100 Companies Championing Women in 2025: Best Practices for Utah Companies

In this episode, we discuss a recently released research brief titled “100 Companies Championing Women in 2025: Best Practices for Utah Companies.” State leaders frequently emphasize Utah’s reputation as a hub of innovation and economic opportunity. Yet, for the 11th consecutive year, WalletHub ranked Utah as the worst state for women’s equality, placing it last in “workplace environment,” including income disparities and representation in leadership roles. Extensive research continues to confirm that many Utah women are not fully thriving in their workplaces. 

Recognizing this long-standing challenge, the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, the Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP), and the Cox–Henderson administration launched 100 Companies Championing Women (100 CCW) in 2022. Originally part of the Inspire InUtah campaign, the initiative aimed to highlight Utah businesses that are implementing strategies to recruit better, hire, retain, and advance women at all levels, including entrepreneurs. Due to its success, the program expanded into a three-year effort. Today, we will be looking more into the new brief, which summarizes data from the third and final year of the campaign. 

Dr. Susan Madsen, an Extension Professor of Leadership at Utah State University and the Founding Director of the UWLP and A Bolder Way Forward, is joined by Deborah Lin, Local Outreach & Resource Manager for the UWLP at Utah State University, who has assisted with the 100 Companies Championing Women nominations all three years of the campaign.