KCNSC's Kristin Murray honored with major leadership award by Society of Women Engineers
Kansas City, MO-The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) (https://swe.org/) announced that it is recognizing Kristin Murray, Chief of Staff for Nuclear Weapon Programs at the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC) with its distinguished Emerging Leader Award.
The award is given annually to a woman in SWE who is actively engaged in the fields of engineering or engineering technology and demonstrates outstanding leadership skills resulting in significant accomplishments. Murray was among 10 women selected for the honor, and was specifically cited "For leadership that drives program performance in weapons modernization and for balancing her career with tireless STEM outreach to young people in her community and within SWE."
“It is truly an honor to have been nominated by the KCNSC and selected by the Society of Women Engineers for the Emerging Leader Award. SWE is a fantastic organization and provides a great support network for women in STEM,” Murray said of the organization, which boasts a global membership. “The ladies with whom I've worked during my time in SWE and the connections and relationships I've developed within the organization have definitely been a positive influence for both my professional and personal life." Murray said.
Murray began her career at the KCNSC – which is managed and operated by Honeywell FM&T – in the Integrated Supply Chain (ISC) organization in 2009, supporting multiple manufacturing departments. From that role, she was selected to be a Kansas City representative in the Sandia Weapon Intern Program (WIP). On her return from WIP, she moved into Product Engineering and Project Lead roles supporting several Major Components on multiple programs. Since moving into the Nuclear Weapon Programs Program Management organization, she has held roles with increasing responsibility managing programs, including Plant Directed Research and Development, Technology Transfer, and multiple infrastructure programs. Most recently, she served as Interim Director of Program Management and was responsible for two major Nuclear Weapon Modernization Programs, comprising a multibillion-dollar portfolio. In this role, she was responsible for overall program performance in terms of cost, scope, and schedule execution to plan in addition to interfacing with key customers.
"I am extremely pleased to congratulate Kristin Murray on this well-deserved honor. She is a leader in all facets of her life – whether at work, at home, in her neighborhood or in her community. She balances all of the community activities, an extremely challenging professional life and supports her three daughters to become the next advocates for women in STEM," said Robin Stubenhofer, KCNSC Vice President of Engineering. Murray said “It is rewarding to be recognized by KCNSC leadership for my contributions to the organization over my 14 years here. I'm passionate about our mission and have loved my time at the KCNSC and look forward to the challenges to come."
In addition to professional responsibilities, Murray also spends time in support of community outreach, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). She is a member of the Society of Women Engineers in Kansas City (SWE-KC), an organization through which she co-founded the SWE-KC premier annual outreach event: Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, which she co-chairs. She is a graduate of the Emerging Leaders Program through the Kansas City Central Exchange and recipient of both a Rising Trendsetter STEMMy Award and a Pearl Award, the highest honor given by the Girl Scouts, for her leadership in STEM Outreach within the community.
"Giving back has always been a core value of mine. I am particularly passionate about STEM outreach and promoting women in STEM," Murray said. "We need more engineers, and in particular, more American engineers to support missions like ours and other important national security and defense scope. In addition to the benefits from diversity of thought and more well-rounded solution generation that you get with women as part of an engineering team, I believe to get the number of engineers needed, it's crucial to get more women in the field."
Murray will be presented with the award at the October WE23 conference in Los Angeles.
