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SLCC president to receive chamber's Athena Award for leadership

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Community College President Deneece Huftalin will receive the Athena Award for leadership in November from the Salt Lake Chamber.

  | Aug. 14, 2017, 11:46 p.m.
| Updated: 11:50 p.m.

Salt Lake Community College President Deneece Huftalin will receive the 2017 Athena Award from the Salt Lake Chamber.

The award recognizing “brave and bold” leadership by a female executive will be presented at a Nov. 15 luncheon during the 41st Women & Business Conference sponsored by the chamber’s Women’s Business Center.

Along with Huftalin, six women “pathfinders” will be honored by the chamber for helping younger women on the path to civic success.

They are Amanda Covington, Vista Outdoor’s vice president of communications and government relations; Mary Crafts-Homer, CEO and owner of Culinary Crafts; Lavanya Mahate, owner of Saffron Valley East India Cafe; Heidi Prokop, a Zions Bank executive; Maureen Riley, Salt Lake City department of airports executive director; and Vicki Varela, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism, Film and Global Branding.

Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Deneece Huftalin receives a standing ovation after her inauguration as president of Salt Lake Community College in Taylorsville, Friday January 9, 2015.

Huftalin has been Salt Lake Community College’s president since September 2014. Before that, she was its interim president, vice president of student services, dean of students and director of academic and career advising.

“Deneece is a collaborator, a leader and she inspires everyone around her,” said Chamber President Lane Beattie. “What she has done with Salt Lake Community College has been phenomenal. She’s not only helping create the workforce of today, but she’s helping shape the workforce of tomorrow.”

Over the past three years, Huftalin launched a campaign to develop new strategic goals for the community college and to strengthen completion rates, workforce responsiveness and equity in student access to education.

The event will be held at Little America Hotel, 500 S. Main, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 :30 p.m. Events sponsors are Dominion Energy, WCF Insurance (formerly Workers Compensation Fund) and Wells Fargo.

(Photo courtesy The Salt Lake Chamber) Deneece Huftalin, Salt Lake Community College's president since 2014, will receive the 2017 Athena Award from the Salt Lake Chamber for her leadership.