UTES Wealth Strategies

Decision-making flows through the family's senior leadership, with Chairwoman Gail Miller and her son Steve Miller overseeing the primary allocation between operating businesses and financial investments. The office employs investment professionals but does not publicly disclose the names of its CIO or senior investors. Major strategic moves — like the sale of the Jazz or the acquisition of the Salt Lake Bees — are board-level family decisions.

Larry H. Miller bought his first Toyota dealership in Murray, Utah, in 1979, building it into the Larry H. Miller Group — at one point the eighth-largest auto retailer in the United States by sales volume. The family expanded into movie theaters (Megaplex Theatres), television (KJZZ-TV), and professional sports, buying the Utah Jazz in two tranches in 1985 and 1986. The 2020 sale of the Jazz to Ryan Smith crystallized a major portion of the family's liquid net worth.

It is a single-family office. UTES does not offer investment services to outside families, does not register as an RIA with external clients, and exists solely to manage the capital and business interests of Larry H. Miller's heirs and the family foundation. The office's structure reflects the Millers' intent to function as permanent-capital stewards, not as a for-profit wealth-management platform.

Both, though the weighting leans heavily toward direct ownership of operating companies. The Miller family holds a majority stake in the Larry H. Miller Group, which operates automotive dealerships, real estate, and sports assets. Alongside that core, UTES allocates to external private equity funds and direct co-investments, particularly in projects with a Utah or Intermountain West connection. The office does not publicly disclose its fund-commitment criteria.

The Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation is a legally distinct 501(c)(3) entity that handles all charitable giving, including major gifts to education, healthcare, and homelessness initiatives in Utah. The foundation draws its funding from the family's wealth, but its governance and grant-making operate independently of UTES Wealth Strategies. This separation is typical for large single-family offices seeking clear compliance and mission boundaries.

There is no public evidence that UTES syndicates its direct investments to external co-investors on a deal-by-deal basis. The family office's transactions, particularly in real estate development like the Daybreak master-planned community, appear to be structured through joint ventures with established developers rather than broad co-investment syndicates. The office itself draws no outside management fees and operates purely on proprietary capital.

The office does not publish exclusion criteria, but its investment history shows a clear preference for tangible assets, regulated consumer businesses, and real estate over speculative technology, venture capital, or highly leveraged financial strategies. Given the family's roots in auto retail and community-based enterprises, the portfolio reflects a bias toward cash-flowing, asset-heavy businesses in the Intermountain West; there is no reported exposure to cryptocurrency, commodity trading, or international emerging markets.