NORMAN HOWARD BANGERTER was born in Granger, Utah. He attended Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. A building contractor and a long-time veteran in Utah's homebuilding and real estate development industries, he is a former president of NHB Construction and a former secretary of Dixie-Six Land Development. He is a Navy veteran of the Korean War and served for ten years in the Utah Legislature, from 1974 to 1984. In 1980 he was elected speaker of Utah House of Representatives. He also served as majority leader and as assistant majority whip in the Utah House. He was named one of the top ten legislators in America by the National Republican Party in 1983. A keystone of his gubernatorial administration was to encourage business-oriented government, focusing on ways government could help economic growth. Efforts were made to bring new firms to the state, and Governor Bangerter was a proponent of the newly established Utah Technology Finance Corporation that provided startup funding to incipient high-technology businesses. He chaired the Western Governors' Association and the Interstate Oil Company Commission. He did not seek a third term and in 1993 retired to private life. Bangerter served as president of the South Africa Johannesburg Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1996-1999).