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As part of Women’s History Month this March, the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame singled out some of the most impactful female leaders of industry and service for induction into its class of 2025.
Three local women were among the new Hall of Famers announced on March 21: Bisa Grant in the Non-Traditional Careers category, Monya Lane for Science, Technology & Engineering, and Jennifer Pett-Ridge for Environment.
Most recognizable among this Tri-Valley trio is Lane, the retired Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist and administrator (who still holds the distinction of being the only woman to ever serve as its associate director of engineering) who now leads the Quest Science Center in Livermore.
“For me, this recognition as CEO of Quest Science Center represents our collaborative Quest team,” Lane told me by email Tuesday.
“We creatively provide people of all ages and backgrounds with opportunities to engage with science and technology in our lives and region, and realize their potential to become innovators and trailblazers too,” she said. “At Quest, everyone belongs, especially those who haven’t had such role models before — so this honor as a woman leader is particularly appreciated.”
Lane, who has lived in the Tri-Valley since 1983, worked 35 years at LLNL including leading multidisciplinary teams across its 1,500-employee engineering team. She became the founding CEO of the budding Quest nonprofit organization in 2018.
“Now with Quest Science Center I see even more what a special and uniquely collaborative region we live in,” Lane said. “As I look at the list of 2025 inductees and previous Hall of Fame winners, I imagine a shared vision to creatively improve lives and our world, and strengthen our communities in a wide variety of ways.”
Like Lane, Grant is among eight CEOs or executive directors in the class of 2025. The Dublin resident leads ANCHOR, a municipal construction and project management company.
“Being in this role comes with its share of challenges, setbacks and moments of doubt. What many don’t see are the long nights, the sacrifices, and the relentless effort put in behind the scenes. That’s why it means so much to be recognized and appreciated by the community,” Grant told me Tuesday afternoon.
“To be honored alongside such remarkable women — and to follow in the footsteps of those who came before — reminds me that we’re not alone in this journey. We’re in it together, and we’re all committed to doing the work,” she added. “It’s both empowering and refreshing to witness fellow innovators carving out space and leaving their mark.”
An alumna of Bishop O’Dowd High School and UCLA, where she also ran track, Grant competed as a professional athlete for five years before entering the construction management industry in 2007.
Grant served as vice president during a time ANCHOR saw 300% growth in seven years, and as CEO the firm is expanding into new markets and eyeing to generate more than $100 million in revenue, according to the person who nominated her for the Hall.
“In this industry, I often see myself as a unicorn. Unicorns are solitary creatures, distinct, resilient, and rare. Unicorns are known for their independence and uniqueness, often standing alone in their brilliance. However, a group of unicorns are called a blessing. A fitting term for what it feels like to be in the company of other trailblazers,” Grant said of the class of 2025.
Pett-Ridge, group leader for environmental isotope systems at LLNL, told me she was “hugely flattered” but a bit surprised to see her name among a list of inductees she figured would be reserved for CEOs, athletes and big names.
“But also for an environmental scientist who studies ‘dirt’? How cool is that!” she said Monday. “It’s wonderful to know that our county values its research/scientific professionals, and that there is a dedicated category for the environment.”
“It feels so good to be noticed right here at home, especially when I spend much of my time traveling around the country (and the world), giving talks about my group’s results in faraway places,” Pett-Ridge added. “I’m so honored to be recognized among a group of other amazingly accomplished women. It shows there are many paths to an impactful and fulfilling career — I hope young people, and especially young girls, get to hear that message.”
Pett-Ridge – who studies soils, earth systems “all the ways we can remove the excess carbon dioxide we’ve put into our atmosphere in the past 150 years” — recently led a national “Roads to Removal” analysis. The Ohio and Pennsylvania native earned her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, raised three daughters with her husband in Berkeley and is celebrating 20 years at LLNL in two months.
“Time flies when you’re having fun and doing research with some of the world’s brightest and most innovative colleagues,” she said.
Grant, Lane and Pett-Ridge join an impressive list of 12 women who have made their mark throughout Alameda County and beyond.
The class of 2025 also includes Melanie Dulbecco, CEO of Torani (Business & Professions); Diane Wong, executive director of J-SEI (Community Service); Lori Fogarty, director and CEO of the Oakland Museum of California (Culture & Art); and Renee Herzfeld, CEO of Community Child Care Council of Alameda County (Education).
The remaining inductees are Maithri Venkat, manager of battery cell engineering at Lucid Motors Inc. (Emerging Leaders); Anne Bakar, president and CEO of Telecare Corp. (Health); Bella Comelo, member of the San Leandro Senior Commission (Justice); Brandi Howard, president and CEO of East Bay Community Foundation (Philanthropy); and Tiffany Allen-Vargas, founder-coach at Tri City Athletic Center (Sports & Athletics).
The Tri-Valley is represented among the six winners of the Hall of Fame’s youth scholarships too, by Dublin High School’s Jasmith Levey Baskar.
The other recipients of the 2025 awards, issued through the Mary V. King/Wilma Chan Youth Scholarship Fund, are Yuying Huang of KIPP King Collegiate High School in San Leandro, Ester Leng of Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, Addison Lola of Newark Memorial High School, and Huan “Katie” Liang and Michelle Wong of Oakland High School.
The scholarship winners and the Hall of Fame inductees will be honored during a luncheon ceremony at The Club at Castlewood in Pleasanton on April 26.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
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