The University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute and David Eccles School of Business announced the retirement of Jim Wood, Ivory-Boyer Senior Fellow, following more than 50 years of distinguished service to the university and the state of Utah. Jim’s research helped shape the state’s understanding of housing affordability, residential construction cycles, apartment markets, homelessness, foreclosure trends, and the broader relationship between economic growth and quality of life. His extensive body of work includes over 100 research articles, including major studies on affordable housing programs and funding in Utah, the state’s housing market, Salt Lake County apartment and real estate conditions, housing cost burdens for senior renters, and the effects of rapidly rising prices on housing affordability.
Jim joined the Eccles School’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research as a research analyst in the early 1970s, serving for nearly three decades as a senior research analyst, and leading the bureau as director from 2002 to 2015. Since 2015, he has served as Ivory-Boyer Senior Fellow at the Gardner Institute, where his work has continued to inform decision-makers.
“Jim Wood represents the very best of the Gardner Institute and the University of Utah,” said Natalie Gochnour, director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. “For more than 50 years, Jim has elevated public discourse with careful research, sound judgment, and uncommon kindness. He is a true scholar, mentor, and gentleman. I am deeply grateful for his service, his friendship, and the enduring example he has set for us all.”
“Few individuals leave a legacy as enduring as Jim Wood’s. He is one of the state’s most trusted voices on the housing and construction industry and has informed countless decisions that have strengthened our state. As he retires after a remarkable half-century of service, we express our profound gratitude for his contributions and celebrate the lasting impact he leaves on the University of Utah, the Eccles School, and the people of Utah,” said Kurt Dirks, dean of the David Eccles School of Business.
In retirement, Jim leaves a legacy of rigorous scholarship, public-minded leadership, and generous mentorship. His decades of work have strengthened Utah’s economic research infrastructure and provided decision-makers with objective, data-driven insight during periods of extraordinary growth and change.