2025 Pinnacle Awards

January 31, 2025 11:00 am – 1:30 pm Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport

Event Details

Thank you for joining us on Friday, January 31, as we hosted our 2025 Pinnacle Awards Luncheon.

The Pinnacle Awards are a highly anticipated celebration of the powerful women who are changing Greater Boston through leadership excellence in entrepreneurship, management, and lifetime achievement.

Tickets

See pricing below.

About the Event

The Pinnacle Awards has been an unprecedented, premier event, championing and honoring Greater Boston’s dynamic female leaders for their contributions to the workplace and their commitment to community. Greater Boston’s women in business are leading the region and world forward – with their influence and impact, they are building the industries and places that fortify the pillars of commerce. Every year, more than 1,200 attendees, including elected officials, business innovators, and next-gen leaders, convene to recognize and celebrate the achievements of our honorees.

ABOUT THE WOMEN’S NETWORK

In our Women’s Network, you’ll find a diverse group of more than 3,000 (and growing) women and male allies at all levels of their careers, from all backgrounds, sectors, and industries, and professions, with energy for ensuring that Greater Boston becomes the best place for professional women to thrive.

For 30 years, the Chamber’s Women’s Network has connected female professionals of all background and career levels. Today, our Women’s Network is the largest in New England, strengthening the professional networks of women each year.

Learn About Women’s Network Past Honorees

Questions? Contact us.

Danielle Dorey

Senior Director, Programs

Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

Email Danielle

2025 Pinnacle Honorees

Grace Cotter Regan

President, Boston College High School

Achievement in Arts & Education – Grace Cotter Regan is a mission-driven leader dedicated to advancing Jesuit, Catholic education. Since 2017, she…Read more

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Kim Driscoll

Lieutenant Governor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Achievement in Management – Government – Kim Driscoll is the 73rd Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She was sworn in on January…Read more

Achievement in Management – Government –
Kim Driscoll is the 73rd Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She was sworn in on January 5, 2023, joining Governor Maura Healey in an historic series of firsts: Governor Healey is the first woman and first openly LGBTQ person elected Governor of Massachusetts, and together, Healey and Driscoll are the first all-women executive team to lead Massachusetts. Driscoll was elected the City of Salem’s first woman Mayor in 2006, taking office at a time when the community was struggling with record deficits, poor financial management, and a declining bond rating. As Mayor, she turned deficits into record surpluses and saved taxpayers’ money by strengthening city services, revitalizing Salem’s downtown, leading a vast improvement in Salem’s k-12 schools, reforming city pensions and health insurance programs to protect employee benefits, bidding public contracts, and bringing transparency to City Hall. Working collaboratively with state officials and local partners, Driscoll secured sizable public and private investments, including a new MBTA train station, a state courts complex, senior center, ferry and waterfront port at Salem Wharf, and positioned Salem as the primary marshaling port for the forthcoming Commonwealth Wind project that will serve residents across Massachusetts and New England, establishing the City as a national leader in the offshore wind sector. From passing one of the first fully-inclusive LGBTQ non-discrimination ordinances in Massachusetts, to securing major investments in veterans’ benefits, standing up for immigrants’ rights, and enacting one of the first age-friendly action plans certified in the Commonwealth, Salem under Driscoll’s leadership has been – first and foremost – an inclusive community that welcomes everyone. A proud mother of three children who attended Salem Public Schools, Driscoll chaired the Salem School Committee as Mayor. She helped push for collaboration and strategies to improve Salem’s schools and for added investments to support teachers and students. Under her leadership, Salem became one of the first communities in Massachusetts to adopt the expansion of free, high-quality early education opportunities starting at age four. The daughter of a Navy chef from Lynn and an accountant’s assistant from Trinidad, Driscoll spent her childhood in a number of states, before attending Salem State University where she studied government and became a stand-out athlete on the women’s basketball team. Like so many Salem State students, she fell in love with Salem and made it her home after graduation, pursuing a career in municipal government, and married her college sweetheart, a second-generation union bricklayer. Beginning with a position as the City of Beverly’s Community Development Director after college, Driscoll embarked on her long career of service to municipalities and went on to earn her law degree from the Massachusetts School of Law. Before becoming the Mayor of Salem, Driscoll served as the City of Chelsea’s Chief Legal Counsel and Deputy City Manager, and also served on the Salem City Council. Exemplified by her extensive and successful career in local government, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll is focused on working with Governor Healey to create a forward-looking Commonwealth and communities that work for, empower, and include all who call Massachusetts home, as well as those who aspire to do so.

