Winners of 2025 Kansas City ORBIE Awards Announced By KansasCityCIO
KANSAS CITY, Kan., March 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KansasCityCIO, chapter of the Inspire Leadership Network, announced the winners of its 2025 ORBIE® Awards. The Awards honor exceptional technology executives who have demonstrated excellence in innovation, leadership, and business impact.
KansasCityCIO recognized outstanding leaders across six categories: Global, Large Enterprise, Enterprise, Large Corporate, Corporate & Leadership. The Awards were presented at the Kansas City ORBIE Awards at The Westin Kansas City at Crown Center.
“The Kansas City technology community was well represented at the Kansas City ORBIE Awards! Award recipients came from companies across our great city, each demonstrating excellence in leveraging information and technology to drive their organizations forward,” said Byron Clymer, KansasCityCIO Chair. “But they didn’t do it alone; every winner credited their teams, emphasizing that this award is a shared achievement. That’s what the Kansas City ORBIE Awards are all about – recognizing great leaders and the teams driving Kansas City’s business community forward.”
The 2025 Kansas City ORBIE Award winners are:
›› Terry Owens, Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, Honeywell, received the Leadership ORBIE.
›› Derrick Leggett, SVP & CIO, American Multi-Cinema, Inc., received the Global ORBIE for organizations over $1.4 billion annual revenue & multinational operations.
›› David Maddox, CTO, BJC Health System, received the Large Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $3 billion annual revenue.
›› Tanya Arthur, CIO, Mosaic Life Care, received the Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $700 million annual revenue.
›› Michael Lehman, VP, IT & CIO, WireCo, received the Large Corporate ORBIE for organizations over $500 million annual revenue.
›› Jana Merfen, CTO, CrossFirst Bank, received the Corporate ORBIE for organizations up to $500 million annual revenue.
The ORBIE® is the preeminent executive recognition for C-suite leaders. Since 1998, the ORBIE Awards have recognized leadership excellence, building relationships between executives and trusted business partners, and inspiring the next generation of executives. Finalists and winners are selected through an independent peer-adjudicated process led by prior ORBIE recipients based on the following criteria:
›› Leadership and management effectiveness
›› Business value created by technology innovation
›› Engagement in industry and community endeavors
The Kansas City ORBIE Awards keynote was delivered by Terry Owens, Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, Honeywell, who was interviewed by Scott Morris, CTO, NAIC. Over 300 guests attended, representing leading Kansas City organizations and their technology partners.
The following sponsors made the 2025 Kansas City ORBIE Awards possible:
›› Underwriters: Google Cloud, Veracity & TriCom
›› Gold sponsors: Allied OneSource & Fortinet
›› Silver sponsors: CDW, Tata Consultancy Services, TEKsystems & Veeam Software
›› Bronze sponsors: Appian Corporation, Between Pixels, Cloudflare, Concord, Global PMO Partners, Juniper Networks, SHI International + Cisco, Slalom, Snowflake & Userlane
›› Media Partner: Kansas City Business Journal
To learn more about sponsorship opportunities and how to connect with leading C-suite executives across North America, click here.
›› About KansasCityCIO
KansasCityCIO is the preeminent peer leadership networks for chief information officers (CIOs) in Kansas City. As one of over 40 chapters of the Inspire Leadership Network, KansasCityCIO is part of a national membership organization that is exclusively made up of CIOs from public and private businesses, government, education, healthcare, and nonprofit institutions.
KansasCityCIO is led by a CIO Advisory Board, with support from an executive director and staff. Underwriter executives play a crucial role in ensuring programs remain non-commercial and exclusive to qualified CIOs and members.
›› About Inspire Leadership Network
Inspire Leadership Network is the preeminent executive peer leadership network of C-suite technology and security leaders. Approaching 2,000 members across more than 40 local chapters, Inspire members serve public and private businesses, government, education, healthcare, and non-profit institutions. Inspire exists to help leaders thrive in today’s most challenging executive roles.
Media Contact
Nicole Lammes
nicole.lammes@inspirecxo.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2c7bd2d9-cb02-42cf-9b8a-fdf824be9f03
2025 Kansas City ORBIE Award Winners
