Bio of Gerry Sanders

Like a few other missionaries from my group (e.g., Romney, Pinkston), I got married in the first year back from Central America. At least I knew my wife before my mission! Kathy Hanni and I married in 1979. She claims that she didn’t “wait,” she was just available when I returned. I say that she got a lot more interested in being there after I tried to send her a “Dear Jane.” I retracted that Dear Jane after she started writing more frequently. We have three great children. Ashley (20) is our oldest and a sophomore at BYU majoring in nursing. Adam (16) is a junior at Timpanogos HS in Orem and desirous of going to Stanford, the Ivy League or some other “real” university. Our baby is Noelle (13), who is a great soccer player and has dreams of playing in college. Kathy graduated from BYU two years before me and is a CPA, specializing in tax.

Before my father-in-law would allow me to marry his daughter, he made me promise that we would never leave Utah. Shortly after moving to California following graduation, my wife saw the light and we both predicted that we would never again live in Utah. Circumstances have brought us back. I graduated from BYU in 1980 with a degree in business (finance). I worked for 12 years purchasing large commercial real estate. That career took us all over the US and gave us the opportunity to live in many places, such as the San Francisco Bay area (Danville), Los Angeles (Newhall), Chicago (Naperville), and Atlanta (Roswell). I left industry and went to graduate school in 1992. We packed up the family and moved to Austin, TX so that I could pursue a Ph.D. in management at the University of Texas. (My wife calls it my mid-life crisis. Perhaps it was, but I suggest that she should be grateful for how I acted out my crisis.) After finishing graduate school in 1996, I accepted a job at BYU. I’m now an associate professor of strategic management (I teach both undergraduate and MBA students) and conduct research in the area of corporate governance and its effects on firms’ strategy and performance. I love my job! Receiving priority tickets to BYU games is one of the best perks.

In 1997, responding to Elder Ballard’s challenge to do something personal to celebrate the pioneer sesquicentennial, I firmed up a life-long goal to run a marathon (26.2 miles for non-runners). Having joined the Church as a teenager in California, I never really developed an affinity for pioneers. I decided that one way to repent was to train for the Salt Lake marathon, which follows the final miles of the pioneer trail. I have since run seven marathons, with a PR of 3:48. (I am a proud and permanent member of the Clydesdale division—something only large runners would appreciate). In the process, I have also gained a better appreciation for pioneers. I am currently trying to get back in shape for at least one more marathon.

Last year, I took Kathy to Costa Rica for a vacation (I couldn’t get her to agree to visit any of the other countries…she’d seen too many pictures of my areas). That trip was our best vacation ever. It’s probably a good thing that as a missionary I never realized how many fun things there were to do in Costa Rica! Now I know and I hope to have a second home in CR some day. On our trip, I learned how to call howler monkeys—and stay out of the way of their air-mailed “gifts.” Some accuse me of finally finding my ancestral roots and native language. We highly recommend a vacation to Costa Rica to any who are a bit adventurous.