Lew W. Cramer

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Lew W. Cramer (born 1949) is an American businessman and former government official. He was born in San Francisco and spent part of his youth in Okinawa, where his father was stationed with the U.S. military. He began his college studies at Stanford University, and as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he was encouraged by his LDS bishop, Henry B. Eyring, to serve a mission. He served in the Germany Berlin Mission. After his mission, he studied at Brigham Young University, completed his undergraduate work, and attended law school there. He practiced law in Los Angeles and in the San Francisco Bay Area for several years. In 1984 he helped prepare for the Los Angeles Olympics.

He then moved to Washington as a White House Fellow working for Ronald Reagan. He later held various positions in the Commerce Department, ending as Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service by recess appointment, a unit with about 1,400 staff in 68 U.S. offices and 125 foreign offices. He was involved in trade negotiations with Eastern Bloc countries from 1988 to 1990 and helped expand business into Eastern Europe. After leaving federal service, he started an international business consulting firm with Jake Garn. He later became international vice president for U.S. West (now MediaOne). He contributed the Abinadi article to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. From 2003 to 2005 he led the J. Reuben Clark Law Society. In 2006 he was recruited by Jon Huntsman Jr. to form the World Trade Center Utah, a position he held until 2013. He is the CEO of Colliers International-Utah, a commercial real estate company. Since 2013 he has been stake president of the Salt Lake Ensign Stake, and he has served on Utah Valley University’s national presidential advisory board.