AFN Announces the 2025 CEO Patty Brandmaier Resilience Award Recipient: Brian Ferguson

Each year, AFN presents the CEO Patty Brandmaier Resilience Award to honor a leader who reflects Patty’s legacy: service above self, strength with grace, and a deep commitment to helping others thrive under pressure.

We are proud to name Brian Ferguson, Founder of Arena Labs, as the 2025 recipient.

This recognition is more than symbolic. It is personal.

A Legacy of Service, Carried Forward

Patty Brandmaier spent more than 30 years serving in the CIA before dedicating her life to helping others perform well after high-stakes careers. Her life was defined by service, discipline, and a calling to help others steward themselves as they served.

What many may not know is that Patty also worked with Arena Labs in its early days. As Brian shared in our conversation, much of Arena’s cultural DNA was shaped by Patty and her husband, Mike Lefever. She was not simply an influence. She was embedded in the work.

Brian described this award as “poetic.” We agree.

Serving the People Who Serve

Arena Labs exists to equip doctors and nurses with the same performance tools used in elite, high-pressure fields. Military units, intelligence officers, professional athletes, and performers are trained to manage stress over time. Clinicians often are not.

Brian’s mission is clear: To put a performance coach in the pocket of every doctor and nurse in America.

Arena works in hospitals alongside trauma teams and ICU staff, teaching tools to manage pressure, recover effectively, and sustain high performance throughout a career.

This is resilience work at the highest level.

Resilience Is Beautiful. And Dangerous.

In our discussion, Brian offered a nuanced definition of resilience.

Resilience can be life-saving. It can also become unhealthy when we glorify overextension and burnout. Playing hero is easy to celebrate. Sustainable performance is harder.

He shared that, in today’s environment of rapid technological change and constant pressure, resilience requires intention. It requires tools. It requires humility.

It also requires leaders who model it.

Humility and Authenticity in Action

Brian named two personal values that guide his leadership: humility and authenticity.

Humility means there is always more to learn. Even as CEO.

Authenticity means living the practices you teach. Daily trade-offs. Prioritizing sleep. Recovery practices. Building micro-habits that prevent tipping from healthy resilience into self-destruction.

Arena’s internal culture reflects this commitment. They are a human performance company, and they expect their team to live that standard.

Leadership Under Pressure

Building a company that introduces human performance into healthcare has not been easy. In the early years, the team had to convince hospitals that this work mattered. It required swimming upstream.

Brian spoke candidly about how lonely CEO leadership can be, and how vital relationships are to sustaining perspective. That honesty reflects the very spirit this award celebrates.

As one of Patty’s guiding principles suggested, a life worth living often includes service and suffering for something larger than oneself.

Brian and the Arena Labs team embody that spirit.

The Right Leader for This Legacy

This award honors a leader who is strengthening the people who strengthen all of us.

Brian Ferguson and Arena Labs are helping frontline clinicians build sustainable resilience in a system that desperately needs it.

For that work, and for carrying forward the spirit of Patty Brandmaier with integrity and depth, we are proud to recognize Brian as the 2025 AFN CEO Patty Brandmaier Resilience Award recipient.

Watch Brian's interview with AFN CEO and Sixth Wing Partner Matt Sitter.

About Arena Labs

Arena Labs understands the relentless dedication and resilience required in healthcare. In its pursuit of human potential, the company has adapted the mental and physical performance principles used by world-class athletes, elite military units, and top creative performers to meet the unique challenges of modern healthcare.

Driven by a commitment to raise the standard for those serving on the frontlines, Arena Labs equips clinicians with cutting-edge tools, data, and insights through the power of Predictive Performance™, empowering them to sustain excellence under pressure.