Ingram’s September 2022

Ramin Cherafat CEO, MCCOWNGORDON CONSTRUCTION

Tim Chadwick PRESIDENT/CEO, MMC CORP.

“Times are good at McCownGordon” says Ramin Cherafat. “Our Lead- ership and Management team has successfully been implanting a long-term strategic plan that we developed in 2020-2021. In 2022, we took significant steps toward implementing our long-term plan by launching two new Business Units. We opened an office in the Dallas-Fort Worth as well as launched a national business unit focused on projects in the Manufacturing Sector.

Like most chief executives, Tim Chadwick has anxiously awaited a declaration that from public health officials anyway, has never come: The end of the pandemic. If fiscal performance can make a state ment, his teams at MMC Corp. appear to have moved on—their 2021 revenues surged by 11 percent last year, a $90 million improvement over 2020. He’s been with MMC for nearly 20 years, first with its MW Builders division, then in the C-suite as COO in 2011 and CEO in 2014.

COLLEGE: B.S., Construction Science, Kansas State University ABOUT MMC: Through its subsidiaries, MMC’s service lines include general contracting, mechanical contracting, construction services, and building automation. BRANDS: The parent is a holding company for five brands, including general-contracting arm MW Builders; two mechanical-contracting divisions, MMC Contractors and Countrywide Mechanical Sys tems; and a specialty-contracting business called Building Control Services. EMPLOYEE OWNED: The company, headquartered in Overland Park, has 14 offices from California to Florida and is 100 percent employee-owned. PROMINENT PROJECTS: Hollywood Casino at the Kansas Speedway, the General Motors Fairfax Assembly Plant shop, and the Liberty Wastewater Treatment Facility—are all in the company’s pro ject portfolio.

COLLEGE: B.S., Construction Science, Kansas State University; MBA, UMKC THOUGHTS ON TALENT: “We’ve been very fortunate to have been able to attract the talent we’ve needed over the past few years as our company has grown both in the KC Marketplace and throughout the Midwest region. I attribute that to our incredible culture, core values, and our 100% employee ownership structure. As we have added new members, I continually hear from them that McCown Gordon is one of the most collaborative and supportive environments that they have ever worked in.” RECESSION OUTLOOK: “I do believe that we are actually now currently in a recession, and that will continue for the next six to 12 months. We have yet to see a major impact on our pipeline, our backlog is near-record levels, and our pipeline remains very strong; in fact, it’s at a record high. That being said, I believe that for the last decade, monetary policy has been so loose and accommodating that it has contributed to record levels of liquidity, all of which is now constricting.”

Bill Clarkson, Jr. CEO, CLARKSON CONSTRUCTION

Jeff Cloud PRESIDENT/CEO, IBT INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONS

If you want to brag about the longevity of your family business in the presence of Bill Clarkson Jr., you’d best bring your A-Game: The top executive of Clarkson Construction leads an enterprise with roots that date back to 1880. That puts the company into its sixth generation of family leadership. That history includes some of the most high-profile projects in these parts, including the new terminal at KCI Airport.

Just because your grandfather founded the company doesn’t mean you get to be president and CEO, and sometimes life takes you in an unexpected direction. Jeff Cloud studied at the New England Culinary Institute before he joined IBT, a division of Cumulus Com panies, in 2006 and worked through sales, director of corporate development, regional manager, and VP of marketing before taking the reins. He carries a proud family tradition into a third generation.

VISIONARY: G.G. Clarkson started the company by grading roads and excavating for foundations. Among its more recent achievements, Clarkson has had a piece of the work on the Children’s Mercy Park in Village West, and the adjoining Legends retail center in western Wyandotte County. CONTROLLED APPROACH: More than 80 percent of the work on its project list is performed by a member of the employee work force with Clarkson Construction equipment. SPECIALISTS : The company builds highways and performs the grading for road construction proj ects and does concrete paving, and bridge work includes some of the most important spans in the Kansas City area, including the Christopher S. Bond Bridge and Broadway Bridge over the Missouri River, and the I-35/Southwest Trafficway bridge Downtown. ADDITIONAL BUSINESS: Clarkson Construction also owns Total Risk Management, Everett Quarries, Johnson County Aggregates, and Superior Bowen Asphalt.

COLLEGE: General Studies, University of Kansas; AOS, Culinary Arts, New England Culinary Institute RECESSION OUTLOOK: I believe we will experience a reduction in consumer consumption due to increased costs, but the lack of unemployment will continue to drive the economy forward. DEFENSIVE POSTURE: “We are focused on automating as many processes as possible to allow for revenue growth.” CHALLENGESAHEAD: “As an industrial distribution organization, supply-chain issues have been and will continue to be a major challenge.” MOVING WITH THE TIMES: We are in the process of upgrading our ERP (Enterprise Resource Plan ning) software to a more modern system that will be substantially more appealing to younger employ ees than our current antiquated system. CHIEFS PREDICTION: “Win/Loss, doesn’t matter. Super Bowl bound. Two words: Patrick Mahomes!”

Peter Clune CEO, LOCKTON COMPANIES

Tim Cowden PRESIDENT/CEO, KC AREA DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL Kansas City is a rising star on the national stage, and Tim Cowden is loving the ride. “This year will go down as the most successful from a corporate-attraction standpoint in the history of the region and Kansas City Area Development,” he says. “Our regional brand is rising like a rocket ship. I’m so excited about where Kansas City is headed.”

Peter Clune was named CEO of the world’s largest independent insurance brokerage on Nov. 6, 2019—think about that date for a moment. By the time he took office in May 2020, the world was a different place, including the insurance and benefits space. But Lockton still managed to post revenue growth amid the pan demic, then under his leadership, knocked it out of the park, with a 27 percent year-over-year revenue surge to reach $2.7 billion.

COLLEGE: B.A., Accounting, University of Missouri-Columbia ROAD TO THE C-SUITE: Clune joined Lockton in 2006 as COO of its St. Louis office, then was made president and COO of U.S. operations in 2017. Before joining Lockton, he spent 10 years with Zurich Insurance Co. TRANSITION: Few have held the reins at Lockton who didn’t bear that surname. Clune replaced Ron Lockton, who became the firm’s chairman, and whose father founded the firm in 1966. Before that, Ron’s uncle, David, had led the company’s emergence as a global entity. GLOBAL PLAYER: Lockton has more than 100 offices around the world, in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and Central America. IMPACT: At last count, the company had more than 8,500 associates serving 65,000 clients and an impressive 97 percent retention rate.

COLLEGE: B.A., Journalism, University of Oklahoma PRAISE FOR THE TEAM: “I’m incredibly proud of how our team moved right back into a more normal workflow coming off the pandemic,” he said. “They never missed a beat, and I believe the results bear this out.” ON RECRUITING: “One specific example is a series of campus pop-up events at KU, K-State, and Mizzou this fall. More than 40 percent of students that attend these universities are from outside of the KC region, so it’s vital that we elevate KC as a top career and lifestyle destination to this highly sought-after talent pool. We have plans to expand this campus effort into neighboring states and will continue to leverage KC’s rising brand to recruit talent from across the career spectrum.” COVID PERSPECTIVE: “I believe that KCADC has always promoted a flexible culture for our team; however, the pandemic showed us that we must be even more flexible, which I know our team appre ciates and is in part contributory to the success the organization is having.”

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I n g r a m ’ s

September 2022

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