Name: David Jungheim
BYU employee since… 2014 but I have worked on campus since 2006 as BYU ARMY ROTC faculty
My job at BYU is… BYU MBA Alumni Manager where I try to live by the following guiding principles:
- What am I doing to better understand and meet the needs of our alumni?
- What am I doing to empower alumni to give back in meaningful ways?
I’m currently working on…
- Producing the fourth edition of the MBA Annual Report
- Managing the MBA e-store, which provides MBA-branded apparel to students and alumni
- Planning the 60th Anniversary of the MBA Program
- Helping develop a new global MBA Program
- Working with alumni to grow endowments that provide scholarships to current students
I’m currently reading… “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma” by Bessel van der Kolk.
I get most excited about my work when… I feel that my efforts are directly blessing student and alumni lives.
The best-kept BYU secret is... the power of its alumni network.
My go-to BYU Creamery ice cream flavor is... Chocolate Chip Mint.
My favorite BYU tradition is... the devotionals because I believe in life-long learning.
My favorite spot on campus is... along the river (SW corner) because I am a nature lover, and it’s close to the SFH gym.
My favorite Cougar athlete is... Cosmo.
My most cherished memory at BYU is... a toss-up between flying over the stadium of fire in my AH-64D Apache helicopter and meeting my wife at the FLSR.
On Saturday mornings you’ll find me... doing chores with my kids and then working on my Lego artwork or my nature photography.
My go-to comfort food is... hamburgers, brats and potatoes or homemade sourdough pizza.
You’ll never find me without... an opinion . . . or a camera.
The title of my autobiography would be... "How Lego Bricks Shaped my Eternal Destiny."
My work with LEGO Technic resulted in my scoring in the 98th percentile for mechanical aptitude on my military entrance exam. This led to a career... in Army Aviation as a mechanic and later as an Army Aviator flying the AH-64 Apache for about 15 years. I once played Lego with the younger brother of a cute girl at BYU. This led to his recommendation that she go on a date with me, which led to getting sealed in the SLC Temple and 5 children. My wife encouraged me to build the SLC Temple out of over 20k Lego bricks, which led to a Marriott School of Business blog post that went viral, resulting in the creation of my LLC “Inspired Bricks” and ongoing commissions to build things out of Lego like the 59,000 piece build of the Brigham Young Academy which is on the main floor of the BYU Store.
I’m most looking forward to... a creative and meaningful life.
My favorite quote is... “You can either be patient, or you can become one.”
My favorite TV show growing up was... "Star Trek the Next Generation" . . . Jean Luc Picard was one of my most meaningful role models.
One item on my bucket list is... to inspire others to tap into their own creative genius.
My fondest memory from my childhood is... when we immigrated to the United States.
My dream car is... my Kawasaki Z650 motorcycle, named Calcifer… My future dream car is an electric car that uses a carbon-based “super, super capacitors,” which charge almost instantly, have unlimited charges and are way more environmentally friendly than lithium batteries.
