MICHELE HUTCHINS
President 1992-1994
By Emily Molnar
The Michele Hutchins was born in 1959 and grew up on several acres in rural Niles, Michigan. She described her childhood as very free and outdoorsy, filled with horse riding, swimming in local lakes, and visits to Lake Michigan, which she refers to as “the big lake.” Michele and her two sisters spent much of their time outside, often riding and showing horses—a passion passed down from their father. Michele received her first horse of her own at age 8, and two years later, this horse had a filly. Delilah and Michele grew up together, and she provided her with 32 wonderful years. Delilah was a superb hunter jumper show horse, winning many ribbons and awards. After her show days, she provided many years of pleasure riding. Michele continued her passion for horses by acquiring another horse who also gave her years of enjoyment, and she hopes to continue this love in retirement—either by acquiring another horse or volunteering at horse rescues.
As a child, Michele dreamed of becoming a teacher—something she later did, in a way, through her work training professionals in Fair Housing. Her interest in politics began in 9th grade, sparked by a great civics teacher. Although naturally shy, she was drawn to civic engagement and excelled in school. Her parents were surprised when she pursued politics, as she had always been quiet. It wasn’t until college that she fully came out of her shell.
Michele’s mother was one of the most influential people in her life. They were very close until her mother passed away five years ago. Her mother instilled in her the belief that she could do anything she set her mind to and always encouraged her to pursue her dreams. Growing up in a small rural town where most people worked at the local manufacturing company or stayed close to home for college, politics didn’t seem like a typical career path. But Michele’s mom supported her ambitions.
The summer before her senior year in high school, her mom and stepfather relocated to Colorado. This move led to her choice of attending the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Michele earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Utah. She was drawn to the school because of the Hinckley Institute of Politics, which offered many political engagement opportunities, including internships at the Utah State Legislature. That opportunity shaped her path toward a career in politics and public service.
Her involvement began through her internship at the legislature during her junior/senior year in college, which led her to work for the Utah State Democratic Party. She spent five years there and eventually became Executive Director. During that time, she was involved in setting up state conventions and recruiting candidates. In addition to working for the Democratic Party, she ran several campaigns at the county and legislative levels.
After leaving the Democratic Party, she had a few temporary jobs before landing a role at Neighborhood Housing Services, where she became Assistant Director in charge of the rehab housing program and created a first-time homebuyer program. Afterward, she worked for a bank, where she focused on affordable housing and first-time homebuyer programs. Although
her boss encouraged her to explore other types of loans, Michele chose to remain focused on public service, driven by her passion for helping people. The bank job eventually ended when the bank was bought out, but it led to the Mayor’s Office job and then to HUD. Later, she worked in city government under Mayor Deedee Corradini, Salt Lake City’s first female mayor, focusing on housing-related issues. In 2000, she joined HUD, where she worked in the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Office for 25 years. Most of her career with HUD involved program compliance reviews of HUD programs and conducting onsite accessibility reviews of properties that received federal financial assistance. She ensured these housing providers developed non-discriminatory policies and procedures and made their properties accessible to persons with disability. Michele’s work at HUD gave her a strong sense of purpose—she recalls the feeling when she began at HUD: “Civil Rights is what I’m supposed to do.”
Each job in Michele’s career served as a stepping stone, building on the next. While early in her career she sometimes wondered what she would do next, the right opportunities always showed up at the right time. She found work-life balance relatively manageable, as it was just her and her husband and her furry children—her cats and horses.
She is especially proud of her long career in public service, particularly her work at HUD. In recent years, due to being the accessibility subject matter expert, she trained other staff across the country on how to conduct accessibility surveys and provided on-the-job training. In 2024, she was recognized with HUD’s DEIA Accessibility Award and was honored in Washington, D.C. with a Coin of Excellence. She takes pride in the work she did to help individuals and organizations understand and meet fair housing and accessibility standards. She also feels proud of mentoring coworkers who originally did not know if this was their career path. Many of them stayed in the field due to her influence, gaining a deeper appreciation for the importance of empathy and enforcing fair housing laws. Michele became involved as a member in the Women’s Democratic Club sometime in the mid-1980s and served as President beginning in 1992. At the time, she was one of the younger members and felt that the club needed new energy and direction. The club had grown smaller and older and had drifted toward social activities, like fashion shows. Although such activities were enjoyable, there was a lack of focus on recruiting. Michele worked to revitalize the group by recruiting younger members and shifting the focus toward political engagement. She felt it was important for the club to be a space that helped candidates and actively supported democratic causes.
