On November 11, the Salt Lake Chamber will honor seven outstanding businesswomen at the 50th annual Women & Business Conference and ATHENA Awards Luncheon. Among this year’s honorees is Abby Osborne, vice president of impact, engagement and enterprise operations for the Utah 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Organizing Committee and a 2026 Pathfinder Award honoree. Learn more about Osborne and her career below:
If you could talk to yourself at the beginning of your career, what would you tell her about leadership?
I would tell her that you don’t have to have everything figured out before you step forward. Some of the best opportunities in my career came before I felt completely ready for them. You don’t have to feel ready to be ready for what comes next.
Leadership isn’t about knowing every answer — it’s about being willing to listen, make decisions, work hard and surround yourself with good people. I’d also tell her to trust her instincts a little sooner. Your experiences, even the ones that don’t seem connected at the time, are preparing you for what comes next.
And I’d remind her that your career doesn’t have to follow a straight line to be leading you somewhere important.
When you picture Utah in 2034, what do you hope your leadership helped make possible?
I hope we look back and realize the Games were about much more than hosting incredible Olympic and Paralympic competition. The Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place over a matter of weeks. Our impact should last for generations.
I want young people across Utah to feel like these Games belonged to them and that they opened doors — to participate in sport, volunteer, pursue a career or simply dream bigger about what is possible.
I also hope we use this opportunity to strengthen Utah for the long term. If we do this right, 2034 will be a milestone, not the finish line. The real measure of success will be what remains for our communities and the next generation.
What do you believe the 2034 Games can do for Utah beyond the two weeks of competition?
The opportunity is enormous because we have eight years to build toward the Games and decades to benefit from them afterward. We can increase participation in sport, strengthen our communities, create opportunities for young people, grow Utah’s economy and workforce and establish Utah as a global home for winter sport.
What excites me most is the ability to involve the entire state. Not everyone will attend an event in 2034, but every Utahn should have an opportunity to feel connected to the Games and benefit from them in some way.
Our job isn’t simply to bring the world to Utah in 2034. It’s to make sure the Games leave Utah better than they found it. That is the legacy I want us to build.
The Pathfinder Award recognizes people who create new opportunities for women. What does being a “pathfinder” mean to you based on your own experiences?
To me, being a pathfinder means you don’t just walk through a door when it opens for you — you make sure the door stays open for the women coming behind you.
I have benefited throughout my career from people who saw something in me, gave me opportunities and trusted me with responsibility before I necessarily saw myself in that role. That has shaped how I try to lead.
I want women on my teams to have meaningful opportunities, to be in the rooms where decisions are made and to know their voices matter. Leadership isn’t just about where you go. It’s about who has more opportunity because you were there.
Success is much more meaningful when you can use it to create opportunities for others.
What does receiving the Pathfinder Award mean to you?
It is incredibly meaningful, particularly coming from the Salt Lake Chamber. The Chamber was an important chapter in my own career and a place where I learned how powerful collaboration can be when people are willing to work across organizations and sectors toward something bigger than themselves.
I’m also very aware that no career is built alone. I’ve had mentors, colleagues, friends and family who have supported me, challenged me and opened doors for me along the way.
None of us gets where we are entirely on our own. The best way to honor the people who helped you is to become that person for someone else.
Receiving the Pathfinder Award makes me grateful for those people — and reminds me of the responsibility I have to do the same for others.
Learn more and register for the 50th Women & Business Conference and ATHENA Awards Luncheon here.
