# Louisiana Center for Women in Government and Business Hall of Fame

The Louisiana Center for Women in Government and Business Hall of Fame recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Louisiana for their significant achievements or statewide contributions. Among the inductees are men whose contributions to supporting strong women were deemed significant. The Center is headquartered at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux and was established in 1991 to promote and encourage government and public service leadership of women. The first Hall of Fame inductions occurred in March 1994 during Women's History Month.

## Inductees

Louisiana Center for Women in Government and Business Hall of Fame :
| Name | Birth–Death | Year | Area of achievement |
| Gayle Benson | (b. 1947) | 2023 | Lifetime Achievement Award Owner New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans |
| Andrea Renee Brinkley | (b. 1966) | 2023 | Major, Civil Department, Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office |
| Jay Clune | (b. 1964) | 2023 | Men Supporting Strong Women, President of Nicholls State University |
| Jay Dardenne | (b. 1954) | 2023 | Men Supporting Strong Women, Louisiana Commissioner of Administration |
| Donna Edwards | (b. 1967) | 2023 | Lifetime Achievement Award, First Lady of Louisiana, wife of Governor John Bel Edwards |
| Laurie Guimont | (b. 1955) | 2023 | Career coach, Pepper Leaf |
| Sharon Lavigne | (b. 1950) | 2023 | Environmental justice activist |
| Julie Stokes | (b. 1970) | 2023 | Former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, CEO of Flame Consulting |
| Lloyd "Chip" Badeaux | (1947–2023) | 2017 | Men who Support women |
| Marguerite Knight | (b. 1957) | 2017 | Senior Vice President Morgan Stanley |
| Mary Landrieu | (b. 1955) | 2017 | United States Senator |
| Yvonne LaFleur | (b. 1947) | 2017 | Entrepreneur |
| Genny May | (b. 1948) | 2017 | United States Marshal |
| Elaine Musso | (b. 1944) | 2017 | Leadership Council activist |
| Eva Shanklin | (b. 1939) | 2017 | Louisiana State WIN Coordinator for NAACP, President Emeritus, Lafourche Chapter |
| Kim Sport | (b. 1942) | 2017 | Former Executive Counsel to Chief Justice |
| Luci Sposito | (b. 1966) | 2017 | Lafourche Parish Council Vice Chair |
| Karen St. Germain | (b. 1957) | 2017 | Louisiana House of Representatives |
| Raja Talluri | (b. 1965) | 2017 | Physician (Men Who Support Women) |
| Stephanie Burks | (b. 1970) | 2015 | Entrepreneurship, co-owner and co-founder of RYCARS Construction, LLC |
| Leah Chase | (1923–2019) | 2015 | Lifetime Achievement Award, Owner of Dooky Chase's restaurant in New Orleans |
| Jackie Clarkson | (b. 1936) | 2015 | Award for Public Service, New Orleans City Council |
| Felicia Frederick | (b. 1963) | 2015 | Manager of State Governmental Affairs for Chevron, Government, Policy, and Public Affairs |
| Russ Herman | (b. 1942) | 2015 | Men Who Support Strong Women; Senior Partner, Herman, Herman & Katz Law Firm; philanthropic support of and work for The Center |
| Christian LeBlanc | (b. 1958) | 2015 | Men Who Support Strong Women, support of numerous charities including The Center, Bayou Junior Woman's Club and The Lafourche Commission on Women |
| Leslie Marsh | (1961–2019) | 2015 | Outstanding Activists for The Center for Women, Advisory Board for The Center and The Son of a Saint. Donor Relations Officer, Tulane University |
| Nell Nolan | | 2015 | Journalist for The Advocate, Blue Ribbon Award for Media |
| Karen Puckett | (b. 1960) | 2015 | President of Global Markets for CenturyLink |
| Brandie Toups | (b. 1973) | 2015 | Outstanding Activists for The Center for Women, Louisiana Girls Leadership Academy |
| Vanessa Guidry-Whipple | (b. 1955) | 2015 | Chief Judge, Louisiana's First Circuit Court of Appeal |
| Donnell Zeringue | (b. 1953) | 2015 | Outstanding Activists for The Center for Women, chair of the Public Service Project for The Center's Louisiana Girls Leadership Academy. Lafourche Commission on Women, National Leaders Summit and The Louisiana Leaders Conference |
| Maurice Durbin | (b. 1943) | 2013 | Lobbyist for women's rights in Louisiana |
