Meant to Be: Growing in KC

By ANN CLIFFORD

When Meg Knauth tells her Kansas City story, it’s full of choices that put her in the right place at the right time.

One of those right times came when, while focused on pre-med in college, Meg discovered a love for computer programming that landed her a post-graduation job with Cerner in North Kansas City.

Then, on her very first weekend after moving to KC, she attended the Crawdad Festival with some coworkers and met her future husband. Both consultants for Cerner, Meg says they were committed to getting to know their adopted city.

“From the beginning, we tried everything in KC because we knew we wanted to make it our home,” Meg says. “What we discovered is a cool city with a low cost of living that’s a great place to raise a family.”

Alongside learning about the region, Meg gained opportunities to explore her career. She was hired as the first non-executive employee in the IT department for the startup, Sprint PCS. Twenty-four years and a couple of mergers and acquisitions later, Meg is now the Vice President of IT Development for T-Mobile.

Connecting with the community happens naturally in KC, Meg says. For her, it grew through involvement in her church, her two sons’ soccer talents and her experiences as part of the Centurions Leadership Program.

Today, Meg’s rich KC story includes chapters on everything from volunteering with Project Uplift and enjoying the First Friday art scene to engaging in the region’s wide range of recreational activities, such as hiking, biking and paddleboarding at Shawnee Mission Park. n