Salt Lake Community College has named Jay K. Francis and Patricia
R. Richards as 2019 Honorary Doctorate recipients. They will receive their
degrees at SLCC’s May 3 Commencement at the Maverik Center, 3200 S. Decker Lake
Drive, West Valley City.
Jay K. Francis
Francis is the executive vice president over Corporate
Affairs and Miller Family Philanthropy. Richards is president and CEO of
SelectHealth.
Francis studied business and communications at the
University of Utah. He started an advertising agency and grew his clientele. After
doing some work for the Utah Jazz, he accepted a position as their marketing
director. Since then, Francis has held several roles with the Larry H. Miller
Group of Companies, including overseeing its real estate arm and corporate
public events.
Francis is an avid golfer who helps lead the annual Gail
Miller Utah Leadership Cup event, which benefits SLCC students through
scholarships.
Patricia Richards
Richards began her career as a
general surgery and trauma nurse at the University of Michigan Medical Center.
She followed her nursing studies with a bachelor’s degree in communications
from the University of Toledo, where she also earned a master’s in public
health care administration.
During her time at SelectHealth,
the company has been chosen eight times as “highest in member satisfaction” by
JD Power and Associates. Richards was also named as Utah Business magazine’s
2013 CEO of the Year and appeared in the magazine’s 2018 list of Women of the
Year. Before joining SelectHealth in 2009, she served as executive
vice president and chief operating officer of Health Alliance Plan of Michigan.
She served on the SLCC Board of Trustees for five
years, and is particularly supportive of efforts to attract minority and
first-generation students to SLCC.