Ingram's April 2023

THE LEADERSHIP EDITION | 40 UNDER FORTY | ALL EYES ON KC: NFL DRAFT & KCI

Ingrams.com | April 2023

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2022 INGRAM'S MAGAZINE

APRIL 2023 • VOLUME 49, NO. 4

Talk of the Town 7 In the News/Correspondent Business News and Legislative Updates Perspectives 4 Editor’s Note 1,000 extraordinary members strong. by Joe Sweeney 9 Between the Lines

Features 16

The long-awaited airport in service, but that doesn’t make the parting with the Old KCI any easier. by Jack Cashill

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11 Reflections

It’s tough to justify complaints about the high price of everything, if our own spending is driving those costs up. by Dennis Boone

14 Q&A with … Peter deSilva The former CEO of UMB Bank reflects

13 In a Nutshell

Special Reports 16 Heroes Present, Past Our 20th class of Heroes in Health

The recent surge in oil prices further complicates the challenge facing the Fed to tame inflation. by Ken Herman

on leadership lessons from his own career, and offers observations on the current state of affairs in banking.

16 A Heroes Welcome

care, plus a look at what we’ve learned from the pandemic they endured as providers.

After a three-year pandemic pause, the Heroes in Healthcare awards break fast comes back strong in a tribute to providers, executives and volunteers.

Business & Commerce 22 Small Business Adviser Introducing pharmacogenomics,

24 A Time to Shine

The NFL draft coming this month is yet another opportunity for the Kansas City region to separate itself from peer-city competitors, but it certainly won’t be the last. Since 1998, Ingram’s has spotlighted emerging business and civic leader ship with its 40 Under Forty Awards. This year, our 25th class, brings the number of those in that elite cohort to an even 1,000.

19 A Pandemic Last Act It won’t fully exit the health-care stage for years, if ever, but the COVID-19 crisis is being downgraded. Lessons learned. 24 All Eyes on Kansas City It is a rare period of civic achievement in this region, and an opportunity for the city to shine bright on a national stage. By Dennis Boone 28 Do You Feel a Draft? You should: The NFL’s biggest show outside the Super Bowl, is coming to KC. 30 The All-New KCI

where your DNA shapes medication effectiveness. It may soon be imple mented in employer health plans. by Jessica Lea

35 40 Under Forty

Leads & Lists

21 Top Area Hospitals 31 Top Airlines Serving KCI 32 Airports Serving Missouri and Kansas

Civic leaders and travelers alike toast the new KCI, up and running at last.

35 40 Under Forty

The 25th Anniversary Ingram’s proudly introduces the class that brings our all-time roster to 1,000.

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38 Alumnus of the Year Mike Maddox, Crossfirst Bank

Ingram’s 40 Under Forty Class of 2004

Front cover photo by Matt Kocourek Photography

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EDITOR’S NOTE

by Joe Sweeney

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1,000 Extraordinary Members Strong

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It’s all about Accomplishment, Integrity, Character, Service and Leadership.

These were the founding principles of Ingram’s 40 Under Forty when we established this recognition program in 1998. And they remain the steadfast principles today as we introduce our 25th class of honorees with this issue. Milestones and anniversaries are big deals to our team at Ingram’s and we understand the importance of and the essential need for recognizing extraordinary achievement. We believe a connected business community is a stronger one that will benefit the region broadly. And we believe that, by spotlighting merit and achievement, these programs help forge and strengthen those connections. On Page 34 of this edition are the front covers from each year we’ve honored a new class. Each cover brings fond memories of researching hundreds of nominees and selecting the most impressive candidates based on our founding principles. If you study that page and reflect on the years, you’ll notice that 1999 is missing from the lineup. The reason is that the debut class of honorees in 1998 was so remarkably accomplished that our team did not believe we could replicate it if we were to retain the prestige of that first cohort. We were pretty sure that the solution would be to conduct this program every other year, so we sat out a year and brought it back in 2000. This metric might shock you: The interest in our 40 Under Forty program was so significant that we received in excess of 800 strong nominations in 2000. We knew at that time that we had screwed up in 1999 and that 40 Under Forty could absolutely sustain year after year. As much as we believe that we have an obligation to serve as steward to the business community, our team is every bit as committed to conduct the diligence and do the necessary work to review hundreds of packets each year, which include nominations from respected members of the business community and program alumni, as well as candidate applications. It’s not easy or fun to send condolence letters to those not chosen, particularly to candidates that were eligible for the final time at age 39. But it’s part of the program and we always try and share encouragement and explain the odds being as high as 20:1 against their selection. I believe that, after you read the profiles of this year’s honorees, you’ll agree we’ve identified and selected 40 very accomplished rising stars. We’ve missed some over the years and a few others preferred to fly under the radar and avoid publicity. For those that our team did select, we feel engaged in our honorees’ careers and lives. I’m particularly proud that Michelle and I have closely studied every single candidate for a quarter of a century—likely approaching 15,000 candidates. The hours of research have been daunting. So I’ll say it: We’re damn proud to have established and grown Kansas City’s 40 Under Forty program and we consider it among our most significant accomplishments since we began operating

Ingram’s in early 1997.

