DRAPER, Utah –
The Utah National Guard and the Honorary Colonels Corps will host the 60th Annual Bronze Minuteman Awards Dinner Friday, June 12, 2022, at Salt Lake’s Little America Hotel.
At the event, Maj. Gen. Michael Turley, adjutant general of the Utah National Guard, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Brian Tarbet, commander of the Honorary Colonels Corps, and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson will present Bronze Minuteman awards to Ms. Amanda Hughes, Mr. Sam Malouf, Sen. Ann Millner, Mrs. Jacqueline Peterson, Sysco, Mrs. Jennie Taylor for their individual, devoted service to and leadership among the citizens of Utah.
“The adjutant general for Utah and commander of the Honorary Colonels Corps of Utah anticipate a heartwarming celebration of six community leaders, who have made an impact on Utah and their communities, during the 60th Annual Awards Banquet at Little America,” said Larry Schmidt, Honorary Colonels Corps Board of Trustees secretary.
The Honorary Colonels Corps of Utah is the sponsor of the event. The corps is an organization that promotes goodwill and positive relations between the National Guard and local Utah communities. Members provide annual support for Utah Army and Air National Guard activities such as the Freedom Academy and Veterans Day Concert.
Below is a short summary of each recipient’s accomplishments (listed alphabetically):
Ms. Amanda Hughes is the chief executive officer for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Salt Lake and has more than 24 years of professional experience in administration and service for not-for-profit organizations. She holds her MFA in Arts Administration from the University of Alabama. Ms. Hughes has worked for professional theatres across the Southeast and for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Salt Lake. For the last 12 years, she has been devoted to the mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs.
Ms. Hughes greatest impact has been at home with Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Salt Lake, serving Salt Lake, Carbon, and Tooele Counties. In the past year, she has worked to create partnerships with the school districts, other nonprofit organizations, mental health agencies, and local and state officials to increase revenue, grow attendance, and expand services and programs to youth and teens. She has testified at the Utah State Legislative session to advocate for funding to support at-risk youth across the state, secured funding to purchase permanent club sites in Carbon and Tooele counties, and enacted strategies within the organization to increase wages for youth development professionals. With a successful track record in fundraising, community relations, and board development, her core strengths are in building relationships, creating organizational strategy, and fostering goodwill in her community.
Mr. Sam Malouf is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Malouf Companies and president of the Malouf Foundation.
As a graduate student at Utah State University, he and his wife Kacie started a small business that would grow into Malouf Companies, a vertically integrated business with operations in consumer products, technology, retail, logistics, and venture. The company employs more than 1,600 people and operates three corporate offices and seven distribution centers in six states. From the start, he and his wife began their entrepreneurial endeavors with a community-centered approach, donating bedding to women’s shelters, safe homes, foster care families, and public events. In 2016, they formalized their charitable efforts and created a public charity called the Malouf Foundation. In 2017, the Malouf Foundation adopted its flagship cause to confront child sexual exploitation. As the parents of five children, Sam and Kacie were heartbroken to learn that millions of children are victims of this horrible crime. When they became aware of the issue, they immediately took action by donating sleep products to survivor aftercare centers nationwide. Today, the Malouf Foundation partners with industry experts and survivor leaders to educate the public and increase survivor identification. They collaborate with healthcare providers and other specialists to help survivors heal and take their lives back. They work with law enforcement and government officials to improve prosecution processes so perpetrators are held accountable.
In 2022, Sam and Kacie were named Entrepreneurs of the Year by Mountain West Capital Network. Sam was also recognized as EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017 and is consistently ranked as one of the top CEOs in America.
Sen. Ann Millner serves as the State Senator for District 18; she serves in Senate leadership as the Senate Majority Whip. She serves on multiple committees, including the Executive Appropriations Committee, the Legislative Management Committee and the appropriations subcommittees for both public and higher education. Additionally, Sen. Millner is a member of the National Conference of State Legislatures Executive Committee. She has sponsored legislation focused on economic development specifically related to the commercialization of new technologies and workforce preparation, public and higher education and improving affordable healthcare. In the past, she was awarded the Utah Business Legislator of the Year by the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce and was recognized as the Utah Technology Council Legislator of the Year.
Dr. Millner is a regents professor of health administration and former president of Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, from 2002-12. She currently serves on the board of trustees for Intermountain Healthcare, the board of directors for Merit Medical and the advisory board for Zions Bank. In addition, she is chair of Ogden United, and a member of the advisory board for the Kem Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, and the Governor’s Taskforce on Educational Excellence.