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Avana Epperson-Temple

President, Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association

Emerging Executive – Avana Epperson-Temple serves as the President of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA), a non-profit organization dedicated…Read more

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Rachel Felix

SVP, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer, Boston Medical Center Health System

Achievement in Health Care – Rachel Felix has spent her twenty-five year career as a brand strategist across various roles in healthcare, media, and…Read more

Achievement in Health Care –
Rachel Felix has spent her twenty-five year career as a brand strategist across various roles in healthcare, media, and consumer packaged goods. Rachel currently serves as the first SVP and Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at Boston Medical Center Health System, where she is focused on growth across all audiences from patients to community partners to donors, which all intersect at BMC’s equity mission. Rachel works to more holistically understand and communicate with these audiences, strategically build deeper relationships and advance critical initiatives such as the Health Equity Accelerator, and ultimately deliver greater impact, access, and outcomes to patients. She brings expertise from her previous role as the Vice President and Head of Brand Management at Mass General Brigham where she led integration, rebrand, and awareness efforts across the largest healthcare system in New England. Informed by her marketing insights research, Rachel launched MGB’s first global and local brand awareness and service line campaigns to position the new brand. Rachel led the visual identity roll out across all fifteen hospitals, entities, and additional outpatient centers, and spearheaded brand architecture and policy work to further define and protect the system brand. She also led enterprise-wide marketing solutions and creative services supporting the 80K employee system and largest private employer in the state of Massachusetts. Prior to healthcare, Rachel was Senior Vice President, Marketing, Content Distribution & Business Development at ViacomCBS (now Paramount). In this role, Rachel was responsible for ViacomCBS’s portfolio strategy and messaging, new business, communications, client experience, internal culture, post-merger operations, and DEI. In her fifteen-year career at ViacomCBS, Rachel marketed brands with a broad spectrum of audiences including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, and CBS, and navigated an ever-evolving content distribution landscape consisting of traditional, virtual, digital, social, mobile and direct-to-consumer platforms. Rachel spent her early career in consumer packaged goods for both Kraft Foods and Procter & Gamble where she held various roles in brand management and sales. Throughout her experiences, Rachel has proven to be an agent of change, leading visionary transformation at large scale. She takes a consumer-first approach and is passionate about serving diverse audiences in particular. Rachel received a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan and her M.B.A. from Columbia University. She is also an alumni of NAMIC’s Executive Leadership Development program at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business. An NYC transplant, Rachel is on the Board of Directors at The New Commonwealth Fund, PRX, and Women’s Lunch Place, and she co-founded Boston’s most diverse, and Dorchester’s first porch music festival, Dorchfest. She resides in Dorchester, Boston, with her husband, two children, and father.

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Grace Lee

MA Regional President, EVP, M&T Bank

Achievement in Management – Private Sector – Grace Lee has more than twenty-five years of public and private sector leadership experience. In her role…Read more

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Margaret Low

CEO, WBUR

Lifetime Achievement – Margaret Low is the CEO of WBUR in Boston — an award-winning producer of high-quality journalism on-air, online, on demand…Read more