There are many other traditions, competitions and recognition programs we administer and we’re proud to have developed all such programs, only two of which were in place before we acquired the magazine. This publication was born in 1974 with the title of Outlook and soon became Corporate Report Kansas City. This year marks the 38th anniversary of ranking the 100 fastest-growing private companies in our Corporate Report 100, which will publish in July. The other program is our readers’ choice awards, started with the name of the Silver Spoon Awards 35 years ago. We rebuilt, expanded and branded this program to what today is known as the Best of Business Kansas City, coming again in June. Traditions are kind of a big deal at Ingram’s and we really enjoy administering competitions and recognition programs. A few other long-standing programs we developed include Heroes in Healthcare, Icons of Education, the Ingram’s 250, Women Executives-Kansas City, 50 Missourians and Kansans You Should Know, Philanthropist of the Year, 20 in Their Twenties and Executive of the Year and C-Suite Awards, to name several. It’s not for the money that we publish Ingram’s but I will say—and Michelle agrees—we’ve met and become friends with thousands of the most extraordinary and accomplished leaders in business throughout Missouri and Kansas, and especially in the Kansas City region. On this 25th anniversary celebration of 40 Under Forty, I’d like to thank each honoree and their colleagues for making their experience a career highlight. I’d like to thank every applicant over the years, as well. We’re honored to serve and very much hope you appreciate this unique annual edition of Ingram’s as much as we did producing it. With respect and admiration, — Joe Sweeney

Joe Sweeney Editor-In-Chief and Publisher E | JSweeney @ Ingrams.com

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Applications Due by Friday, June 9, 2023 Continuing a Kansas City tradition, Ingram’s will salute the region’s fastest-growing companies in its 38th annual Corporate Report 100 competition, to be published in the July 2023 edition. The report will measure growth between fiscal 2019 and 2022. Public and private for-profit companies HEADQUARTERED IN KC’S 22-COUNTY METRO AREA, WITH AT LEAST $200,000 IN SALES IN 2019 AND $1 MILLION IN SALES IN FISCAL 2022, ARE ELIGIBLE. Company Name:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ CEO’s Name:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________ City: _________ State: _____ Zip: __________________________________________________ Phone: ________________ Fax: ____________ E-mail: ____________________ Web site: _ _______________________________________________________ Communications/Marketing Manager:____________________________________________________________________ e-mail: _ _________________________________________________________ Where is your company headquartered? _ ______________________________ ( Must be “headquartered” in KC’s 22-County Metro Area) GROSS REVENUES Consolidated from all operations/subsidiaries. Please DO NOT round dollars to nearest thousand. Show revenues to decimal . (must have had at least $200,000 in sales in fiscal 2019 and $1 million in sales in fiscal 2022): F i s c a l 2 0 1 9 : _ _____________ _______________________________ F i s c a l 2 0 2 1 : _ ______________________________________ F i s c a l 2 0 2 0 : _ _____________ _______________________________ F i s c a l 2 0 2 2 : _ ______________________________________ BUSINESS SUMMARY Full-time or full-time (equivalent) employees as of 12-31-2022:_______________ Year business was founded: _________________________________________ Describe company’s primary business: ______________________________________________________________ _________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INDICATE THE REASON FOR YOUR RECENT GROWTH (check one or two): Service New Offices/Location Other:_________ CORPORATE REPORT 100 NOMINATION FORM CORPORATE REPORT 100 PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY YOUR COMPANY GREW FROM 2019 THROUGH 2022 (Please be specific. May submit on another page): ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ IS YOUR COMPANY’S PRIMARY ACTIVITY CLASSIFIED AS (check one): Retail trade Manufacturing Services Family owned OTHER LOCATIONS :________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ SIGNATURE: ___________ ___________ _______________ TITLE: ____________________ PRINT NAME:_ ________________________ EMAIL: _____________________ To be considered for CORPORATE REPORT 100, Return or Submit at Ingrams.com or email to Editorial@Ingrams.com by Friday, June 9, 2023 2049 Wyandotte, Kansas City, MO 64108 n Phone 816.842.9994 n Fax 816.474.1111 Wholesale trade Construction Other: IS YOUR BUSINESS (check one): Publicly held Privately owned New Products/Services Acquisitions Marketing

