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The 2025 Women MAKE Awards gala had it all—deserving winners, inspiring talks, live music, camaraderie among manufacturing professionals and more.
 
A night to remember: The event, held Thursday night at Washington, D.C., waterfront concert venue The Anthem, is put on annually by the Manufacturing Institute, the NAM’s 501(c)3 workforce development and education affiliate. It honors exceptional leaders in the manufacturing industry who were nominated by their peers: 100 leaders (“Honorees”) and 30 rising stars (“Emerging Leaders”).

• The names of the 130 awardees at the gala—sponsored by Toyota Motor North America, Union Pacific, Hitachi Energy, Caterpillar and Novelis—were announced in March.
• The awards, now in their 13th year, are part of the MI’s Women MAKE America initiative, which aims to close the skills gap in manufacturing and inspire the next generation who will become leaders in the industry.

What happened: The elegant evening featured a live performance by folk-rock singer Jade Bird and remarks by NAM President and CEO and MI Chairman of the Board Jay Timmons, MI President and Executive Director Carolyn Lee and various manufacturing leaders. 
 
“Now is the time”: One of Bird’s songs, “Now is the Time,” inspired Timmons’ message at the gala.

• “‘Now is the time’—that lyric couldn’t be more fitting,” Timmons said. “Now is the time to stand up. Now is the time to be heard. Now is the time to be recognized for the contributions that the remarkable women in this room are making not only to manufacturing but also to the health and the strength of our nation and the world. … You’re the proof of what’s possible—and what’s powerful—when women have a hand in shaping the future of manufacturing.”   

Good people doing good: The gala was preceded by two days of leadership programming for Honorees and Emerging Leaders. In addition to various panels and workshops, the program made time for the awardees to give back.

• At a hands-on service event on day one of the program sponsored by L’Oreal, the Honorees and Emerging Leaders assembled 200 personal hygiene care packages for residents of the Washington, D.C., nonprofit N Street Village, which is dedicated to supporting women experiencing homelessness.
• The awardees feted at the gala aren’t strangers to philanthropy. The charitable activities of 2025 Honoree Anam Ahmed and 2025 Emerging Leader Jordan English are a prime example of what’s all in a day’s work for these award winners.
• In addition to being the youngest site representative on the Kuraray America Incorporated Global Production and Manufacturing Committee and serving as both process and production engineer, Texas-based Honoree Ahmed volunteers regularly at Ronald McDonald House, food drives and Habitat for Humanity.
• English, a project engineer at Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa in Alabama, is “helping make a game-changing, multimillion-dollar overhaul to Nucor’s manufacturing process,” Lee said in her remarks at the event. “That’s making life better for the hundreds of people Jordan works with—all while she lifts up fellow engineers in her community” through mentorship and fundraising.

A story like her own: Toyota Motor North America Executive Technical Advisor, Toyota Global and North American Sustainability Susan Elkington, a former Awards Honoree, was this year’s gala chair.

• “I know how meaningful this moment is,” Elkington told the audience. “In 2014, I had the privilege of sitting where you are now, as a Women MAKE Honoree. I remember looking around the room, inspired by the stories and the sisterhood and our allies. I left that night with renewed energy and a deeper sense of responsibility—to grow, to give back and to lead by example.”
• “My story is unique, just like yours, but we go beyond our own stories, bonding together toward something even bigger,” she continued. “You’re not only achieving incredible things—you’re reaching back, paying your talents forward and lighting the way.”  

Champion Award: New this year was the giving of the Champion Award, which “recognizes a leader in manufacturing who is committed not just to building great things but to empowering others,” Lee said. The first recipient: Cargill Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Supply Chain Food North America Matt Pearson.

• This new award is given to “a transformative executive leader who has made extraordinary contributions to advance leaders in manufacturing”—and is chosen through a blind review by peer judges.
• At Cargill, Pearson has led multiple employee programs to support and create advancement pathways. He has also mentored many fellow Cargill workers.
• “Congratulations to Matt Pearson, SVP of Manufacturing & Supply Chain Food North America at Cargill, on being named the inaugural Champion Award recipient!” the MI wrote in a social post following the event. “Selected by peers, Matt exemplifies the leadership, mentorship & innovation that strengthen our industry.”   

The last word: As Lee explained at the event, the leaders honored with this year’s awards “show us what modern manufacturing is all about and what it can be far into the future. As the Manufacturing Institute builds the manufacturing workforce of today and tomorrow, Women MAKE is an important part of the effort to close the skills gap.”