Ingram’s September 2022

Brad Batz PRESIDENT & CEO, FIKE CORPORATION

Kevin Barth CHAIRMAN/CEO, KANSAS CITY REGION, COMMERCE BANK Kevin Barth and Commerce Bank were helping people weather COVID’s financial impact. “We helped our customers navigate the PPP process to secure crucial funding,” he said. “When the second round of PPP was announced, our bankers continued to support cus- tomers, which secured approximately $2 billion in loan fundings and originated over 11,000 PPP loans.” Barth added, “Over the past year, we helped the vast majority of themapply for and receive loan forgiveness.”

What started in 1945 as a basement-based metal shop has grown into an international name in fire and explosion prevention and containment. And business has been good this past year. “Fike is on track to record its third straight year of setting revenue records,” said CEO Brad Batz. “With the macro trends in manufacturing around lack of labor, rising costs, and economic uncertainty, we have been able to maintain market leadership all while having fun doing business and maintaining our unique culture.”

COLLEGE: B.S., Business Administration/Economics, Graceland College; M.B.A., Rockhurst University ON RETAINING TALENT: “A few years ago, we established several Employee Resource Groups that allow our employees to join and be a part of a smaller group within the company they identify most closely with. The groups organize several development opportunities specific to that group to encourage personal growth, a feeling of belonging, and reflecting just how inclusive Commerce is.” COVID PERSPECTIVE: “Initially, even though many of our employees were working from home, it drew us together as a team. Much of that closeness came because of pulling together to help thousands of our customers access the PPP program to save jobs.” NEXT BIG THING FOR KC: “There are a few things that could add even greater momentum to the redevelopment of downtown. Those include a downtown baseball stadium and a “lid/park” over the interstate. A strong and vibrant downtown KC is an asset to the entire metropolitan area.”

COLLEGE: B.S., Business Administration, University of Florida ON ATTRACTING TALENT: “We are trying everything possible, including engaging our employees to introduce potential candidates from their networks and communities and providing a referral bonus upon hiring those candidates.” ON RETAINING TALENT: “Focus on living our core values, sharing financial information, providing a profit share program aligned with the success of the business, and maintaining a family atmosphere has always been a part of our DNA. We do not look at shareholder value alone and talk about stake holder value AND how the focus of taking care of our employees, customers, and partners is what truly drives the value of Fike Corp.” NEXT BIG THING FOR KC: “Adding the KC Current’s new stadium and the possibility of moving the Roy als to downtown is huge for the future of Kansas City being a destination for people all around the country.”

Kim Beatty CHANCELLOR, METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE Just the eighth chancellor in the 107-year history of Metropolitan Community College, Kim Beatty became the first African Amer ican in that role just before the 2017-18 academic year (she as formally inaugurated the following summer). She’s at the nexus between work-force development and employer needs, overseeing a four-campus system with an enrollment of nearly 14,000.

Smitty Belcher CEO/OWNER, P1 GROUP

Over the course of more than 40 years in the trades—working in both blue collar and white collar—Smitty Belcher has never lost a craftsman’s dedication to getting every detail of a job right. That was true when he was a young pipefitter in Toledo, Ohio, and it’s true today as he leads a team of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing experts in one of Kansas City’s biggest privately-owned engineering firms.

COLLEGE: B.A., M.A, English, Ed.D., higher education, Morgan State University BUILDING OUT: Last year, MCC unveiled its new $7.2 million Engineering Technology addition, a two-story facility houses classrooms and labs, MCC’s FabLab maker space, an outdoor covered work yard for large (or dirty) FabLab projects, a 3-D printing lab, and the Burns & McDonnell Design Innovation Lab. It’s a nice way of strengthening ties between the biggest community college system and a key employment sector in town. BEFORE MCC: Beatty came to KC after serving as vice chancellor for instructional services and chi ef academic officer at Houston Community College, the nation’s fourth-largest community college system. CHANGE-MAKER: Beatty hit the ground running at MCC and has already restructured the college’s five-year strategic plan, drafted a new vision statement for the college, a new shared-governance model, and pressed for the creation of the MCC Innovation Council.

COLLEGE: B.S., MBA in Business Administration, University of Toledo FOCUSED: Those two degrees we just mentioned? Belcher earned them within five years—WHILE as a journeyman fitter/welder and apprentice-training coordinator in Toledo. ENTREPRENEUR AT HEART: Belcher made his way to the Kansas City area when he bought a small Lawrence firm, Huxtable & Associates. At the time, the company’s revenues were only about $4 mil lion. Five years later, he merged it with another firm to create P1, which came within a hair of topping $300 million in revenue last year. JOB GENERATOR: With nearly 1,100 employees, P1 Group has come a long way from that 30-man shop Belcher acquired in ’83. CAREER ADVICE: “Set your goals and dream big. Never give up trying to achieve them. Never listen to someone who tells you that you can’t.”

Mark Benz KC MARKET CEO, PRIME HEALTHCARE SERVICES

Rob Bratcher KANSAS CITY PRESIDENT, COMMERCE BANK

Mark Benz worked his way through college and graduate school as a paramedic in Arizona, but even before that, he was flashing his health-care entrepreneurial skills while still in high school. That’s when he was part of a group that created a behavioral health and chemical dependency treatment service. Today, he’s running point on four hospitals in the Kansas City region for California-based Prime Healthcare, which has 45 acute-care hospitals in 14 states.

Rob Bratcher heads up the Kansas City operation at a bank man aging $33 billion in assets. Commerce Bank provides full-service banking in five states. Bratcher believes in the power of people when it comes to success. “Our leadership team will continue to prioritize talent acquisition and retention,” he told us. “We want to have ample bench strength to serve both our existing clients and bring over new clients that have been let down or ignored by their current provider.”

COLLEGE: B.S., Social Work/Organizational Development; M.S., Social Work/Healthcare Administra tion, Arizona State University PORTFOLIO: Benz is responsible for Providence Medical Center, St. Joseph Medical Center, St. Mary’s Medical Center and Saint John Hospital in Leavenworth. Combined, those institutions accounted for 22,000 patient admissions last year and more than $1.8 billion in revenues. BEFORE KANSAS CITY: With more than 25 years of health-care experience on his resume, Benz previously made his mark as market CEO for Tenet Healthcare/Carondelet Health Network in Tucson, Ariz.; CEO of Tenet’s St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tucson; and Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory, N.C. CLINICAL ANCHOR: Prime Healthcare’s four area hospitals include 930 licensed beds, more than 900 physicians and 650 nurses, and 2,100 employees overall. In addition to patient admissions, they serve more than 350,000 outpatients a year.

COLLEGE: B.S./B.A., Finance and Real Estate, University of Missouri Trulaske School of Business NEXT BIG THING FOR KC: “Downtown Baseball!” THE ROAD TO COMMERCE : Bratcher worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch at various times in Springfield, St. Louis, Houston and Kansas City. FILLINGBIG SHOES : In 2018, Bratcher was named to succeed Kevin Barth as president of the Kansas City operation. Before that, he had been managing director of commercial banking and managing director of health-care banking. KC CHIEFS PREDICTION: “13-4. Road wins in the AFC West will be tough this year, but confident Chief’s Fans will make it almost impossible to lose at home.”

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September 2022

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