As president of the Women’s Democratic Club of Utah in the 1990s, Michele Hutchins wanted to increase women’s political participation and support Democratic candidates in a deeply conservative state. Drawing from her earlier involvement with the state Democratic Party and experience as a delegate to local and state conventions, Michele brought a clear understanding
of the challenges Democrats faced in Utah—particularly since the party had not held the governor's office or many statewide offices since 1984. She believed strongly in the power of women working together and focused her efforts on encouraging women to run for office and become more politically engaged. Under her leadership, the club took a more active role in recruitment and advocacy, recognizing that meaningful change required intentional outreach and collective effort. Michele’s tenure helped lay groundwork for future organizing in a tough political environment, pushing the club to be more ambitious and proactive.
Michele believes that Democrats must go back to their roots and do a better job of reaching working-class people and updating their messaging. She believes the messaging currently is overly polished and disconnected from people’s everyday concerns, like affordable housing and grocery prices. She is particularly frustrated with the party’s direction in Utah, expressing that they are “not doing enough” and need to “wake up,” especially in light of losing support from blue-collar workers. Michele emphasized the need for more listening and honest engagement to avoid losing the foundation of our democracy. She also noted the difficulty in even obtaining campaign materials from the state party—like a sign for Vice President Harris—as a symptom of broader party disconnect. Michele believes the party relies too heavily on donation asks without creating enough opportunities for real participation and inspiration.
Although Michele was once very active in political organizing and the Women’s Democratic Club, she stepped back from that involvement after beginning her federal government career in 2000—a role that consumed much of her time. She is no longer a member of the club. While she still follows politics, she hasn’t been actively involved in recent years. About five or six years
ago, she was still serving as a delegate and attending conventions, but has since withdrawn from participation in these activities. Michele believes that when she retires this fall, she will return to active participation, since our democracy is at stake and we need activism.
Michele is a breast cancer survivor. Two years ago, she underwent a year of treatment, supported by her husband, who she describes as her best friend and soulmate. Her boss, who had been a mentor for about 20 years, was instrumental in allowing her the time she needed during treatment. Michele credits her work with keeping her going through that difficult period. She has no children, but feels a strong connection to the colleagues she mentored—particularly in the field of program compliance and physical accessibility—helping them turn what they thought was “just a job” into a meaningful career.
Michele, although loving her job and being very upset at being forced into retirement by the current administration this fall, is trying to focus on having an enjoyable retirement. She looks forward to traveling and hopes to volunteer for a horse rescue organization. Though work was a primary focus for much of her life, she and her husband have enjoyed many years of river
rafting together. She also likes hiking, biking, and reading for fun—especially mysteries and action novels that offer a break from work and everyday concerns. She has a beloved cat that provides a lot of support—Abby, a 13-year-old black and white tabby. Her previous cat, Bandit, was also black and white, part of the family, and lived to be 21. Bandit was found under a
friend's porch—the same year Michele got married and bought a house. As she approaches retirement, Michele reflects on a life shaped by purpose, service, and resilience—and remains committed to fighting for equity, accessibility, and democratic ideals in whatever ways she can.
humble origins of Billie Larson belie the incredible influence and contributions she has made to the Democratic Party in Utah as well as in the United States at large. Raised in a house on “B & G Row”, a Kennecott housing district in Magna, Utah, her father, Bill Larson, was a union worker for the Kennecott Copper Corp. Her upbringing was very influential in establishing her love of politics, and her commitment to the Democratic Party.
Her father served as a state legislator and state senator when Billie was growing up, and he later went on to serve as a Salt Lake County Commissioner. He always advocated for public policy that supported the working class. One of Billie’s earlier memories, when she was 8 or 9, involves walking around Magna with a shoebox full of her father’s campaign brochures delivering them to the neighbors and community members. “I mean, who could turn a kid down?!?”, she laughs as she recalls her early baptism into politics. Her mother, Lucy Sorenson, was also engaged in local politics, volunteering as a voting district chairman. Lucy was also a member of the Women’s Democratic Club of Utah, serving as its president for several years while Billie was growing up.
