C200 is honored and thrilled to announce the recipients of our 2026 Luminary Awards!
We want to thank our Members and the Luminary Awards Committee for an engaging nomination and voting process. We 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, Voices That Change The World, and Lifetime Achievement. More information about the history of our Luminary Awards and how awardees are nominated and chosen can be found here.
Without further ado, here are the winners of each award:
Entrepreneurial Champion: Maxine Burton
This award is given to entrepreneurial leaders who have championed or created a new product or service with global implications. Their companies have a minimum financial measurement of $20 million in annual revenue, as dictated by C200 US membership criteria. Their companies also have a rapid and continuing growth since their launch. Awardees show a commitment to advancing all women in business.
Maxine H. Burton is the founder, president, and chairman of the board of burton + BURTON®, headquartered in Georgia, over forty years ago. The company is one of the world’s largest supplier of balloons and gift products, employing a staff of over three hundred and enjoying a global customer base. Maxine actively travels the globe and works tirelessly in conjunction with in-house artists to guarantee all products are on-trend and ensure customer satisfaction. As the founder, Maxine was a trailblazer who has paved the way for women to overcome barriers and flourish in the business world.
Maxine’s remarkable career has been marked by numerous awards and honors highlighting her success in the balloon and gift industry. Maxine was the first woman in the state to receive the Spirit of Georgia Award. She was also honored with the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® award for the Retail and Wholesale Category in the Southeast Division of the United States. She received The Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World by The Star Group and, shortly thereafter, received the Alan J. McDonald International Entrepreneur Award from the Society of International Business Fellows.
Over the course of Maxine’s career, four elected governors have appointed her to serve on various Georgia state boards. She served on the Georgia Ports Authority, on the Georgia Council of the Arts, and she is currently serving on the Georgia World Congress Center Authority. Maxine is an active member of the Chief Executives Organization (CEO), Coalition for Responsible Celebration (CRC), and The Committee of 200, as well as other industry and leadership organizations. Maxine approaches these positions with the purpose of helping elevate each organization or committee and continuously providing support in propelling its mission forward.
Receiving the C200 Luminary Award is a tremendous honor because it comes from a community of accomplished women leaders who understand the challenges, risks, and rewards of entrepreneurship. I founded burton + BURTON® with a simple idea and a determination to build something that would stand the test of time. That makes this honor especially gratifying, as it reflects not only the growth of the company over the past forty-four years, but also the impact it has been able to make along the way. This award is particularly meaningful to me personally because it recognizes the values that have guided me throughout my career: creating opportunities for others, supporting our customers’ success, and helping more women realize their potential as business leaders.
Corporate Innovator: Sandra Beach Lin
This award is given to corporate leaders who have innovated the strategy of the corporation for which they lead and have impacted their value significantly. Awardees are considered leaders in their industries, and their companies have a minimum financial measurement of $250 million in annual revenue, as dictated by the C200 US membership criteria. Awardees show a commitment to advancing all women in business.
Sandra Beach Lin is a distinguished corporate leader whose career spans general management, operations, and global business leadership across the chemicals, materials, and industrial sectors. As the retired President & Chief Executive Officer of Calisolar, Inc., she led the company through the solar industry’s technological transformation. Earlier, as Corporate Executive Vice President of Celanese Corporation, she directed a portfolio of global Specialty Materials businesses, driving advanced materials innovation. Her executive career also includes senior leadership roles at Avery Dennison Corporation, Alcoa, and Honeywell International, where she built a reputation for operational excellence and strategic growth.
Ms. Beach Lin serves on the Boards of Directors of American Electric Power, Avient Corporation, Trinseo Plc, and Ripple Therapeutics, and previously served on the boards of WESCO International and Interface Biologics. She is also a Founder and former Co-Chair of Paradigm for Parity®, a coalition dedicated to closing the corporate leadership gender gap.
In recognition of her board leadership, she was named to the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Directorship 100 in 2013, is an NACD Board Leadership Fellow, and received the Dallas Business Journal’s Outstanding Directors Award in 2014.
Ms. Beach Lin holds a Bachelor of Business degree from the University of Toledo and an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. She is a member of the Committee of 200, the International Women’s Forum, and the Dallas Assembly, and serves on the board of the Achievement Foundation, supporting Junior Achievement USA. A former Executive Board member of Delta Delta Delta sorority, she was named a 2024 Woman of Achievement.
It is a true honor to be recognized by my C200 sisters, with whom I’ve spent countless hours over the years discussing business challenges, opportunities, and life as women in the corporate world. This award means even more coming from a community that has shaped my own growth as a leader. I deeply value the sisterhood and friendship I’ve found in C200 and as I continue through this phase of my corporate journey, I’m grateful to be celebrated by women I so admire.
