Joel Ferry is an American politician and rancher serving as a member of the

Utah House of Representatives The Utah House of Representatives is the lower house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The House is composed of 75 representatives elected from single member constituent districts. Each district cont ...

from the 1st district. Elected in 2018, he assumed office on January 2, 2019.

Early life and education

Ferry is a native of

Box Elder County, Utah Box Elder County is a county at the northwestern corner of Utah, United States. As of 2018, the estimated population is 54,950. Its county seat and largest city is Brigham City. The county was named for the box elder trees that abound in the co ...

and graduated from

Box Elder High School Box Elder High School (abbreviated BEHS) is a public high school located in Brigham City, Utah. Part of the Box Elder School District, it serves approximately 1,500 students in the 10th through 12th grades in Utah's Box Elder County. The school's ...

in 1996. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and finance from

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

Career

After graduating from college, Ferry worked as a banker at

Zions Bancorporation Zions Bancorporation is a bank holding company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Zions Bancorporation originated as Keystone Insurance and Investment Co., a Utah Corporation, in April 1955. In April 1960, Keystone, together with several in ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. Ferry later returned to

Corinne, Utah Corinne ( ) is a town in Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The population was 685 at the 2010 census. Geography Corinne is located in southeastern Box Elder County, on the west side of the Bear River. It is the last town on the river bef ...

to work on his family's farm with his father and uncle. Ferry has also served as the chairman of the Box Elder County Republican Party. In 2018, he was elected to the

, assuming office on January 2, 2019, and succeeding Scott Sandall. Ferry appeared at the signing ceremony of the

2018 United States farm bill The 2018 farm bill or Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 is an enacted United States farm bill that reauthorized $867 billion for many expenditures approved in the prior farm bill (the Agricultural Act of 2014). The bill was passed by the Senat ...

. He has expressed concern about the potential for the

Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particula ...

to dry up, comparing the effect to "a potential environmental nuclear bomb". In July 2022, Governor Spencer Cox nominated Ferry to serve as Utah Department of Natural Resources. The position requires confirmation by the

Utah State Senate The Utah State Senate is the upper house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The Utah Senate is composed of 29 elected members representing an equal number of senate districts. Each senate district is ...

Personal life

Ferry and his wife, Becca, have five children. His uncle, Ben Ferry, also served in the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferry, Joel Living people People from Box Elder County, Utah Utah State University alumni Republican Party members of the Utah House of Representatives Businesspeople from Utah 21st-century American politicians Year of birth missing (living people)