About the Author

Patrick Gordon

Head of Operations

Patrick is a self-described snappy dresser who has SEO, PPC, WordPress development, social media, email marketing, and SMS marketing experience.

We are excited to share that our very own Corey Morris was announced as the 2019 Bob Stone Direct Marketer of the Year Award at the KCDMA AMBIT Awards. We are so proud of him and all the work he has accomplished over the years!

What does it mean to get the Bob Stone Direct Marketer of the Year Award?

Each year at the KCDMA AMBIT Awards, the KCDMA announces someone who stands out in the Kansas City marketing community that exemplifies innovation, ethics, and selfless contribution to the marketing community.

  • Contributed greatly to the growth and advancement of successful direct, data-driven marketing.
  • Been a mentor, showing unselfish dedication to sharing knowledge with other marketers.
  • Brought a spotlight of distinction to the Kansas City marketing community.
  • An active member and participant in the KCDMA, both in attendance and contribution.
Corey Morris-Bob Stone Award

Corey’s Accolades

Corey deserves this award for his hard work and dedication in this industry. He has over 14 years working in strategy and leadership roles in the marketing community, and has served on the SEMPO board and contributed regularly to the Search Engine Journal. Corey also has been focused on students and mentoring. He is a long-standing member of the professional advisory committee for the Mass Communications school at Northwest Missouri State University and hosts students for shadowing, informational interviews, portfolio reviews, and has hired numerous interns and full-time employees that he has mentored over the years. Additionally, Corey has been involved in career days presenting and moderating panels and has contributed as a speaker and advised on content in past years at the KCDMA Bootcamp events.

At Voltage specifically, Corey has helped grow our digital marketing team from one person to five over the course of a couple of years and has helped grow the company exponentially. We appreciate Corey because of his focus on ensuring that our team follows “white hat” ethnical standards for search engine optimization. He holds himself and his coworkers to these standards to ensure that recipients of campaigns are treated with respect and that clients are never put at risk by our work or their own choices. Corey is also known at Voltage for his abundant knowledge in SEO, funny sense of humor, mad ping pong skills, and the ability to connect and make meaningful relationships with co-workers and clients.

You can read Corey’s acceptance speech here:

Honest admission–I do quite a bit of public speaking but have never been this nervous. This is my first “acceptance speech” and is way outside of my comfort zone.

I was told that I had up to 10 minutes for this. I don’t think anyone wants a speech that long, so I’m going to keep it short. I’ll be breaking the rules of public speaking as well by standing at the podium and doing some direct reading to you to make sure I don’t miss anything.

This award isn’t about me. I’m going to talk for a moment about other people and thank them, then I’m going to sit down so we can move on.
Thanks so much to the previous award winners for considering me for this. What a true honor to be even mentioned with so many people I admire and who have done so much in the KC marketing community and within their successful companies.

I’m thankful for the ups and downs in my career and the people God has put in my life. That starts with my wonderful wife who is here tonight. She’s the smartest person I know and is a super talented scientist, great mom, and my biggest supporter. It extends to my parents and family as well who also have been so important in helping me in life and my career.

I’m so thankful for the many awesome clients that have trusted me over the years plus the awesome leaders I have had the opportunity to work with and for.

I spent the first nearly 8 years of my career at emfluence. I was the first person on emfluence payroll during the CHRW Advertising days and as emfluence grew, I also grew up in my career. Dave was an outstanding boss and leader for me. Todd Sandoval was instrumental in mentoring me as I moved into search marketing and I’m forever thankful to them and the team there for investing in me.

I also had the chance to spend some time at ER Marketing. Elton and Renae are some of the best to learn from if you want to run a successful agency or business. Things I have learned from them will also stick with me for the rest of my life and I’m thankful for the opportunity to have worked with them.

If you know me, then you know that I keep emotions bottled up and suppressed (which is probably an understatement)…so I’m not going to look at the Voltage table right now. The Voltage team literally is like family to me.

For better or worse we know way too much about each other. What a great team of experts and rockstars. The awards tonight and over the past few years are a great reflection of the building momentum and growth and a deserved pat on the back for the work they do putting clients first. I’m proud to be part of such an awesome organization.

Voltage’s president, Larry Tozier, is one of my very best friends. I respect him as my boss, but that’s not the limit of how the relationship works. He has an incredible level of compassion, patience, and unwavering support for his employees. If you don’t know him, I encourage you to get to know him later tonight.

KCDMA has always had a special place for me. Going back to when I attended student night in 2004 or 2005–which I still have my KCDMA coffee mug from–I have learned a lot, built great friendships, and even some awesome client relationships through the power of this organization. I look forward to supporting the club going forward and want to thank everyone again for this tremendous honor.

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