Ingram's June 2026

BEST OF BUSINESS KC | EXECUTIVE LIFESTYLES | HEALTHCARE AND INSURANCE

Ingrams.com | June 2026

Executive Lifestyle Edition

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JUNE 2026 • VOLUME 52, NO. 6

Talk of the Town 7 In the News/Correspondent Business News and Legislative Updates Perspectives 4 Editor’s Note KC International by Joe Sweeney 9 Between the Lines A chance encounter lends credence to the belief that, in health care as in life, there are no true coincidences. by Jack Cashill AI is a great tool for companies, but there’s a human aspect that can never be replaced by machine learning. by Dennis Boone Elon Musk has changed the conversa tion about wealth creation, and what to look for with a new Fed Reserve Board chairman. by Ken Herman 13 In a Nutshell 11 Reflections

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Features 18 KC: Gooooooooal!

The region scored a place on the global stage as host city for half a dozen FIFA 2026 World Cup games. The buzz is real; will the payoff match the excitement? by Dennis Boone

Special Features 33 Best of Business Kansas City 2026 As determined by the votes of

24 Q&A: KC Hospitality Andrea O’Hara of the Lodging and Hospitality Association of Greater

Ingram’s readers: the best of every thing that this region has to offer with its quality of life, from restau rants and museums to car dealers, heath-care providers, jewelers, janito rial services and much, much more.

Business & Commerce 14 Small Business Adviser A mid-year reset on economic

Kansas City reflects on industry trends beyond the World Cup impact.

conditions that should give business owners and executives something

26 Executive Lifestyle Trends in executive lifestyles, from home design and remote work to landscaping, travel, business wear and entertainment. 33 Best of Business KC: Excellence in Action good stuff is around the region. They sound off on the best of everything in Wining & Dining, Entertainment & Culture, Business Products and Business Services. 58 Benefits Squeeze Is On Two things are certain about readers of Ingram’s : They have highly discriminat ing tastes, and they know where the

to think about. by Kaleb Shaw 15 Financial Adviser

58 Health Care and Insurance Report

A look at how mega trends affecting employer health plans are impacting business owners, plus updates of our industry ranking lists in key silos of the health-care sector.

Vacation and travel season is hitting its peak; before you go, make sure to pack financial protection. by Barbara White

16 Wealth Management

The democratization of wealth-building continues, presenting new consider ations for investors below the ultra high-net-worth stratus. by Ben Sullivan

Leads & Lists 31 Top Area Public and Private Golf Courses 61 Top Area Hospitals and Medical Centers (ranked by revenues)

Policy moves in Washington and provider market moves in the Kansas City area are closing like a vise on employer-paid health insurance coverage. Are you asking the right questions of your broker as the renewal season approaches? by Dennis Boone

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EDITOR’S NOTE

by Joe Sweeney

Kansas City International

stadium rising in Wyandotte County—a domed venue that, unlike open-air Arrowhead Stadium, can host indoor events 12 months a year regardless of weather. Think about what that unlocks. A Super Bowl in February. A men’s or women’s Final Four in March or April. A College Football Playoff or Championship. NCAA wrestling finals. International basketball. The kind of marquee concerts that until now have routed themselves through Dallas, Atlanta and Min neapolis without giving KC a second thought. It unlocks something larger than sport. A 65,000-seat, climate-controlled venue with convention-grade hospitality infrastructure already going up around it puts Kansas City, for the first time in more than half a century, in the conversation for a Democratic or Republican National Convention. The 2032 cycle is not far away. Site-selection committees for both parties will begin their reconnaissance in earnest within the next 12 to 24 months. Charlotte has hosted one. Milwaukee. Tampa. Cleveland. Cities our size, our profile, our political temperament. The notion that Kansas City cannot host a major party convention is a notion built on a Kansas City that no longer exists. The temptation, having pulled off the World Cup, will be to exhale. To congratulate ourselves and slide back into the comfortable middle-American assumption that the truly big events belong to other, larger, more glamorous places. That would be a mistake on the order of the one Jackson County voters made in 2024, when they sent the Chiefs and Royals shop ping for new homes—a self-inflicted wound whose costs will compound for generations. The opposite instinct is the right one. Press the advantage. Bid for the conventions. Bid for the Final Fours. Bid, when the moment comes, for a Super Bowl in the new stadium’s inaugural season. Build the case file now, while the World Cup is fresh, while the international media has had a month to discover that Kansas City barbecue is not a marketing gimmick and that the people here are, in fact, as friendly as the brochures advertise. The world just came to Kansas City. The world is leaving impressed. The only ques tion that matters now is whether we have the institutional nerve to keep inviting it back. Why not?

