artistic Resource for Teachers and Students (A.R.T.S. Inc.) a non-profit organization committed to maintaining the influence of the fine arts in Utah’s elementary schools.

Mr. Headlee received his Bachelor of Science from the Brigham Young University School of Accountancy and earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Utah. Howard is a member of the Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square and he and his wife Tana, have six children and live in Sandy, Utah.

Angela Smith is the COO of the Nucleus Institute, Utah's hub for innovation. She is Managing Director of the Nucleus Fund, a $40m early stage venture fund. She also oversees programming and design for Convergence Hall, a world class innovation hub that facilitates interdisciplinary industry, academic, and government partnerships to generate and commercialize new ideas.

She has deep experience in both education and investing. She has invested throughout Utah and across the country for Origin Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, Cougar Capital, and the Sorenson Impact Fund.

Jeremy H. Smith is a Utah technology and delivery executive with more than 25 years of leadership across startups, private equity, and public companies. His work has spanned e-commerce, data platforms, InsureTech, and blockchain, with a consistent focus on aligning technology with business outcomes, building high-trust teams, and explaining complex technical work to executives, boards, and public audiences.

Smith serves on the governing board of the Utah Blockchain Coalition, where he works with members of the business community and legislators to move technology initiatives forward. He is also a panelist on blockchain-focused programs. He is a founding board member of the Ravencoin Foundation, where he advocates for broader adoption of blockchain solutions and integrations.

In industry, he most recently served as Chief of Staff to the CTO and Head of Agile Delivery at Bed Bath & Beyond / Overstock.com, and earlier as interim Vice President of Data Engineering. As Chief Technology Officer of Medici Ventures, Overstock’s blockchain arm, he led product and engineering teams applying blockchain to real products and markets. Before that, as Vice President of Information Systems at Overland Solutions, he led technology through a period of growth and the company’s acquisition by EXL Services. He co-founded Castle Inspection Service and, as the technical co-founder, built the technology function that supported the company’s growth and later private-equity sale.

Smith holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Utah and is based in the Park City area. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Utah Frontier Technology Network.

Christopher Bramwell serves as Chief Privacy Officer for the State of Utah and Director of the Utah Office of Data Privacy. Appointed by Governor Spencer Cox, he leads statewide efforts to modernize government privacy practices, strengthen the protection of personal information, and help public entities develop effective privacy programs. His work connects public policy, digital innovation, and individuals’ privacy rights.

Bramwell worked closely with the Utah Legislature on the Government Data Privacy Act, a comprehensive privacy law for Utah’s public entities. He also led the creation of Utah’s Strategic Privacy Program Plan under Executive Order 2023-06, helping governmental entities establish and mature their privacy programs. He focuses on modernizing government systems and processes so that privacy protections can scale efficiently, including through digital verifiable credentials and non-judicial processes that help individuals access and exercise their privacy rights.

He earned an MBA from Idaho State University through the National Science Foundation’s CyberCorps program at the National Information Assurance Training and Education Center. He also holds a degree in political science from Brigham Young University.