2025 AFN Annual CEO Awards

AFN is proud to present the 2025 CEO Patty Brandmaier Resilience Award, recognizing a leader who embodies service, strength under pressure, and an unwavering commitment to helping others thrive in demanding environments.

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This award honors the legacy of our dear friend Patty Brandmaier. A former CIA senior executive, Patty demonstrated extraordinary resilience throughout her career, including during the events of 9/11, and later devoted herself to helping others perform at their best in high-stakes settings. She lived with a rare combination of strength and grace, always grounded in service to something greater than herself.

 

The Patty Brandmaier Resilience Award celebrates leaders who carry that spirit forward, those who face complexity with courage, steward their people with intention, and build cultures where resilience is not about endurance alone, but about sustainable performance, growth, and impact.