| Kay Katz | (b. 1938) | 2013 | Republican former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives and former Louisiana Republican National Committeewoman |
| Demetric Mercadel | (b. 1959) | 2013 | Senior Associate Analyst for Entergy New Orleans, Inc. |
| Willie Mount | (b. 1949) | 2013 | Member of the Louisiana State Senate from 2000 to 2012 |
| Lena Torres | (1921–2021) | 2013 | Clerk of Court for St. Bernard Parish |
| Elizabeth Ratcliff Dent | (b. 1940) | 2012 | President of Financial and Management Services |
| Kathleen Mix Diamond | (b. 1951) | 2012 | Vice Chancellor for Workforce Development and Education at Delgado Community College |
| Andie Bollinger Giardina | (1951–2019) | 2012 | Longtime supporter of Women's Night Out, a major fundraiser for women student-athletes |
| Rose Hudson | (b. 1964) | 2012 | Chief Executive Officer, Louisiana Lottery |
| Alice Pecoraro | (b. 1946) | 2011 | Council for a Better Louisiana, Louisiana State Board of Commerce and Industry and the Louisiana Endowment of Humanities. |
| Adele Ransom | (1927–2019) | 2011 | First woman to have been elected to the Ouachita Police Jury. She is a member of the Ouachita Correctional Center Advisory Board and the Ouachita Board of Commissioners |
| Jean Rice | (b. 1939) | 2011 | The Louisiana Center for Women and Government |
| Suzanne Terrell | (b. 1954) | 2011 | Former Louisiana Elections Commissioner, Senior advisor and director of outreach for the Economic Development Administration in the United States Department of Commerce under President George W. Bush; lost 2002 Senate election to Mary Landrieu. |
| Jean Armstrong | (b. 1944) | 2010 | Co-founder of the Louisiana Voting Rights Network and president of League of Women Voters. |
| Betty Scott Cummins | (b. 1939) | 2010 | Director for both Winnsboro State Bank and the Scott Companies |
| Faith Peperone | (b. 1946) | 2010 | Founder Metropolitan Republican Women's Club |
| Leslie Robichaux Suazo | (b. 1957) | 2010 | Director of Coastal Restoration and Preservation for Terrebonne Parish and community relations coordinator for the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program. |
| Rosemary Ewing | (b. 1944) | 2009 | First female board chairman of Louisiana United Methodist Children and Family Services, Inc. |
| Phyllis Mayo | (b. 1949) | 2009 | First woman elected to the Alexandria City Council; executive committees of the Louisiana Democratic Party. Special assistant to the governor on women's policy, organizing the first Gathering of Louisiana Women Leaders |
| Anne Milling | (b. 1941) | 2009 | Past president of the Junior League of New Orleans Inc. and past chair of the Loyola University Board of Trustees. |
| LilyB Moskal | (1929–2020) | 2009 | (*Note: the spelling of LilyB is not a typo), Founder of Success Seminars, motivational workshops |
| Kitty DeGree | (1922–2012) | 2008 | Philanthropist who made her money in real estate, Kitty DeGree Breast Health Center at St. Francis Medical Center and Kitty Degree School of Nursing at the University of Louisiana at Monroe |
| Sandy Rosenthal | (b. 1957) | 2008 | Civic organizer who founded Levees.org/ in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina |
| Dolores Spikes | (1936–2015) | 2008 | President Southern University and A&M College, president University of Maryland Eastern Shore |
| Phyllis Taylor | (b. 1938) | 2008 | Philanthropist, chairman and chief executive officer Taylor Energy |
| Irma Muse Dixon | (b. 1952) | 2007 | First African-American elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC) |
| Mary Ann Lemmon | (b. 1941) | 2007 | United States federal judge appointed by Bill Clinton July 25, 1966; Judge, Louisiana District Court, Twenty-ninth Judicial District, 1982–1996; Judge pro tempore, Court of Appeal, First Circuit, Louisiana, 1990 |
| Melinda Schwegmann | (b. 1946) | 2007 | First woman Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana |
| Pinkie Wilkerson | (1948–2000) | 2007 | Former Louisiana State Representative from District 11 (Claiborne and parts of Bienville, Lincoln, and Union parishes) |