No, not the airport: The city taking a bow on a global stage. It doesn’t have to be a one-off event. The chants came in Dutch and Spanish, in Arabic and German, in the universal language of grown men weeping when their team’s run ends on foreign soil. For more than a month, Arrowhead—the FIFA-decreed “Kansas City Stadium” for the duration—is playing host to the world. Six matches. Four group-stage games. A Round of 32. A quarterfinal on July 11 that will send one nation a step closer to lifting the trophy in New York and another home to grieve. Hotels benefitting from the Country Club Plaza to the Legends. Restaurants doing the kind of business that ends a long workweek with a sigh of gratitude. The Fan Festival drawing crowds nightly to the lawn at the National WWI Museum and Memorial—an apt setting, given that the world was, again, gathering peaceably in KC. This was supposed to be the heavy lift. The audition. The proof that a metro of 2.4 million, plopped down in the middle of the continent, could absorb a global event and not embarrass itself in front of hundreds of thousands of travelers as well as an international television audience numbering in the billions. By any honest accounting, we passed. Buses ran. The new KCI terminal—opened in February 2023 and built precisely for moments like this one—handled the inbound surge without the meltdowns that afflict older airports. Police and emergency planners cooperated across two states and a half-dozen jurisdictions and managed, in the main, to avoid the sort of organizational pratfall that makes for bad CNN segments. So here is the question that ought to be sitting on the desk of every civic leader, every corporate citizen and every elected official within a 90-minute drive of the Truman Sports Complex: Why not Kansas City? We just hosted the world. Why not host it again, and potentially bigger? Why not host it every year, in one form or another, until “global destination” stops being aspirational marketing rhetoric and starts being a description of fact? I believe it’s prime time for bold thinking and to leverage the World Cup event and take action. One historic assembly on the afternoon of January 31, 2003 at the offices of Blackwell Sanders and co-sponsored by Burns & McDonnell, Ingram’s Regional Transportation Industry Outlook was held and with the help of MO Sen. Harry Wiggins, we recruited U.S. Sen. Kit Bond (MO) and Pat Roberts (KS) to co-chair the assembly which included 35 of the most powerful executives in bi-state transportation. What resulted was bi-state collaboration and massive investment in infra structure. Ironically, after the reception I visited with Sen. Bond and asked if I may share a bold idea and he appeared enthusiastically interested. I rolled out my blueprints for a statewide bid to host the Summer Olympics in Missouri, for 2008 or maybe 2012. The plan included international flight access to Kansas City and St. Louis connected by a bullet train along I-70 and the epicenter of the games would be hosted at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Sen. Bond rolled up the plans and said he was taking them to Washington. I haven’t seen them since but the concept represents the kind of bold thinking I believe this region should flex. In the KC region especially the infrastructure piece is no longer hypothetical. We have a new airport built for this. We will have, by the start of the 2031 NFL season, a new $3 billion fixed-roof

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

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Who are the most intriguing, interesting and relevant characters you know in Missouri and Kansas? Since 2011, Ingram’s has showcased fascinating and accom plished residents in the states of Missouri and Kansas with our 50 Missourians You Should Know and 50 Kansans You Should Know features. Here’s your chance to recommend candidates for both of these upcoming publications.

