2021 Keynote Speaker

Dr. Susan Madsen

Dr. Susan R. Madsen is the Inaugural Karen Haight Huntsman Endowed Professor of Leadership in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. She is also the Founding Director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project, which focuses on strengthening the impact of Utah girls and women. Through the years, Professor Madsen has written a host of Utah research and policy briefs and snapshots, reports, and op-eds. She is also a well-known global scholar, publishing six books and hundreds of articles, chapters, and reports. Madsen’s research has been featured in the U.S. News and World Report, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Parenting Magazine, Chronicle of Higher Education, The Washington Post, and she is a regular contributor to Forbes. She speaks globally, and in the past year did keynotes in the United Arab Emirates, the UK, Lithuania, Germany, and Denmark. She serves on or advises many nonprofit, community, and education boards and committees, including Silicon Slopes, Envision Utah, Better Days 2020, Real Women Run, United Way of Utah County, Utah Financial Empowerment Coalition, the Utah Governor’s Transition Team, and more. Madsen received a bachelor’s degree from BYU, masters from Portland State University, and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota