Now, Walker envisions a state where technology helps people do what they love, where they love; strengthens democracy; develops businesses; and gives hope for the future. Not too shabby for a woman who says, “as far as technology is concerned, I didn’t see TV until I was in junior high school.”

Walker received her Master’s at Stanford University. She remembers using carbon and Wite-Out to write her thesis. Now, she is using the Internet to help the citizens of Utah live more efficiently. Walker says there are 156 government services that Utahns can access online, many of which are 24-hour. “I can get up at 3 o’clock in the morning and register my vehicle or pay my taxes,” she jokes.

Walker is also spearheading government efforts to help the future of the elections process in Utah and nationwide. “We are one of three states under the Help America Vote Act that feel we have the technology to develop our own real-time voter registration system.” Because of the technology already in place, Utah is also helping Vermont and Missouri develop their own systems.

Additionally, Walker is using technological systems to help fulfill the basic needs of many Utahns. The Utah Cares web site, an online help network, has just been rolled out. If a person needs food or housing assistance, the network assists them to find resources in the area where they live. “I think we’re making great strides,” says Walker.

The governor of Utah has seen many great technological strides in her life for which she is downright grateful. She remembers retiring her typewriter for something a little more convenient. “By the time I got my Ph.D. you did it with a computer…it was a whole different world.” Walker believes the high-tech industry will help open a whole new world of business in urban and rural Utah.

Recently, Walker met a man who is living her vision for the future of rural Utah. He lives on a ranch between Blanding and Monticello, but he’s not a rancher. “You live on a ranch and you develop museum displays?” Walker asked him, in shock at this revelation. He explained that he travels to Europe two or three times a year, but could still do his work here and live wherever he wanted, This, he said, is all thanks to technology.

“I think that’s a symbolic story of what can happen in the future of rural Utah,” Walker says. In pursuit of that future, Walker helped initiate the Smart Sites program, which outsources technology jobs to rural Utah communities. There are currently 33 Smart Sites across the state. Walker says the original concept was that every site would do small projects, but now companies and communities are starting to catch the vision in a larger way. “Now the concept is we can do big projects if we all unite and go after the bids collectively,” says Walker.

The future of business in Utah’s technology sector looks brilliant, and the governor still has a few ideas up her sleeves. “We are certainly going to encourage greater partnerships between our research universities,” Walker says. Although still in the developmental stages, Walker has plans to use these virtually untapped resources. “We’ve got to enhance that dimension…and make that partnership between the private sector and the research universities even stronger.”

Walker is in constant wonder at all the technological advances she has seen in her lifetime. But, she says, “There are a lot of things yet to be developed and invented, and the opportunities are limitless.”

Somewhere between carbon, Wite-Out and a Monticello man’s international business, Walker has discovered the infinite ability of technology to touch lives and ultimately make them better.