Ingram's April 2024

CLASS of 2024

LAUREN DOUVILLE Just a suggestion to the legal eagles at Alphabet: Before you face off against Lauren Douville in court again, you

might want to Google her track record. The 37-year-old partner at Kansas City’s Shook, Hardy & Bacon was part of a team from the firm that last year secured a $339 million jury verdict in a patent-infringement case involving the search engine’s Chromecast technol ogy. It’s the largest 2023 judgment still standing in the U.S. And before that, she was trial counsel for the former Sprint in a 2017 patent infringement action against Time Warner involving seven patents related to VoIP tech nology. Time Warner was represented by two large national firms. After a three-week trial, the jury returned a verdict on behalf of Sprint, finding Time Warner Cable willfully infringed all asserted claims and awarding Sprint ssments in developing nations, Jim Erickson continued his world travels lecturing in places like American Univ ersity in Cairo and Assumption Univer sity in Thailand. In 2015, this 38-year-old came back to the heartland—he had earned degrees from KU and Pittsburg State—by signing on with the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City as a business-development officer. He later had stints with Wyandotte County and the KC Area Development Council, and during that period, highlights of a few significant wins included the CVS distribution center in the Northland, TrueAccord, a CarMax operations cen- ter, and Niagara Bottling. These projects alone represent $400 million of invest ment and over 1,000 jobs brought to Kan “Follow the money.” Over the course of 16 years in commercial banking, he has originated more than $800 million in loans—and underwritten more than $1.5 billion, reflecting a strong aptitude for financial analysis and risk manage ment. “One of my proudest accom plishments has been leading the Kansas City commercial banking group, play ing a pivotal role in the bank's substan tial growth from $2 billion to $4 billion in assets over the past eight years,” he says. In doing so, he has consistently exceeded his goals as a producer—by a whopping 228 percent, one reason why parent Dickinson Financial Corp. made him part of the Legacy Leadership pro gram in 2019. For the region, there’s an additional loan-to-value ratio attached

its full damages ask of $139.8 million. Two cases, nearly half a billion in dam ages. Woof. Her impact, though, does not stop in court. “In addition to these professional accomplishments, I have been very fortunate to represent pro bono clients on many different mat ters, including asylum, juvenile, and domestic violence cases,” says Douville. She also serves on Shook’s search com mittee, where she participates in hiring and a variety of events aimed at increas ing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. At home, she finds what she calls her “greatest joy and accom plishment:” Working with husband, Marshall Douthat, to raise their two boys, of whom she says, simply: “They are the best.” sas City. In 2020, his career came full circle as he returned to EDC and founded a department focused on initiatives for new pipelines. His team leads legislative advocacy efforts in Jefferson City, efforts to reinvigorate the Blue River Corridor, and also the LaunchKC program to scale startups into becoming the next generation of economic engines for KC. This has required several million dollars of new fundraising. LaunchKC has helped create 1,100 jobs and generated over $450 million of investment for Kansas City. The percentage of women and/or minority-led companies funded by LaunchKC has risen from 45 percent to now close to 70 percent. At home, he and his wife, Anné, are raising three children. to his performance. “I'm deeply com mitted to serving my community,” he says, and that’s reflected in board ser vice for the First Tee of Kansas City. He has leveraged a personal passion for golf to teach life skills to children and per sonally raised more than $100,000 for that non-profit. He’s also been involved with Christmas in October, is a mem ber of the Emerging Leaders Council for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City, and is a mentor at Gordon Parks Elementary School. Above all, he prizes his role as a family man and "Girl Dad," raising three daughters with his wife, Abigail. His deep-rooted connec tion to Kansas City is reflected in his passion for golf, the Chiefs, Royals, and Mizzou sports.

JIM ERICKSON After staring his career overseas, analyzing projects on World Economic Forum economic-competitiveness asse

JOSH FINK How best to assess Josh Fink’s con tribution as managing director at Academy Bank? As the old saying goes,

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April 2024

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