| Mari Ann Fowler | (b. 1937) | 2006 | Deceased second wife of Jerry Fowler, abducted from a parking lot in Port Allen, Louisiana on Christmas Eve 2002 while Jerry Fowler was incarcerated for kickbacks and income tax evasion. State District Judge Janice Clark declared her legally dead, May 2004. |
| Bunnatine H. Greenhouse | (b. 1944) | 2006 | Top procurement official at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who blew the whistle on Halliburton contracts |
| Ethel N. Knobloch | (1919–2016) | 2006 | Former City Councilwoman, Thibodaux |
| Verna S. Landrieu | (b. 1955) | 2006 | Matriarch of Louisiana's Landrieu's family; mother of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and United States Senator Mary Landrieu |
| Marilyn B. Kilgen | (b. 1944) | 2005 | Professor of Biological Sciences |
| Carol R. LeBlanc | | 2005 | Member of the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana |
| Martha A. Madden | (1937–2019) | 2005 | Consultant and president of Madden Associates, LLC, former Special Assistant at the U.S. Department of Energy and is the former Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, served on two Homeland Security Task Forces at the Center for Strategic & International Studies |
| Barbara Norton | (b. 1946) | 2005 | Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives |
| Laura Badeaux | | 2004 | Director, Louisiana Center for Women and Government at Nicholls State University |
| Velma Callais-Rogers | (b. 1932) | 2004 | |
| Judy Ewell Day | (b. 1952) | 2003 | Lobbyist-consultant, Woman's Hospital/Woman's Health Foundation |
| Roberta Madden | (b. 1936) | 2003 | Writer, book editor, first director of the Baton Rouge Consumer Protection Center. Co-founder of the Baton Rouge chapter of the National Organization for Women. Served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Louisiana State Advisory Committee. Baton Rouge Council of Human Relations, Association of American University Women, Louisiana Women's Political Caucus, Women's Equality Alliance League, Baton Rouge Mayor-President's Commission on the Needs of Women. |
| Darlene L. Pellegrin | (b. 1956) | 2003 | |
| Margaret Gamble Pereboom | (1928–2008) | 2003 | Psychologist, chair Louisiana Women in Politics, Louisiana Health Care Campaign |
| Jo Ann Cefalu Blanchard | (b. 1943) | 2002 | Member Historic District Commission, Morgan City |
| Alice Foster | (b. 1940) | 2002 | Former First Lady of Louisiana, wife of former Governor Murphy J. Foster, Jr., resides at Oaklawn Manor; serves on the Executive Board of the Sunshine Foundation in Baton Rouge, which builds self-esteem among Kindergarten children |
| Sibal Suarez Holt | (b. 1946) | 2002 | S. Holt Construction, former president of the Louisiana AFL-CIO. |
| Norma Jane Sabiston | (1955–2020) | 2002 | Political consultant |
| Lois D. Breaux | (b. 1943) | 2001 | |
| Joanne Ferriot | (b. 1940) | 2001 | Member of Louisiana Board of Ethics, retired administrator of Nicholls State University |
| Margaret D. Montgomery-Richard | (b. 1956) | 2001 | Co-owner DMM & Associates |
| Cecile B. Tauzin | (b. 1966) | 2001 | Board of Trustees, Ford Theatre, Washington D.C. |
| Eleanora Angelo | (1933–2022) | 2000 | |
| Eileen R. Armstrong | (1917–2010) | 2000 | First female school board president in East Baton Rouge Parish, active in many organizations, including the Democratic Party |
| Constance A. Koury | (b. 1953) | 2000 | Lawyer, first female executive council to the Governor of Louisiana; first female Assistant Attorney General in Louisiana. General council, Louisiana Board of Regents. Executive Director, Louisiana Association for Justice |
| Barbara Mansfield | (1927–2016) | 2000 | Former president National Federation of Democratic Women |
| Beth Rickey | (1956–2009) | 2000 | Republican political activist from Louisiana who exposed the neo-Nazi connections of former State Representative David Duke, who ran for the U.S. Senate and for governor of Louisiana |
| Marilyn Thayer | (b. circa 1929) | 2000 | Republican Party activist, president of the National Federation of Republican Women, 1996-1997; state co-chair, Reagan-Bush Committee |
| Wilhelmina Bernard Armour | (1927–2023) | 1999 | |
