BusinessWoman of the Year Celebration Returns to the Queens Campus

More than 275 people gathered in Young Dining Hall on the Queens University campus to honor Novant Health’s Tanya S. Blackmon as she became the 37th Charlotte BusinessWoman of the Year.

“Tanya, nobody has worked harder than you for equity and inclusion in this community. I’m constantly inspired by everything that you do,” Charlotte Mayor and Queens alum Vi Lyles said in her keynote speech. “We should all be thinking about what will we do to inspire the 38th and the 39th [Charlotte BusinessWoman of the Year]. Who’s going to step up and follow in the footsteps of amazing women like Dena Diorio, Lynn Good, Carol Lovin? That’s what this is about.”

Blackmon leads a system-wide culture change strategy to embed diversity, inclusion and equity across the Novant Health system of 35,000 team members. Under her leadership, Novant Health has earned national recognition including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Inaugural Health Equity Award, Human Right Campaign Healthcare Equity Index Leaders in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality, NACD NXT Board of Trustees as No.1 Diversity Innovator in America for Nonprofits, American Heroes for NC Liberty Award, and Forbes’ list of Best Employers for Women and Best Employers for Diversity.

“Tanya is a true servant leader,” said Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio, the 2020 Charlotte BusinessWoman of the Year. “Her mission and ministry are the same; to add value to the lives of the people she touches.”

In her remarks, Blackmon, who earned her MBA from Queens University, shared her remarkable journey through education, motherhood, and professional triumph even in the face of challenge and loss.

“When I first stepped onto the Queens University campus more than 20 years ago to get my MBA, it was really pivotal to my career,” she said. “I remember balancing, just as many women do, being a mother, being the daughter of a terminally ill mother, having a full-time job and going to school full time. It wasn’t easy, but the professors at Queens kept me motivated. So, it is wonderful to be here at Queens today.”

Four female students from the business school received the annual businesswoman scholarship at the event including undergraduate students Lesley Trujillo and Anna Walker; and MBA graduate students Mckensie Barmore and Julie Mall.

“Our History is full of female trailblazers – women who broke free of convention and constraint to use their distinctive voices and viewpoints to change the world around them for the better,” said Queens President Dan Lugo. “I am so very proud of Vi and Tanya; and Anna, Lesley, Julie and Mckensie whom we also honor today as our student scholarship winners, for shining their lights on a world in desperate need of more trailblazers.”

“I feel grateful. I’m humbled. I’m honored to be standing here,” said Blackmon. “I am deeply committed to passing on the gift – the gift of lifting others up – to influence change in our organizations and our world so others can have more impact, more influence, more hope and more opportunity to grow and learn and develop.”

For 36 years, the Queens University of Charlotte BusinessWoman of the Year award has celebrated the achievements of exceptional women professionals who exhibit leadership as defined by the values of Queens McColl School of Business – competence, character and commitment to community.

Previous Charlotte BusinessWoman of the Year winners include Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio; Peggy Brookhouse, former president of Luquire George Andrews (LGA); Carol Lovin, executive vice president and system chief of staff for Atrium Health; Andrea B. Smith, former chief administrative officer at Bank of America; Susan Devore, former president and chief executive officer of Premier, Inc.; and Lynn Good, president and chief executive officer of Duke Energy.

Learn more about Tanya Blackmon as well as the history of the Charlotte BusinessWoman of the Year award.