CATHERINE RANEY NORMAN 

10:05 AM

Catherine Raney Norman is a four-time Olympian who has served as an active voice for athletes with roles across all facets of Olympic and Paralympic sport. Born in Nashville, Tenn., she grew up in the Milwaukee, Wis. suburb of Elm Grove, finding her passion as a long track speed skater. She competed for Team USA at the 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 Olympics with her best finish a fourth in the team pursuit in 2010 at Vancouver. She holds six U.S. all round titles and 3 American records, of which all still stand today. She was inducted into the U.S. Speed Skating Hall of Fame in 2018.

Since her retirement as an athlete after the 2010 Olympics, Raney-Norman has dedicated her career to furthering opportunities for athletes in sport. She was selected by her athlete peers across both summer and winter sports to serve as a member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s Athletes’ Advisory Council, rising to vice chair. Her leadership was focused on direct athlete support, elite athlete health insurance, athlete career and education, World Anti Doping Agency Code review and SafeSport.

She is presently the principal at Sixth Ring Consulting, advising clients on philanthropy, special events and sport programming. She is married to Marc Norman, who serves as the CEO of USA Climbing. They are parents of a young boy and live in Salt Lake City.

 DILJEET TAYLOR 

10:25 AM

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Diljeet is the associate director of cross country and track and field at BYU, a role she’s held since 2019. She’s also been paving a renaissance in the women’s program at BYU. Diljeet has coached seven All-Americans in cross country and track, while earning five top-11 team finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

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Taylor attended Cal State Stanislaus as a student-athlete from 1999 to 2002. She was a three-time All-American in indoor and outdoor track and field as a specialist in the 800-meter and 1,500-meter runs. She set the school indoor record in the 800-meter in 2002. That same year she finished second at the NCAA National Championship meet and finished her career second on the outdoor track all-time list in both the 800- and 1,500-meter events.

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Taylor was named Cal State Stanislaus Female Athlete of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year. She was also the most dominant runner for the Warriors during that time, earning Most Valuable Runner from 2000 to 2002. Taylor served as a team captain for the Warriors for two years. Taylor graduated cum laude from Cal State Stanislaus in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies. She is married to former Cal State Stanislaus basketball player Ira Taylor and they have two children, Taj and Avi.

 JENEDY PAIGE 

10:45 AM

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Jenedy Paige was born with two God-given gifts: she’s an early riser and she’s consistent. She’s used her natural abilities to become a professional oil painter and an American Ninja Warrior athlete. She believes we all have a divine spark that really does make us capable of achieving anything as long as we’re willing to work really really hard for it. 

Her artwork has won national awards and has been collected worldwide. She is a wife, a mother, a teacher, a runner, and her mom says she struggles with being able to relax. When she’s not in her studio or the gym, she loves to be in her kitchen, creating delicious healthy food for her family. She thanks God every day for carefully leading her down a path she could have never imagined for herself.

 SUSAN MADSEN 

11:05 AM

Dr. Susan R. Madsen is the Orin R. Woodbury Professor of Leadership & Ethics in the Woodbury School of Business at Utah Valley 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 2019 did keynotes in the United Arab Emirates, the UK, Lithuania, Denmark, and Germany. She serves on 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, and more.

Madsen received a bachelor’s degree from BYU, Master's from Portland State University, and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota. She has four young adult children and two grandchildren.

 KYRA CONDIE 

11:25 AM

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Kyra discovered the sport of climbing at a birthday party in 2009 at her local climbing gym in Minnesota. A natural climber since the day she climbed out of her crib (at one year old!), Kyra was instantly hooked and joined the gym’s youth team. Kyra made Youth Bouldering Nationals her first year competing. But the next year back pain became a major distraction at practice. She consulted a doctor, only to find that she had a 53-degree curve in her spine—idiopathic, adolescent scoliosis. Not willing to let this dampen her climbing dreams, her family sought out a surgeon who supported Kyra’s climbing.
 
To allow some amount of mobility in her back, Kyra and her surgeon decided on fusing 10 vertebrae together, T2-T12, correcting most of her curvature. Kyra believes the surgery was a blessing in disguise and reignited her desire to train and compete. It was only 2 years later that she became Youth National champion and went on to win 4 more youth national titles.

The Olympics were always a dream of Kyra’s, who grew up watching every Olympics with her mom. In 2016 when climbing was officially included in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, suddenly her dream turned into a potential reality. Kyra switched her training and focused on qualifying for the 2020 Games. In 2019, Kyra came in 7th place at the Toulouse Olympic Qualifying Event, officially earning her invitation to the Tokyo Olympics. She competed in the postponed 2020 Games in Tokyo in 2021 and finished 11th on the Olympic world stage.

 MAYOR MICHELLE KAUFUSI 

12:00 PM

Keynote Speaker

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Mayor Kaufusi was raised here in Provo by a single mom who worked graveyard shifts as a nurse to take care of her seven children. Provo’s unique welcoming attitude and service-oriented community was a boon to her mother when she needed to know her kids would be safe in this town when she couldn’t be around. Kaufusi grew up with a sense of duty to serve the community and give back what was so generously given to my family.

Kaufusi knows well the uphill battles many women face in our community. She's seen mothers showing up day-after-day to improve the lives of their children in our school system. She sees our female student population putting an emphasis on education. She's watched many women in our community live courageous lives full of children, grandchildren, and church and community service.

Many times Kaufusi has been that mother driving the carpool routes in sweats and sandals, with a half-eaten sandwich on the dashboard, trying to solve all the world’s problems at once. Her hope is that the women of our city will come to know that they have an advocate in the mayor’s office who understands their lives and shares their hopes and dreams. Kaufusi may be the first female mayor, but she will certainly not be the last.

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 JUDGE KAY A. LINDSAY 

12:20 PM

Trailblazer Award

Kay Lindsay spent more than 20 years serving as a juvenile court judge in the Fourth District. Her tenure on the bench served as the capstone on a 50-year career advocating for women and children. 

Kay attended Vassar College and later received her law degree from the University of Utah – the only woman in her graduating class. She recalls with humor the standing ovation she received as she, pregnant with her first child, walked across the podium to accept her degree. Kay subsequently became the 50th woman in the State of Utah to pass the Utah State Bar.

After the untimely death of her husband, Dr. Van Lindsay, Kay found herself as the sole provider for six children ranging in age from 3 to 15 years old. This challenging life experience allowed her to bring a unique view to the law. She used this perspective to become a champion for women and children who had been abused, forgotten and found themselves in the most difficult circumstances life has to offer.

She would go on to pioneer one of the state’s most effective Dependency Drug Courts for parents battling substance abuse whose children had been removed from their care. Through this initiative, she was able to bring more resources and more accountability for these parents resulting in more children being reunified with their mothers and fathers. For 10 years, Kay also chaired a state-wide initiative that brought leadership from all relevant state agencies to coordinate resources and to direct Federal funding where it would have the most impact in helping Utah families. She would also serve on the Utah Judicial Council and Chair the Juvenile Court Board of Judges.

Today, Kay can often be found hiking up the Rock Canyon trail or in Snow Canyon in southern Utah, walking along the wide beach of Amelia Island, or schlepping between rides at Disney World. Her energy is spent on enriching the lives of her 15 grandchildren and now 5 great-grandchildren. They are her true legacy.