SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jani Iwamoto (District 4) was appointed as Minority Leader of the Salt Lake County Council for 2011. As Minority Leader, Iwamoto will represent the Democratic Caucus on the Council. Salt Lake is the largest County in Utah.

Iwamoto is reportedly the first Asian American to be elected to public office in the state of Utah. She was elected to a four-year term on the County Council in 2008.

Currently, she is the only woman on the County Council. She is chair of the Public Works subcommittee and Multiple Building Authority committees and is a member of the Executive and Fund Balance Subcommittees.

Iwamoto serves on many other boards, including serving as a trustee of the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, to which she was appointed by former Governor Jon M. Huntsman Jr. and reappointed by Gov. Gary Herbet.

Iwamoto graduated magna cum laude in mass communications from the University of Utah. She received her law degree from the University of California Davis School of Law.

Iwamoto has been active in many community organizations both in California and in Utah. In California, she was active with the Bar Association of San Francisco, Barristers Club of San Francisco, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and Nihonmachi Legal Outreach, among others.

In Utah, she served as vice president of the Japanese Community Preservation Committee, Inc., served on the executive board of the Asian Association of Utah, was a member of the Howard R. Driggs School Community Council and served on the No! Coalition, a bipartisan committee established by Gov. Mike Leavitt to oppose high-level nuclear waste, among others.