Editor-in-Chief & Publisher Joe Sweeney | JSweeney @ Ingrams.com Editorial Director Dennis Boone | DBoone @ Ingrams.com Senior Editor Jack Cashill | Editorial @ Ingrams.com Columnists and Key Contributors Ken Herman Kaleb Shaw Ben Sullivan Barbara White Director of Sales Michelle Sweeney | MSweeney @ Ingrams.com Art Director Traci Meisenheimer | Production @ Ingrams.com Copy Editor Nancie Boland | Editorial @ Ingrams.com Digital Editor Will Crow | WCrow @ Ingrams.com Researcher John Ward | JWard @ Ingrams.com

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June 2026

IN THE NEWS

Tidbits of Business News from Around the Region

MISSOURI BUCHANAN COUNTY Homelessness Battle

Riverfront Boost Kansas City leaders are considering up to $235 million in public support for a proposed CPKC Stadium expansion and riverfront district buildout, with total investment described at roughly $1.4 billion. The plan would enlarge the KC Current’s stadium from 11,500 to about 18,000 seats, add parking, retail, trails and infrastructure, and build on Current Landing and the new riverfront streetcar connection. The proposal reinforces Berkley Riverfront’s emergence as a sports-and-entertainment growth node. Correspondent News Updates from the Capital cities Washington | Fed Holds Course on Rates

Streetcar Spur Opens

Kansas City’s $62 million Riverfront streetcar extension opened in May, linking the River Market to Berkley Riverfront and extending the full streetcar route to more than six miles from UMKC and the Plaza to the riverfront. Officials tied the opening to more than $1 billion in riverfront investment since 2019, making the line less a transit add-on than a devel opment spine connecting Downtown, tourism assets, residential growth and the KC Current district.

The St. Joseph City Council is consid ering a measure that would criminalize “homeless dumping”–the practice of outside, organized groups dropping homeless indi viduals off in the city and leaving them without resources. The measure, still under discussion, proposes that any individual or municipality outside of St. Joseph could be charged with a criminal misdemeanor for attempting to relocate unhoused or transient individuals to the city. It would provide exceptions only where medical treatment or legal proceedings are involved. North Kansas City has approved a development agreement with One North Development for Fresh Market of Northtown, a full-service grocery store planned on about seven acres of city owned land near the I-29/35 and Armour Road/M-210 interchange. The city will sell the site for $1, with construction required to begin within 180 days of closing and the store expected to open in 2027. City offi cials frame the $218 million project, with this long-sought grocery-access win, as a catalyst for additional private investment. JACKSON COUNTY FNBO Adds Blue Ridge Bank A year after snapping up Country Club Bank, FNBO has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Blue Ridge Bank & Trust, based in Independence. Regulatory approval is anticipated before the end of the year, and the deal would cover both the holding company, Blue Ridge Bancshares, as well as the bank. Blue Ridge Bank has eight branches, all located in Jackson County, and is one of the largest independently owned community banks in Missouri, with approximately $850 million in assets. That brings more than $3 billion in market assets FNBO has added since the Country Club deal. CLAY COUNTY One North Advances

The Federal Open Market Committee’s June meeting produced a unanimous vote among board members to keep interest rates where they are for now. The Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.5 to 3.75 percent, and reaffirmed its policy of maintaining ample reserves in the banking system. Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty, which is due in part to the conflict in the Middle East. Productivity growth and capital investment are strong. Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little. Inflation, however, remains elevated relative to the committee’s 2 percent goal, in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy. Jefferson City | August Vote on Income-Tax Phase-Out Gov. Mike Kehoe has set a public vote for the Aug. 4 primary, which will show up on ballots as Amendment 5, to seek approval for his goal to eliminate Missouri’s state income tax. Before its adjournment last month, the General Assembly passed a constitutional amendment advancing his top legislative priority: phasing out the state’s individual income tax. The measure grants lawmakers authority to expand sales and use taxes over five years, tying income-tax reductions to revenue growth from those increases, while including protections for public-school funding and mandated property tax offsets. Because it’s a constitutional amendment, it requires voter ratification rather than Kehoe’s signature, and the August timing would give lawmakers extra time to prepare implementing legislation if voters approve the tax-code overhaul. Topeka | Lawmakers Pave Way for Chiefs Move Kansas lawmakers ended the 2026 session with multiple business-related boxes checked, including economic development efforts for the Kansas City Chiefs stadium relocation, enacting the Kansas Sports Facilities Authority Act and revisions to STAR Bonds that exempt facility construction from property and sales taxes while tightening bond-repayment rules and eliminating local eminent domain authority for such projects. Lawmakers also positioned the state for FIFA World Cup-related commerce by authorizing extended alcohol sales hours and streamlining short-term rental tax collection during the tournament, as well as emergency-proclamation authority for major events. And they also extended sunsets for angel investor and aerospace industry tax credits and expanded child-care expenditure credits for employers.

