UTAH WOMEN & LEADERSHIP PROJECT
Fewer than 10 percent of Utah companies report having a woman as CEO, according to new research from the Utah State University’s Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP). Of the 710 companies reporting in the survey, 68 (9.6 percent) said their CEO is a woman. That’s up from 4.7 percent in 2018, the last time the survey was reported.
The UWLP first released research in 2014 about the status of women leaders in Utah business, with an update in 2018 to determine if progress had been made. The 2018 update reported a drop in women CEOs before the latest report showed an increase.
“Measuring progress, or lack thereof, is important so we are aware of what is happening, and we can work toward positive change,” said Susan Madsen, UWLP director and Karen Haight Huntsman Endowed Professor of Leadership in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at USU, and a report author.
The 2024 research report was 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.
Combining all leadership categories for the study (CEO, president, top manager), 253 of 1,239 (20.4 percent) top leadership roles were held by women, compared to 6.4 percent in 2018 and 11.6 percent 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.
Utah still has substantial work ahead to promote women to these leadership roles, Madsen said.
The top industry categories for women CEOs include educational services (28.6 percent), health care and social assistance (24.4 percent) and accommodation and food services (20.7 percent). The industries with the fewest women CEOs include real estate, rental, and leasing (0 percent); construction (1.1 percent); finance and insurance (2.4 percent); and transportation and warehousing (4.5 percent).
Regarding corporate boards, the recent study showed that 29 of 239 boards (12.1 percent) were chaired by women, up from 7 percent 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,’” said Madsen. “Either way, it is well worth the time and effort for current CEOs and board chairs to create diverse leadership teams as the business environment continues to be more globally competitive and tumultuous.”
The report also suggests ways to increase women in corporate leadership positions. The report suggests the following:
- 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.
“We hope the data and insights shared in this brief will spark discussion and assist companies in making needed structural changes to their leadership teams and corporate boards,” said Madsen. “This will add more value to Utah organizations and create opportunities and pathways to success for more Utah employees and companies.”
Additional report authors included Shirlayne Quayle, founder of the PowerLane Podcast and UWLP research associate; and Robyn Blackburn, UWLP research fellow.
The full report is available at the UWLP website, www.usu.edu/uwlp.