Lead Wichita announces Damon Young as CEO and new City Movement Strategy

NEWS RELEASE

WICHITA, Kan. (February 21, 2025) – Today, the Lead Wichita Board of Directors announced the appointment of Damon Young as the organization’s first Chief Executive Officer. Young is returning to the organization after previously serving on the board for five years (2018-2023), during which time he helped develop its early outreach and impact programs. The move comes as Lead Wichita broadens its focus and impact to a City Movement model – a relational, strategic effort to align leaders and organizations toward a shared vision and measurable impact on Wichita’s most pressing challenges.

“As we dreamt and prayed about the role and impact that Lead Wichita can provide for our city, our board began researching and meeting with city movement leaders across the country to understand what is working best to help their communities flourish,” said Josh Pearce, Lead Wichita board chair and CPO of Capital III. “We believe this is a defining moment for Wichita’s future. Damon’s leadership, passion, and alignment with our vision make him the ideal person to launch and drive the City Movement in Wichita forward.”

Lead Wichita exists to equip, inspire and connect leaders for greater community impact. Over the last decade, the Global Leadership Summit and the Wichita Prayer Breakfast have become cornerstone city-wide convenings, engaging thousands of leaders across faith, business, civic, and nonprofit sectors in Wichita. These will continue to be anchor events, inspiring and mobilizing leaders toward more profound engagement. In 2025, the Wichita Prayer Breakfast will be on May 1 and the Global Leadership Summit on August 7-8.

The City Movement in Wichita will be built through trustworthy, organizing principles and innovation at the intersections of relationships and sectors. In his new role, Young will work to convene, connect, and inspire stakeholders toward a shared vision for a flourishing city and for collaboratively tackling complex, systemic issues facing Wichita today. He rejoins Lead Wichita with a belief that the city has the essential assets and intrinsic motivation to be transformed.

“I believe the greatest innovation and growth happen at the intersections and fringes—where sectors, ideas, and relationships collide in unexpected ways,” said Damon Young, incoming Lead Wichita CEO. “Wichita’s current momentum is the result of many individuals, organizations, and coalitions who have labored and hoped for a better Wichita. And yet, the season ahead requires us to push our boundaries, be curious about where our current realities are falling short, and to dream about how we can bring our full selves to help our families, friends and neighbors thrive. My faith compels me to step into this work, driven by a deep curiosity about what’s possible when we lead differently. I am profoundly grateful for my KLC colleagues and the impact we’ve made together, and I look forward to collaborating with them in new ways. I invite each of you to join me in this work—as we connect, equip, and inspire Wichitans toward a more flourishing city.”

About Damon Young

Damon Young is on a mission to ignite and sustain transformation with his gift for connecting divergent ideas into a unifying vision. As the first CEO of Lead Wichita, he will build a more empowered, connected city while launching a boutique consultancy focused on vision casting, executive mentoring, and public speaking. Young brings a wide aperture of experiences to view his community of 30 years, including ministry, commercial construction, and nonprofit work. He currently serves as Chief Business Officer at the Kansas Leadership Center and will transition to Lead Wichita in late March. As the board chair of the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce in 2022, he continues to champion civic trust through meaningful dialogue. A former All-American collegiate debater, he still loves a good argument, especially if it involves basketball or Star Wars. Young currently serves as the Executive in Residence at Friends University Business School, his alma mater. He is a devoted husband, father of five, poet, and podcast enthusiast who believes in the power of faith and curiosity. He’s always looking for ways to inspire, empower, and move people toward a greater vision for themselves, their families, and our communities.

About Lead Wichita

Lead Wichita was founded in 2019, but it began many years prior when Pathway Church began hosting a live simulcast of the annual leadership development conference, the Global Leadership Summit (GLS). In 2016, local businessman Ben Hutton envisioned bringing GLS to the broader community. For the past eight years, GLS and its impact has stretched across the city, impacting tens of thousands of Wichitans. GLS is a two-day event that features notable leaders and thinkers like Will Guidera (Unreasonable Hospitality), Secretary Condoleezza Rice (66th Secretary of State), Mike Krzyzewski (Former Head Men’s Basketball Coach, Duke University), and Arthur Brooks (Harvard Professor & Author).

In 2022, Lead Wichita began to steward the Wichita Prayer Breakfast. The Prayer Breakfast has featured prominent thinkers and community impact leaders, most recently including Rev. WC Martin from the feature film Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Nicole Alexander
news@leadwichita.org