Ingram’s September 2022

Brent Giles PRESIDENT/CEO, BANK OF BLUE VALLEY

Douglas Girod CHANCELLOR, THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

In just over a year since assuming his current role, Brent Giles is particularly happy about, “Coming together as an all-new leader ship team and seeing the significant improvement in the culture and employee engagement surveys.” He’ll be the first to tell you it’s a team effort, but it looks like the people who hired him were right when they called Giles, “an exceptional banking executive who brings more than 30 years of experience in commercial and consumer banking, strategic leadership, team building and deliv ering client satisfaction.”

This region’s future workforce—nearly 28,000 college students, grad uate, and undergraduate—count on Doug Girod’s leadership over multiple campuses across the state of Kansas, including the mother ship in Lawrence. The past couple of years have been intense exercis es in responding to multiple challenges—the COVID shutdowns, loss of revenues, shrinking college-age demographics. But KU stood firm last year, with fall enrollment actually ticking up slightly over 2020.

COLLEGE: B.A., University of California-Davis; M.D., University of California-San Francisco, surgical residency, University of Washington ACADEMIC TRACK: Before becoming chancellor in 2017, Girod had served an equivalent role over seeing the KU medical school campus in Kansas City. That put him in charge of education, research, patient care, and community engagement for the schools of medicine, nursing and health professions. MASTER OF MESSAGING: Girod has had speaking engagements worldwide and has published 14 book chapters and more than 70 articles in scholarly journals. MILITARY & MISSIONS: He is also a decorated Navy veteran, having been on a dozen international medical missions in places such as Uganda, Guatemala, Mali, the Philippines, and Mexico. Closer to home, he previously served as co-chair for the KC Rising regional prosperity effort.

COLLEGE: Bachelor of Science (Finance) and MBA, University of Missouri COVID PERSPECTIVE: “I think the remote work environment caused a decline in spontaneous problem solving, group creativity, and relationship building. I believe there are tremendous benefits to an office-centric culture, but the remote flexibility is an added benefit we continue to learn from with the COVID experience.” NEXT BIG THING FOR KC: “Downtown Stadium for the Royals and a World Series run.” KC CHIEFS PREDICTION: “11-6. It’s a tough schedule.”

Greg Graves LEAD DIRECTOR, UMB FINANCIAL

Don Greenwell PRESIDENT, THE BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION

When asked to look back on a year of achievement, Greg Graves has a wide field to cover. He has played roles in earning the University of Kansas Health System distinction as the Best Hospital in Kansas City and in Kansas for an eighth straight year, the grand opening of Barstow School’s IDEA Space, and TechAccel’s work in improving the resiliency of farm crops under stress.

A lot of people talk about unity, but Don Greenwell is someone who has accomplished it. The official launch of “The Builders,” an all-new chapter of Associated General Contractors of America, doesn’t happen until 2023, but the journey bringing The Builders Association and AGC Kansas City together has been memorable. “A common team of staff has managed the two organizations for near ly a century,” he told us. “The unification of membership is creating one of the largest chapters of the largest commercial construction trade association in the nation.”

COLLEGE: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines HEALTH-SYSTEM HEALTH: Among the keys to such success for the health system, where he was a long time board member and chair, Graves places special emphasis on “confidence in the long-term health of the enterprise and being the best possible place to work.” NEXT BIG THING FOR KC?: “Don’t underestimate what the KC Current can mean for Kansas City. It’s another major sports franchise and critically puts women’s sports back on the big-league level in KC. Of course, I have to add, KC adds another 10 employee-owned firms and another 10,000 employee owners.” CHIEFS 2022 PREDICTION: “The schedule is brutal and the AFC West is a dogfight. In the end though, we have #15 [Patrick Mahomes] and they don’t; 12-5, AFC West Champs, and on to another Super Bowl.”

COLLEGE: B.A., Finance, University of Missouri-Columbia; J.D., University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law CURRENT BUSINESS CHALLENGE: “Talent acquisition and retention.” RETENTION STRATEGY: “Social media campaigns about career and specific job opportunities.” COVID PERSPECTIVE: “Presence with a purpose. There should be a reason why work is performed at a particular location compared to other options.” NEXT BIG THING FOR KC: “Becoming a data and advanced manufacturing hub in our evolving global economy.” KC CHIEFS PREDICTION: “13-4. Because we are that good.”

Nathaniel Hagedorn PRESIDENT/CEO, NORTHPOINT DEVELOPMENT CO.

Marc Hahn PRESIDENT/CEO, KANSAS CITY UNIVERSITY

If you’ve driven past the former Bannister Federal Complex in south Kansas City, you know something big is happening there: A $135 million rebirth as Blue River Commerce Center, an industrial park with 2.6 million square feet of space. Big? Sure, but it’s just a small piece of what Nathaniel Hagedorn is accomplishing nationwide with NorthPoint, which he acquired just a decade ago and turned into one of the nation’s fast est-growing commercial development enterprises.

Our question about a significant achievement from the past year was hard for Marc Hahn. KCU took a major step toward opening a College of Dental Medicine. They graduated their first class of Doctors of Clinical Psychology. Faculty, students, and staff administering more than 60,000 COVID vaccinations. There’s even a first on Hahn’s list: “KCU earned the 2022 Platinum Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health, a first-of-its-kind workplace mental health certification that recog nizes employers who strive to create mentally healthy workplaces.”

COLLEGE: B.S., Syracuse University; D.O., Des Moines University ON TALENT: “Institutional Spirit—recognizing and celebrating the successes and prioritizing the wellness of our people—is one of the five goals in our new Strategic Plan, Redefining Health Science Education. Last year, KCU launched a new Office of Health & Wellness focused on student, faculty, and staff well-being. We also offer competitive salaries, best-in-market benefits, and modern state-of-the-art campus work environments.” ON COVID CHALLENGES: “Our use of technology allowed us to quickly position ourselves to work, teach and learn from home and successfully support our academic programs. However, as a health sciences institution, our students desire face-to-face learning, and we perform hands-on research and patient care. Our office of Health & Wellness has been helpful in our transition back to a more pre-pandemic workplace, but with additional resources to support our faculty and staff and a continued commitment to our students and the communities we serve!”

NEW DIGS: In 2021, NorthPoint acquired the former Cerner Corp. site on North Oak Trafficway to renovate the 260,000-square-foot office building as its new headquarters. BIG DOINGS: Since 2012, the firm has developed and managed more than 140 million square feet of industrial space across the country, served more than 465 clients, and raised an astonishing $11.3 billion in capital and counting. BIG FOOTPRINT: NorthPoint offers expertise in its bread-and-butter industrial property devel opment and management space, self-storage, multifamily, and 3PL warehousing facilities and services, along with architectural and civil engineering support and brokerage services.

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I n g r a m ’ s

September 2022

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