Ingram's April 2023

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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April 2023

Ingrams.com