Chamber Luncheon featuring Huntsman World Senior Games CEO Kyle Case

Join the Chamber in our CEO luncheon as we feature Huntsman World Senior Games CEO Kyle Case.  He will be speaking about his management style, and his experience with the Utah Summer Games and currently the Huntsman World Senior Games.

Kyle M Case was born on a cold January day in 1974 in Ashton, Idaho, to parents Wes and Kathleen Case.  He was the second of what would eventually become six children. 

“I loved growing up in Ashton,” says Kyle of the tiny farming community famous for seed potatoes and state champion wrestling teams.  Kyle’s older brother, Des, was involved in pretty much every sport available, year around, and consequently, so was Kyle. 

“I was a fair athlete, and had some success, but my three brothers were the real deal,” Kyle said.

In high school Kyle wrestled, played football and participated in the show choir and the musicals that were put on each year at North Fremont High School.  With less than 40 kids in his graduating high school class, participation in extra-curricular activities was more out of necessity than out of any real talent, Kyle jokes. 

The summer after high-school graduation, Kyle worked as a lumberjack in the mountains of Downey, Idaho, where he learned to use a chainsaw with some proficiency.  When he turned 19, he accepted the call to serve a mission for his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He spent two years in the northeastern part of Brazil where he learned Portuguese and to love the incredible people of that country.

Within six months of his return to the United States, Kyle was married to the love of his life, Mindy Hyde, who also came from a small town, Delta, Utah.  People often ask where they met and are sometimes surprised when they find out the two met in Brazil.  Mindy also served a mission there.  Missionaries are not allowed to date while they serve, so the romance didn’t blossom until they had both returned home.

The young couple moved to Cedar City, Utah, so they could manage an apartment complex and reap the benefits of free rent.

“We were so poor when we stated out,” said Kyle.  “Everything we owned was second hand, but we were happy.”

A year after they were married, a girl, McKinley, arrived and made the couple a family.  A year later, after an especially challenging week of trying to make ends meet on straight commissions, Kyle mentioned off-hand that maybe he ought to go to college.

“I don’t think the words had even left my mouth before Mindy had called the admissions office at Southern Utah University and registered me for my first semester,” said Kyle.

Kyle worked different jobs while he went to school including an ad salesman for the University newspaper, a religious video door-to-door salesman during the summer months and a graphic designer at a company that created training videos for technology topics.

About a year after he started school at SUU, a son, Christian was born. 

It was also during his time at SUU that Kyle began down the path of sports management.

“A friend and I did an internship with the Utah Summer Games which was hosted on campus” said Kyle.  “We designed the advertising for the Summer Games one year and I just fell in love with the concept.”

Kyle stayed on and worked in various capacities with the event, designing their website, working as the Racquetball Co-Coordinator and just helping out wherever he could, most of the time as a volunteer.  When the opportunity to apply for the position of director came up, Kyle jumped at the chance.  He was offered the job.  He was 29 years old.

“I was pretty young, but I had such a passion for the event and what it was and what it could become,” said Kyle.

One of the things he is most proud of is his involvement as an athlete in every Utah Summer Games in which he was the director, a different sport each year.  He competed in an Olympic-distance triathlon, Swimming, Power Tumbling, Diving and Pole Vaulting.

In 2007 the opportunity to apply for the CEO position of the Huntsman World Senior Games came up.  He did, and was offered the job.  This year will be Kyle’s fifth year as CEO of the Games, and he has enjoyed every minute of it.