Editor-in-Chief & Publisher Joe Sweeney | JSweeney @ Ingrams.com Editorial Director Dennis Boone | DBoone @ Ingrams.com Senior Editor Jack Cashill | Editorial @ Ingrams.com Columnists Ken Herman Jessica Lea Director of Sales Michelle Sweeney | MSweeney @ Ingrams.com Art Director Traci Faulk | Production @ Ingrams.com Copy Editor Nancie Boland | Editorial @ Ingrams.com Contributing Photographer Matt Kocourek

Advertising @ Ingrams.com Digital @ Ingrams.com Editorial @ Ingrams.com Production @ Ingrams.com Research @ Ingrams.com Subscriptions @ Ingrams.com

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2049 Wyandotte Kansas City, Missouri 64108 816.842.9994 Fax: 816.474.1111

Ingrams.com MISSOURI’S AND KANSAS’ DIGITAL BUSINESS MEDIA The entire contents of this publication are copyrighted © 2023 by Show-Me Publishing, Inc. with all rights reserved. Reproduction or use in any manner of editorial or graphic content without permission is prohibited. The magazine assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts. Ingram’s reserves the right of unrestricted editing of articles. Submissions must be in writing to be considered. Ingram’s (ISSN #1046 9958) is published monthly by Show-Me Publishing, Inc. at 2049 Wyandotte, Kansas City, Missouri, 64108. Price: $44.95 for one-year, $69.95 for 2 years and $99.95 for 3 years. Back issues are $5 each. Periodical postage paid at Kansas City, Missouri, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please email address changes to JRyan @ Ingrams.com, fax to 816.474.1111 or mail changes to Ingram’s Magazine at 2049 Wyandotte Kansas City, Missouri, 64108.

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IN THE NEWS

Tidbits of Business News from Around the Region

MISSOURI BUCHANAN COUNTY Work Force Center Funding

fund-raising, with companies like H&R Block, JE Dunn Construction, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, and the Cordish Companies carrying much of the load. The biggest chunk of that, $10 million, came from H&R Block, working with the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation and the corporate founda- tion. The project goal is to create a 4½- acre destination park connecting the central business district with the Cross roads neighborhood. Another Downtown Tower The multifamily building boom con tinues Downtown, with plans filed for a 300-unit, 30-story apartment building at 14th and Wyandotte, across from Bartle Hall. Lux Living, the developer, also

proposes a 200-room hotel at the northeast corner of that intersection. Assuming the project is approved, the new tower would be among the tallest buildings Downtown. Affordability Ambitions Arnold Development Group has un veiled plans to convert a 12-story building at Independence and Hardesty avenues into a mixed-use development with 500 affordable-rate apartments. The project calls for 414 units, ranging from studio to four-bedroom, priced for households making 30 to 80 percent of the Metro Area Median Income. It would include a 30,000-square-foot daycare facility, up to 80,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, and nearly 95,000 square feet of office space.

The St, Joseph City Council has unanimously approved using federal funds to help pay for a workforce training center at Missouri Western State University. The planned Convergent Technology Alliance Center would receive $1.5 million from the city, part of a $12 million collaboration by state and local governments. Covering 20,000 square feet, it would be built near the Kit Bond Science and Technology Incu- bator and will provide training in con- struction, skilled manufacturing, IT and cybersecurity. Responding to surging demand for both its Transit model vans, Ford Motor Co., the region’s largest manufacturing site, is adding a third shift of 1,100 employees at the Claycomo assembly plant. Ford has committed to a $95 million upgrade at the facility, which has an existing third shift producing its popular F-150 pickup trucks. The company said sales of the Transit surged 86 percent over Q1 2022, while the all-electric model sales jumped 62.7 percent. Bond Issues Approved Voters in the Liberty and Smithville school districts approved bond issues totaling more than $137 million in this month’s elections. In Liberty, a $120 mil. bond issue secured overwhelming approval, with 80 percent of voters backing the mea sure. By a lesser margin, still 2-1, voter signed off on transferring funds from the district debt service levy operating budget. In Smithville, a $17 mil. bond issue for general upgrades passed by a 69-31 percent margin. CLAY COUNTY Claycomo Third Shift

Correspondent News Updates from the Capital cities

Washington | Moran Leads Call for Oracle Cerner Pause Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, the ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has introduced legislation to block further deployment of the VA’s $10 billion Oracle Cerner electronic health record system until certain improvement goals are met. Rollout of the system has run into both cost overruns and technical/training issues that critics say have created health risks for thou sands of veterans. The VA, after halting implementation in the fall, had planned to resume work on the system in June; it has been installed in only five of the system’s 171 medical centers. Jefferson City | State Issuing $94 Million in ARPA Grants Gov. Mike Parson has announced that the state’s Department of Economic Development will distribute more than $94 million in federal funding for 70 projects across the state, the bulk of the $100 million received from the American Rescue Plan Act. The funds, through the Community Revitalization Grant Program launched in September 2022, were awarded to cities, counties, and non-profit organizations to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the projects to be funded, Grant awards will fund a variety of projects, such as downtown property renovations, business skills training, homelessness prevention, and more. Topeka | Statehouse Battle Over Surplus The Republican supermajority in the Kansas Senate has set up a confrontation with Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly over the best uses for a state surplus estimated at $2 billion, with the upper chamber’s approval of two bills that would slash taxes on income and retirement payments, as well as the elimination of state and local sales tax on some groceries. Assuming the Republican-controlled House does likewise Kelly is expected to veto the measures, but has indicated support for reducing the levy on grocery shoppers.

