Ingram's May 2023

TOP PRIVATE SECTOR COMPANIES

Pillars of the Regional Economy

significant changes in membership. Back in 2011, the Top 10 on that first list included names like the Van Tuyl Group, Lansing Trade Group, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System and AMC Entertainment. Two have relocated their headquar ters out of state, one has been acquired by a public company, one has gone public. One of the challenges with producing a list like this is the spotlight it casts on revenues. It’s import ant to understand that Ingram’s doesn’t get into bot tom lines. Unless it’s public record, we don’t address profitability or other kindling for those who oppose big business as a capitalist construct, even if they’re unable to read a balance sheet. We focus on the top lines, which say something about any one organization’s impact on the broader business community. We’re all in this boat together, but we believe a roster of elite companies shows us all who’s rowing the hardest. We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: The companies and organizations in the Ingram’s 100 are, by and large, the pillars upon which this region’s economy rests. Those pillars carry the weight of thou sands of mid-size and small businesses who serve as vendors and customers. If you’re on this list, your in terests are theirs; your well-being matters to them. That said, we’re pleased to present the 2023 Ingram’s 100. We hope you find the reading as in- formative as we’ve found the compilation.

A business that stands still is a business that won’t be around long. The evolution of an organization isn’t just a natural thing—it’s the only thing, as Vince Lombardi might have said. Evolve and grow, or die. It’s no different with The Ingram’s 100. Now in its 13th year, this is our best effort to identify the big gest entities whose revenues shape the contours of a regional economy with an estimated GDP of nearly $150 billion. First, though, a question: What is a private-sector company? In our view, it’s any organization, for-prof it or non-profit, with no public trading of shares (such as Ford or T-Mobile) and not funded in large part by tax revenues (such as public universities or school districts). So, yes, that includes non-profit organizations and entities like hospitals. In this market last year, the 25 largest among them employed more than 56,000 people, admitted more than 316,000 patients and recorded nearly 8 million outpatient visits— three times the population of the metro area. Com bined, they had nearly $60 billion in revenues, more than one-third of the Top 100’s roughly $170 billion. Most of those 25 are big enough to be included here. We do provide as much deference as possible to those who don’t wish to be included, but our be lief is that no reasonable crafting of the business nar rative here can those health-care monoliths. Since its inception, this impressive list has seen