A Conversation with Pat Jones on Women & Leadership

The Utah Women & Leadership Project invites you step into a world of inspiration and empowerment by joining our 2025 ten-part webinar “Women in Leadership Executive Speaker Series.” This series is a celebration of dynamic and influential women who have shattered the glass ceiling landscape in Utah.

For this webinar, Dr. Susan R. Madsen will interview Pat Jones, CEO of the Women’s Leadership Institute, on her thoughts about women and leadership. With her background and expertise in the business and political worlds as well as her ability to engage, collaborate, and lead, this conversation will include engaging stories and forthright advice. Pat’s passion around the potential and development of women as leaders in Utah will provide an important backdrop for her to share her insights and perspectives on why, where, and how women today are needed to influence, impact, and lead in all settings. She will also share her thoughts on male allyship and strategies she has found to work with community and business leaders toward positive change. Finally, Pat will respond to questions about her own leadership development journey and what she hopes for Utah moving forward. Come, listen, and learn from this important conversation!

Sponsors: Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University & Utah State University Extension

Panelist

Pat Jones was tapped as CEO for the Women’s Leadership Institute because of her background and expertise in the business and political worlds as well as her ability to engage, collaborate and lead. The Women’s Leadership Institute was created in January 2015 through the visionary efforts of key business leaders to address Utah’s deficiencies in the presence of women at top levels of corporate and political leadership. As co-founder and former President of Dan Jones & Associates, a successful public opinion and market research firm for 35 years, Jones helped lead and manage the company while serving on numerous community and company boards. She is an experienced and highly regarded researcher, specializing in qualitative research, having conducted hundreds of focus groups throughout the country for a variety of industries since 1980. Pat served in the Utah Legislature for 14 years, serving in leadership positions 12 of those years. She was a member of the Utah House of Representatives from 2000-2006 and was elected to the Utah Senate in 2006-2014, serving eight years there, including serving as the first female leader in either party and in either House. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Utah in communications. Pat currently serves on numerous state boards, including the Board of Trustees at Utah Tech University. She received an honorary doctorate from Salt Lake Community College in 2024.

Moderator

Dr. Susan R. Madsen is considered one of the top global scholars and thought leaders on the topic of women’s leadership, has authored or edited nine books, and has published hundreds of articles, chapters, and reports. Her research has been cited in the U.S. News and World Report, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Parenting Magazine, Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. She is also a regular contributor to Forbes and other local and state newspapers. Professor Madsen is the Karen Haight Huntsman Endowed Professor of Leadership in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University and serves on many nonprofit and community boards. She is also the Founding Director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project, the visionary behind Utah’s A Bolder Way Forward, and her passion is to strengthen the impact of girls and women in Utah and worldwide.

Host or Publisher Utah Women & Leadership Project