Women Leaders Recognized at Farmington Summit, Spotlight on Workforce

The Four Corners Professional Women’s Summit brought business owners, nonprofit leaders, students and municipal officials together in Farmington on November 7, 2025, for a day of networking and discussion about the county economy. Organized by the Farmington Chamber Foundation, the summit drew roughly 450 attendees and concluded with awards recognizing local leadership in business and nonprofit work.

Beverly and Tara Taylor of Artifacts 302 were both presented with Business Woman of the Year awards, while Audra Winters, executive director of the San Juan Medical Foundation, was named Nonprofit Professional of the Year. Organizers framed the awards and sessions around practical priorities for the region, with workforce development, mentorship and downtown revitalization emerging as recurring themes across panels and conversations.

Summit programming emphasized the role that small businesses and nonprofits play in local economic and civic life, particularly as San Juan County seeks to diversify its employment base and revitalize commercial cores. Attendees included high school and college students, signaling an effort to connect younger residents to career pathways in local enterprises. That mix of emerging talent and established leaders is significant for a county where sustaining and growing the local labor pool has become a policy priority for councils and chambers across the state.

From a market perspective, renewed attention to downtown revitalization can affect commercial occupancy rates, sales tax receipts and property values. Strengthening mentorship and workforce training helps firms reduce hiring frictions and can increase small business survival rates, which in turn supports jobs and neighborhood services. Nonprofit organizations such as the San Juan Medical Foundation also contribute to social infrastructure that enables a functioning labor market by providing health, training and social supports.

Policy implications discussed at the summit point to several local levers. Investments in targeted training programs, incentives for downtown property rehabilitation, and public private partnerships for youth apprenticeships could accelerate goals highlighted at the event. For municipal leaders, aligning economic development budgets with these priorities may improve the return on public investment by expanding the tax base through denser commercial activity.

The Farmington Chamber Foundation also provided a short list of past award recipients to place this year’s winners in context, underscoring continuity in local leadership. As San Juan County navigates structural economic shifts, the summit illustrated how community based recognition and practical collaboration can support a resilient, locally driven recovery.