Nine Summit County employers recognized in statewide report on workplaces supporting women

PARK CITY, Utah — Nine Summit County employers are among 145 organizations recognized in a new statewide report on how Utah workplaces support women through policies ranging from flexible schedules and parental leave to child care, pay equity, and advancement opportunities.

The Utah State University Utah Women & Leadership Project released its 2026 Companies Championing Women report Thursday, offering a look at workplace practices that can shape whether women can enter the workforce, stay in their jobs, and move into leadership positions across Utah and in Summit County.

Summit County employers recognized this year are Alpine Distilling, Black Diamond Gymnastics and Sports Center, Maven, Momentous, Park City Lodging, PC Tots, Peace House, People’s Health Clinic and Summit County government.

Together, they represent a broad cross-section of the local economy, including hospitality, recreation, real estate, health care, child care, nonprofit services and local government in Summit County.

The report found that 6.2% of this year’s recognized employers have their home offices in Summit County, the third-largest share behind Salt Lake and Utah counties.

Several of the organizations have long-standing ties to the Park City area. Alpine Distilling operates in Park City, while Black Diamond Gymnastics and Sports Center is headquartered here and operates at Newpark. Maven is a Park City-based real estate firm, and Park City Lodging has operated locally since 1984.

Momentous, a sports nutrition and supplement company based in the Park City area, announced a major Summit County expansion in late 2025 that is expected to add 240 jobs over eight years, according to the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.

The local nonprofit sector is also represented. PC Tots operates three early childhood education centers in Park City. Peace House provides services and housing for people affected by interpersonal violence in Summit and Wasatch counties, and People’s Health Clinic provides free health care to uninsured residents in both counties.

Summit County government rounds out the list of local organizations and was also recognized by the initiative in 2025.

The Companies Championing Women initiative began in 2022 as a partnership between the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, the Utah Women & Leadership Project and the Cox-Henderson administration. City Journals now oversees the program, with UWLP and Sego Leadership continuing as partners.

For this year’s report, organizations submitted information about their workplace policies and programs through a UWLP survey. City Journals reviewed the applications for completeness and eligibility before recognizing organizations.

The recognition is based on employer-submitted information rather than an independent audit or ranking, and the report does not identify which specific policies Summit County employers reported.

Across the full group of 145 organizations, flexibility was one of the most common themes. About 88% reported offering flexible work hours, 85.5% offered some form of remote work, and 72.4% offered what the report describes as quality part-time positions.

Those policies can matter especially for workers balancing jobs with caregiving, a challenge the report identifies as a barrier that can push women out of the workforce or limit advancement.

Family-related benefits varied more widely. About 64% of employers reported paid maternity leave, 53.8% offered paid paternity leave, and 46.9% offered paid family leave. Only 28.3% reported providing some form of child care support, while 20.7% offered adoption or fertility benefits.

The report also looked beyond whether women can stay in the workforce to whether they have opportunities to advance once they are there.

About 67% of participating employers reported efforts to increase gender diversity in mid- and senior-level management. More than half reported women serving on boards, 45.1% offered mentoring or sponsorship programs, and nearly three-quarters reported some form of pay equity effort.

“Utah’s long-term economic success depends on workplaces that better support all Utahns,” Susan R. Madsen, founding director of UWLP and lead author of the report, said in announcing the findings. “This year’s CCW cohort shows that many employers are stepping forward with policies and practices that help women thrive at work, strengthen leadership pipelines, and improve overall workplace culture.”

The research comes as Utah continues to face broader disparities in women’s workforce participation, pay, and leadership representation, issues the Utah Women & Leadership Project has tracked for years.

The 145 organizations recognized this year range from businesses with fewer than 10 employees to employers with more than 1,000 workers. About 55% are for-profit companies, 38% are nonprofits, and 6% are government entities.

For Summit County, the list offers a local snapshot of a larger statewide conversation: not simply whether women are working, but what conditions allow them to build sustainable careers, care for their families, and move into leadership positions.