Brigham Young University President C. Shane Reese announced the hiring of Hal Boyd as the president’s chief of staff. Boyd will begin working in this newly created role on May 6.
“Hal brings tremendous gifts and talents to BYU,” President Reese said. “He has excellent communication skills and tremendous leadership and organizational mastery. This unique set of gifts, coupled with his understanding and commitment to our shared mission and ‘Becoming BYU,’ will be such a blessing to our campus, our leadership and our students and employees.”
Boyd most recently worked as the editor of the Deseret News. Prior to that role, he served as an associate professor and director of public scholarship in the School of Family Life at BYU. He also spent time as the opinion editor and an enterprise reporter for the Deseret News.
Boyd also was a special assistant to the president at Eastern Kentucky University. He is a fellow of BYU's Wheatley Institute, a position he has held since 2018.
Boyd has written for various national outlets, including The Atlantic, The New York Times, CNN, NBC News, First Things and The National Review. He has also written several books with colleagues, including “Psalms of Nauvoo,” “Are Christians Mormon?” and “College for the Commonwealth.”
Boyd graduated from Yale Law School in 2016. He also earned a bachelor’s degree from BYU in philosophy.