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IN THE NEWS

Tidbits of Business News from Around the Region

Downtown Data Center Plan Flipping the script on sprawling data center campus projects, Revitalization Unlimited of Miami has submitted plans to the city for a 20-story data tower in Downtown’s Library District. With a total of 140,880 square feet, it would have a small footprint, but would require demolition of the 126-year-old historic Western Newspaper Union Building. New Distribution Site Front Line Safety will establish a 113,000-square-foot distribution center in Kansas City, investing $1.7 million and creating 21 jobs with an estimated $6.1 million in new annual payroll. The project is expected to open in July and will benefit from Missouri Works incentives estimated at $230,317, subject to program verification. The company cited Kansas City’s central location, workforce and multimodal infrastruc ture, reinforcing the region’s position as a logistics and safety-supply distribution hub. Soccer Showcase The City of Entrepreneurs Market place opened June 11 at Union Station, giving more than 100 local businesses, artists, makers, food vendors and com munity organizations a five-week World Cup summer showcase. Running through July 12, the activation is part of EDCKC’s broader City of Entrepreneurs effort and builds on Open Doors!, the storefront activation program. Its significance lies less in capital investment than in small business visibility, tourism capture, and local-commerce participation during a global visitor surge. Stadium Petition Plan A June petition drive could force future large stadium or arena projects receiving “material support” from Kansas City to a public vote. The proposal would apply to venues with seating capacity above 2,500, directly affecting the city’s handling of the Royals’ Downtown ballpark financing and similar projects. If the petition

MIAMI COUNTY Another Data Center Plan

advances, the council would have 60 days to act, with a November 2026 ballot possible—raising development-finance issues as well as a political one. Nebius Breaks Ground AI cloud company Nebius has broken ground on its flagship AI factory campus in Independence, the company’s first gigawatt-scale digital infrastructure project in the United States. Nebius already operates in the Kansas City area and sees the new site as a critical next step in its long-term growth in the U.S. Against a backdrop of data-center devel opment proliferation, officials say the Nebius project underscores the strength of regional infrastructure, talent pipeline and a collaborative, business-focused environment. KANSAS DOUGLAS COUNTY Lawrence Bike Plan Lawrence is seeking public comment on a plan to overhaul its biking infra structure, with proponents arguing that it will improve overall safety (the city had zero biking fatalities from 2021 2024, and four serious injuries involving bikers). They also say improvements will increase ridership, particularly among school-related traffic in a university town. JOHNSON COUNTY Edgerton: No Data Center Hold By a one-vote margin, the Edgerton City Council has rejected calls for a six-month moratorium on new data center applications, despite earlier council support and growing resident concern about large-scale projects. The pause would have allowed city staff to review development standards, noise regulations and other potential impacts before additional proposals advanced. The decision comes as DAMAC Digital pursues an $860 million data-center project in Edgerton, while similar pro posals have emerged in Gardner, Spring Hill and De Soto.

The data-center building spree unfolding in suburban Kansas City is pushing south, with the city of Osawatomie and Lawrence-based Alcove Development unveiling plans for one in Miami County. Dubbed Project Catalyst, it calls for a 283-acre campus of at least 500 megawatts near the inter section of Osawatomie Road and West 335th St. City officials said Osawatomie could generate annual revenues of up to $30 million, including property taxes, franchise fees, and other local revenues from the project, potentially exceeding the city’s current annual budget. The Joint Economic Development Organization board for Topeka and Shawnee County has approved up to $1.43 million in tax incentives for Magellan Financial to expand operations in its hometown. Officials say taxpayers will see an ROI on their investment with higher-paying, quality jobs. Magellan Financial is expected to create 175 new jobs in Topeka with the expansion, with salaries from $50,000 to $250,000, and a long-term economic impact of $1.37 billion by 2036. WYANDOTTE COUNTY Residential Boost Planners for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., have approved the final plans for a new 149-unit apartment complex near The University of Kansas Medical Center. The rezoning request was for the Woodside Village Rosedale develop ment. The $150 million project at 4601 Rainbow Boulevard calls for a seven story building with 149 units ranging from one to three bedrooms, along with an internal parking garage con nected to West 46th Avenue on Rainbow Boulevard, south of the medical school campus. SHAWNEE COUNTY Magellan Financial Boost

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BETWEEN THE LINES

Pointed Perspectives & Penetrating Punditry | by Jack Cashill

Americans Will Find Socialized Medicine Hard to Swallow

Perspectives from two continents hint of the real challenges with single-payer health care.

