2025 COO of the Year Awards - Winners Announced

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Feb 02, 2026, 13:00 ET

CHICAGO, Feb. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Winners of the 2025 COO of the Year™ Awards have been selected after a nomination period and judging process that began in October 2025. The annual program is produced by the Operations Council, a community and platform focused on best practice resources, career development and training, strategic research and information, peer networking and recognition.

Chief Operating Officers (COOs), Vice Presidents of Operations, and related titles were eligible to enter. Applicants were self-nominated or nominated by a colleague via a brief online application form that requests anonymous information on 2025 financial performance, work experience, volunteer or philanthropic activities, and educational background.

All nominations were screened by an algorithm and then judged by Operations Council board advisors. Winners and Runners-Up are announced for 7 categories based on size and type.

Category/Classification	2025 Winners	Company/Org	Title
2025 National COO of the Year	Vivienne Wei	Salesforce	COO
Enterprise/Public/Winner	Jennifer Kaiser	Marex	COO
Enterprise/Public/Runner-Up	Vijay Srivastava	Jubliant Ingrevia Limited	COO
Enterprise/Private/Winner	Samya Mogalli	Pioneer Specialty Hospital	COO
Medium/Public/Winner	Ryan Mayes	FIT House of Brands	COO
Medium/Public/Runner-Up	Amit Agarwal	Tracxn	COO
Medium/Private/Winner	Brian Singleton	Connell Foley LLP	COO
Medium/Private/Runner-Up	Gabriel Papa	New York Life Southern California	COO
Small/Private/Winner	Beau Schwieso	Caf2Code LLC	COO
Small/Private/Runner-Up	Matt Scaffa	Schmidt National Law Group	COO
Small/Private/Runner-Up	Eric Dowsland	CyFlare	COO
Not-For-Profit/Winner	Donna McCullough	Alzheimer's Association	COO
Not-For-Profit/Runner-Up	Katonya Hughey	Hedco	COO
Not-For-Profit/Runner-Up	Barry Howard	The New America Foundation	COO
Government/Winner	Levente Klimits	Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority VP and COO
Startup/Winner	Koren Grinshpoon	echo3D	COO

From the category winners above, a 2025 National COO of the Year Award winner was selected based on the same criteria. Congratulations to Vivienne Wei, Salesforce.

"Chief Operating Officers continued to demonstrate their significant contributions in 2025, and the COO of the Year Awards brings recognition to these hard-working individuals", states Neil Brown, COO, Operations Council. "We wish the winners of the COO of the Year Awards continued success and hope their examples can help others excel."

All winners and runners-up will be notified by email and receive a frame-quality Certificate. Applications and registration for the 2026 COO of the Year Awards will begin in October of 2026 at the following link: www.operationscouncil.org/COO-awards/

ABOUT the Operations Council
Operations Council™ is a community and platform for COOs and operating professionals focused on career development and training, best practice information and resources, peer networking and recognition. Programs include a national Operations Career Center, the COO Insights™ Interview Series, and the annual COO of the Year™ Awards. Publishing includes webcasts and roundtable panels, informative articles and whitepapers. Strategic research studies include the annual Operations Outlook & Sentiment™ Study, Operations Talent™ Study, and the upcoming COO 2030™ Predictions Panel. For more information, visit www.OperationsCouncil.org, or contact COO Neil Brown at 630-710-4710.

SOURCE Operations Council