Billie graduated from Cyprus High School and earned a scholarship to the University of Utah. She spent the summer after her sophomore year in Washington D.C., living with her older sister who was working for President Lyndon Johnson. Billie worked at the Democratic National Committee on the Humphries for Vice President Campaign. She returned to Utah to continue her schooling, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree of Science from the University of Utah in 1968, but couldn’t shake the call to return to the east coast.
Bound and determined to work for the U.S. House of Representatives, Billie packed her bags, found someone in D.C. to stay with and headed east once more. This time, it would be decades before she called Utah home again. Through networks she established during her work with the Humphries campaign a few years earlier, Billie was hired as the secretary to the general counsel for the speaker of the house, Tip O’Neill. She later became a legislative assistant to Mr. O'Neill, and soon after was promoted to senior legislative assistant. Billie remembers this remarkable time of her life fondly. She would have her morning coffee in the Speaker’s Lobby, and then spend the remainder of the day on the floor of the House. She wrote speeches and remarks for Mr. O’Neill, and worked closely with other members of the Democratic Party in Washington. She knew every Democratic member of the House of Representatives for the 10 years she worked as a legislative assistant.
After Mr. O’Neill retired from Congress, Billie wanted to stay in Washington. She worked for a time as a special assistant for the Chairman of the House Committee for Science, Space and Technology. Intrigued by the work of the committee, and drawn to the Utah connections to the Space Program at the time--Thiokol, and the study of cold fusion at the University of Utah—she stuck with the department for several years. But the nature of the work, sitting behind a desk all day in the congressional offices, did not suit Billie, so she left that position. Eventually, she was hired as the Congressional Liaison for the Department of the Interior, which was a job she adored. Her appreciation for the natural beauty of public lands and dedication to conserving those lands for future generations, made this job a perfect fit for Billie.
By this time in her life, Billie’s parents were aging, and she knew it was time to retire early and come home to Utah. Her parents passed away within a year of her return, and rather than go back to Washington, she decided to stay in Salt Lake. Of course, Billie wanted to find a way to stay actively engaged in the political process, and she devoted much time and effort into helping the Democratic Party in Utah. Her unique experiences in Washington gave Billie a wonderful perspective on how to get things done, how to work in a bipartisan way, how to build membership and expand the scope of what politics could accomplish in Utah. She had valuable insight into governmental systems as well as experience in looking for ways to move forward through any issue. From 2005-2009, she served as president of the State Democratic Women’s Caucus. Billie’s skills as an organizer and activist came in handy as she visited many counties in Utah to recruit for the caucus and amplify the voices of Utah women. She ran for numerous state offices, including state treasurer, National Democratic Committeewoman, and state representative.
She also joined the Women’s Democratic Club of Utah, becoming a board member in 2004. One of her goals for the WDC was to help drive it into the 21st century. As a board member, she was eager to see younger women join the club, so she authored a new mission statement for the group and developed a brochure that was a simultaneous advertisement and recruitment mechanism for the WDC. When Billie became the president of the WDC in 2010, she had high hopes for the expansion and outreach of the organization. She oversaw amending the Club’s constitution and by-laws, establishing gender neutral language in the documents and allowing men to become members for the first time in the club’s history. She wanted a full and balanced organization, with both men and women working together for issues that mattered not only to Women, but to all people. Billie increased the volunteer work and community donation arm of the club as well. Her efforts to create a WDC-PAC helped financially support democratic candidates running for local and statewide offices. Billie also headed efforts to introduce a logo for the club that featured "Rosie the Riveter", and worked to get interesting and engaging speakers for monthly club meetings.
The WDC recognized the outstanding contributions of Billie by awarding her the Lucy Beth Rampton Award. In 2013, Billie was the recipient of a State Senate Proclamation, which recognized and honored her years of service to the Democratic Party of Utah. Politically astute and with a charismatic leadership style, Billie Larson has a way of gathering people to a cause, letting them know there is a seat at the table for them. Her service to the women and men of Utah and to the Democratic Party in particular are worthy of commendation. Billie Larson may have started out as a small town girl, but her common sense, ambition and hard work have had far reaching influence across Utah and the nation.