JACKSON COUNTY South Loop Milestone

Efforts to place a “lid” over Down town’s Interstate 70 South Loop have now secured $45 million in federal, cor porate, philanthropic, and other private

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April 2023

IN THE NEWS

Tidbits of Business News from Around the Region

PLATTE COUNTY KCI Traffic Recovery

JOHNSON COUNTY Turner Earns Panasonic Work Turner Construction Co., a national contractor with a significant presence in Kansas City, will partner with a Mississippi construction company to build Panasonic Energy’s $4 billion electric-vehicle battery plant in De Soto. Yates Construction of Philadelphia, Miss., is co-project lead on the main plant and secondary buildings. The plant is projected to employ 4,000 people when it opens in 2025. $120 Million Kiewit Expansion The Lenexa City Council is studying a request from Kiewit Corp., the Omaha based engineering giant, to add a fourth building to its City Center campus, part of a $120 million project that could eventually be home to 800 employees. If approved, construction on the six-story building would begin this fall, with a pro jected 2025 completion. That would bring the company’s office footprint to more than 600,000 square feet.

SHAWNEE COUNTY Liquor Exemption Sought

Passenger traffic at KCI surged 27.9 percent in 2022, according the city’s avia tion department, with 9.8 million passen gers served as the pandemic-era recovery continues. That’s down 16.2 percent from the pre-pandemic year of 2019, with 11.7 million passengers, but more than double the 4.4 million recorded in 2020. KANSAS DOUGLAS COUNTY Homeless Plan Offered The Lawrence City Council signed off on a plan to use $4.5 mil. in federal funds to build 75 cabins as shelters for a growing homeless population. The Pallet Shelters, which have been tried in other cities, offer occupants a bed, a locking door, and heat and air conditioning in a space the size of a small bedroom, 100 square feet.

Officials in Topeka are advocating for a change in state law so that event organizers can allow public consumption of alcohol both Downtown and in the North Topeka arts district. Under state law, local government units can create “common consumption areas” in which people can buy alcohol at a licensed property and consume it off-premises. Topeka would like to make an additional change to requirements that streets to be blocked off, calling it impractical for businesses. WYANDOTTE COUNTY Logistics Center Approved Officials with the Unified Government have given initial approval for a 406,960- square-foot manufacturing facility in the Scannell 435 Logistics Center. The $70 million project by Infinity Windows, when completed, would employ 55 people upon opening and a projected 600 more by about 2027.

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BETWEEN THE LINES

Pointed Perspectives & Penetrating Punditry | by Jack Cashill

Adieu to the Old KCI

It had a certain appeal—convenience, namely—and a few other things we’ll miss. In mid-February, I disembarked after an uneventful flight from Tampa (the best kind), wheeled my bag up the jetway (how is that we put a man on the moon before we put wheels on suitcases?) , walked the 50 or so feet from the gate to the front door, and bid a bittersweet adieu to the old Terminal B at KCI. Before leaving the Southwest plane (I remain a loyalist), I called Park Air Express to come get me. As a sign of the times, they had just gone digital. It was very exciting. From the terminal door to the bus top, it is about a 30-foot walk. I took note. The bus came within a few minutes. There were about eight of us on board. And although people rarely speak to strangers on a 10-minute trip, this group proved surprisingly chatty and nostalgic. “How long do you think we’ll have to walk from the gate to the door at the new place?” asked one guy with more than a hint of snark. With that question, the floodgates opened. My fellow passengers all started talking. They weren’t celebrating the new terminal. They were lamenting the closure of the old. Well, not that old. Kansas City Inter

