The Status of Women Leaders in Utah Business

In 2014, the Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP) released a research and policy brief titled “The Status of Women Leaders in Utah Business.” The brief was updated in 2018 to determine if progress had been made in women’s leadership within Utah’s business sector. Unfortunately, in most areas, the percentages had decreased. Now, six years later, UWLP is providing yet another update. Thank you to my co-authors Shirlayne Quayle, UWLP research associate, and Robyn Blackburn, UWLP research fellow.

In our 2024 update, Utah data is compared with national data, and we reviewed the applicable literature addressing women in the highest levels of business leadership, including C-level positions and presence on executive corporate boards. Decades of research have found that companies benefit significantly when women hold top leadership roles. Measuring the progress (or lack of) is important for so we can work toward positive change.

The recent research is based on information from a list of Utah companies obtained from the Utah Department of Workforce Services’ FirmFind, an online directory of over 80,000 companies in Utah. Researchers pulled information on firms with at least 100 employees, and 2,032 companies comprised the initial population for the study.

Top Company Leaders

Some 710 companies reported having CEOs, 68 (9.6%) currently have women in that position. In 2018, 4.7% of Utah CEOs were women, showing a 4.9% increase in the last six years. 

Combining all leadership categories for the study (CEO, president, top manager), 253 of 1,239 (20.4%) top leadership roles were held by women, compared to 6.4% in 2018 and 11.6% in 2014. Importantly, in this year’s dataset, there were significantly more general managers than CEOs or presidents. Yet, overall, in the past six years, there has been a solid increase in the percentage of women serving in top leadership roles in Utah businesses having 100 or more employees.

The top industry categories for women CEOs include educational services (28.6%), health care and social assistance (24.4%), and accommodation and food services (20.7%). The industries with the fewest women CEOs include real estate, rental, and leasing (0%), construction (1.1%), finance and insurance (2.4%), and transportation and warehousing (4.5%).

Corporate Boards

Regarding women serving on corporate boards, the recent study showed that 29 of 239 boards (12.1%) were chaired by women, up from 7% in 2018. It also showed that boards with female chairs were more likely to have female directors and company CEOs. Although some business leaders continue to state they have difficulty finding qualified women to serve in top leadership positions or on corporate boards, others argue that the low representation of women has little to do with a lack of capable women and more to do with women not being as visible or networking as effectively as men (i.e., the good old boys club).

Conclusion & Recommendations

 We have lots of other details in this brief, so take a look to learn more. We suggest the following recommendations to increase the number of women in corporate leadership positions:

• Create a pipeline of women leaders by providing them with opportunities to be coached, mentored, trained, and stretched through new assignments.
• Educate and encourage top company leaders to become change agents and male allies by having women on boards and in the highest company leadership positions.
• Consider at least two women candidates for every director opening and ensure the company has one or more women on its board.
• Expand the pool of potential directors by looking beyond current CEOs to other executive-level candidates.
• Examine company practices to make changes to recruit, promote, and retain women leaders for executive positions and boards.

I am hopeful that the data in the research sparks discussions and assist companies in making needed structural changes to their leadership teams and corporate boards. Utah business leaders are encouraged to be thoughtful in terms of recruiting, promoting, and retaining prepared and competent women into top-level positions. This will only add more value to organizations throughout the state and create opportunities and pathways to success for more Utah employees and companies.

To read the full report, click here.

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 Dr. Susan R. Madsen is a global thought leader, author, speaker, and scholar on the topic of women and leadership. She is also the Karen Haight Huntsman Endowed Professor of Leadership in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University and the Founding Director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project.