C200 is honored and thrilled to announce the recipients of our 2025 Luminary Awards!
We want to thank our Members and the Luminary Awards Committee for an engaging nomination and voting process. We received a record number of nominations this year, creating a strong selection of individuals who have each made significant impacts for businesswomen in their respective fields. We are proud of this year’s quality turnout and are excited to continue this wonderful tradition that celebrates and funds the advancement of businesswomen around the world.
Our Luminary Award categories are: Entrepreneurial Champion, Corporate Innovator, and Lifetime Achievement. More information about the history of our Luminary Awards, how awardees are nominated and chosen, and detailed descriptions of each award category, can be found here.
Without further ado, here are the winners of each award:
Entrepreneurial Champion: Hannah Kain | ALOM
Hannah Kain is President and CEO of ALOM, a global supply chain company headquartered in Fremont, California.
ALOM operates out of 20 global locations to support its Fortune 500 customers in the technology, automotive, life sciences and regulated industry sectors with brand enhancing supply chain management services and solutions.
Prior to founding ALOM in 1997, Kain held various management and executive positions since 1983, with a wide range of experience in the packaging industry dating back to 1990.
In 2014, Hannah Kain co-founded 2020vet with Erica Courtney, a former combat pilot and disabled veteran.
A global supply chain executive, Kain has established herself as a thought leader, pioneering technology enabled and environmentally responsible supply chain. Kain has changed and impacted the approach to risk-based supply chain management, and pioneered excellence-based thinking in supply chain. She has spoken at international and national supply chain and business conferences, and she is a frequent guest and resource for news media.
Kain holds three university degrees (a B.S. in political science, a M.S. in communications, and a B.Sc./M.B.A. in marketing.). She was a lecturer at Copenhagen Business School. She is a frequent lecturer and speaker and is a published author of a popular textbook on market analysis, now in its 4th edition.
She has extensive international management experience, membership and involvement in numerous governmental and educational agencies and business groups. Kain is a board member of the National Association of Manufacturers, WBEC-Pacific, and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) where she also serves as the WBENC Forum Chair. Further leadership roles include board chair of How Women Lead–Silicon Valley, advisory board member with Heritage Bank of Commerce, and former chair of the Silicon Valley board for the Women’s Initiative.
In 2011, Hannah was accepted into the prestigious Committee of 200 (C200), an invitation-only membership organization of the world’s most successful women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders.
She has received numerous industry and leadership awards. Recently Hannah was recognized for lifetime achievement as an SDCE 2024 Supply Chain Pros to Know. Additional awards include the 2023 WBEC-Pacific Pinnacle Award and 2021 WE USA Top WBE CEO. In 2020 she was featured as a Business Insider Top 100 People Transforming Business, recognized as a Top 10 Women in Logistics by Global Trade Magazine, and won the SDCE Women Leaders in Supply Chain award,. Prior awards include the Gold Woman of The Year Stevie, Silver Best Global Woman-owned Business Stevie, Top 25 Champion of Diversity in STEM, Manufacturing Institute STEP Ahead Award, YWCA Tribute to Women Award, and induction into the Silicon Valley Capitol Club wall of fame.
Hannah Kain was born in Denmark where she had a business and political career that included a short time as a member of parliament and a member of several commissions, such as the national foundation for scientific research. She also headed her party’s equal rights commission and was a member of the governing board of her party.
Kain is married to Dr. Jakob Nielsen, retired co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group and a world recognized leader in Web usability, a celebrated speaker and published author. The couple has lived in Silicon Valley since 1994.
C200 is comprised of some of the world’s most accomplished business leaders, and I am truly honored to be recognized by such a distinguished organization. Being an entrepreneur is exciting and fulfilling, especially in a challenging field like supply chain. This award is especially meaningful to me because it celebrates not only my passion for entrepreneurship and for growing my company, but also my commitment to empowering female entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs drive innovation and shape the future, and women—by bringing unique perspectives, values, and products to the marketplace—are making an ever-greater impact. It is inspiring to witness the remarkable growth of women-founded companies, and I am proud to be part of this movement.
Corporate Innovator: Jan Babiak | Independent Director
Jan Babiak spent 28 years with EY, the last 20 based in London, before starting her ‘portfolio corporate board career’. While EY and its Big 4 competitors, are widely known for audit, tax and traditional consulting advice, Jan did not follow a traditional career path within the firm instead serving as a self-appointed, serial, corporate “intrepreneur”. This began in the 1980s with her involvement in creating a successful and pioneering business in information and cyber security. She even served as lead author of a definitive book on board level oversight of IT and cyber security—’Defending the Digital Frontier: Practical Security for Management’—over twenty years ago, long before it was a top item on the agenda of management and boards the world over.
Once the cyber security business was fully established across Northern Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (NEMIA), she handed it over to a successor and created a Regulatory & Public Policy function within the NEMIA region in response to changes that moved the profession from self-regulated to external regulation with the creation of audit firm regulators (e.g. PCAOB) around the world early in the current century. Once that was working well, she again handed over to her successor, as she created a business case and founded EY’s global Climate Change & Sustainability Services practice in 2008. While building these businesses, she also advised and served the firm’s most prestigious clients in financial services, technology, energy, media, transportation, retail, and more.