Voices That Change The World: Ann Drake
The recipient of this award has made advancing women a lifetime commitment. This new award recognizes women who have made and continue to make advancing women their mission and who have demonstrated that they are a true visionary in the manner and impact they are achieving. These visionaries look beyond their own business and have a vision for how women make an impact to make the world a better place.
Ann Drake is President and Founder of Lincoln Road Enterprises, an operational philanthropic organization focused on elevating women’s leadership and creating a future in which women are at the forefront of improving the world we live in. Before launching Lincoln Road, Ann was Chairman and CEO of DSC Logistics, an innovative supply chain and logistics management partner to some of the world’s leading companies. While at DSC, Ann founded AWESOME (Achieving Women’s Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management, and Education), which became the preeminent community for senior women in supply chain.
Ann is also the President and Chair of the Women’s Leadership Center at Williams Bay. Designed by internationally renowned architect Jeanne Gang, the center encourages innovation by bringing together accomplished women in an extraordinary retreat and conference space dedicated to generating fresh thinking and accelerating the impact of women leaders.
Ann has been honored with the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from Kellogg, the Distinguished Service Award from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and the Schultz Award for advancing women in transportation and logistics from the McCormick School at Northwestern. She has been inducted into the Chicago Business Hall of Fame by Junior Achievement Chicago.
Ann serves on the Kellogg Global Advisory Board, the International Women’s Forum (IWF) Board of Directors, and on the Boards of Trustees for the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and the Chicago Architecture center. She is a member of the Civic Committee Transportation Task Force, an affiliate of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
I’m delighted and honored to receive this award from C200. This is an organization where I’ve always felt supported and encouraged and where I learned important lessons about the power of women working together. Our voices are needed in the world right now, so let’s all keep raising them and speaking up about what matters. And thank you!
Lifetime Achievement: Tena Clark
This award is given to women who have successfully led or founded, grown, and advanced a company that is consistent with C200 membership criteria. Awardees have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the next generation of women throughout their professional career and personal endeavors.
Tena Clark is an award-winning visionary leader, songwriter, producer, author, and philanthropist whose career has spanned entertainment, media, business, and social impact. As Founder and CEO of Dunaway Gardens, Clark is leading the transformation of a historic 376-acre property in Georgia into a world-class destination where art, nature, wellness, education, and hospitality converge. Scheduled to open in early 2029, Dunaway Gardens will feature a luxury resort, historic gardens, spa, outdoor amphitheater, screening room, event center, fine dining, an organic tea farm, and innovative arts and educational programming designed to nurture creativity and community for generations to come.
For twenty nine years, Clark was also the Founder & CEO of DMI Music & Media, a pioneering entertainment and marketing company that has spent more than two decades helping some of the world’s most recognized brands connect with audiences through the power of music, storytelling, and live experiences. Clark recently sold DMI to a public company in Canada.
Throughout her distinguished career, Clark has worked with some of the most influential artists and cultural icons in the world, including Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, Patti LaBelle, President Barack Obama, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Maya Angelou and even NASA. A Grammy Award winner and respected creative force, Clark has built a reputation for bringing together art, culture, and purpose to create lasting impact. In 2027, Clark will be inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Beyond her professional accomplishments, she is a passionate advocate for women and social justice, using her platform to elevate underrepresented voices and create opportunities for future generations. Clark wrote and produced the theme song, “Break the Chain” for the organization One Billion Rising – a movement to end violence against women and girls, and it has become the most globally performed song in history. Most recently, Clark wrote the anthem “We Are Here” for the National Women’s History Museum.
Clark currently serves on the boards of the National Women’s History Museum, as well as the advisory boards of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, Georgia State University’s Creative Media Industries Institute, and the Grammy Museum. Her leadership, innovation, and commitment to cultural impact have established her as one of the most influential female executives and changemakers in America today.
Receiving the Luminary Award is an honor I never could have imagined, and I am incredibly grateful for this recognition. For more than two decades, C200 has been one of the most meaningful influences in my life, shaping me not only as a business leader, but as a person. To stand alongside the extraordinary women who make up this organization is truly humbling. While I am deeply honored by the award, it is the friendships, mentorship, and sisterhood I have found through C200 that mean the most to me and will remain my greatest gift from this community.
Join us in supporting our 2026 Luminary Awardees and C200’s mission to inspire, educate, support, and advance current and future women entrepreneurs and corporate-profit center leaders.
Congratulations to Maxine, Sandra, Ann, and Tena 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 9, 2026, at our Luminary Awards Ceremony during the Gala Dinner at our 2026 Annual Conference in Dallas, TX. 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 2026 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.
