Utah Talent Forum planning team

Stuart Larson - President, Ferron Creek, LLC

Stuart (Stu) Larson is the founder and president of Ferron Creek, LLC, a leadership and organizational development consultancy based in Salt Lake City. Stu is passionate about building stronger, more resilient leaders and teams in small to mid-sized organizations.

Stu is a seasoned executive and coach with over 30 years of experience leading global and domestic teams for large organizations including Vista Outdoor, Panera Bread, Monsanto Company, and Solutia Inc. Stu also taught as an adjunct professor of leadership at Maryville University in St. Louis.

Stu currently serves as a Senior Fellow for the Conference Board (a New York-based think tank) within their Leadership Institute. He also serves on the Executive Committee for the Board of Directors of Bike Utah. 

Stu earned a master’s degree in organizational behavior from the Marriott School of Business at BYU where he graduated with honors. He also earned a BS in organizational communication from the University of Utah. 

 Although Stu was born, raised, and educated in Utah, he lived 20 years in other parts of the country before returning in 2015. Stu is an avid skier, cyclist, hiker/backpacker, and ultimate frisbee player and is still recovering from his time away from the mountains.

To learn more about Stu and Ferron Creek, LLC, visit ferroncreek.com. Or contact Stu directly at stuart.larson@ferroncreek.com.

Edward Stanworth - Founder and President of Hadrian Executive Search.

Before founding the firm, Ed held various HR executive roles with Bridgestone Americas, Halliburton, and Pepsi Bottling Group.  He has a demonstrated track record of designing and implementing successful HR solutions to address complex business issues.  Moreover, he has built out global teams to be more strategic and that enable the business to deliver stronger bottom-line performance.

As a search practitioner, he’s seen the criticality of leadership and how a new leader can energize a division, transform a function, or provide crucial strategic reorientation.  He has led searches across the Americas, Europe, and Africa--from the Board and C-suite level to other critical roles deep into the organization.  Ed is passionate about safeguarding the client’s brand throughout the search process and providing an exceptional candidate experience.

He has been an active member of both West Virginia University’s MSHRM Advisory Board and Brigham Young University’s OBHR Advisory Council and has been a featured speaker at many universities and non-profit organizations.  Recently, he has been actively involved with the Urban League of Middle Tennessee—establishing and leading a mentoring program with the UL’s Young Professionals—pairing seasoned leaders with the UL’s emerging professionals.

After many moves across the U.S. and a 3-year assignment in the UK, he calls Nashville, Tennessee home with his wonderful wife Laura and their 3 sons.  He loves exploring the wilds of Tennessee’s forests, rivers, and caves and is always aspiring to take his mountain biking skills to the next level

Vice President of People, Ecowize North America 

Brackon Curtis is a visionary HR executive and organizational development strategist with over two decades of experience driving hyper-growth, building high-performing cultures, and scaling people functions from hundreds to thousands of employees. Known for his ability to align human resources strategy with aggressive business objectives, Brackon specializes in executive coaching, total rewards, data-driven people analytics, and large-scale M&A integration.

Currently, Brackon serves as the Vice President of People for Ecowize North America, where he architects the overarching talent strategy, revitalizes HR technology ecosystems, and leads total rewards and compliance frameworks to support rapid continental expansion. Committed to elevating the broader talent landscape, he also serves on the Planning Board of the Utah Talent Forum and holds advisory and founding roles with WorksenseAI, Startup Experts, and the Society for People Analytics.

Throughout his distinguished career, Brackon has held executive and senior leadership roles at high-profile, fast-paced organizations, including serving as Chief People Officer at Hawx—where he expanded the workforce to 1,200+ employees and helped drive a 320% revenue increase—and Senior Director of People at Recursion, where he navigated the company through a successful IPO and rapid post-IPO international expansion. His career also features impactful leadership tenures at LendingClub, Extra Space Storage, Kiewit, T-Mobile, and Gallup.

A champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion, Brackon has a proven track record of launching successful corporate DEI strategies and continuous-listening employee engagement models. He holds a Master of Public Administration with an emphasis in Human Resources from Brigham Young University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from La Sierra University.

Based in Saratoga Springs, Utah, Brackon balances his professional life with a passion for the outdoors. He is an avid cyclist, skateboarder, hiker, and snowshoer, and enjoys cooking for his family (and is particularly well-known for making a mean bolognese sauce).

Principal Researcher, Human Capital
The Conference Board

Erka Amursi is a Principal Researcher in the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. Her human capital management research to-date has broadly focused on organizational effectiveness and development, change management, learning and development, employee engagement, and mental health. 

Prior to joining The Conference Board, Erka served as an organizational effectiveness senior consultant at Slalom Consulting, providing advisory services to clients in diverse industries and collaborating with cross-functional teams to design and implement interventions to enhance change implementation, employee engagement, and overall organizational performance. Previously, she spent five years as an HR program manager and as a learning and organizational development specialist at Montefiore Health System in New York.

In addition, prior to moving to the United States, Erka was a researcher and health promotion specialist at the Albanian Institute of Public Health, where she conducted numerous studies on public and mental health issues. She has been an adjunct lecturer at Hunter College, CUNY, and at other universities in Albania. Erka holds an MA in organizational psychology from Columbia University and an MA in counselling psychology from the University of Tirana, Albania.

Recent PhD Graduate in Organizational Behavior from the University of Utah

Dane Cannon recently earned his PhD in Management, with an emphasis in Organizational Behavior, from the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. 

His work sits at the intersection of behavioral science, analytics, and strategy, using rigorous research and applied data science to help organizations better understand people and improve performance. Dane also brings more than a decade of experience in operations and growth leadership, including founding an event-production startup and advising organizations in healthcare, AI, and AgTech. He also holds an MBA and a Master of Science in Finance from the University of Utah.