2026 Women of Influence
Honoring the women shaping the food industry
For 21 years, we have honored the outstanding women shaping the food industry, from executives and innovators to mentors and community leaders. This year’s honorees represent a wide range of roles, backgrounds and regions.
Meet the 2026 Women of Influence
Search by name or company, or browse the full list below. Select Read More on any honoree to read her story.
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2026 Women of InfluenceJennifer Petersen
EVP and Chief Science Officer, Sun World
Read MoreJennifer Petersen exemplifies the leadership, discipline and forward-thinking required to move the food industry forward. She leads Sun World's global research and breeding programs, ensuring scientific innovation translates into commercial outcomes.
Over her four-and-a-half years with the company, Petersen has played a critical role in aligning breeding, licensing and commercialization into a unified model designed to deliver consistent quality, scalability and long-term value across the supply chain.
Her impact is clear, she:
- Built a global innovation pipeline, overseeing the development of 56 advanced selections and commercial varieties across grapes, stone fruit and mango.
- Leads a team of 40 scientists and professionals, including a largely women-led group at Sun World's research headquarters.
- Drove commercial success at scale, helping develop Autumncrisp grapes to surpass $1 billion in global retail sales, demonstrating her ability to translate science into sustained consumer demand.
Petersen's impact also is reflected in how she leads. She has built a culture grounded in curiosity, accountability and shared ambition, where teams come together to push boundaries and deliver results. It is the kind of leadership that can be seen in action -- new varieties on the table, quickly picked over and the best ones gone first.