Forty-one businesses, business professionals and projects have been selected as finalists for the 2026 Business Alabama Awards, which includes a new category honoring businesses that are at least 100 years old.
After taking nominations from the public, we chose finalists in eight categories. Five Lifetime Achievement winners will also be announced in January, and they will be honored, along with winners of the other categories, at a ceremony in Birmingham on Jan. 30, 2026.
Winners in six of the categories will not be announced until the luncheon. The Alabama Expat of the Year winner and the five Centennial Club honorees are also listed here.
The finalists for the Business Alabama Awards are:
CEO OF THE YEAR
- Jimmy Baker – Alabama Community College System, Montgomery
- Chip Cherry – Huntsville/Madison County Chamber, Huntsville
- Ralph A. Hargrove – Hargrove Engineers & Constructors, Mobile
- Karen Hong – Continental Aerospace Technologies, Mobile
- Mike Suco – Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Birmingham
LARGE COMPANY OF THE YEAR
- Airbus, Mobile
- Birdon, Bayou La Batre
- Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Montgomery
- Protective Life, Birmingham
- Warrior Met Coal, Brookwood
SMALL COMPANY OF THE YEAR
- Bayonet restaurant, Birmingham
- Noah Basketball, Athens
- Prism Systems, Mobile
- ProjectXYZ, Huntsville
- Skyfire AI, Huntsville
ALABAMA EXPAT OF THE YEAR
- Noopur Davis, Global Chief Information Security Officer, Comcast
PHILANTHROPIC PROJECT OF THE YEAR
- Leidos gives $1.75 million to Drake State Community & Technical College
- Milo’s Tea Co. pauses operations in Oklahoma to bottle water for flood relief
- Norfolk Southern gives $450,000 to Children’s of Alabama
- Russell Lands and The Adelia Russell Charitable Foundation/Ben and Luanne Russell give $4.2 million to the Russell Medical Foundation
- Toyota USA Foundation gives $11 million to Huntsville schools
STARTUP OF THE YEAR
- Auditocity, Mobile
- Gulf Solar, Mobile
- Kalm Therapeutics, Huntsville
- ProxyLink, Birmingham
- VRobotics, Birmingham
PROJECT OF THE YEAR
- Alabama State University receives $38 million from MacKenzie Scott
- Austal USA produces first steel ship
- Coca-Cola Amphitheatre opens in Birmingham
- FBI National Counter-Unmanned Training Center opens in Huntsville
- Port of Mobile completes deepening and widening projects
- 17 Springs development in Millbrook opens
- Southern Research opens $98 million facility in Birmingham
- Titomic USA builds new headquarters in Madison
- Tuskegee University launches new pilot program
- UAB opens its Science and Engineering Building and the Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building
CENTENNIAL CLUB
- American Cast Iron Pipe Company, Birmingham
- Autry Greer and Sons, Prichard
- Royal Cup Coffee and Tea, Birmingham
- Trowbridge’s, Florence
- The Westervelt Company, Tuscaloosa
