Cox appoints Salt Lake County councilwoman to lead new office for helping families

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SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Spencer Cox has tapped Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton to lead a newly created state office.

The Office of Families "aims to support Utah families through proactive rather than reactive strategies and policies. This includes promoting what already makes Utah the best place for children and parents to thrive as well as pursuing policies, legislation and innovation that will strengthen families at all economic levels," Cox's office said in a statement.

Winder Newton will become a senior adviser and director of the office on Thursday.

Cox announced the office's creation during his 2022 State of the State address, saying it is intended to prevent government policies that harm families, and coordinate government services "to help parents and children succeed."

"Aimee is an effective leader with an impressive track record of visionary thinking, influence, execution and public service," Cox said. "I'm grateful she's willing to take on this new responsibility to support and strengthen all families of Utah."

Winder Newton will continue serving on the County Council. She was elected in 2014 and became the council's first female chairwoman in 2018. While holding office, she has focused on mental health and criminal justice reform, and she created and leads an intergenerational poverty task force for the county.

Early this year while the state was seeing a surge of COVID-19, Winder Newton was one of two Republican County Council members to vote to uphold a mask mandate ordered by County Health Director Dr. Angela Dunn. She said she did so to help health care workers who were exhausted two years into the pandemic.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with the Cox-Henderson administration as we look for ways to strengthen families in Utah," Winder Newton said in the statement, adding that the office will focus on "all families," including nontraditional ones.