Where Strength and Leadership Meets Elegance
Join Us in our Eleventh Year of Recognizing Powerful Women Along the Northwest Florida Region
850 Business Magazine is proud to announce the 2025 Pinnacle Awards Luncheon, celebrating 12 exceptional women who exemplify leadership, innovation, and influence in their industries. This exciting event will take place on March 26, 2025, at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, starting at 11 a.m. Join us as we honor these remarkable individuals who are shaping the future of business and community development in Northwest Florida.
This event is an opportunity for business leaders, aspiring entrepreneurs, and community advocates in our area to share ideas and honor grit. With the goal of inspiring future leaders, the luncheon will feature networking opportunities, insightful conversations, and recognition of the region’s most influential women.
We are pleased to announce our keynote speaker is Carol Carlan. A past Pinnacle recipient and currently the director of philanthropy at IHMC. Carlan is a longtime community leader and successful business executive. Her banking career spanned more than 35 years as the first female president of a large regional bank, and for the past 10 years as the president of the Ascension Sacred Heart Foundation, where she led one of the largest capital campaigns in the region, resulting in a new children’s hospital and expansion of children’s services in the Destin market.
Carol Carlan
As president of Carlan Consulting, a leadership development company, she is a founding member of the John Maxwell Team, a global training organization for leaders with more than 50,000 members worldwide.
As a community leader she has served on more than 35 nonprofit organizations during her career and is an emeritus member of the Pensacola State Foundation, a founding member of The Pace Center of Girls Escambia/Santa Rosa, long time member of the Pace State Board of Trustees, inaugural chair of the Institute of Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), one-hundred-twenty-fifth chair of the Greater Pensacola Chamber and is currently the longest serving trustee of Pensacola State College Board of Trustees.
We are proud to introduce the 2025 honorees.
These accomplished women represent diverse industries and have made significant contributions to their communities. Each honoree’s profile can be found here:
- Tracey Cohen President and CEO, Target Print & Mail
- Carrie Zimmerman USA Olympian; Co-Founder and former CEO, The Zimmerman Agency
- Carol B. Dover President and CEO, Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association (FRLA)
- Berneice Cox President and CEO, United Way of the Big Bend
- Hillary Glenn Executive Director, Point Washington Medical Clinic
- Jennifer Grove Vice President of External Relations (Retired), Baptist Health Care
- Hong Potomski Market Leader, Florida Blue
- Kara Fridley-Young President, Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation
- Dr. Alma Littles Dean, Florida State University College of Medicine
- Sara Becnel President, Sandestin Investments
- Summer Griffith Founder, Drip Drop Fitness—Turnbull Recipient
- Teresa Horton Executive Director, Seaside School Foundation
Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate excellence and connect with like-minded professionals. Tickets and more information will be available here.
This event would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors:
Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, Florida Blue, Emerald Coast Florals & Event Design, Mingle, JA 30A Salon, Destin 30A Mobile Makeup Box, Proffitt PR, Live in Tallahassee, Fox 49, and Boo Media.
Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Contact McKenzie Burleigh at mburleigh@tallahasseemagazine.com.
About 850 Business Magazine
For more than 16 years, the award-winning 850 Business Magazine has been capturing the essence of Northwest Florida’s vibrant region to share with readers.
Northwest Florida is home to one of the state’s brightest and most promising economies, influenced by emerging industries, global investments, eco-friendly enterprise, new real state offerings, and leading-edge research and development.
850 is dedicated to telling the dynamic story of the region’s exciting new role in state, national and international marketplaces. We do this through insightful features, in-depth spotlight stories on people, places and business and comprehensive articles on business trends and perspectives.