Mrs. Jacqueline Peterson has a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Health Administration from the University of Phoenix, and is currently the state officer at the George E. Wahlen Ogden Veterans Home, holding that position since June 2019. During that time her passion for taking care of veterans during the difficult time of COVID-19 had a meaningful and positive impact on the residents of the facility. Mrs. Peterson is a master at balancing the needs of the healthcare staff, while at the same time coordinating the budgets and ensuring that the federal, state and local policies are followed. Her ability to communicate with the residents and their families has allowed many of them to apply for and receive benefits they so richly deserve.
Sgt. 1st Class Jacqueline Peterson retired from the Utah Army National Guard at the end of 2008 after 23 years of service. She was deployed to Operation Desert Storm in 1990 where she worked as a casualty assistance officer, 97th General Hospital, Frankfurt, Germany. She transferred to the Utah National Guard and held various positions, including serving as an administrative sergeant, human resource non-commissioned officer for the inspector general, and a recruiter, a position where she excelled.
After retirement, she worked as a human resources assistant for U.S. Army Cadet Command at Utah Valley University. In 2009, she moved to the Fiduciary HUB at the VBA Regional Office as a legal instrument examiner to oversee the management of financial affairs of incompetent beneficiaries. In 2011, she returned to the Utah National Guard as a federal employee working in funeral honors. Mrs. Peterson had served in various roles where she was involved with veterans from enlistment to death. In 2013, she became the state officer for the Southern Utah Veterans Home in Ivins, Utah, taking a lead role in the completion and dedication of the facility. After the passing of her husband Martin in 2016, she moved back to Utah County working as a veterans service officer at the Mervin Sharp Bennion Veterans Home in Payson. In 2017, she moved back to the Utah National Guard as the executive assistant to the assistant adjutant general, and eventually moved to the position of executive assistant for the adjutant general.
Mrs. Peterson’s main goal is to round out her career serving veterans any way she can for as long as she can. She stated that veterans are always close to her heart. Her greatest happiness comes from spending time with her three children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Sysco is the world’s global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food and non-food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers around the world. Sysco’s robust international network supports customers in 90 different countries around the world. They distribute a full line of food products and a wide variety of non-food products to both independent and chain restaurant customers and other "away-from-home" locations such as healthcare and educational facilities. Their international operating companies outside the U.S. and Canada are located in the Bahamas, Ireland, Costa Rica, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Luxembourg, Panama and Belgium.
In 2018, Sysco was asked to support Freedom Academy, an Honorary Colonel-sponsored annual leadership academy for young leaders throughout the state of Utah to teach them the importance of all aspects of freedom, with a donation of food to help offset the cost of feeding approximately 100 high school senior delegates at Camp Williams, Utah, for a week. After learning about Freedom Academy and what it offers Utah’s youth, Sysco agreed without hesitation. Sysco donated 100 percent of the food costs and saved the program approximately $10,000. Since 2018, Sysco has provided 100 percent of the food costs associated with Freedom Academy and saved the program an estimated $50,000. Sysco continues its commitment to Utah’s youth by supporting the 60th Annual Freedom Academy again this year.
Mrs. Jennie Taylor is the wife and Gold Star Widow of Utah Army National Guard Major Brent Taylor, who was killed in action in Afghanistan in November of 2018 while on a leave of absence from his position as Mayor of North Ogden City, Utah. Dedicated to continuing her service to the nation, Mrs. Taylor was appointed to be Utah’s Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army in December of 2019 by Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. She sits on a Survivors Advisory Working Group through the office of the G-9 and under the Chief of Staff of the Army. She served as the family readiness group leader for her husband’s first two deployments to Iraq, servicing the families of 170 National Guard Soldiers throughout the state of Utah. Mrs. Taylor proudly supported her husband in his 15 years of military service, including four deployments to the Middle East.
She is the founder and director of the Major Brent Taylor Foundation, a member of the Weber School Foundation Board, a member of the executive committee for the Weber Chamber of Commerce Women in Business, a member and Board of Directors of Follow the Flag---North Ogden, a member and public affairs committee for Utah’s Days of ’47, Inc., and an active volunteer in her children’s public schools. Major and Mrs. Taylor are the parents of seven children. A former secondary educator of history, government and psychology classes, Mrs. Taylor has a passion for helping today’s youth prepare to become tomorrow’s leaders.