Ingram's April 2023

CLASS of 2023

SEAN RICHARDSON In two seasons with the KU baseball team, Sean Richardson was a .317 hitter who was good enough to be drafted by

who has amassed more than 16,000 fol lowers on LinkedIn. So, yes, Saeed Valian is a hot commodity, which is why, at 39, he has a work history that reads like a cor porate Who’s Who: Cerner Corp., Saint Luke’s Health System, WireCo World Group, Fishtech Group, and Metropolitan Community College. Along the way, he’s packed his trophy case with honors like Industry Era ’s, 10 Best CISOs of 2021, the 10 Most Influential CISOs to Watch in 2021 from Analytics Insight , and WireCo’s, Outstanding IT Professional honors. Information security, particularly in the health-care realm, allows him to live out his commitment to meaningful work, Valian says, who also has a one-year-old daughter with his wife, Bana. “I'd like for my personal story, as a minority in the Minnesota Twins. After wrapping up his playing days, he went on to become a logistics All-Star as president of one of the region’s most consistently fast-growing companies in a red-hot sector—logistics. His logistics career started in 2009 with Freightquote, on the sales team, then managing a team of his own there. After a stint at eShipping, where he led sales team expansions in Denver and Dallas, Tallgrass Freight came calling in 2018, making him an agent/owner. In fairly rapid succession came roles as director of agent development, vice president of growth and development (helping push revenues from $70 million to $165 mil lion between 2020 and 2022), then the current role as president, overseeing all aspects of Tallgrass Freight's business—

the Midwest, to inspire others and show them that success is achievable thro ugh hard work and determination,” says Valian, who earned his degree in electri cal and computer engineering at UMKC. And “considering the significant rise in cyber-attacks, I'd like for my story to raise visibility and inspire more people and young generations to join the cybersecu rity field.” More than external threats, Valian is passionate about helping corpo rate leaders understand the need for strong defenses. “I've been challenged by some business leaders with questions/comments like ‘We're not a Silicon Valley company, so we don't need to invest much in secu rity,’” he wrote after the content-creator Patreon laid off its entire security team last fall. “How much security is enough?” operations, sales, recruiting, finance and strategic vision for growth. Naturally, for this father of three with wife Amanda, time away from work means coaching. “I enjoy coaching all of my children’s athletic teams, including their basketball, football, and baseball teams,” Richardson says. “I believe in giving back to your community and being involved with local organizations to continue to make our local communities a better place.” To that end, he and Amanda work with Syn- ergy Services and Happy Bottoms, among others. “Whether it’s donating time, raising money, or building custom wood en beverage carts and cornhole sets to be auctioned at their charity events, I’m excited to do what I can to help these organizations,” he says.

SAEED VALIAN He’s a nationally recognized authority in information security systems, a pub lished author, and a bona fide influencer

RAINMAKERS

Rainmakers: Coming in November In the November issue of Ingram's, we will showcase several Kansas City area sales professionals who possess the vision and business acumen to seize the opportunities and drive top-line results for their organizations. Nominations of Sales Superstars are Welcome at Editorial@Ingrams.com or access a nomination form at Ingrams.com Claim Your Ad Position MSweeney@Ingrams.com n 816.842.9994

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April 2023

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