Utah Hive Politicsfrom the publisher of The Weber County HiveThe people's publication. We investigate what's best for the public as a whole, not any party or special interest.CEO of the Utah Association of Realtors — and, through the same firm, a registered lobbyist for the association he runs, plus roughly 30 other paying clients, including a state land agency.
Chris Kyler is chief executive of the Utah Association of Realtors (UAR), the statewide trade group for Utah's real estate industry. He is also a partner at Kyler Kohler Ostermiller & Sorensen, LLP (KKOS), the government-affairs firm that carries his own name — and through it, he is UAR's own registered lobbyist. The organization he leads is also his own client.
His current lobbyist.utah.gov registration lists his business address as 230 W Towne Ridge Pkwy Ste 500, Sandy — the same suite as UAR's own offices. He has been registered as a Utah lobbyist continuously since December 2012.
Per UAR's 2024 Form 990 (filed with the IRS, available through ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer): $834,163 in reported compensation, plus $74,344 in other compensation — a combined total of $908,507.
Kyler's current lobbyist registration lists 30 active principals — clients paying him to represent their interests to state government, alongside his day job running UAR. The client roster spans real estate and housing groups, but also reaches well outside that industry:
| Client | Sector / notes |
|---|---|
| Utah Association of Realtors | His own employer |
| School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) | State land agency — client since Jan. 2025 |
| Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce | Business advocacy |
| Utah Rental Housing Association / Utah Housing Alliance / Utah Property Rights Coalition | Housing/property industry |
| Airbnb, Uber, Comcast, Western Governors University | National corporate/institutional |
| Enbridge Inc., CommonSpirit Health, TMX Finance | Energy, healthcare, finance |
| TKO Law & Advocacy | His own firm/DBA |
Kyler isn't lobbying alone. Fellow KKOS partner Mike Ostermiller — CEO of the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors and a Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) board member since 2008 — registers and drops several of the same clients on nearly identical dates: Blue Castle Holdings (2014-2016), Sutherland Institute (2020-), Critical Infrastructure Materials Coalition (2019-), the Utah Inland Port Authority (2022), and Libertas Institute, among others. The register shows the two KKOS partners adding and dropping these same clients on matching dates, which goes beyond two lobbyists who happen to work at the same firm.
A Feb. 12, 2012 Deseret News column by veteran political columnists Frank Pignanelli and LaVarr Webb named the two directly: "Under the leadership of Chris Kyler and Michael Ostermiller, the Realtors often prevail." The description of their partnership and legislative reach is not new — it was already public, mainstream knowledge 14 years before this file was compiled.
Both men were also named as co-defendants, along with the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors, in Bates v. Utah Association of Realtors MLS (Utah Court of Appeals, 2013). The case was dismissed on statute-of-limitations grounds and never reached the merits.
A principal on his current registration is listed as "APS," address 12894 S Pony Express, Draper, UT, purpose stated as "education management services." That address and description are consistent with American Preparatory Schools/Academy, but no entity registered under the exact name "APS" turns up in a Division of Corporations search — lobbyist filings often use informal client shorthand rather than a registered legal name. Not confirmed as the same organization.
Kyler is UAR's registered agent of record with the state, at UAR's own office address. UAR's corporate filing lists Steven Bond as President, with Stephanie Taylor as Vice President and Robert Ockey as Treasurer — while other sourcing describes Taylor and Ockey with different titles. Corporate officer-of-record titles and an association's own internal leadership titles can differ; this hasn't been reconciled against UAR's own current website or Form 990 listing.
Utah Hive Politicsfrom the publisher of The Weber County HiveIndependent · Accountability · JournalismThe Weber County Hive and Utah Hive Politics: the people's publication. We investigate what's best for the public as a whole, not for any party or special interest group. We report public records. You decide.
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