no more fun to board a plane than to visit a prisoner at the state pen. Less fun actually, as the lines are shorter in Lansing. Still, despite the hassle, we locals loved our airport. KCI continued to outpace other airports in consumer satisfaction surveys, and our TSA people remained the nicest any where. Yes, security was an issue, but civic leaders could have adapted KCI to current needs had they chosen to do so. Instead, they chose to let the old airport run down. Not all at once: There was the small matter of a $258 million facelift in 2004 that, we were assured, would address the concerns of travelers disappointed with the condition of “the front door to Kansas City.” But in no time at all, KCI again accruing all the charm of a Greyhound bus station. A pull out-the-stops propaganda campaign followed. After years of pounding, KC citizens finally said, “No mas,” and voted for a new airport in Nov ember 2017. Ambitious Goals Then the squabbling began in earnest. As is normative today, special interests queued up for their slice of the airport pie. The original memorandum of understanding tried to oblige them all, calling for 35 percent minority- and women business enterprise participation in the airport’s construction. Few, if any, got everything they wanted, but whatever they did get did not exactly reshape the actual work force. When I would drive by the site, I would see few a minority workers— and fewer women—on the job. The middlemen (and women) did much better, of course, but then again, they always do. This subject of quotas—no, sorry, “goals”—was a little too sensitive for the riders on the Park Air bus, but the

KCI was designed for a more innocent era, one in which the “national security state” was some vague concept that had little meaning in our daily lives.

national opened 50 years and two months before my final flight. As a sign of the times, Vice President Spiro Agnew spoke at the airport’s dedication. “Vision, the gift to see the future as a place of hope and progress and expansion,” said Agnew. “That, ladies and gentlemen, is the secret ingredient that has made this airport possible.” Agnew was not electioneering. Two weeks prior, the Nixon-Agnew ticket carried 49 states to win re-election in a landslide. One state that the pair failed to

carry was the Deep State, which would soon enough take its revenge. For those who want clarification, I would rec ommend Geoff Shepard’s definitive account of Watergate, The Nixon Conspiracy , (Full disclosure: It’s a book that I was privileged to edit.) KCI was designed for a more innocent era, one in which the “national security state” was some vague concept that had little meaning in our daily lives. The 1972 airport had minimal security and maximum convenience. Yes, Virginia, in those days a passenger could get dropped off in front of his gate, walk right up the counter, buy a ticket, and board the plane unmolested by probing wands or patting hands. A spate of hijackings in the early 1970s led to the ramping up of security measures, and 9/11 sealed the deal. It became

Jack Cashill Ingram’s Senior Editor P | 816.842.9994 E | Editorial @ Ingrams.com

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BETWEEN THE LINES

airport design was fair game. What struck several people was the absence of … well, a terminal. Driving by, we debated among ourselves as to where it actually was. “I think it’s hiding behind the parking garage,” said one woman. She was right. A multi-level garage obscured what appeared to me the terminal behind it. The garage does not look like much fun to navigate. A few months back, upon returning a rental car to a similar garage at the San Jose Airport, I missed the signage on Level Three and ended up leaving the car on Level Six because there was no way back down. It was a little embarrassing. The San Jose Airport is your stand ard American mid-size airport. I suspect the new KCI looks much like it and dozens of others, but San Jose has something that KCI will not have. Wanting to get in on the griping,

I told my bus mates, “The new airport won’t have a Chick-fil-A.” They expressed shock and wanted to know why. Their reaction did not surprise.

excluded Chick-fil-A from its proposed line-up of restaurants. Oblivious of the paradox, resistance leaders claimed that the inclusion of the Christian owned eatery would “betray the terminal’s inclusive ideals.” If there is a more “progressive” area in America than greater San Jose, I am not sure I know what is, but their airport has a Chick-fil-A. Hell, even Reagan National has a Chick-fil-A. But here, alas, our fear of offending cripples us. I would like to have explained all this to my bus mates, but not wanting to get thrown off the bus or under it— these were strangers after all—I held my tongue. “Why no Chick-fil-A?” I said. “Beats me.”

If there is a more “progressive” area in America than greater San Jose, I am not sure I know what is, but even their airport has a Chick-fil-A.

Everyone loves Chick-fil-A, the nation’s most popular fast-food chain. I knew the answer. In September 2021, under pressure from other spe cial-interest groups, a Canadian vendor

The views expressed in this column, which is also published online in the Heartlander, are the writer’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Ingram’s Magazine. Jack Cashill , Senior Editor, Editorial @ Ingrams.com

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REFLECTIONS

by Dennis Boone

At the Intersection of Business and Life

When Prices Go Up, Dial Demand Down

Don’t complain about the cost of goods if you’re part of the reason they’re exploding. Last summer, at the peak of the inflationary spike—and, as it happens, the peak of the soda-consumption cycle—I spotted a fellow chuch parishioner in the aisle of the local grocery store. The careful shopper was assessing soda prices and doing the mental math on consumption for a household with four kids. Ever one to seek out the lighter moment amid someone else’s personal agony, I asked: “Don’t you need to see a mortgage officer before buying soda?” “No kidding,” the perturbed parent said. “Not sure we can keep up with this.” Mind you, this individual represented one-half of a true power couple in Kansas City professional services, each being in the senior office leadership of a significant organization. Ballpark? I’m guessing combined pretax household income north of $500,000. When someone in that tax bracket is feeling the slings and arrows of outrageous pricing, you know the economy has entered strange new territory. My answer—with multiple teen-agers at home—is a bit simpler: The hell with it. I ain’t buying at those prices. I’ll load

