Inc.’s annual Female Founders list celebrates the nation’s most innovative women entrepreneurs, who collectively generated approximately $12.3 billion in 2025
GREENVILLE, S.C., March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Global Location Strategies (GLS), the world’s leading location strategy and site selection advisory firm, is proud to announce that President and CEO Didi Caldwell has been named to Inc.’s 2026 Female Founders 500, an annual list honoring the most dynamic women business leaders in the United States. The honor recognizes founders whose bold ideas, resilience, and execution are shaping the future of their industries.
The 2026 Female Founders honorees collectively generated approximately $12.3 billion in 2025 revenue and $12.2 billion in funding to date, underscoring the economic impact of women-led businesses across sectors.
Each year, Inc. editors evaluate applications through a rigorous, multi-round selection process. Founders are assessed on both quantitative performance metrics, including revenue growth, funding, sales, and audience size, as well as qualitative factors such as innovation, social impact, and brand momentum. The final list represents entrepreneurs who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and measurable progress over the past year. Previous honorees have included such game-changing leaders as Billie Jean King, Sallie Krawcheck, Serena Williams, and Emma Grede — all of whom have transformed their industries and broken barriers along the way.
“Being included among such an inspiring group of women founders is truly meaningful,” said Caldwell. “Entrepreneurship is about seeing possibilities others don’t and building something that creates real opportunity. It’s motivating to see so many of my fellow honorees leading and growing businesses in such meaningful ways.”
Honoree selection is also honed through the evaluation of the program’s advisory board, which includes Patty Arvielo, co-founder and CEO of New American Funding; Tiffany Dufu, president of the Tory Burch Foundation; Joy Mangano, co-founder and CEO of CleanBoss; Michelle Cordeiro Grant, founder and CEO of GORGIE; Sheila Lirio Marcelo, co-founder and CEO of Ohai.ai and founder of Care.com; and Melissa Mash, co-founder and CEO of Dagne Dover.
Over the past year, Caldwell has expanded Global Location Strategies’ global reach while driving major investments in U.S. manufacturing. In 2024, she opened a European headquarters in the Netherlands and expanded the GLS team globally. This expansion reflects growing demand for strategic expertise in guiding complex industrial location decisions.
Caldwell also completed the venture-backed spin-off of Strata Platforms, transforming a proprietary tool she began developing in 2019 into a standalone company digitizing site selection worldwide. In one of the year’s most significant manufacturing projects, GLS guided Emirates Global Aluminium through a 46-state search that resulted in a $4 billion U.S. smelter investment, the first new aluminum smelter built in the United States since 1980. Bloomberg has recognized Caldwell as “America’s Factory Whisperer” for her role in shaping modern manufacturing investment and site selection strategy.
“Each year, we are increasingly amazed by the extraordinary leaders on our Inc. Female Founders 500 list,” says Bonny Ghosh, editorial director at Inc. “The honorees on this year’s list include innovators in AI, beauty and wellness trendsetters winning devoted fans, and nonprofit leaders making a real impact in their communities. Together, they’re showing all of us what trailblazing female leadership looks like.”
Several honorees will be featured in Inc. magazine’s Spring print issue, on newsstands March 17, 2026. To see the complete list of honorees, please visit: https://www.inc.com/female-founders/2026.
About Global Location Strategies
Founded in 2008, GLS is a leading location strategy, site selection advisory, and incentive negotiation firm specializing in complex industrial and manufacturing projects. Combining data-driven insights with on-the-ground assessments, GLS supports clients across automotive, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and other high-growth sectors in making informed decisions that drive sustainable economic development and long-term success.
About Inc.
Inc. is the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of its community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating the future of business. Inc. is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow leading business publication Fast Company. For more information, visit www.inc.com.
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SOURCE Global Location Strategies
