Ingram’s September 2022

Rob Broomfield KANSAS CITY MARKET CEO, UNITEDHEALTHCARE

Mike Brown CHAIRMAN, CEO & PRESIDENT, EURONET WORLDWIDE Like so many other companies worldwide, 2020 put a dent in revenues for Euronet, but the global electronic payments processor snapped back in a big way the following year, posting a record gross income of nearly $3 billion. For those keeping score, that’s a 21 percent year-over-year pop. That should be no surprise for a company under the leadership of Mike Brown. Euronet is the second of two companies he’s taken to No. 1 and No. 2 showings in Ingram’s Corporate Report 100.

More than 450,000 people in the KC market have health insurance coverage with United Healthcare, which means Rob Broomfield and his team of 3,200 touch a lot of lives. After stops in Iowa, California, and Texas, Broomfield came to the KC 20 years ago in a leadership role with Mercer, then aligned with UHC in 2005 and assumed CEO duties in 2017. His network helps clients with cov erage for services from nearly 19,000 providers in a four-state area.

COLLEGE: B.A., Finance, University of Nebraska-Lincoln HOW YOU’D DESCRIBE YOURSELF: “I would say ‘pragmatic.’” HOW FRIENDS MIGHT DESCRIBE YOU: “In public, my friends would probably say ‘irreverent,’ though in private, I’d hate to even venture a guess.” DOGS? CATS? OTHERS?: “I’m a dog person.” SOURCE OF PRIDE: “My family (wife and two children). All of them bring a different perspec tive to the family, and they all have unique interests and talents.” IMPACT: Broomfield is responsible for the insurer’s operations in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Central Illinois, helping clients with coverage for services from nearly 19,000 providers in that territory.

COLLEGE: B.S., Electrical Engineering, Univ. of Missouri-Columbia; M.S., Molecular & Cellular Biology, UMKC GROWTH CHAMPION: Brown rocketed to the very top of the Corporate Report 100 in 1987 with a tech firm called Innovative Software; he nearly pulled it off again in 2000 with Euronet, hitting No. 2. VISIONARY: Brown capitalized—and that’s the right word—on the burst of economic freedom that erupted after the fall of totalitarian regimes in the former Eastern bloc of Europe in the late ‘80s and ‘90s. EURONET TODAY: Not only was Euronet a fast-track company out of the gate, it was able to go public in 1997, just three years after its launch. ENTREPRENEURIAL DNA: In between his stints with Innovative Software and Euronet, Brown was a founding investor in a software firm, Visual Tools, that was sold in 1996 to Sybase Software. RECOGNITION: Brown is among the honorees in the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame at UMKC’s Henry W. Bloch School of Management.

Kevin Bryant EVP/COO, EVERGY

Owen Buckley FOUNDER, LANE4 PROPERTY GROUP

When you throw the switch, and the light comes on, thank Kevin Bryant. As chief operating officer for the biggest bistate electric utility, he’s the one responsible for all of Evergy’s operations, from power generation to transmission, right up until it reaches your breaker box. He came on board at Kansas City Power & Light, which was later merged and rebranded back in 2003, and has held vari ous key leadership positions over the years.

Owen Buckley and his LANE team have plenty of faith in their abil ity to continue thriving, whatever the economy throws their way. They’ll be “Keeping our head down and believing in the fundamen tals of our industry and our Lane4 philosophy,” said Buckley. “We won’t be afraid to push pause on certain endeavors and move for ward with confidence on others.” Part of that is deploying people in the most advantageous way. “We are experimenting with limited work from home,” Buckley told us. “We definitely are more produc tive when we can see each other in the office. However, some work from home helps our people achieve a better work/life balance.”

COLLEGE: B.S./B.A., Finance/Real Estate, University of Missouri-Columbia; MBA (Finance/Marketing emphasis) Stanford University Graduate School of Business. BEFORE THE C-SUITE: Among his other duties, Bryant previously served as vice president of stra tegic planning, vice president of investor relations, and treasurer, then was named executive vice president of finance and strategy in 2015. He also did a stint as president of KLT, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Great Plains Energy, prior to the 2018 merger with Westar. BIG ASSIGNMENTS: When Great Plains acquired Aquila, Inc., in 2007, Bryan led the integration of the sales and marketing organization, then in 2010, was tasked with efforts in the General Assembly to authorize electric utility investment in energy efficiency. ENGAGED: Bryant serves on the board of directors of the UMKC Foundation and Boys & Girls Club of Greater KC and serves his alma mater on the dean’s advisory board at MU’s Trulaske School of Business.

COLLEGE: B.A., M.A., University of Kansas CHALLENGE AHEAD: : “Rising construction costs.”

NEXT BIG THING FOR KC: “Kansas City is going to significantly move up on the most popular list. The Kansas City region has accomplished so many great things over the past 15 years, and the new airport will shed a better national light on this fact. The KC region has so much to be proud of and look forward to.” CHIEFS PREDICTION: “They will lose a few games, but they will, of course, win the Super Bowl.”

Mike Bukaty CHAIRMAN/PRESIDENT/CEO, BUKATY COMPANIES

Andy Callahan PRESIDENT/CEO, HOSTESS

This is a big year for Bukaty Companies; it’s 30th since Mike Bukaty founded the firm with one mission in mind: to provide products and services to individuals and families that help build and pro tect their health and financial security throughout all stages of life. Today, it’s a leading employee benefit and insurance brokerage with nearly 200 employees, three offices, and thousands of client and vendor relationships.

Andy Callahan knows food. Period. Since 2018, he’s been at the helm of Hostess Brands, a company reborn after financial tumult a decade ago threatened to remove the beloved Twinkie from Ameri ca’s collective lunchbox. A former flight officer in the Navy, Callah an has overseen the growth of more than 34 percent since coming on board, hitting $1.14 billion last year. But before that, he worked for high-profile brands like Tyson, Hillshire Brands, and Kraft.

COLLEGE: University of Kansas IN THE TRENCHES: Bukaty also runs the firm’s health-insurance division in addition to his chief executive’s duties. FAMILY MATTERS: Being family owned, he says, “to us, it is personal: My name is on the building.” TRUTH IN ADVERTISING: When the company bills itself as a full-service enterprise, it’s no exag geration: in addition to helping clients secure property and casualty insurance policies, its service lines include employee benefits, HR consulting and training, compliance, benefits administration, and payroll and accounting. LOYALTY: Bukaty Companies boasts a five-year client retention rate of 96 percent. VALUES: Bukaty has instilled a set of values for the company grounded in four pillars: Service, Knowledge, Integrity, and Teamwork.

COLLEGE: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, U.S. Naval Academy; MBA, Florida Institute of Technology; Executive Agribusiness Seminar, Harvard Business School BEFORE HOSTESS: Callahan’s executive-level experience includes a stint as president of Tyson’s Retail Packaged Brands, then the same title with its North American Foodservice & International, where he was also a member of the executive leadership team. If you’re a fan of product brands Jimmy Dean, Sara Lee, or Ball Park franks, you’ve done business with him. ON THE NASDAQ: The company’s stock appropriately trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol TWNK. But there’s more to Hostess than the venerable Twinkie; it also produces the classic Hostess Cupcake, along with Ding-Dongs, Ho-Hos, and other treats.

40

I n g r a m ’ s

September 2022

Ingrams.com