Ingram’s September 2022

John Sherman PRINCIPAL OWNER, KANSAS CITY ROYALS

Charlie Shields PRESIDENT/CEO, TRUMAN MEDICAL CENTERS

John Sherman certainly had some success in business, founding, building, and selling LPG Services Group, then Inergy, L.P., and doing deals that created enterprises valued in the billions. But when he had to come up with a billion to buy the Royals, he had a whole new appreciation for the power of all those zeroes. The deal-maker turned to Kansas City’s most successful business figures, creating a partnership that could buy the team.

It’s been reinforced each of the nearly 1,000 days since a glob al pandemic reached the U.S.: “University Health,” says Charlie Shields, “has always been Kansas City’s Essential Hospital, but everything we’ve done to take a leadership position during COVID (including the incredible education efforts, the most testing and vaccinations in the metro and our commitment to take those into places like schools and churches) has reinforced this.”

COLLEGE: B.A., Ottawa University BASEBALL INTRO: Before jumping right in with the Royals ownership, Sherman purchased a share of the Cleveland Indians, which went to the 2016 Series on his watch. PHILANTHROPY: As a philanthropist, Sherman has focused largely on creating education opportuni ties for the underserved. He and his wife have established an endowed scholarship at the Institute for Urban Education at UMKC, where they also funded the Urban Education Research Center and endowed a chair in Urban Education Research. RECOGNITION: Sherman has been awarded an honorary doctorate from UMKC, is an honoree in the Bloch School of Management’s Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame, has been recognized as the school’s Regional Entrepreneur of the Year, and is a past winner of the National MS Society’s Hope Award.

COLLEGE: B.A., Marketing, MBA, University of Missouri HOW YOU’D DESCRIBE YOURSELF: “I think of myself as someone always seeking positive change, but I think my friends would tell you I can be very patient.” A SERVICE LIFE: Shields came to the former Truman Medical Centers in 2010 after a long stretch in public service. He started as COO at the Truman Lakewood medical center campus, then was named CEO of the health system in 2014. BRANDING/BUILDING: Shields has overseen an expansion of the main campus on Hospital Hill that includes a $45 million University Health Building I and the $70 million Building II across 22nd Street from the mother ship medical center. URBAN IMPACT: The Truman campus, with nearly 17,000 admissions each year, plays an oversized role in regional health care, treating the disproportionately low-income, uninsured, or under-insured.

Gregory Silvers PRESIDENT/CEO, EPR PROPERTIES

Chase Simmons CHAIRMAN/CEO, POLSINELLI

When EPR Properties needed to reload after co-founder David Brain retired in 2015, it didn’t have to look far to find someone who knew the business from the inside out. Greg Silvers had served as vice president, secretary, and general counsel from 1998 to 2006, then as chief development officer for five years before becoming chief operating officer. Before entering the entertainment-real es tate space, Silvers specialized in real-estate law while in private practice with the firm that today is simply Stinson LLP.

Despite the so-called “great resignation” that has been hap pening in the wake of COVID, Chase Simmons team at Polsinelli has been keeping turnover largely at bay while doing some great things. “That level of integration and engagement in the face of adversity is something I want our team to be proud of,” he said. “We had our largest organic growth year-over-year to become ba sically the largest U.S.-only law firm.”

COLLEGE: B.A., Political Science, Southern Methodist University; J.D., University of Georgia Law School (cum laude) ON MANAGING TALENT: “In many of our practices, we are able to utilize our National platform, allowing younger Kansas City-based lawyers the ability to get Wall Street-caliber experience while also building a local client base, all while doing so at a compensation level that is positively impacted by the work they do in larger markets. We believe this is a differentiator for us..” COVID CHALLENGES: “Something I thought was key for us was that we did not cut associates, or associate salaries, at the beginning of COVID-19. We saw many law firms do this, but that wasn’t our culture.” KC’S NEXT BIG THING: “The South Loop Link Project (cap on I-670).” CHIEFS PREDICTION: “17-0. Chiefs leadership.”

COLLEGE: B.S., Tennessee Technological University; J.D., University of Kansas ABOUT EPR: The company specializes in the acquisition and management of entertainment- themed properties—movie theaters, ski resorts, casinos, hotels, and others. It operates 358 lo cations and has more than 200 tenants in 44 states. The combined investment value of those properties: $6.6 billion. EXPANDED REACH: By moving into educational assets with private schools and early childhood education centers, the branding shifted a bit from “entertainment” properties to “experiential” ones. Turns out, not many of the patrons are in those settings.

Jeff Simon OFFICE MANAGING PARTNER, HUSCH BLACKWELL

Brad Skinner PRESIDENT, MILBANK MANUFACTURING

If bigger is indeed better, then Husch Blackwell is a better law firm today than it was in 2014, when Jeff Simon was named managing partner of the Kansas City office. Acquisitions and organic growth within its six defined practice groupings have taken the firm from 514 lawyers to more than 800. More than 130 are under his watch in Kansas City, one of more than 20 offices the firm maintains across the nation.

Milbank Manufacturing is a national supplier of electrical compo nents, largely for industrial use, and since 2018 this family-owned company based in Kansas City has been under the command of Brad Skinner. He started at Milbank more than 35 years ago and has learned the ropes on the sales and manufacturing sides. His leadership duties are primarily focused on driving growth and innovation at the global company.

COLLEGE: B.A., English, J.D., University of Missouri FOCUS: The firm is organized around six business frameworks—energy/natural resources, financial services, food/agribusiness, healthcare/life sciences/pharmaceuticals, real estate/development/con struction, and technology/manufacturing/transportation—and groups all aspects of its work within that structure, combining litigators with transactional staff to align their client-focused missions. EARLY RISER: Simon is a St. Louis native who was in the Class of 2003 for Ingram’s 40 Under Forty awards, spotlighting rising executive talent. COURTROOM VETERAN: Simon is an accomplished trial attorney whose client list includes Fortune 500 companies. CIVIC CHAMPION: Simon has also been involved in causes grounded in broader social challenges facing the region, public safety in particular, plus the board of directors of the Kansas City Downtown Council Board of Police Commissioners and chair of the Kansas City Liquor Control Board of Review.

COLLEGE: Park University ABOUT MILBANK: The company makes instruments to measure electricity and electrical signals in residential and commercial applications, including meter sockets, pedestals, meter mains and breakers, service pedestals, power sockets, and air-conditioner disconnects. WORKERS WANTED: Like most companies, Milbank continues to issue the call for more workers. Unlike most, the need might be more acute because of its perceived blue-collar status. PLANT LOCATIONS: Milbank products are turned out at manufacturing sites in Kansas City, Concor dia, Mo. and in El Dorado, Ark. It also has a warehouse operation in Reno, Nev. BRIGHT OUTLOOK: Power doesn’t get from a utility to a consumer without products like Milbank’s somewhere along the line. And the demand across the nation—worldwide, actually—will only in crease with advances in electrical-vehicle charging, smart technology, and communication upgrades. All, the company says, will require power distribution systems.

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September 2022

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