For Kiana Morris (MBA ’14), chief strategy officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, it’s been a year of continuous impact.
Among other notable achievements, she:
- served as president of the Leadership Buckhead Class of 2026;
- graduated as a fellow of the New Leaders Council’s Atlanta Institute;
- was selected for the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Leadership Institute;
- was named an American Heart Association Leader of Impact;
- and chaired the 2026 Community Economic Empowerment Summit to connect community members with career, financial and economic mobility resources.
Her many contributions to the metro area earned recognition from the City of Atlanta, which proclaimed July 6, 2026, “Kiana C. Morris Economic Empowerment Leadership Recognition Day.”
For Morris, career and community are closely intertwined.
“I see my executive career, civic leadership and community work as different expressions of the same calling,” she says, “to bring people together, translate access into action and serve wherever I can make the greatest difference.”
When Terry magazine profiled Morris in 2018, the writer marveled at her seemingly boundless energy. Eight years later, she channels that energy into an increased sense of purpose.
“Across every dimension of my leadership, I am in the business of making people’s lives better,” she says. “That clarity helps me determine where to invest my time, relationships and influence and where I can make the greatest difference.”
That intentionality extends to her own well-being.
“I’ve become increasingly disciplined about allocating my time, energy and resources so my leadership remains focused, sustainable and consequential,” she says.
It’s all in pursuit of a lofty standard, she adds, “to be visible enough to champion the cause, substantive enough to care about results, innovative enough to imagine change and structured enough to govern.”
Read the Fall/Winter Terry magazine Class Notes here.