Shannon Francis edged into a seat in the back of her Marriott School Executive MBA classroom, trying not to draw attention to herself since she was among the few not wearing a suit. "Then about twenty minutes late, Steven waltzed in the door in rumpled, wrinkled casual attire, and I said to myself, ‘We could get along!'" Besides that, Shannon was sure that it meant he was single.
Eight months and dozens of study groups later, Steven Clegg finally asked Shannon out for the first time and proposed that same night—the last day of March. The next day they had fun trying to convince classmates, family, and friends that it wasn't an April Fool's joke. The next week Shannon brought a cake into finance class to make the announcement. The cake was decorated with the words, "Steven bites the dust!"
Steven is cofounder of EmergeCore Networks and has been selected to serve as president and CEO of the company responsible for strategic positioning and financial growth. EmergeCore, located in Salt Lake City, constructs equipment for high-speed switching and routing applications that run the web.
Before joining EmergeCore, Steven was senior vice president of sales and marketing at Phobos Corporation, which was recently acquired by Sonic Wall. In addition, Steven founded and continues to maintain management of Beacon Strategies, an Internet and telecommunications consulting company.
Shannon has worked for Intermountain Health Care (IHC) since 1984, where she has held positions as director of physician recruitment, manager of the perinatal outreach program, and staff nurse in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. Two years ago, she completed her International Board Certification to become a lactation consultant. She also participates on two corporate policy committees for IHC: Continuous Quality Improvement Team for Breastfeeding and the Corporate Perinatal Outreach Education Committee.
The Cleggs have six children, five under the age of ten, and reside in Fruit Heights, Utah.