Two summers ago, on Election Day in France, I was doing some editing and intermittently checking the (discouraging) French results when I heard French being spoken outside my lakeside cottage in western New York. It seemed oddly coincidental that my neighbor would have French friends visit on their Election Day, but I paid the con versation little mind. Moments later, however, the neighbor stopped by and asked me to come speak to these people. They weren’t friends. They were strangers who just showed up. I happily obliged. Rare is the opportunity for me to speak with people whose English is worse than my French. As Antoine explained, he and his wife, Gabrielle, and 8-year old daughter, Rose, were driving from Pittsburgh, where his sister lived, to Niagara Falls. Taking the lake route from Erie to Buffalo, about a hun dred-mile stretch, they turned up our street on a whim to get a better look at Lake Erie. There were hundreds of streets they might have chosen, but they chose ours and voila! —here was someone who could speak to them. Quelle coincidence!

I had a Fulbright grant to teach at a nearby university. Now his head was spinning, too. If I understood right, his father was mayor of Malzéville during the time we lived there. Although his father had died, his mother still lived there, but, alas, she has dementia. “So does our president,” I said ruefully. Antoine explained that he was now 52 years old and regretted that he could not be of more help to his poor mother. “Did you say you were 52?” I asked. I was never very good with French numbers. Yes, he was. I was shocked. “I would have guessed 32. You seem so young and healthy.” Antoine sighed and looked at

Gabrielle across the table, won dering, I suspect, if he should tell his story. “Not everything is as it seems,” he said. Antoine pointed to his arm, ampu tated at the elbow, that he carried in a sling. So efferves cent was the guy I barely noticed. Two years ago, he told us, while

The coincidences we all saw were building toward something beyond coin cidence. For starters, they lived in Antibes, in the south of France, a place I knew well. I told them how years ago, when my family and I were staying in Nice for a week, I went looking for a sandy beach for my toddler and stumbled across a little spot on Cap d’Antibes called the “Plage de la Garoupe.” Later, doing research on F. Scott Fitzgerald, I learned that his wealthy patrons, Sarah and Gerald Murphy, carved this sandy stretch out of the area’s rocky

A chance meeting on the shores of Lake Erie shows that when it comes to heath care, mere happenstance can build into something more significant than coincidence.

coasts. The Murphys made the plage the summer place to be for the likes of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Picasso and others among the rich and famous. Coincidentally, the tiny Plage de la Garoupe was the favored spot for Antoine and his family. I should have known. I invited him and his family in for drinks. My wife, Joan, joined us. The coincidences, we all saw, continued to stack. As Antoine explained, although he lived in Antibes, he was originally from a small village in northeast France that he was sure I had never heard of, an obscure town of 8,000 people called Malzéville. Now my head was spinning. The year we visited Nice, I told Antoine, we lived in Malzéville.

mountain biking, he took a spill and wounded his elbow. French health care being as “horrible” as it is—his word, different pronunciation, same meaning—the doctors failed to stem a vicious infection that was now eating away at his body. The French doctors with any tal- ent, he explained, flee the confines of the nation’s state-run health system for greener pastures abroad. Taking their place are third-worlders for

