Key points:

• Arizona Women Achievers honored 31 people from across the state, representing eight categories

• Sandra Watson earned Woman of the Year for her work bringing jobs and investment to Arizona

• The honorees vowed to continue making a positive impact on Arizona through their work and service

Sandra Watson, president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority, was named Woman of the Year on Thursday at the Arizona Capitol Times’ 2026 Arizona Women Achievers award ceremony at the Arizona Biltmore.

As president and CEO of the state’s top economic development organization, Watson has overseen the growth of the burgeoning semiconductor industry and helped attract more than 2,100 companies to the state. Her work has created hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in investment. 

“Women across Arizona are building and leading companies, advancing science and technology, guiding public institutions, and strengthening our communities every single day,” Watson said in her acceptance speech.

She pointed to Arizona’s legacy of female leadership and thanked her colleagues at the ACA.

“As we celebrate, let’s also look ahead,” Watson said. “Let’s continue supporting one another, opening doors and creating opportunities for women who will lead after us.”

Thursday’s ceremony was the seventh Arizona Women Achievers event. Hosted by the Arizona Capitol Times and its parent company, State Affairs, the annual celebration recognizes the state’s female leaders across government, business and the nonprofit sector.

Beside Watson, the event honored 30 women across eight categories: corporate leadership, education, government and public service, policy, legal, healthcare, nonprofits, and unsung heroes.

Alison Bethel, chief content officer for State Affairs and editor-in-chief of the Arizona Capitol Times, said each honored woman comes from a different background.

“But there is a thread connecting all of them,” she said. “They saw something that could be better and did something about it.”

Honorees in corporate leadership included Sara Gullickson, founder and CEO of The Cannabis Business Advisors, a consulting firm focused on cannabis licensing and compliance; Emily Nachlas, chief risk officer for Western Alliance Bancorporation, a bank holding company headquartered in Phoenix; Jamie Blakeman, founder and CEO of Lōkahi, a transportation engineering firm; and Jennifer Kaplan, the founder of Evolve Public Relations and Marketing, a premier PR agency in the Valley.

Kaplan said being around the other honorees was inspiring.

“There’s more to achieve,” Kaplan said. “There’s more to conquer.”

The education award recipients were Cindy Segotta-Jones, superintendent of Glendale Elementary School District; Elizabeth Gonzalez, a teacher and leader of Maryvale High School’s Gifted and Talented Academy; Valerie Cimarossa, chancellor of the University of Advancing Technology; and Christina Ngo, assistant vice president of social embeddedness at Arizona State University.

Government and public service winners included El Mirage Mayor Alexis Hermosillo, Flagstaff City Manager Joanne Keene, Glendale Assistant City Manager Vicki Rios, Phoenix Assistant City Manager Lori Bays and Pima County Board of Supervisors Chair Jennifer Allen.

Hermosillo said the ceremony reaffirmed the value of her work at El Mirage. She added the other honorees inspire what more can be done in her city.

“Even just to see the caliber of women that have been recognized today, that in itself is just amazing,” Hermosillo said.

The honorees for policy were Cora Tso, an attorney and senior research fellow at ASU’s Kyl Center for Water Policy; Charlinda Haudley, stakeholder outreach coordinator for the Central Arizona Project; and Pamela Bridge, director of litigation and advocacy for Community Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm that helps expand access to legal services in underserved communities.

Tso emphasized the diversity of those honored. She said she hopes attendees were reminded that “their individual journey is really valuable.”

Emily Ward, a director at Fennemore, a fast-growing business law firm, and Linley Wilson, a partner at Holtzman Vogel, a law firm specializing in political and regulatory issues, received awards in the legal category.

Healthcare honorees included Jennifer Carusetta, vice president of public affairs and advocacy at Phoenix Children’s; Mimi Coomler, CEO of Tucson Medical Center, a 600-plus-bed nonprofit hospital; Heather Carter, Medicaid segment general manager for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona; Tamika Sullivan, director of behavioral health at Chiricahua Community Health Centers, a not-for-profit primary care organization in Cochise County; and Katie Brite Hillis, interim vice dean of medical education for the University of Arizona College of Medicine’s new Yuma Regional Branch.

Award recipients for nonprofits were Vanecia Kerr, president and CEO of United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona; Barbara Ryan Thompson, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Helios Education Foundation; Sophie Allen-Etchart, founder and CEO of Read Better Be Better; Alejandra Gomez, executive director of Living United for Change in Arizona; and Dana Marie Kennedy, state director of AARP Arizona.

The event’s unsung heroes were Jeanmarie Simpson, the founding artistic director of Arizona Theatre Matters, which seeks to improve accessibility in theatre, and Tiffany Jones-Bolling, an Air Force veteran and volunteer at the Pat Tillman Memorial Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 40 in Avondale.

Simpson said she was surprised by the honor and initially didn’t believe that she had actually been nominated.

“It’s humbling, and it’s an honor to be recognized with all these women,” she said. “I’m flabbergasted by the levels of achievement and the accomplishments of these 31 women.”