Lifetime Achievement –
Margaret Low is the CEO of WBUR in Boston — an award-winning producer of high-quality journalism on-air, online, on demand and on stage at CitySpace. WBUR has one of the strongest local newsrooms in America, with dozens of journalists covering the most pressing issues in the city and the region. WBUR reaches nearly seven million listeners across the country each week with its two national programs, On Point and Here & Now — a midday newsmagazine produced with NPR. WBUR is also a pioneering podcaster, with critically acclaimed shows like The Gun Machine, Violation, Endless Thread, Circle Round, Anything for Selena, Last Seen, Modern Love and The Common — WBUR’s daily local on demand show. Before joining WBUR in January 2020, Low was president of AtlanticLIVE, The Atlantic’s events division, which during her tenure produced more than 100 conferences a year across the country. Low joined The Atlantic in the fall of 2014 and in a short time transformed the events business into a live journalism juggernaut that set the standard for the news industry. Prior to The Atlantic, Low enjoyed a storied career at NPR, spanning decades. She first walked through the doors as an overnight production assistant on Morning Edition and rose through the ranks to become senior vice president for news — NPR’s top editorial job. In that role, she oversaw the work of some 400 journalists worldwide and coverage of major news events from The Arab Spring and the wars in Syria and Libya to the reelection of Barack Obama and the Boston Marathon bombing. She opened new foreign bureaus, launched new shows, developed new beats and led the digital transformation of the newsroom, steering the audio strategy for digital platforms and quickening the response to breaking news. Earlier at NPR, Margaret was vice president for programming with responsibility for all non-news shows. Among Margaret’s most notable accomplishments was the reinvention of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! — transforming a studio-based radio quiz show into a live, award-winning road show and business success story. During her tenure, NPR earned some of the most prestigious honors in journalism, including multiple Peabody Awards, duPont-Columbia Awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award. Margaret serves on NPR’s Board of Directors. She is on the board of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. She is vice chair of the board of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a board member of Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan, home to the Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowships. The University of Michigan is also her alma mater. In 2017, she was the commencement speaker for U of M’s School of Communications. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband Kinsey Wilson.

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Josiane Martinez

Founder & CEO, ASG

Achievement in Entrepreneurship – Josiane Martinez, the founder and CEO of ASG, brings almost two decades of expertise in public policy, cross-cultural…Read more

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Eneida Román

President & CEO, Amplify LatinX

Achievement in Management – Non-Profit Eneida Román is the President & CEO of Amplify LatinX, a business organization that is advancing Latino…Read more

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Laura Wood

EVP Patient Care Operations & System Chief Nurse Executive, Boston Children’s Hospital

Achievement in the Professions – A lifelong pediatric executive nurse leader with a sustained commitment to strengthening health care delivery environments…Read more

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Pricing

Member

Individual/Government: $300

Table: $3,000

Non-Member

Early Bird Individual/Government: $350

Early Bird Table: $3,500

The Criteria for Nominations

Demonstrated leadership that has made a tangible, positive difference within her organization
Demonstrated a commitment to enhance the quality of life in her community
Nominee’s company must be a current member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce (with exception of the Government category)
Nominations for the 2025 Pinnacle Awards are now closed

Agenda

11:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. | Registration & Networking

Find your name badge and enjoy coffee, tea, and mimosas while conversing with other guests.

12:00 p.m.- 1:30 p.m. | 2025 Pinnacle Awards

Celebrate our honorees while dining on a wonderful lunch!

Award Categories

Achievement in Entrepreneurship

A current founder of a business that has been in operation for at least 5 years, or someone who has used their career to cultivate the entrepreneurship ecosystem and has previously founded a business or been a member of a founding team at some point in their career.

Achievement in Management (3 Awards)
A woman who has excelled within an organization in one of the following categories:
Private Sector

Government**

Non-Profit

**Nominee does not need to be a Chamber member for the Government Category

Achievement in the Professions

A woman who has made a difference in her profession (lawyer, accountant, engineer, architect, consultant, etc.).

Achievement in Health Care

A woman who has demonstrated success in a health care field.

Achievement in Arts and Education

A woman who has demonstrated success in a cultural or academic institution.

Emerging Executive

A woman early in her career who exhibits strong leadership potential. Nominees must be 40 or under at the time of the event (January 31, 2025).

Lifetime Achievement

A woman whose entire professional career and civic involvement has been exemplary. Nominees must have at least 25 years of professional experience.