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

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BETWEEN THE LINES

whom France is that greener pasture. Antoine then pulled up his pant legs to reveal two artificial limbs. The infection would continue to eat away at his extremities, including his nose and ears. The doctors gave him either deux ans or douze ans , two years or 12, to live. I chose not to ask for clarification. A naturally athletic guy, Antoine continued to walk heroic distances every day. He enthusiastically showed his pedometer to confirm his effort. Later, he showed me how he could drive the car. “I admire your tenacity,” I told him, moved to the point of speechlessness. “I try,” he said, “but there are days I can do nothing but cry.” Tearing up, Gabrielle nodded her head in affirm- ation. We had one more point of extraor dinary coincidence. The year we lived in Malzéville, my 2-year-old daughter, Margaret, fell off her bike and infected her elbow. After some cursory care at a

rounds. In the meantime, Margaret was to lie in a bed untreated. As the French were about to under stand, there is no force in nature quite like an American parent denied. I will spare the details here, but I turned total a**hole for the next two hours and had Margaret in surgery by 10 a.m. That surgery saved her arm and, as I see now, maybe her life. As I saw at the Children’s Hospital, people who live in socialized systems often lack the instinct to fight the system. I wish I knew Antoine when he needed an American a**hole by his side, but I didn’t. Knowing his story now, I would ask for prayers for Antoine, Gabrielle and la petite Rose. This wasn’t coincidence at work; I am convinced. This was provi dence.

French doctors with any talent flee the confines of

nearby clinic, Margaret awoke the next morning with a 105-degree temperature and an arm swollen to her shoulder like a sausage. I took her into the nearby Children’s Hospital at 8 a.m. and was told I had just missed the “grand patron.” He would be back at 5 p.m. to make his the nation’s state-run health system for greener pastures abroad. Taking their place are third-worlders for whom France is that greener pasture. The results are, sadly, predictable.

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

The Mirage of the Algorithmic Answer

the iPhone would have never left the drawing board. Why? Because the data insisted consumers only wanted physi cal keyboards. If Netflix had strictly followed the analytics of contemporary movie-rental habits, it would have built more distribution warehouses instead of pivoting to a streaming infrastructure that rendering physical media obsolete. They succeeded because human leaders looked past the data and saw a human behavior shift that the algorithm couldn’t yet see. The lesson for business leadership is stark, and it arrives at a critical juncture as we work to refill our regional leadership pipeline. We are wit nessing a slow creep toward analytical paralysis, where executives hesitate to make a move unless an AI model gives them a green light. We are trading gut instinct for statistical safety covers. When you over-rely on predictive models to scout your prospective oppo nents or evaluate market shifts, you create massive, self-inflicted blind spots. You risk being fooled by “garbage time” data—anomalies in corporate health care or retail sectors that look like genuine trends but are actually just sta tistical noise. Worse, you become highly vulnerable to intentional deception by competitors who understand exactly what your algorithms are looking for, feeding them a specific look for months just to set up a devastating counter-con cept when it matters most. Artificial intelligence is an extraor dinary co-pilot. It can map the terrain, highlight the historical pitfalls, and clear the administrative brush. But it cannot pilot the ship through a storm. True lead ership—the kind that built this region’s greatest enterprise anchors—is an art form, not a math problem. It requires the human eye to look at a spreadsheet, recognize the logical path, and have the courage to say, “The data says go left, but my gut says go right.” As we embrace the undeniable power of these new digital tools, let us not forget the value of the human element. The blueprint is written by the machine, but the game is still won by the humans executing the strategy in the dirt.

Increasingly, we see that AI is a great tool, but it will never replace every human input. There is a quiet seduction taking place in the modern execu tive suite, one wrapped in the flawless logic of the spreadsheet and the high-tech promise of predictive analytics. Across the Kansas City region, whether it’s in finance, commercial real estate, con struction or logistics, leaders are increasingly asking a dangerous question: If the data are clean enough, can we let the machine make the call? It is a query born of fatigue. We live in an era where the pace of commerce feels breakneck, and the margin for human error has shrunk to a razor’s edge. In that environment, artificial intelligence arrives not just as an operational tool, but as a savior— a digital oracle capable of processing millions of variables in the blink of an eye. But as any seasoned field general will tell you— whether they wear a tailored suit in a corporate boardroom or a headset on an autumn Saturday afternoon—the moment you surrender your long-term strategy entirely to the algorithm, you have already lost. Consider the parallels in the high-stakes theater of professional and big-time college football. Today, pro teams and major athletic programs function lie Fortune 500 corporations, complete with massive support staffs, multi-million-dollar budgets, and a reliance on hyper-advanced AI to gain a competitive edge. Coaches use machine learning to chart their own administrative tendencies, overlay opponent data, and simulate thousands of chess matches before a single player hits the turf. It is a masterclass in efficiency. It automates the mundane, flags hidden vulnerabilities, and processes data at a scale no human intern could ever match. And yet… The math always breaks down. Always. In football, as in busi ness, you can realistically project a strategy through one or two layers of anticipation before the data lose predictive power and collapse into pure guesswork. You can model how an opponent his torically reacts to a specific scenario. You can even model how they might adjust to your counter-move. But by the third or fourth itera tion of “they know that we know that they know,” the confidence intervals of the most sophisticated AI completely disintegrate. Why? Because the algorithm is inherently backward-looking. It draws its certainty from what has already happened, assuming the future will behave like a neatly organized archive of the past. The machine cannot calculate the human heart. It has no sensor for emotional fragility, no metric for a locker room’s grit, and no way to quantify the moment a key competitor simply loses their composure under immense pressure. It cannot model the “artist”—the unconventional rogue who breaks every rule of the playbook, escapes a clean pocket, and creates a brilliant, chaotic success out of a broken play. Take a look at the history of modern business disruption. If Apple had relied purely on the historical data of mobile phone sales in 2006,