Not mine. I’ll make the time if it means sticking it to the over-chargers. I’ve eaten my last fast-food hamburger at $7. Just not worth it to me. Same with the striped buckets of chicken. This month, I saw the signboard out front advertising a 12-piece family meal— for $36. Why would anyone do that when you can buy seven whole chickens for less than that, fresh off the rotisserie, at the grocery warehouse up the hill? Coffee? No, thanks—I’m an iced tea guy at 20 cents a gallon. And one of the best investments I ever made was a chest freezer with enough capacity to accommodate a side of beef. Fed a family of four for close to a year at (then) $2.75 a pound. There is, then, a solution for the Soda-Challenged out there: Stop buying. Make the bottling companies swim in that stuff. Don’t lay out a dime until they cry, “Uncle!” Of course, this won’t work quite as well with the gas you need to get to work or to heat the house, but there are plenty of examples of de- mand-driven price declines that should inspire hope. Check out the latest dev- elopments in the housing sector if you need hard evidence. What we really need in this country is an online dashboard that tracks production trends and forecasts price increases on every imaginable consumer good. As soon as the leading indicators flash red, buyers can respond accord ingly to reduce demand: Produce it on our terms, or eat it yourselves. That may lack the cachet or the moral imperative of, say, a French Revolution. But it certainly would get their attention. Let them eat the over priced cake. Want to end inflation? Stop feeding the beast.

up when the sales hit, especially if the grocers make soda a loss leader that week. That strategy has worked for years, so long as I can keep space free in the garage to accommodate half a pallet at a time. (Caveat: This works fine until a Winter Storm Uri moves in and drops the garage temps to sub-zero.) The soda story came to mind recently when I reached into the cooler at the store for eggs, saw the price, uttered a mild expletive of surprise, and closed the door. Skip the eggs this week. Granola for breakfast, times seven.

What we really need in this country is a real time tool that allows consumers to see where prices are headed.

What can I say? I’m a cheapskate. The likely result of being raised by parents whose childhood was defined by the Great Depression. It’s a different value proposition than many Americans seem to have these days. One can’t engage in such personal reflections without leaving room for the possibility that we’re dealing with a case of Stage IV Geezerdom. Still, it seems our values and priorities are out of whack when someone complains about paying $12.29 for a couple of slices of avocado toast—a concoction I will never understand—or north of $5 for what Steve Martin once described as a “half-double-decaf-half-caf.” Or gourmet cookies at $3 each. Their chagrin is misplaced. After all, they have the income that allows them to make the choice. Not everyone does. The question I have is, do people so value their personal time today that making things fresh, at home, at a fraction of the cost, is no longer an option? Maybe so: Perhaps they’re out doing side gigs and weekend hustles, so their kitchen time is at a minimum.

Dennis Boone is the edito rial director at Ingram’s. E | DBoone @ Ingrams.com P | 816.268.6402

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IN A NUTSHELL

by Ken Herman

Oil Prices, Banking Woes Complicate Fed Challenge

Should we still expect four rate hikes ahead? Crude is back in the news following a shock oil output cut by major producers in the OPEC+ group. Crude futures surged past $81 a barrel at the open on the first trading day of April, reaching their highest price since late January. With U.S. production still limited by President Biden’s policies, and with the U.S. entangled by both high inflation and environmental restrictions, oil prices have the potential of upending economic policies, including upcoming Fed rate hikes. The world’s oil output reduction will be led by OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, with total production cuts totaling nearly 1.2 million barrels per day starting in May and lasting until the end of 2023. Russia’s recent production cuts of 500,000 barrels per day were also extended. Add that to the 2 million barrels per day that had been taken offline by OPEC+ in October. Together at least 3 percent of the world’s oil will have been removed from the market in the past half a year. During the Trump years, our friendship with the Saudis grew, and trade increased substantially. When Trump paid

added 1.9 percent for the month, the S&P 500 gained 3.5 percent, and the NASDAQ Composite climbed 6.7 per cent during March. For now, it is safe to say Wall Street’s initial assessment that the economic cost of a credit crunch caused by changing bank behavior will be less than a quarter-point of growth was too small. Since Wall Street expected four more rate hikes, such a small impact would mean the Fed could hike three times, and the net effect of tighter policy and the bank mess would add up to slightly less than the effect of tightening alone if bank failures had been averted and the Fed had hiked four times. Now, after seeing the movement of

a visit to them, they welcomed him with open arms. Mutual respect was obvious. Following some rushed diplomacy ahead of his trip to the Middle East last summer, President Biden finally met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman af- ter previously pledging to make a “pariah” out of the Kingdom over the killing of U.S.- based columnist Jamal Khashoggi. There was an apparent understanding that the summit and a notable fist bump would lead to additional Saudi crude pro- duction, but things continue to go the opposite way despite reported assurances. It appears it is payback time for the dis

customer deposits from small banks to big ones and talking to bankers who are already starting the pro cess of reacting to the shift, Wall Street is begin ning to think the negative economic impact will be bigger. There are still a lot of unknowns,

