Calling her “a visionary and influential leader,” Junior Achievement Chicago honored Ann M. Drake at its 41st Annual Chicago Business Hall of Fame celebration on October 1, 2024, held at the Wintrust Grand Banking Hall, 231 S. LaSalle Street in Chicago.

“I’m grateful for this opportunity to introduce to you a businesswoman who’s a role model for me,” said Nayely Melendez, a 7th grader at Sharon Christa McAuliffe Elementary School, as she took the stage to speak about Ann M. Drake as one of the inductees to the 2024 Class of Laureates.

Other 2024 laureates include John W. Rogers of Ariel Investments and E. Scott Santi of ITW. They join 190 other business leaders that Junior Achievement has honored over more than four decades since establishing their Business Hall of Fame in 1983.

The mission of Junior Achievement is preparing young people to succeed in the global economy by offering them economic education programs focused on teaching financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Junior Achievement’s Board of Trustees established the JA Chicago Business Hall of Fame to honor Chicago business and civic leaders who’ve contributed to that mission through their championship of free enterprise.

The organization chose to honor Ms. Drake for her role in helping to transform supply chain management from a commodity service into a critical and creative business strategy based on collaborative partnerships. Under her guidance, DSC Logistics—the trucking and warehousing company started by her father on Chicago’s South Side in the 1950s—became a business partner to some of the world’s best-known companies.

In her acceptance speech, Ms. Drake thanked Junior Achievement for “this marvelous, meaningful award.”

“One of the big lessons my time in business taught me,” she said, “is the importance of investing in people. In my case, I’ve chosen to invest in women leaders,” she added. “I think women have huge gifts to bring to the world of business.”

In the field of supply chain in particular, she said, “I saw women have gifts for creating and leveraging connections and cooperation that make a difference … that generate possibilities.”

Yet more work needs to be done, added Drake, if women are to enjoy the same level of influence and responsibility in business as men. She asked the young men and women in the audience, as the business leaders of the future, to “care about people,” whether or not they chose to follow in her footsteps and invest in women as she has.

“Know that investing always comes with risk, with uncertainty,” said Drake. “Not all your investments in people will bring a return. But those that do will change the future.”