Board of Trustees
Jonathan Ruga, Esq., MBA, CPA
Founding Board Chair
Jonathan has a long history of community involvement in education, health and human services, and defending democracy, having served on the boards of the S.J. Quinney College of Law, The Road Home, St. Mark’s Hospital, and Alliance for a Better Utah. As CEO of Sentry Financial, he is primarily responsible for establishing Sentry’s strategic direction and co-leading the Equipment Financing Division (in addition to overseeing the two other divisions: Real Estate and Private Equity). Upon graduating from the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law in 1982, where he was a member of the Utah Law Review, Jonathan worked with the law firm of Parr, Brown, Gee & Loveless, where he specialized in the areas of financing and leasing, federal taxation, and real estate and business law. Jonathan and his wife, Tina, have three grown children and live in Salt Lake City.
Scott Young, Esq.
Founding Board Member
Scott is passionate about creating a better social system where the chances to succeed are shared equally by all. When not working on Lightspark initiatives, Scott co-leads Sentry Financial’s Equipment Financing Division, including establishing and maintaining Sentry’s equipment finance programs and its relationships with participating financial institutions. Prior to re-joining Sentry in 1998 after co-founding it in 1986, Scott was a partner with the law firm of Parr, Brown, Gee & Loveless, where his practice emphasized commercial litigation and the areas of equipment financing and general business and corporate law. Scott graduated from the University of Utah School of Business with an undergraduate degree in finance, and obtained a law degree from the University of Utah College of Law, where he was a member of the Utah Law Review. He and his wife, Carolyn, have four kids and live in Salt Lake City.
Jared Ruga, JD, MBA, MFA
Founding Board Member
Jared Ruga is an Emmy®-winning and GLAAD-nominated producer, writer, director, and creative executive charged with developing, financing, and producing meaningful content that engages audiences in conversation and action for a prosocial agenda. He performs most of these roles as CEO of Vavani Productions, an ethos-driven media production company he founded in 2017. In the nonprofit sector, Jared has served in various board, committee, and advisory roles at Sundance Institute, Voterise, Equality Utah, Restore Our Humanity, and the University of San Diego, and is Co-Founder and a Board Member of the Impact Guild. Jared earned JD, MBA, and MFA degrees from the University of Utah and BBA and dual-BA degrees from the University of San Diego, where he was inducted into multiple honors societies, including Phi Beta Kappa. He has also created and taught undergraduate classes at both of his alma maters. Jared lives in Los Angeles.