Ingram's March 2023

William Hanna Stinson, LLC, Leawood

Kevin Good Good Energy Solutions, Lawrence By now, we expect Kevin Good has heard ’em all: He’s a Good businessman. Ha. His business is doing Good. Ha-ha. The long-term outlook for his company is … Good. Ha-ha-ha. But get past those thigh-slappers, and you see that he really is in a good position with Good Energy

During his undergrad years at KU, William Hanna enjoyed learning about how and why different immigrant groups first came to the United States—and the lives they made once they arrived. That interest remained even after he received his law degree from Baylor University and began

his law career at Stinson. “While I’m a full-time litigator, I’ve enjoyed my pro bono representation of immigrant families obtaining their Green Cards and then becoming American citizens,” he said. “It’s been the honor of my professional life to do so … [and] one of the highlights of my legal career.” Now a partner specializing in business litigation, class action, product liability, and insurance class action and litigation, Hanna was born in Newton in a hospital named after his great-grandparents. After law school, he said, he only wanted to live in Kansas City, and 34 years later, he’s still here. Not only does he personally love the area, he appreciates what the city offers to professionals. “As we all know, Kansas City is an excellent place to be both professionally and personally. Experienced attorneys seek out Stinson when making geographic moves to take advantage of Kansas City’s lifestyle or when they relocate to be closer to family in the area.”

Solutions. The Lawrence company he and his wife founded in 2007 is on a four-year winning streak in Ingram’s Corporate Report 100, a list of the fastest-growing companies in the Kansas City area. It first cracked the list at No. 100 in 2018, showing growth of more than 82 percent from the baseline of $2.1 million in 2015. Through 2021, things had more than doubled again to $6.5 million. That’s quite a step up from the humble starts in the garage of their home. “It’s been an amazing ride of growth,” he says. Marveling at the way photons pass through solar cells and throw off electrons to produce energy, Good calls it “magic that you can get your energy from the sun.” But solar radiation is just the starting point. Turning that into a business requires expert service and reliability, long workmanship warranties, and quality installations for both commercial and residential settings. Success in that space, he says, is “really about making the customers happy. People that hire us are amazing in their own right because they are pioneers— they’re thinking forward, and that’s really why we started this in the first place.”

Jared Henderson Simmons Pet Foods, Emporia Emporia might not be the center of the manufacturing universe in Kansas, but for a town of 24,000 people, it sure acts like it. Just ask Jared Henderson, who supervises the larger of two production plants that Simmons Pet Foods has in town—with 900 employees at his main canning site and 600 more at

Todd Hillman Sunflower Electric Power Corp., Hays For the more rural and sparsely populated areas of central and western Kansas, access to reliable electricity is crucial. For Todd Hillman, president and CEO of Sunflower—an electric cooperative serving 58 Kansas counties—the challenge is only the

the adjacent plant for flexible packaged products. “IBP/Tyson, Hostess, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, and of course, Simmons; are all staples in the community and provide thousands of jobs to our city and surroundings while we keep reaching for our goal of feeding the world,” Henderson says. The Olathe native has always been close to farming and food production. His father was born and raised on a small cow-calf operation in southeast Kansas, and his mother hailed from a Colby family that ran a canvas company whose customers included farmers and ranchers. After he secured a K-State degree in animal science, he joined Simmons, recalling the importance his family placed on being a “shepherd of the land.” Manufacturing tests his managerial skills, given the 12 hour shifts employees work over 3½ half days a week, so he must be on top of safety, time off, payroll accuracy, and the like. But balancing all that, he says, is a recipe for retention, “creating a place where employees are happy and excited to come to work with others who care about them deeper than just a punch on a timesheet.”

latest he’s excited to tackle in his long career. “I have been working with cooperative utilities for over 25 years,” he said. “And that family togetherness and the desire to share ideas, work collaboratively and attack complex problems together are what will enable us to continue to reliably serve our members.” With experience working for an energy exchange (NYMEX), a Fortune 250 company (DuPont), an investor-owned utility (Reliant Energy) and one of the world’s largest independent system operators (Midcontinent Independent System Operator), Hillman is Sunflower’s sixth leader since it was formed in 1957. He sees Sunflower taking a leading role in a more reliable—and sustainable—model, including a generation portfolio that’s already moving toward wind and solar development. “I feel like we are in an excellent position to continue our innovation journey,” he said. “While the electricity sector traditionally has not moved at the quickest pace of change and evolution, there is no doubt that we are in the most dynamic state in our history. Knowing that my members and my fellow cooperatives have my back gives me ultimate confidence and a desire to serve them.”

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