| Charlotte A. Bollinger | (b. 1947) | 1999 | Executive Vice President, Bollinger Shipyards, Inc.; member of numerous civic organizations; member of the Board of Regents for the State of Louisiana |
| Beth Courtney | (b. 1945) | 1999 | President and CEO of Louisiana Public Broadcasting |
| Sybil Haydel Morial | (b. 1932) | 1999 | Retired Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Louisiana Board of Directors; founder of the Louisiana League of Good Government, active in women's rights and civil rights |
| Mary Ellen Wisham | (1916–2012) | 1999 | Undersecretary of Management and Finance for the Louisiana Department of Labor |
| Betsy Cheramie Ayo | (1936–1997) | 1998 | Namesake of Betsy Cheramie Ayo Hal at Nicholls University; active in civic organizations, wife of Nicholls State University president Donald Ayo |
| Sally Clausen | (b. 1945) | 1998 | Former Louisiana Commissioner of Higher Education; also served as Adjunct Professor for Louisiana State University, Deputy Commissioner of Administration, Commissioner of Higher Education, Secretary of Education for the Office of the Governor, and President of Southeastern Louisiana University. |
| Linda Talbert | | 1998 | Nurse |
| Iris Kelso | (1926–2003) | 1997 | Journalist in New Orleans |
| Myrtle Pickering | deceased | 1997 | |
| Doris B. Reggie | (b. 1930) | 1997 | Civic-engaged wife of Edmund Reggie; second mother-in-law of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat activist |
| Marie Louise Wilcox Snellings | (1912–1994) | 1997 | Tulane University Board of Administrators; mother-in-law of U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu |
| Gayle F. Truly | (b. 1942) | 1997 | Member of the Louisiana Violent Crime and Homicide Task Force |
| C. Maxine Holtry Daniels | (1919–2018) | 1996 | Martin Luther King Executive Committee, Southern Christian Leadership Conference |
| Betty Green Heitman | (1930–1994) | 1996 | Co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, 1983-1987; former president of the National Federation of Republican Women |
| Kathy M. Vick | (1939–2011) | 1996 | Democratic Party worker who called roll-call votes at national conventions |
| Lillian W. Walker | (1923–2016) | 1996 | Former Louisiana State Representative from East Baton Rouge Parish 1968–1972 |
| Dorothy H. Wallace | (1927–2011) | 1996 | |
| Lucille May Grace | (1900–1957) | 1995 | Louisiana Register of the State Land Office, 1932, first woman to attain statewide elected office in Louisiana |
| Maggie Bell Atkins Hodges | (1922–1986) | 1995 | Republican Party activist during Eisenhower administration |
| Eddie D. Brown Jones | (1905–2003) | 1995 | |
| Ellen Bryan Moore | (1912–1999) | 1995 | Louisiana Register of State Lands |
| Ollie Tucker Osborne | (1911–1994) | 1995 | Real estate business woman, 1973 Louisiana League of Women Voters' official observer of the state constitutional convention, women's rights activist |
| Lindy Boggs | (1916–2013) | 1994 | United States House of Representatives; United States Ambassador to the Holy See |
| Fran Bussie | (b. 1935) | 1994 | Democratic Party activist; Board of Directors Arthritis Association of Louisiana; second wife and widow of AFL-CIO state president Victor Bussie |
| Pat Evans | (1931–2013) | 1994 | Director of the International Project for Nonprofit Leadership (IPNL) at the University of New Orleans |
| Virginia "Ginny" Martinez | (1922–1992) | 1994 | Louisiana Republican Party National Committeewoman; Louisiana Federation of Republican Women created the Ginny Martinez Scholarship in her honor. |
| Corinne D. Maybuce | deceased | 1994 | Regional Director Delta Sigma Theta 1955–58, 1970–72 |
| Mary Evelyn Parker | (1920–2015) | 1994 | First woman to have held the position Louisiana State Treasurer |
| Doris Lindsey Holland Rhodes | (1909–1997) | 1994 | First woman to serve in Louisiana legislature; first as state senator and then as state representative from St. Helena Parish |
| Rupert F. Richardson | (1930–2008) | 1994 | Former national president of NAACP |
| Virginia Shehee | (1923–2015) | 1994 | Louisiana State Senator for District 38 (Caddo and De Soto parishes), 1976-1980 |