Think about the potential impact on business if billions of dollars of dep osits move out of credit unions and community and regional banks.

respect that Biden showed the Saudis. Not only have communications suffered, the kingdom’s friendships with Russia, China, and Iran have increased as the friendship with the U.S. have decreased. None of this is good for the U.S., and the price of crude is expected to reflect this breakdown. Stocks closed out March with all three major market indexes higher than they were at the end of February. Thankfully, the turmoil caused by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was contained, at least for now. However, banking turbulence may well weigh on lending conditions in the months ahead, creating a new headwind for the U.S. economy even though the prospect of further Federal Reserve rate increases appears to have diminished. The Commerce Department’s data that showed the Fed’s favored inflation gauge coming in slightly lower than expected in February reinforced those hopes. The Dow Jones average

but the calm returning to bank share prices and to the system, including the drop in bank borrowing reported by the Fed recently, masks significant turmoil beneath the surface. Think about the possibility of bil- lions of dollars of deposits moving out of the credit unions and com munity and regional banks that finance America’s small and mid-size businesses. These businesses are vital to employment and income creation, and as many of my colleagues note, those businesses may be about to feel the results of small bank losses to big banks.

Ken Herman served as the Managing Director of Bank of America Global Capital Markets and was the Mayor of and served on the City Council in

Glendora, Calif. E | Editorial@

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Q&A ... W ith P eter de S ilva The former CEO of UMB Bank and newly minted author assesses modern leadership challenges, recent developments in U.S. banking, and how compromised values can threaten entire organizations. Thought Leader Insights: Leadership

Q: Your new book, Taking Stock , views your leadership in financial ser vices through the prism of personal and professional challenge and growth. What inspired you to become an author? A: I wrote this book for current and aspiring leaders who want to hear real-world, practical lessons from someone who has been on the leadership front lines for more than 35 years. If you invest the time and energy to consider the ideas in this book, you’ll walk away with important lessons about the true nature of leadership, including a set of lead ership principles you and others can easily understand and put to work. Q: Looking back to your own early steps into corporate leadership, how has the task of organizational leadership today been complicated by economic, regulatory, tech or societal factors? A: There are several factors that make the task of being a leader more complicated today than in the past. The pace of change has rapidly accelerated, driven largely by rapid advancements in technology. From Chat GPT, machine learning and artificial intelligence, to cyber security, the internet of things (IOT), and nanotechnology, these rapid advancements are having extraordi nary implications on the face of business and leadership. Today’s leaders must consider the moral and ethical implications of these pow erful new technologies even as they consider their business impacts. It is not possible to be a successful leader in these times without considering the effects of technology not only on the business, but on humanity. graphics are causing leaders to reassess both the composition of their work force along with how to attract, develop and retain top talent. The composition of a company’s work force needs to be representative of the composition of the communities a company serves. It is more important than ever that Q: And on the demographic side? A: Rapidly changing workforce demo

organizations take a very deliberate and thoughtful approach to building a workforce that will serve their constituents well. Q: COVID introduced certain chal lenges, too, did it not? A: Out of necessity, the COVID pan demic has made remote work a part of the culture of “work.” Never before had leaders been forced to wrestle with how to build and instill purpose, and culture, and develop strong working relationships with a fully or partially remote work force. Entire new leadership practices had to be developed on the fly. It will take some time for leaders to adjust to this new reality and to inculcate new practices into their lead ership approach and style. tion has made it more difficult to plan for the long term. When you are not sure if the rules of the road are set, or about to change, it makes it more difficult to make long-term strategic decisions. Companies are more willing to deploy capital when there is stability in rulemaking and in the laws that govern their actions. Leaders are asked to make key decisions today in the face of more uncertainty than in the past. Q: So you have all these business side inputs, but they aren’t occurring in silos. A: Leaders today need to be con cerned not only with what happens within their company, but what is occurring in society at large. The large push for ESG accountability is a good example. Whether you agree with the concept or not, you can’t ignore it. Today’s enlightened leader needs to consider the views of all stake holders before making critical decisions. Q: What’s the bright side of all this? A: Today’s leaders have an array of tools, technologies, processes, and con- Q: What role does regulation play? A: The pace and sweep of regula