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

Up, Up, And Away!!

With a new pilot at the helm, how will the Fed navigate rates?

The Fed Factor

Earlier this month, Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire. Pause on that number for a second. For most of financial history, a billion dollars was an almost incompre hensible number. The entire U.S. economy did not cross the $1-trillion mark until 1969 (the year we landed men on the moon). The first trillion-dollar market cap for a single stock came in 2018, when Apple crossed the threshold. That’s when we became aware of many billionaires, mostly from the techno- logy sector. The first person to be worth $100 billion was Bill Gates, in 1999. Now, one man is apparently worth a tril- lion dollars, as Musk’s SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 a share. Then SpaceX opened well above that mark and ran as high as $168 before closing near $161. As of this writing, that trad-

The Federal Reserve can obvi ously also impact markets, as done in late 2018 by over-tightening, or in 2022 with belated tightening. It looks like the next big swing in the stock market may come from the Fed and its new Fed chairman, who has ideas that are very different from predecessor Jerome Powell) about how to manage the Fed’s balance sheet and monetary policy. While it may be pointless to spec ulate ahead of time on the timing

ing value is up to approximately $200 per share, pushing Musk’s personal stake past the trillion-dollar line (on paper at least). This Time, It’s Just One Guy Keep in mind that when Apple became the first publicly traded company in his tory worth a trillion dollars, it did not represent a single individual—it was a com- pany with 42 years of product growth, hundreds of thousands of employees, a global supply chain and tens of billions in annual profit. Surprisingly, now one man is worth as much as $1 trillion! However, it should be noted that a trillion in 2018 dollars would have had substantially more purchasing power than a trillion in 2026 dollars. Obviously, the

of future events, my guess is that the Fed will wait three to six months to get a handle on any significant sup- ply-side inflation caused by the Iran war, and then it may manage its balance sheet oper- ations with greater gusto. Considering the fear of looking too political, the Fed should probab ly wait until after the November elec-

The Trump admin istration went from bombing threats with Iran to, for lack of a better term, hope for peace. If that peace holds, we may have just witnessed a correction, not a true downturn.

strength of our dollar has shrunk significantly since 2018. This market looks to me today like maybe a best-case scenario. The Trump administration went from bombing threats with Iran to, for lack of a better term, hope for peace. “We are about to sign the truce papers this week- end,” he said before the signing agreement in France. If the truce holds, the market decline we experienced in the recent two weeks will only qualify as a correction, given no further spikes in oil or Treasury yields. The two main threats in the U.S. power structure— those capable of disproportionately pushing the market around—are the Federal Reserve and the president himself. As leaders of monetary and fiscal policy their actions can cause huge swings, both up and down, even in a good econ omy. The Trump administration did that with raised tariffs last year, and to a lesser degree with the Iran war this year (the timing of which could possibly have been postponed until after the November midterm elections).

tions. However, there is no law saying when the Fed can act, as it is a judgement call coming from the Fed, whose independence I fully sup port. In the meantime, my guess is that this market rally continues, and it will probably create fresh all time highs in the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100 this summer. If there is no active or renewed war in Iran hanging over the market, the index es in my opinion should also broad en out.

