ORLANDO — After the awards were presented, the honorees gathered onstage outside at the Signia by Hilton Orlando. A large crowd of supporters gathered around to snap a photograph, but to capture everyone in a single picture, they would have to step back. The sprawling image represented the growing presence of women in baseball.
At the 2025 Winter Meetings, more than 30 women were honored with the Katy Feeney Leadership Award at the Women on Deck Reception. One recipient was selected from each Major League club, along with a recipient from MLB Office of the Commissioner and MLB Network.
The annual awards honor Feeney, a pioneering female baseball executive for four decades, by recognizing female employees for their exceptional contributions and initiatives around baseball.
“The highlight of an event like this is having incredible women who work in all parts of our sport — in front office, in the club, on the baseball ops side and on the business side — all together in one event amongst their peers and amongst other leaders in baseball, and to be able to lift them up and recognize them all in the spirit of Katy Feeney, who was the original trailblazer in baseball,” said April Brown, MLB senior vice president, social responsibility.
Kim Ng – commissioner of the AUSL, first female general manager in Major League Baseball and a Katy Feeney Award recipient — addressed the crowd.
“Katy was, in her own right, an incredible inspiration to a lot of us who were in the workforce in baseball,” Ng said. “Everybody knew who Katy was. Her standards of excellence were always right there. She was such a staunch believer in what she was doing. … It’s been a few years now since Katy’s been with us, but I think her legacy obviously lives on.”
The program was created following Feeney’s passing in 2017. Since then, it has emerged into more than an award — it has become a quickly expanding community.
“Each year, we lift up female leaders across the sport,” said Brown. “Now we’re at a point where we are starting to do alumni mentor and mentee matchups, and there’s so much more growth that can come from that. As we grow from year to year, this network and circle just becomes bigger and bigger.”
The recipients of the 2025 Katy Feeney Leadership Award are:
