Topeka ? The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals will be honored at an awards banquet next month in Topeka.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair has been named Distinguished Kansan of the Year by the Native Sons and Daughters, a group that works to preserve Kansas history. Judge Deanell Reece Tacha, of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is the organization’s Kansan of the Year.

Both women graduated from the University of Kansas, and both will speak at the Native Sons and Daughters’ banquet Jan. 28.

Bair is a native of Independence and was named one of Time magazine’s most influential women in 2009.

Tacha was born in Goodland and grew up in Scandia. She was appointed to the federal appeals court by President Ronald Reagan in 1985.