temporary leadership thought at their dis posal. These are distinct advantages over prior generations of leaders. When I was first coming into the business world, we used fax machines to transmit data, there were no cell phones, no Internet. The IBM XT computer, and early generation two-way pagers had just been created. The tools that leaders have access to today enable them to make much more fact-based and informed decisions than was true in the past. A: All of this has accelerated the speed of decision-making and improved the overall quality of decision making. That said, decisions are still made by people, not machines. The machines can churn out the data and turn it into usable information, but it is the leader with their unique knowledge and wisdom and understanding that must in the final analysis make the decision. Great leaders assimilate the quantitative data and combine that with the relevant qualitative considerations to make good decisions. Q: You dedicate a full chapter to the theme of an emerging crisis in lead- ership, one driven by expediency, un- realistic performance expectations and personal aspiration. Can you elaborate? A: We live in a fast-paced world in which patience is considered more of a character flaw than a virtue. Leaders engage in real-time communication and quick decision-making just to keep pace. The business landscape is littered with examples of people and organizations striv ing for expediency. The desire for it can compromise a leader’s ethical framework to achieve short-term outcomes. Q: What about unrealistic expec- tations? A: The push for expediency and short term profits can lead to relentless pressure to perform. In performance-oriented Q: What are the practical impacts of that for leaders?

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reasoned that there are no laws—rules— against these types of loans.

system possess the character, judgment, and willpower to push back when they see excesses building. To resist the tempta tion of a few extra basis points of yield by taking imprudent risks that might imperil their bank or worse yet, the entire system. To take a long-term approach when Wall Street measures success quarter to quarter. In the end, as it often does, it comes down to having leaders who put the good of the country and system ahead of their own success. That is what it will take to stabilize a system that is inherently unstable today. Q: So much in the way of recent regulation was aimed at large national banks, but a lot of the burden has fallen on community banks. Should smaller banks be worried about forthcoming changes following SVB/Signature? A: Post the 2008 financial crisis, a myriad new rules and laws were pro mulgated with the goal of maintaining a healthy and safe banking system. While the Dodd-Frank legislation was the most noteworthy, there were many other regula tions put in place by federal and state bank regulators. While there was some attempt in Dodd-Frank to distinguish between the large systemically significant banks and the smaller regional and local banks that did not play a meaningful part in the crisis, there were still many burdensome regula tions imposed on the smaller institutions. A: The recent rapid unraveling of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank will cause yet another examination of what needs to change in our banking system. Let’s hope that the regulators have the wisdom this time to look at where the real systemic risk is coming from. Let’s just say that it is not coming from America’s community banks. Community banks remain the lifeblood of their communities and regions. Without them, communities will wither and die. Community banks need to be held up as the shining light that they are. They are certainly not part of the problem, but they are part of the solution. Q: Do you think we’ll see more regulatory action?

Q: So it sounds like values matter— but so does sticking to them A: If you aspire to lead, you must adhere to the principles you hold true, remaining acutely aware of how they influence those around you and the core identity of the organization you represent. The betterment—or downfall—of your business, your community, and our society is at stake. Q: Switching gears to current banking trends: Do you see systemic issues that go far beyond the failures of Silicon Valley and Signature, or has that virus largely been contained? A: The fall of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank seem largely isolated at this juncture. They both had unique features to their business models which created unique risks. They also both chose to knowingly take on interest-rate risk by purchasing long-term bonds to boost short-term earnings. They could have and should have known the risks they were taking. That’s not to suggest that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest-rate hikes over the past year have not put strain on other banks, especially in the smaller and mid-sized group because it most cer tainly has. It remains a bit unclear what the future holds for these banks. In the near term, falling interest rates would help these institutions by limiting the losses in their long-term securities book. The one thing is almost certain is that for good or for bad, more regulation is on the way. Q: Where does the challenge of managing imprudent behavior leave regulators? A: The broader question I think, is how do we maintain a safe, healthy, vibrant banking system in the United States? One that contributes to economic growth and stability without becoming the fuel for financial and economic uncertainty every decade or so. While regulation is essential in this regard, it is also important to ensure that the people who lead our banking

“If you aspire to lead, you must adhere to the principles you hold true, remaining acutely aware of how they influence those around you and the core identity of the organization you represent.” — Peter de Silva, author and former CEO of UMB Bank

cultures, leaders are naturally tempted to take outsized risks. Their jobs and remu neration depend on it. This expectation of superior performance at any cost was a con tributing factor to the 2008 financial crisis. Q: And the role of personal aspir- ation? A: When kept in perspective, per sonal aspirations are healthy; when those aspirations get out of hand, they can chal lenge a person’s moral compass. Again, in the run-up to the 2008 crisis, while plenty of leaders at all levels knew that certain loans seemed too good to be true were, in fact, not good for the borrower, their aspi rations may have driven them to ignore the voice of their conscience. They might have

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