About Us

Michael L. Van Orden - Bio

• Mike was born and raised in Salt Lake City, UT where he attended and graduated from the University of Utah with a BS in Business Management. Mike’s entire career has revolved around technology where it started working for a defense contractor building and testing guidance control systems for the military. Mike then moved into computer programming and IT management. 

• In 2001 Mike was hired as the CTO of a small retail company in Utah and Idaho, Sportsman’s Warehouse. During Mike’s 18-year tenure at Sportsman’s Warehouse he helped grow the small 5 store retail company into a nationwide retailer with approximately 90 stores, from Alaska to South Carolina. Mike gained valuable experience at Sportsman’s Warehouse as the company went through a bankruptcy during the financial crisis in 2008-09, a successful exit from bankruptcy and a subsequent successful IPO (SPWH), where his career was highlighted with the ringing of the bell at NASDAQ. 

• Mike then moved to the CIO at Larry H. Miller Dealerships, one of the top 10 largest dealership groups in the nation. While there he completely redesigned the network and implemented best of breed software and hardware for SDWAN, Cybersecurity and Compliance. LHM Dealerships was acquired by the publicly traded company Asbury Automotive (ABG) in Dec 2021.

• For most of Mike’s career he has been involved with the Utah chapter of the Association of Information Management (AIM) and their quarterly CIO Roundtables. In September 2023 Mike was one of the founding members in the AIM Artificial Intelligence Special Interest Group (AISIG) as the Chair-Elect. This group’s charter is to assess AI technologies and disseminate this information back to the greater AIM group membership of over 300. This past year he has been heavily involved in AI with the weekly AISIG meetings, numerous AI speakers invited to the AIM meetings, the Imagine AI conference in Las Vegas and much trial and error. With AI changing the landscape across all business sectors, Mike is excited to be emersed in the AI tsunami. 

• Outside of work, Mike & his wife and dogs spend time at their cabin in Star Valley, WY, where he enjoys fly fishing, golfing and hiking.