Upon leaving EY, she successfully pivoted to a board portfolio serving on corporate boards in five countries, multiple sectors, and public companies ranging from Fortune 20, FTSE 100, and TSX 10 with sales of over $100 billion to assets under management of over $1 trillion to large private equity backed firms and even large employee or family-owned businesses. Her board roles, often as lead director or audit committee chair, include providing experience and insight into global board governance, how digital and legacy technologies impact M&A, business transformation, cyber risk, cyber security, artificial intelligence (AI), strategy, operations, and stakeholder engagement from customers to suppliers to the investor community.
Over a decade ago, Jan became frustrated that corporate boards were identifying candidates through personal networks that favored one demographic rather than seeking the best candidates based on merit and experience. In response, she began to accumulate bios and to actively refer outstanding, qualified candidates for board roles that came to her attention. As a result, more than 65 women (and a few good men) have been appointed to corporate boards through her “Project Starfish”.
In 2024, Corporate Board Member magazine included her in the “Top 20 Value Creating Directors in America”. In 2017, she was named by NACD Directorship magazine as one of the most influential people in the boardroom community. Agenda, a Financial Times publication for board members, named her in their ‘International 100: Top Board Candidates with Global Skills’ and the Confederation of British Industry named her as their inaugural First Woman of Technology.
Over the last quarter of a century, I have consistently found myself in awe of the extraordinary leadership, energizing spirit, and unwavering encouragement present in the C200 Sisterhood – but never more so than each year when we celebrate the phenomenal women honored in the various Luminary Awards. As such, I could not be more surprised or humbled to have been told I was the 2025 recipient of the Corporate Innovator Luminary Award.
For now, my main goal is to resist the tidal wave of Imposter Syndrome washing over me, as I know that is the one thing that will never be tolerated by this amazing and supportive group of women!
Lifetime Achievement: Nancy Peterson-Hearn | Peterson Tool Company
Photo by Hatcher & Fell
A nationally recognized business entrepreneur and Nashville community leader, Nancy Peterson-Hearn was the longstanding chairman and chief executive officer of Peterson Tool Company, Inc. Under her leadership, the company made exponential gains in sales, production and reputation, and is ranked among the world’s premier designers and manufacturers of custom insert tooling. Peterson Tool has earned numerous quality and certification awards including General Motors’ Targets for Excellence Award and Caterpillar’s coveted Certified Supplier of Quality Materials awards. Since her retirement, she has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors. The first American to earn the prestigious Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award (1990), Ms. Hearn has a distinguished leadership record that includes roles on some of the most prestigious boards in the nation.
Ms. Hearn is passionate about mentoring other women entrepreneurs and finding gateways for their success. She has dedicated much of her impressive career to supporting organizations and groups that provide opportunity for women leaders. She has served as Vice Chair of the Foundation, Southeast Region chair and Membership Chair for C200, a national organization for leading women executives. C200 established the Nancy Sanders Peterson Scholars Award in her honor. She chaired the C200 Auction from 2000 to 2008, and her efforts have helped to raise several millions of dollars for the C200 Foundation. Ms. Hearn has also been awarded the prestigious Women of Influence award from YWCA, Nashville.
A proud native of Nashville, Tennessee, Ms. Hearn’s longstanding record of community activism includes roles in Leadership Nashville, the Tennessee Workforce Development Board, the Tennessee Council on Vocational Education, and has been recognized by The National Federation of Parents for Drug Free Youth. Among her numerous awards are: Woman Business Owner of the Year by Nashville Business Journal; Small Business Executive of the Year by Nashville Business Journal and Shining Star Award from C-200 Foundation
Ms. Hearn has also served on the board of The Society of International Business Fellows, the Aquinas College Board of Governors, the Mississippi University for Women’s National Board of Distinguished Women, International Women’s Forum, Nashville Symphony, Parthenon Conservancy, Cheekwood and Nashville Ballet Boards.
Ms. Hearn is the mother of six adult children, two of whom are presently involved in Managing Peterson Tool Company, Inc. She was married to the late Billy Ray Hearn, founder of Sparrow Records.
Receiving the 2025 C200 Lifetime Achievement Luminary Award is my greatest honor from my dearest organization. C200 matters so much to me because of our critical mission to support and foster the success of other women entrepreneurs.
I have experienced this firsthand. My lifelong friends at C200 have been unbending in their support. They are my advisors, mentors, and often partners in crime, supporting my wildest dreams for Peterson Tool, during good times and really tough ones. I am forever humbled and grateful.
The Luminary Award was a complete surprise, and I am most appreciative to accept it as we continue to build for the future of this incredible organization.
Join us in supporting our 2025 Luminary Awardees and C200’s mission to inspire, educate, support, and advance current and future women entrepreneurs and corporate-profit center leaders.
Congratulations to Hannah, Jan, and Nancy for this remarkable achievement. We’re proud of the work you each have done over the course of your careers and the influence it has had for women in business worldwide.
Celebrate with C200!
Our award recipients will be honored and celebrated on the evening of Friday, October 17, 2025, at our Luminary Awards Ceremony during the Gala Dinner at our 2025 Annual Conference in Nashville, TN. Individual tickets, tables, and sponsorship opportunities for the Gala Dinner are available for purchase at our Conference website.
Note: If you have registered for the 2025 C200 Annual Conference, your registration includes a ticket to our Gala Dinner.
Donate to C200!
Your support of our award recipients raises critical funds for C200’s larger mission and vision to advance businesswomen worldwide. Together, through the celebration of these incredible women, we can make a big impact in the business landscape by creating more opportunities, spaces, and time for women in business to connect with, inspire, and help one another succeed in male-dominated spheres and set examples for the next generation of women leaders.
