IN-PERSON | CEO Series with Burns & McDonnell's Ray Kowalik

The newly relaunched CEO Series is back! Initially established in 2001, the CEO Series will allow members and guests to connect with Kansas City CEOs as they share their leadership journeys and walk away with insights from their business experience and the latest business trends. Whether you want to learn how to enhance your own personal and professional performance or simply just hear from the best in the business, you will not want to miss this!

Moderated by CX board member Tracey DeMarea, join us May 12th for lunch at Burns & McDonnell, as we hear from their CEO, Ray Kowalik.

Ray Kowalik leads 13,500 employees (including craft) whose work generated $6.9 billion in revenue in 2022 and resulted in the support of 19,000 projects. Burns & McDonnell ranks No. 8 on the list of largest engineering, architecture and construction firms, according to Engineering News-Record.
 
Ray joined the firm in 1987, became an officer in 2001 and was promoted to president of the Energy Group in 2007. He joined the Board of Directors in 2009 and, in 2015, became the firm’s executive vice president and president of global practices. He became chairman and CEO in January 2017.
 
Out of the office, Kowalik invests time and energy into organizations that support education, health and economic development. He served as the board chair for United Way of Greater Kansas City. Ray is also on the Board of Directors for the Kansas City Area Development Council, Union Station and Notre Dame de Sion. Ray is also a member of the Dean’s Engineering Advisory Council for the College of Engineering at the University of Missouri.
 
Ray earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He and his wife, Jill, have a daughter who is an engineering graduate of University of Missouri, and live in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.