Ingram's August 2022

Jeff Russell Russell Cellular Battlefield

Natalie Redmond St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce St. Joseph Not many communities of 75,000 souls can lay claim to an international airport. So you have to appreciate the wry wit of people in St. Joseph who look down Interstate 29 and smile, knowing they’re closer to Kansas City International than

A northern Arkansas turkey farm would present quite the culture shock to most California transplants, but Jeff Russell was only five when the family made that move. And one upside was that he learned what

it meant to work hard “and how to take the initiative to get a job done.” By the time he married, Russell and his bride, Kym, decided a better opportunity lay in a more tech-driven industry, so they moved to the Springfield area and launched Russell Cellular in 1993. And from that point on, to borrow the turkey farm parlance, the feathers flew. Organic growth and an inspired commitment to strategic acquisitions have turned Russell Cellular into a national telecom beast. It’s one of the biggest Verizon affiliates, operating more than 720 retail locations in 43 states, with more than 2,500 employees. “Initially, our vision was small,” he says, “but the more we grew, the more impact we realized we could make in each of those focuses.” Poised to cross the $1 billion revenue threshold soon, Russell attributes the success to a family culture grounded in communication and “making sure we are having transparent conversations/meetings with our leaders, trusting each with their own aspect of the business, multiple annual meetings across the company, and holding strong to the foundations of how this company has been built.”

folks in the southern suburbs like Olathe and Lee’s Summit. “We tell everyone it’s St. Joseph National Airport,” Natalie Redmond chuckles. “My significant other works for a company based in Detroit, and we’re in the perfect location.” Naturally, someone with a direct interest in promoting business and economic development will happily tout the aviation access, but there’s a lot more going for St. Joseph, says the new CEO of that city’s chamber. “With our lower cost of living and hometown feel, there are 120,000 people here in Buchanan County, but it still feels like a small town, just one with bigger-city amenities, like the airport so close.” She’s a Boonville native whose father farmed 2,000 acres outside of town, and from him came the work ethic she clings to. From him and the farm-life experience, she says, “I learned the values of sacrifice and hard work. While all my friends were going to the lake on the weekend or vacationing in the summer, we got to work.” Her communications degree prepared her for the kinds of contacts she would have to make in her new role this year. “It translated very well because I have to have the ability to build relationships, and this is a relationship game,” she says.

Rusty Shadel Shadel’s Colonial Chapel Lebanon

John Twitty Missouri Public Utility Alliance Columbia You have to look hard to find a slice of Missouri that John Twitty hasn’t lived in: He was born in St. Joseph, raised in Camdenton, but also got to see Springfield and Rolla as his father’s hardware-store chain expanded, with

Growing up in a family with a funeral business, Rusty Shadel took in some early life lessons rarely available to someone before kindergarten. “I don’t like suffering, but I got to see what people go through at a time of loss, and I came to

realize that this life is only temporary and very precious,” he says. “That humbles you pretty quick and gives you a desire to serve others. Being around that at a very young age did more to shape life than anything—that and the church—and I still adhere to those values today.” Other influential experiences on his life’s path were his father’s stripe of entrepreneurship, owning multiple businesses in addition to the funeral home, and football—Shadel was a high school standout who earned a spot in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame for his work on the field there. His high school coach, he says, “taught us how to win. My sophomore year, we were 0-10, but he taught us how to believe in ourselves.” That, he says, “absolutely” became a life trait. “The biggest part of the puzzle in business is building that team, that solidarity, that feeling that if I go down, my buddy does, too, so we can’t go down. I stress that in our business today.” He never really considered any other line of work, save for a brief stint as a radio disc jockey, he says —“a fun job, but low pay, and I had a wife to support.” After taking over the family operation, he began branching out, acquiring other funeral homes in small towns, “and never really looked back.”

additional stops in Kansas City, Hermann, and Cape Girardeau before earning an education degree at Mizzou and spending time in secondary education, teaching history and geography. But education wasn’t where he’d make his mark—that would come in the utility sector, with long stints directing city departments in Rolla and Springfield. That helped establish his leadership credentials and build a network to assume his current role as president and CEO of the statewide utility alliance. With nearly 40 years in the sector, Twitty has a keener appreciation than most of what must happen for light to come on when you throw a switch. “Everybody has an important role to play in society, but you can’t live modern life without electricity,” he says. He’s also keenly aware of the infrastructural challenges facing the state, especially smaller communities. “There are three cornerstones we talk about for providing service: it has to be reliable, affordable, and responsible, which speaks to environmental impact. They’re all really important,” he says. “But if they are not affordable, what good is it? We need to be smarter about our energy policy, so it looks across the board, as opposed to siloing.”

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