The head of Orange County’s largest hospital and four other women were honored Thursday at the Business Journal's annual Women in Business awards luncheon in Irvine.

The five winners and keynote speaker Anne Bélec, director of global marketing for Ford Motor Co., talked about the unique role of women in business and challenges they’ve overcome.

The winners:

• Maureen Zehntner, chief executive of UCI Medical Center in Orange, the county’s largest hospital. Zehntner was named chief executive in March after serving as interim boss since early 2006. She stepped in after a scandal involving the hospital’s liver transplant program.

• Nina Smith, president of Sage Software Inc.’s business management division in Irvine. Part of Britain’s Sage Group PLC, Sage is the largest software company in Orange County with yearly U.S. sales of $1 billion.

• Elizabeth “Betsy” Perry, cofounder of Stanton’s Cameron Welding Supply. Perry started the supplier of welding products with husband Cameron Perry more than 40 years ago in Stanton. She took over the business after her husband’s death in 1980.

• Pati Cinkle of Santa Ana’s Alar Staffing Corp., an employment services company. Cinkle started the company 19 years ago and said she’s proud to employ 19 other women “who do the hard stuff.” Alar has yearly sales of about $25 million.

• Marilyn Ditty, chief executive of South County Senior Services Inc. in Laguna Woods. Ditty’s nonprofit provides meals, transportation and other services to seniors in South County.

Bélec, a 2007 Women in Business award winner, talked about growing up with four sisters and one brother in Quebec. She and her sisters mowed lawns and played hockey, she said.

“When people asked me about being a woman in a man’s world, I didn’t understand what they meant,” Bélec said.

Bélec, who up until recently ran Volvo’s North American arm in Irvine, said women bring a different perspective to business.

Understanding your business is the key to be successful, according to Bélec. Beyond that, women should look to “define their own versions of success” by doing work they enjoy and by giving back.