Utah Housing CFO Receives National Lifetime Achievement Award

Cleon P. Butterfield, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Utah Housing Corporation received national honors as the recipient of Smith’s Research & Gradings’ “Affordable Housing Finance Lifetime Achievement Award” for the year 2011.

 

The award was developed in 2004 to provide recognition to an individual who has made a lasting impact on the affordable housing finance market. SMITH’s Research & Gradings was founded in 1992 by Terence Smith to provide independent third party research and credit analytics for institutional investors. SMITH’s private Grading scale provides a comprehensive and unified credit comparison that ties — from supranational organizations and sovereign risk gradings to sub-sovereign municipal and corporate credit analytics.

 

Grant Whitaker, President & CEO of Utah Housing Corporation said, “Smith’s has taken the step to publicly acknowledge what we have known for a long time- Cleon is a tremendous asset to our Corporation and is second to none. We are fortunate to have his level of expertise working to continually develop resources to provide affordable housing for Utahns.”

 

Cleon is a Certified Public Accountant with extensive experience in public finance and has been an integral member of the leadership team at Utah Housing for over thirty years.  He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Utah and a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Brigham Young University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Utah Association of Certified Public Accountants, and the Government Finance Officers Association. Under his financial leadership, Utah Housing has issued over $7.5 billion in bonds since the Corporation’s creation in 1977.  The capital from these bonds has provided financing for over 64,000 moderately priced single family homes for first-time home buyers and over 22,000 affordable rental units for low-income families.

 

Upon acceptance of the award, Cleon said, “Thank you for this lifetime achievement award.  I am truly honored to have my name included among the distinguished list of past recipients.  I have been doing this for over thirty years and when I started at Utah Housing, it was a brand new agency.  Our operations were really not much more than a card table and a pad of paper; and with the help of a few loyal and dedicated people we have made Utah Housing what it is today.  I am very proud of our many accomplishments providing affordable housing in Utah.  My sincere hope for the future is that we will have the wisdom to continue to find innovative ways to provide affordable housing among today’s difficult challenges.”

 

Cleon resides in Bountiful with his wife, Marci, and his six children.  He enjoys helping others when they least expect it, learning, traveling and all types of sports.  He also loves running outdoors, reading biographies about inspirational leaders and anything to do with history. 

 

Utah Housing is the state’s leader in creating affordable housing solutions. As a public, not for profit corporation, Utah Housing provides mortgages for first-time home buyers, finances rental properties and develops special needs housing. 

 

For more information on affordable housing options, Utahns can visit Utah Housing’s website at www.utahhousingcorp.org, call 801-902-8200, or talk to their realtor or banker about Utah Housing mortgages or homes in their communities.