Finance

The Finance spoke focuses on empowering women of all ages to achieve financial security and sustainability. This includes helping Utah women learn how to make informed financial decisions to serve their own life goals and improve financial wellness. Spoke leaders will bring together individuals and organizations from around the state who can provide crucial financial information, are developing innovative resources, offering timely educational opportunities, increasing awareness of personal finance best-practices, and offering gatherings to meet new friends, mentors, and advocates. Important areas of focus include budgeting, managing debt, credit scores, home ownership, estate planning, investing, entrepreneurship, understanding insurance needs, protecting your money, and starting a business in this economy. 

Spoke Leaders

Melanie Jewkes

Melanie Jewkes

Extension Professor, USU 
LinkedIn Profile

Melanie Jewkes is an Extension Professor at USU. An award-winning and published professional, she promotes and teaches financial wellness through USU’s Home & Community Department throughout the state. 




USU Extension

Susan Speirs

Susan Speirs

CEO, UACPA
LinkedIn Profile

Susan Speirs, CPA is the CEO of the Utah Association of CPAs. In this role, she directs the affairs of the Association with regard to advocacy, professional education, leadership development, networking, and community service. 


UACPA

Brittany Griffin

Brittany Griffin

Policy & Communications Deputy
LinkedIn Profile

Brittany Griffin is the Policy & Communications Deputy at the Utah Treasurer’s Office. She has a background in public administration, policy, and communications, and she has worked in local government, academia, marketing, and television news. 

Utah Treasurer’s Office

 

 



 

Kirt Slaugh

Kirt Slaugh

Chief Deputy State Treasurer
LinkedIn Profile

Kirt Slaugh is the Chief Deputy State Treasurer at the Utah Treasurer’s Office. He enjoys taking complex processes and finding ways to automate and add efficiency by embracing technology solutions that add real and significant impact to the bottom line.

 

 

 

 

 

Bold Goals

To make Utah a place where more girls and women can thrive, the Finance spoke leaders, affiliates, and participants are currently working to craft bold goals for 2026 and 2030. These goals will be linked to measurable outcomes, connected to visual dashboards, and will be posted in June of 2023. Through finding, collecting, and visualizing data for this spoke, changes over time can be tracked and utilized to create momentum for additional changes.

Partners & Affiliates

Are you and/or your organization interested in being involved in the Finance spoke? If so, contact Melanie Jewkes (melanie.jewkes@usu.edu) with details about you/your entity and the current or future efforts you believe are aligned with this work. Thank you for your interest!