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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SMALL BUSINESS ADVISER

by Kaleb Shaw

Tariffs, Uncertainty, and Opportunity

to pursue refunds on duties already paid. While the process is complex and still evolving, the potential financial impact is significant. The difficulty is that many businesses lack the internal resources or expertise to determine whether they qualify. With out a clear understanding of past entries, classifications, and documentation, com panies may overlook opportunities that could directly strengthen their bottom line. This is why awareness has become a critical first step. Businesses that take the time to understand their exposure, review historical data, and assess their compliance posture are better positioned to make informed decisions. Those that do not risk falling further behind in an already challenging environment. Adaptability is equally essential. Trade policy will continue to evolve, and businesses that can respond quickly will be better equipped to maintain stability. This includes reassessing sourcing strat egies, reviewing pricing structures, and ensuring internal processes can keep pace with external change. Kansas City’s economy is deeply con nected to global trade. The ability of local businesses to navigate tariffs effectively has a direct impact on regional growth, competitiveness, and long term resil ience. When companies have the right information and strategies, they are bet ter positioned to protect their operations and contribute to a stronger economic landscape across the state. In this environment, working with an experienced customs broker is no longer optional. It is a strategic advantage. A knowledgeable partner can help busin esses interpret regulatory changes, id entify potential refund opportunities, en- sure compliance, and respond quickly as conditions shift. Most importantly, they can provide the clarity and direction many companies currently lack. This moment should be seen as a warning. Risks tied to tariffs, compliance, and supply chain visibility are increasing, and businesses that are not prepared will feel the impact. Reducing that risk requires planning and working with experienced partners who can help navigate this com plexity. Those that act now will be better positioned to stay competitive.

What Kansas City businesses leaders need to know now about a shifting landscape. For many businesses across Kansas City, tariffs have become one of the most unpredictable and misunderstood forces shaping today’s supply-chain environment. They have also become a paralyzing challenge for companies throughout the region that, even after a recent Supreme Court ruling, remain unsure how to operate with confidence. In the case before the court, Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump , the high court ruled 6-3, striking down sweeping tariffs the Trump administration had imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. It ruled that the statute’s authority to “regulate importation” does not grant the President the power to impose tariffs. Yet uncertainty lingers in the C-suite, and is not theoretical. Over the past year, tariff rates have shifted at a pace the industry has rarely seen. Changes have occurred month to month and, in some cases, within days. Companies are being forced to make decisions while goods are already in transit, often without clear guidance on the costs they will ultimately face. For Kansas City businesses, the result is an operating en vironment defined by volatility and limited visibility. Importers, manufacturers, and distributors are all feeling the strain. Costs fluctuate, planning becomes more difficult, and long term strategy often takes a back seat to short term reaction. At the same time, tariffs remain a policy tool with clear objectives. Supporters highlight their role in protecting domestic industries, encouraging local production, and addressing issues such as unfair trade practices and forced labor. These goals resonate in certain sectors and can benefit U.S. based producers. For businesses that rely on global sourcing or international markets, the reality is far more complex. Tariffs frequently translate into higher input costs, tighter margins, and increased operational risk. The burden of navigating these shifts falls directly on the companies responsible for moving goods across borders. One of the most significant developments in this environment is the heightened focus on compliance. Customs enforcement has become more precise, more immediate, and more demanding. Questions from regulators now arrive faster and with greater specificity. What once unfolded over months can now escalate within weeks. This acceleration requires businesses to maintain accurate documentation and a clear understanding of their supply chains at all times. Many companies are not fully prepared for this level of scrutiny. Gaps in documentation, limited visibility into sourcing, and misunderstandings around classification can quickly become liabilities. These issues often remain hidden until a shipment is flagged or a formal inquiry begins. At that point, the cost of correcting them increases dramatically. There is also a less obvious challenge. Businesses are not only managing risk, but also trying to identify opportunity. Recent legal developments suggest that certain tariffs may have been improperly applied. As a result, some companies may be eligible

Kaleb Shaw is station manager for OEC Group in Kansas City. P | 816.587.3310, x63026 E | Kaleb.Shaw@ oecgroup.com

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