A Look Back At Last Year – 2024 Pinnacle Awards

2024 Pinnacle Awards, the 30th Anniversary

The 30th annual Pinnacle Awards in-person ceremony at the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport on January 26th, 2024.

Kimberly S. Budd speaks at the podium during the 2024 Pinnacle Awards ceremony.

Susan Loconto Penta and James E. Rooney pose with 2024 Pinnacle Award Honoree, Donna Levin.

2024 Pinnacle Awards Honorees pose on stage as a group with James E. Rooney, Susan Loconto Penta, Lisa Hughes, and Celia Richa.

View Album

Media Partner

Event Host

FAQs

What is included in my registration?

Networking with the region’s top leaders, inspiration from our incredible honorees, and plated lunch and dessert with your choice of water, coffee, or tea.

Dietary restrictions? Please notify a server and they will be able to assist you.

What should I bring?

An interest in connecting with professionals from all industries and career stages and a curiosity to learn from this year’s honorees.

What should I wear?

Please come dressed for your day!

How do I get there?

The Omni Seaport is within walking distance of the MBTA’s North Station, Silver Line (Congress St @ World Trade Center Station).

Valet and self parking is available. We do not offer parking validation.

When should I arrive?

For the Friday, January 31, in-person Awards Ceremony, registration & networking begins at 11:00 a.m. If you arrive earlier than 11:00 a.m., kudos to you for beating the traffic! The program will begin promptly at 12:00 p.m.

Do I need to register for the event in advance?

Please register in advance, tickets for the in-person luncheon are limited and will sell out. On-site registration will not be accepted.

COVID-19 Policy
The Department of Health and Human Services lifted the Presidential Declaration of a National Public Health Emergency arising from the COVID-19 pandemic on May 11, 2023. Therefore, COVID-19 will no longer be considered a national health emergency. The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce will continue to monitor trends and act accordingly based on Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance.

Your health and safety remain our top priority while attending programs, events, and meetings. COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters are strongly recommended. The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce still follows exposure guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control.

If you feel ill or learn of an exposure before an event or meeting, whether with COVID-19 symptoms or others, please stay home and contact your healthcare provider.

*Please note -If the venue or host of the program has additional policies or protocols, we will adhere to them and notify attendees in advance.

What is the refund policy?

All ticket cancellations and refund requests must be received at least seven (7) business days prior to the event to avoid being charged or to receive a refund. There are no cancellations permitted for any sponsorships. There are no exceptions.

In the case the Chamber cannot execute the in-person Awards Luncheon due to unforeseen circumstances and therefore must change to a virtual format, pricing will adjust and we will contact you on adjustments to your billing.

Press and Media

Press and media wishing to cover the Pinnacle Awards should RSVP to Casey Baines.
Email Casey

Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport

450 Summer Street, Boston, MA, 02210

Get Directions

Accessibility

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce encourages persons with disabilities to participate, and engage fully, in its programs and events. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation, including but not limited to, listening devices, closed captioning, large print, wheelchair access, allergies and environmental sensitivities, please let us know so that we can accommodate. If you have any questions about the venues, event formats, or virtual platform, please contact us at [email protected].

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For our members

Events

Premier Event

2025 Annual Meeting

Pacesetters

Doing Business with Columbia Construction

City Awake

Art of Connection: An Evening at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Learning & Development

Transformational DEI Certificate

Women’s Leadership Program

Boston’s Future Leaders

Authentic Professionalism for Early Career Professionals

Economic Inclusion

Economic Inclusion

City Awake

Economic Inclusion

Pacesetters

Small Business

Small Business

Policy & Impact

GET INVOLVED IN OUR POLICY FOCUS AREAS

Business Climate

Climate & Energy

Health Care

Housing & Development

Talent

Transportation

GBCC’s Networks

OUR NETWORKS

Small Business

City Awake

BIMA

Women’s Network

Massachusetts Apprentice Network

Pacesetters

Membership

About Us

Our Impact

Membership Directory