Ingram's Magazine July 2022

Corporate Report 100

71 Crema

Average Annual Growth Rate: 27.15%

Growth: 81.46% 2018: $4,180,000

Gross Revenue: Full-time employees: 58 A shade more than a decade after they took the entrepreneurial plunge to launch Crema, George Brooks and Daniel Lindhart have kneaded the concept of a software development company into the rising dough of a digital product agency. They succeed by walking clients from product conception to completion: strategizing, iterating, designing, validating, and testing, with a team now 58 strong. 2021: $7,585,190

6th Year

72 Ask Cathy Marketing Group Growth: 78.05%

Average Annual Growth Rate: 26.02%

3rd Year Full-time employees: 22 Yes, the market has grown in appreciation, and that is part of the revenue increase driving numbers at this Keller Williams real-estate affiliate. But, says CEO Cathy Counti, “the largest growth came from creating our New Homes division. And, in 2022, we launched our first expansion partner in Suwannee, Ga.,” an effort akin to franchising in other lines of business,” and one likely to drive revenue growth. 73 Oakes Auto Growth: 77.31% Average Annual Growth Rate: 25.77% 4th Year Gross Revenue: 2021: $108,765,851 2018: $61,342,943 Full-time employees: 92 Oakes Auto Group sells new Mitsubishi and Kia models, plus used vehicles, earning DealerRater’s Used Car Dealer of the Year honors in 2018, and added Kia’s President’s Club honors this year. Since 2018 it has added a pair of Mitsubishi and Kia dealerships, but more importantly, it boldly boosted inventory during the pandemic, which paid off as supply-chain kinks crippled deliveries to other dealers. 74 First Option Bank Growth: 72.68% Average Annual Growth Rate: 24.23% 1st Year Gross Revenue: 2021: $29,009,000 2018: $16,799,000 Full-time employees: 104 By nearly doubling the value of its loan portfolio between 2018 and 2021 and pulling in new deposits to boost that metric by nearly 55 percent in the same time span, Osawatomie-based First Option Bank has cracked the code on growth at the community banking level. Founded as First National Bank, it is poised to celebrate its centennial in 2023 from a significantly stronger financial foundation. 75 KBP Brands Growth: 72.44% Average Annual Growth Rate: 24.15% 9th Year Gross Revenue: 2021: $1,345,000,000 2018: $780,000,000 Full-time employees: 15,000 The legal staff laying the groundwork for acquisitions at KBP has been on red alert for years, helping make one of the region’s big gest private companies one of the fastest-growing at the same time. Under CEO Michael Kulp, the Overland Park owner of more than 800 KFC and Taco Bell units, now has a footprint in 25 states, with more than 15,000 total employees. 76 Cornerstone Bank Growth: 71.78% Average Annual Growth Rate: 23.93% 1st Year Gross Revenue: 2021: $13,971,000 2018: $8,133,000 Full-time employees: 28 With an aggressive expansion as a lender, Overland Park-based Cornerstone Bank has added significant volume since 2018—the $120 million increase in its total lending portfolio accounted for nearly 90 percent of the bank’s overall increase in assets, which reached nearly $355 million through 2021. It offers a complete commercial loan service, from business to real estate to lines of credit and more. 77 Small Business Bank Growth: 71.53% Average Annual Growth Rate: 23.84% Full-time employees: 25 Total deposits were up by a robust 33 percent between 2018 and 2021, but non-interest income is where Lenexa-based Small Business Bank came shining through in that period—the value of that part of its assets more than tripled, to better than $2 million from its base of $605,000. A community bank, by definition, it isn’t afraid to leverage its digital reach to recruit clients nationwide. 78 Security Benefit Growth: 70.96% Average Annual Growth Rate: 23.65% Full-time employees: 2,000 As baselines go, they don’t come any bigger than this Topeka retirement-services company’s $4.3 billion revenue benchmark in 2018. And as he prepares to head into retirement, CEO Mike Kiley will sign off with perhaps his signature leadership achievement in that met ric, pushing one of the five biggest private companies into the region onto the fast-growth list with a top-line pop of more than $3 billion. 79 Syler Construction Growth: 70.66% Average Annual Growth Rate: 23.55% 2nd Year Gross Revenue: 2021: $17,121,959 2018: $10,032,849 Full-time employees: 13 Founded in 2009, Syler Construction has moved steadily up the ladder in terms of the numbers of homes built and the combined values thereof. In 2018, the average value of the 14 homes it closed on was a shade over $730,000; by last year, the 17 homes closed had an average value of more than $1 million. The Liberty contractor has seen revenues increase by moving up in the luxury building niche. 80 Community Bank Growth: 70.41% Average Annual Growth Rate: 23.47% Full-time employees: 22 Topeka’s appropriately named Community Bank is, comparatively, still a pup, having been chartered in 1995—more than a century after many small banks in the two-state region. But it’s been a go-getter in driving new deposits, from both existing customers and new ones. Since 2018, the lion’s share of Community Bank’s $56 million increase in assets has come from deposits—nearly $42 million worth. Gross Revenue: 2021: $2,687,180 2018: $1,509,223 1st Year Gross Revenue: 2021: $6,249,000 2018: $3,643,000 5th Year Gross Revenue: 2021: $7,334,549,000 2018: $4,290,209,000 1st Year Gross Revenue: 2021: $8,914,000 2018: $5,231,000

40 I n g r a m ’ s

July 2022

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