On November 11, the Salt Lake Chamber will honor seven outstanding businesswomen at the 50th annual Women & Business Conference & ATHENA Awards Luncheon. Among this year’s honorees is Heidi Woodbury, senior vice president for university advancement at the University of Utah and a 2026 Pathfinder Award honoree. Learn more about Woodbury and her career below:
You’ve spent decades at the University of Utah. What has kept you here and continued to challenge you?
The University of Utah is my alma mater, and it’s the institution that changed my life, so staying and building it up never stopped feeling personal. What has drawn me forward is the way the work has continued to evolve — beginning in public relations at KUER, moving to the David Eccles School of Business and ultimately leading advancement university-wide.
Every new chapter brought a new challenge, from building the One U model to leading the Imagine New Heights campaign to surpass its $2 billion goal. Even after 40 years, I’ve never felt like I was doing the same job twice.
Who helped open doors for you early in your career, and how has that experience influenced the way you lead others?
My high school academic counselor encouraged me to apply for the University of Utah Leadership Scholarship, and that single conversation changed the entire trajectory of my life. Without the scholarship, college may not have happened at all. It taught me that one person noticing potential and saying so out loud can change everything. I try to be that person for my team and students now, sponsoring people for opportunities, making introductions and sharing my time and network.
How do you make people feel that they’re part of something bigger than themselves?
I try to connect day-to-day work back to the outcomes it creates — a scholarship that keeps a student enrolled, a facility that opens doors for a whole program, a patient’s access to great health care. When people can see the human outcome behind their work, it stops feeling like a job and starts feeling like a mission.
When you look back at your career, what door are you most proud to have opened for someone else?
It’s hard to point to just one. So much of my work has been about creating those doors for others through scholarships, mentoring and expanded programs. I’m proud of every student whose journey we’ve been able to support, every patient who received great care because of the services we helped fund and every colleague I’ve been able to mentor into a bigger opportunity.
What do you think is the difference between leading people and leading with people?
Leading people can become about direction, while leading with people is about partnership and trust. I’ve always tried to lead with people — giving my team room to grow, then getting out of the way. I believe the best, most sustainable work happens when people feel like collaborators, not subordinates.
Learn more and register for the 50th Women & Business Conference and ATHENA Awards Luncheon here.
