David Eccles School of Business Assistant Dean Katie Hoffman Abby has been selected as one of Utah Business magazine’s “Executive Excellence” honorees for 2025.

The magazine notes that the awards are an opportunity to “[celebrate] the highest achievements in Utah’s business community” and to “[highlight] members of the executive team for their strategic vision, resilient leadership, and profound influence on improving the business landscape and quality of life in the state of Utah.”

Hoffman Abby also is the Vice President of the University of Utah’s “U Career Success” program.

After three-plus decades in other industries, she came to the U in 2015 at the request of then-Eccles School Dean Taylor Randall, who was dissatisfied with the school’s career services offerings, believing that students weren’t getting enough career prep for their tuition-dollar investment.

Hoffman Abby’s experience in the staffing sector prompted a novel approach to her new job. Knowing that students cycle through the university every two to six years, she advocated instead building up the “Business Career Success” program around employer partners, noting that learning about companies’ cultures and needs would enable the Eccles School to provide a more ready workforce, thus forging long-term relationships and fostering better access to post-graduation jobs for students.

When Randall was promoted to president in 2021, he asked Hoffman Abby to do it all over again. The program originally piloted in the business school was then tested in four additional colleges and ultimately scaled up to the university level, so that every student on campus could get extra care and attention. The university’s existing career services initiative was revamped and relaunched as U Career Success in 2023.

Traditional career services offices are notoriously understaffed and underfunded — it’s not unusual to have three or four coaches available to manage 20-30,000 students: “If you do the math, it’s impossible; you’re not reaching enough people,” Hoffman Abby said.

The University of Utah, with roughly 37,000 students, has invested heavily in career coaches. In the business school, for example, the student-to-coach ratio is about 300-1, which means that every student not only has direct access to a career coach, but the expectation is that they’ll meet on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, the number of employers with whom U Career Success has close relationships has grown over the past 10 years from about 100 to more than 1,600. With companies of all sizes, in all industries, and in all geographic locations, there’s something for every student.

“I really believe in higher education and the value of people learning things that maybe are different than thoughts and beliefs that they grew up in,” said Hoffman Abby. “I will continue to work hard to make sure that opportunities exist for students to have the experience of a well-rounded, strong education at the University of Utah. That’s just so important right now.”

This year’s honorees will be celebrated at an awards luncheon at the Eccles School on June 26.