C200 honours five ‘influential’ women leaders

US-based executive women’s leadership organisation, C200, has announced the winners of its 2019 Luminary Awards. This award celebrates the success of the accomplishments of five influential female executives in different categories. 

The five categories include Corporate Innovator, Entrepreneurial Champion, STEM Innovator, Voices that Change the World and Skills to Succeed Champion. The awards were presented at a ceremony, which took place at The Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles, at last week’s C200 annual conference.

“C200 is thrilled to honour five extraordinary women at this year’s Luminary Awards,” said Susan A McLaughlin, Chair of C200. “By recognising their leadership accomplishments, we hope to further the C200 mission and inspire current and future generations of women leaders in business.”

THE WINNERS

Amy Chang, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Collaboration, scooped the Corporate Innovator award. Chang founded the startup, Accompany – a relationship intelligence platform for professionals, which was acquired by Cisco in 2018. She now leads Cisco’s multi-billion dollar Collaboration business and serves on the board of directors for Procter & Gamble. She is also an advisor to Hubspot, Optimizely, BloomReach, Origami Logic and Datorama.

The Entrepreneurial Champion award was won by Kara Trott, Founder and CEO of Quantum Health, for creating a solution for the healthcare industry’s biggest pain-point. Her guided consumer navigation model is the ‘first-of-its-kind’ that helps to put the consumer first. Quantum Health has grown exponentially under Trott’s command which now serves almost 1 million people across the US. She has also received numerous awards for her efforts in the healthcare industry, including Ernst & Young’s Regional Entrepreneur of the Year (2005) and KeyBank’s Key4Women Achieve Award (2012).

The STEM Innovator award was presented to Peggy Whitson, the American astronaut, known for her participation in Expedition 50/51 and for holding the US record for the most days in space. Whitson became the first woman to command the space station, and has done that already twice in her career. Additionally, she flew in Expedition 5 in 2002 and Expedition 16 in 2008. Whitson, a pioneer and role model who is passionate about STEM education for youth, especially young girls, believes her ‘records will be broken’ as we continue to make advancements in science and space exploration.

ADVANCING WOMEN’S PROGRESS

Larraine Segil, Founder, Chairwoman and CEO of the Exceptional Women Awardees Foundation (EWA) received the award for Voices that Change the World. South African-born entrepreneur Segil founded EWA to help mentor and guide rising female professionals to the C-level, and has devoted her entire career on advancing and supporting women in business.  She is also attorney, adviser, lecturer, author and C200 board member.

Finally, the Skills to Succeed Champion award (sponsored by Accenture) was presented to Wendi Copeland, Chief Mission and Partners Officer of Goodwill Industries International. Copeland has continuously supported her people and business by developing non-profit strategy to sustainably respond to community needs.

Together with Accenture, Copeland is addressing the global need for skills that open doors to employment and economic opportunity. To date, along with their strategic partners, they have equipped more than 2.8 million people with the skills to get a job or build a business. Copeland serves on numerous national advisory and work groups that focus on career advancement, training, equity and economic mobility.

CELEBRATING C200’S EFFORTS

At the same ceremony, C200’s efforts in advancing diversity in the C-suite and boardrooms were also recognised by ATHENA International and the Women’s Business Collaborative (WBC).

Dr. Sheila Robinson, Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Action Initiative for Women’s Business Collaborative (WBC) and Founder & CEO of Diversity Woman Media, congratulated C200 for recognising “the critical need to take action to drive more diverse women into the executive suite and boardroom”.

“We believe it is important to acknowledge organisations, such as C200, who are ensuring representation of all races, cultures and backgrounds across the board for gender parity. It is an honour to recognise them for pioneering the way for others to follow,” said Robinson.

Adding to her comments, McLaughlin stated: “C200 is honoured to receive this recognition from ATHENA International and WBC. Although there is progress to be made, we are confident that organisations moving from good intention to intentional action will help accelerate diversity and inclusion in business.”