Gov. Cox appoints Alex Peterson as senior adviser, director of Utah Office of Families

SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Spencer Cox appointed Alex Peterson to serve as the new senior adviser and director for the Utah Office of Families on Wednesday, the second to fill the role since its inception in 2022.

Peterson will succeed Aimee Winder Newton on Sept. 8.

"Alex understands that strong families are the foundation of a strong state," Cox said. "Her experience in education policy, child protection and strategic leadership will be an asset as we continue working to support parents and improve outcomes for Utah children. I am grateful she has agreed to serve."

Peterson began working in Congress before serving as national director of donor relations and personal aide to Ann Romney during Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. She then led corporate relations at doTERRA International and volunteered as a researcher and data analyst with the Utah Women and Leadership Project.

Following her time in those positions, Peterson worked as the director of strategic development and impact at The Policy Project. She now serves as the board chair and policy adviser with that organization, focusing on the prevention of child sexual abuse.

"Utah's future depends on strong families and children who are safe, supported and prepared to succeed," Peterson said Wednesday in a statement. "I am honored to build on the strong foundation of the Office of Families. I look forward to listening closely to parents, policymakers and partners across the state and advancing practical, evidence-based policies that meaningfully improve outcomes for Utah families."

Winder Newton was appointed as the first director of the new Office of Families nearly four years ago when Cox created the office with the goal of promoting family-friendly policies and "coordinating government services to help parents and children succeed." Since then, Winder Newton has become the face of the governor's efforts to protect children and teens from potentially harmful content on social media sites.

Utah was one of the first states in the country to pass laws limiting social media use for minors without parental consent and establishing other guardrails around social media use for teens. Winder Newton said some form of social media regulation was on her mind when she first took the job with the governor's office, and said she quickly realized Cox was already considering how the state could address the issue.

"When I met with the governor ... I realized how much he had already been researching and looking into social media legislation and how social media was negatively impacting our kids," she told KSL. "It was kind of both of us coming together to recognize that this is something that Utah needed to lead out on."

Enacting those policies has proved difficult, however. Lawmakers had to revamp the original laws after they faced legal challenges, and the latest iteration of those regulations is still being litigated in court. But Winder Newton said she feels confident that one of her signature policy accomplishments will survive legal scrutiny.

"We knew there was a good chance that we would end up in court with these bills and so that didn't deter us at all," she said. "We had a lot of help with our attorneys looking at how can we better frame some of that legislation so that we can hold up better in court. So, I'm confident that we're going to see some very positive court rulings, especially when we've seen what's happened in other states related to social media rulings."

Utah has continued to set an example to other states on online safety by passing bills setting age verification requirements for downloads from app stores and enacting new taxes targeting social media companies, she added.

Winder Newton's work on technology policy isn't done, as she recently founded a company to advise on policy, "child online safety and digital wellbeing," according to the company's LinkedIn profile. She turned in her resignation in June and stepped down from the Office of Families on July 7.

Winder Newton has also served on the Salt Lake County Council since 2014 and did so while working in the governor's office. She previously announced she would not seek reelection and will remain on the Council until her term ends at the end of this year.

Cox thanked Winder Newton for her service and credited her with having "built the Office of Families from the ground up and helped ensure the needs of parents and children were considered across state government."

The governor's chief of staff, Jon Pierpont, described Winder Newton as "a great representative of our administration" in an email to staff last month announcing her pending departure. He cited her work on social media, as well as efforts to remove cellphones from schools, implement a child tax credit "create a Home Visiting pilot program to mentor new parents and help prevent child abuse."

"We will miss her voice and advocacy," he wrote.

Correction: An earlier version incorrectly referred to Aimee Winder Newton as the current director. Winder Newton stepped down from the role on July 7. The article also stated the announcement was Tuesday. It was on Wednesday.

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