2026 Induction Ceremony

Minnie Forbes

At just 24 years old, Minnie Forbes stepped into one of America’s most male-dominated arenas and became one of the few women to own a Negro League baseball team.

Forbes owned the Grand Rapids Black Sox during the final years of the Negro Leagues, helping preserve an important chapter of Black baseball history while challenging both racial and gender barriers. And she didn’t just run a team—she took the field herself, playing for the all-Black women’s softball team Cook’s Brown Dolls.

Her trailblazing continued beyond baseball. Forbes became the first Black business manager at Jacobson’s department store and built a nearly four-decade career there. In 2013, President Barack Obama welcomed her to the White House in recognition of her contributions to civil rights and athletics. Minnie Forbes didn’t wait for a seat at the table—or a place on the field. She claimed both.

Denise Ilitch

Few women have had a front-row seat to—and a leadership role in—so many institutions that have shaped modern Michigan.

A Detroit native, attorney and business leader, Denise Ilitch rose to President of Ilitch Holdings, helping lead an enterprise that included the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings, Little Caesars, Fox Theatre and Olympia Entertainment. She went on to bring that experience to public and civic service, including more than 16 years on the University of Michigan Board of Regents.

Throughout her career, Ilitch has built a reputation for independent thinking, speaking her mind and forging an identity distinctly her own. From business and sports to education and civic leadership, Denise Ilitch has spent decades helping shape the Michigan we know today.

Birgit Klohs

Birgit Klohs didn’t just help grow West Michigan’s economy. She helped transform it.

During more than three decades leading The Right Place, Klohs helped steer a region once struggling with double-digit unemployment into a diversified, internationally competitive economy. Under her leadership, the organization helped create or retain more than 50,000 jobs, generate more than $5 billion in investment and bring 150 international companies to West Michigan.

Her influence can also be seen in the Grand Rapids Medical Mile, where she helped bring together the partners who turned a neglected corridor into a major center for medicine, research and innovation. A master connector with a vision for what West Michigan could become, Birgit Klohs helped build the economic powerhouse it is today.

Gail Perry Mason

Gail Perry-Mason knows what it means to beat the odds—and then turn around and help thousands of others do the same.

A lifelong Detroiter who rose from the foster care system to become a Senior Director of Investments at Oppenheimer & Co., Perry-Mason has built an extraordinary career in finance while making financial opportunity accessible to the next generation. Through Money Matters for Youth, the program she founded nearly three decades ago, more than 7,000 young people have learned about investing, entrepreneurship and building financial independence.

A nationally recognized author, speaker, broadcaster and financial leader, Perry-Mason has earned accolades across the country. But perhaps her greatest legacy is right here in Detroit: She climbed the ladder—and made sure to bring it back for others.

Suzanne Delano Parish

Suzanne Delano Parish didn’t just dream of flying. She helped change who was allowed in the cockpit.

During World War II, Parish served as a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP), flying military aircraft at a time when few women were given such opportunities. Her groundbreaking service helped challenge assumptions about what women could do in aviation and the military and ultimately earned her the Congressional Gold Medal.

But Parish’s impact didn’t end when she landed. She later co-founded the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, which grew into today’s internationally recognized Air Zoo Aerospace & Science Center. Parish broke barriers in the sky—and spent a lifetime inspiring others to dream just as big.

Olga Loizon

In 1970, Olga Loizon was a mother of three with no formal business training, no outside investors and one very good bread recipe. With a $3,000 loan—the first her local Detroit Bank and Trust branch had ever extended to a woman—she opened the first Olga’s Kitchen.

What followed became part of Michigan culture. Loizon introduced generations of Michiganders to Mediterranean flavors through her signature bread and the iconic Olga sandwich, turning a small Birmingham startup into a restaurant empire that eventually grew to 56 locations in 11 states.

More than 50 years later, Olga’s remains a Michigan staple. Loizon didn’t just build a successful business. She created something Michigan made its own.

Margaret McLaren

If you live in Michigan, you probably know the name McLaren. But you may not know the remarkable woman behind it.

For nearly three decades, nurse Margaret Eliza McLaren led Flint’s Women’s Hospital, transforming a struggling 29-bed community facility into an accredited 243-bed regional hospital. Under her leadership, it expanded access to hospital-based maternity care, introduced Flint’s first incubator and achieved prestigious national accreditation.

When a new hospital opened in 1951, it was named McLaren General Hospital in her honor—the first U.S. hospital named for a nurse. Today, her name lives on through one of Michigan’s largest health systems.

Margaret McLaren didn’t just lead a hospital. She built a healthcare legacy Michigan still relies on today.

Huldah Neal

In 1897—23 years before women won the right to vote—Huldah Neal decided the men charged with protecting Michigan’s natural resources weren’t getting the job done. So the Grand Traverse County farmer’s wife asked to do it herself.

Appointed a deputy game warden, Neal became the first female conservation officer in the United States, patrolling northern Michigan’s woods and waters by horseback and rowboat. It would be another 80 years before Michigan appointed its next female conservation officer.

More than a century later, women continue the work Neal boldly began. A true trailblazer, she didn’t wait for women to be invited into law enforcement. She opened the door herself.