Jim Wood
A longtime expert and sage of Utah's housing industry has retired after more than a half-century of service.
Jim Wood, Ivory-Boyer Senior Fellow at the University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute and David Eccles School of Business, joined the Eccles School's Bureau of Economic and Business Research as a research analyst in the early 1970s. He served for nearly three decades as a senior research analyst and the bureau's director from 2002 to 2015. Since 2015, he has served as Ivory-Boyer Senior Fellow at the institute, where his work has continued to inform decision-makers.
His work includes over 100 research articles, including major studies on affordable housing programs and funding in Utah, the state's housing market, Salt Lake County apartment and real estate conditions, housing cost burdens for senior renters, and the effects of rapidly rising prices on housing affordability. With a distinctive beard and calm voice, he often presented his findings at public appearances along the Wasatch Front.
"Jim Wood represents the very best of the Gardner Institute and the University of Utah," said Natalie Gochnour, director of the Gardner Institute. "For more than 50 years, Jim has elevated public discourse with careful research, sound judgment and uncommon kindness. He is a true scholar, mentor and gentleman. I am deeply grateful for his service, his friendship, and the enduring example he has set for us all."
"Few individuals leave a legacy as enduring as Jim Wood's," said Kurt Dirks, dean of the Eccles School. "He is one of the state's most trusted voices on the housing and construction industry and has informed countless decisions that have strengthened our state. As he retires after a remarkable half-century of service, we express our profound gratitude for his contributions and celebrate the lasting impact he leaves on the University of Utah, the Eccles School and the people of Utah."
The institute said Wood's research helped shape the state's understanding of housing affordability, residential construction cycles, apartment markets, homelessness, foreclosure trends, and the broader relationship between economic growth and quality of life.
"In retirement, Jim leaves a legacy of rigorous scholarship, public-minded leadership, and generous mentorship," the institute said. "His decades of work have strengthened Utah's economic research infrastructure and provided decision-makers with objective, data-driven insight during periods of extraordinary growth and change."
