SUU to Business Owner in the Tech Space

When Molly Moss enrolled at Southern Utah University in the fall of 1987, little did she know that a lasting bond would be forged with a group of friends that would remain close and come to count each other as family.

“Because I don’t have a family of my own, my SUU friends are my family,” she explains. “Some of my closest friends are my former roommates and sorority sisters, and I still keep in touch with a lot of people from my student government days.”

Originally from Evansville, Indiana, Molly graduated from Castle High School and came to SUU to study advertising and public relations. Drs. Suzanne Larson, S.S. Moorty, and Eugene Wolfe made lasting impressions, but Molly points to Dr. Sterling Church as her all-time favorite person at SUU.

“I still have a letter he wrote me years after SUU that is framed,” she says. “I adore that man.”

Molly’s career path started in the advertising world where she worked for some of the best agencies in Salt Lake City. She was coerced by a good friend to enter the recruiting world with the promise that she would be a natural fit. At first Molly was apprehensive but that all changed when she received her first commission check. She has not looked back since.

Today, she owns her own business and contracts with agencies and corporations on the West Coast to help them attract and retain talent within the tech space.

“I specialize in start-ups who are ramping up their director/leadership roles,” she explains of her business.

Molly has many fond college memories including when Southern Utah State College became Southern Utah University in 1991. She still remembers the entire week of celebration like it was yesterday and proudly calls it a remarkable “achievement for little ol’ SUSC!”

Another favorite college memory was Phi Alpha Beta being picked up by Alpha Phi for colonization. The Betas had tried multiple times to align themselves with a national organization but were repeatedly told there was not enough interest on campus. Yet Phi Alpha Beta continued to attract smart and motivated women who thrived and contributed to the SUU community, as well as in their own communities after graduation. She describes that colonization as a proud “mama moment.”

Molly lives in Salt Lake City and is a proud dog mom (essentially a dog butler!) to a Corgi named Sundance. She is a die-hard Broncos fan, loves Real Soccer games, and still gets butterflies every time she passes Cedar City on I-15.

SUU to Credit Union Marketing Director

Matt Yardley, who today thrives as the southern Utah market director for Chartway Federal Credit Union, is a prime exemplar of SUU graduates who live varied and fulfilling lives sparked by their Thunderbird experiences.

A 1996 graduate of Kearns High School in the Salt Lake Valley, he envisioned a life in law, and intended to enter law school after earning his SUU degree in political science with a minor in criminal justice. The University’s pre-law program prepared him well to pursue law school studies and following his 2003 graduation, he enrolled in the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, where he completed the Master of Science in Legal Administration degree, with plans to gain his Juris Doctorate later.

“However,” he says, “after getting my feet wet in the legal field through a variety of internships, I determined that I was better suited for an administrative career, rather than practicing law directly.” He says he fell into a career in banking and finance and could not be happier.

His position with the Virginia-based Chartway entails the oversight of all aspects of the credit union for the southern Utah market, which currently includes five branches from Cedar City to St. George. From member experience to branch production and profitability, he ensures that member’s lives are “truly made affordable through value added products and service.”

It’s a demanding job, but he is quick to credit his SUU education in immensely helping to prepare him for his life’s work.

“At SUU, I learned the importance of effective communication and the value of hard work, and had outstanding staff and faculty members to aid me in my pursuits,” he says, and he has praise for Dean Rodney Decker and Diane Werber of the HSS College staff, and for professors Michael Stathis and Lee Trepanier, each of whom, he says “were dedicated to helping me achieve my goals.”

And, he says, SUU prepared him with many of the leadership and communication skills necessary to run his business. He has fond memories of engaging with the Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics and Public Service, which helped build his all-around abilities and awareness of the larger world.

He and his wife of 19 years, Whitney, are parents to three sons, and his family forms the foundation of his life. His leisure time affords him the opportunity to man the drum kit in what he calls his “makeshift band,” and for Jeeping with his eldest son in the southern Utah wonderland surrounding the family’s Washington City home.