Ingram's May 2024

JACK LOCKTON LOCKTON COMPANIES

PETER MALLOUK CREATIVE PLANNING

CAROL MARINOVICH UNIFIED GOVT.

Kansas City’s remar kable roster of global enterprises that started with little more than a dream—men nam ed Stowers, Hall, Bloch—wouldn’t

Recognized by the industry as an inno vator who helped transform the wealth- management indus try with a full-service business model and a full-blown commit

Carol Marinovich will be the first to tell you that she was just one soldier within a small army that secured voter approval to merge Wyandotte County

be complete without Jack Lockton, who pulled it off on the most unlikely of stages: insurance. He founded the company that would bear his name in 1966, working out of an office set up in one bedroom of his home. After bringing aboard his brother, David, the fledgling firm gained momentum, and by the time Jack Lockton died of pancreatic cancer in 2004, his company was approaching the $1 billion revenue threshold, and he’d gone from a one-man operation to an army of assoc iates 5,000-strong and the world’s largest privately held independent insurance brokerage. He was also a civic champion who served on the boards of UMKC, the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, UMKC, and what is now MRIGlobal.

ment to adviser integrity, Peter Mallouk began his trek to the top of the Kansas City market after securing multiple degrees from KU, including the law degree and MBA he secured at the same time. After starting for a boutique investment advisory, he was able to purchase it in 2006, and the transformation was on. Today, Creative Planning is a national power—and getting more powerful all the time—not just in wealth management, but assisting clients with every aspect of business transactions adjacent to their holdings, from insurance to wills, to legal services, estate and tax planning, business services and more. Long focused almost exclusively on organic growth, he has shifted gears in recent years to drive his firm to No. 1 in this region, with assets under management/ advisement of more than $300 billion.

and Kansas City, Kan., municipal govern ments back in 1998. None of the others, though, went on to become the first mayor/CEO of the Unified Government (she previously had been the first woman elected mayor of KCK itself). Before her second term concluded in 1995, her leadership had set the stage for additional growth that would follow in short order for a county long considered an economic backwater of the region. A year after she left office, the Village West retail and entertainment district opened, quickly becoming the state’s No. 1 tourist attraction. It created critical mass that drew in office development, hotels, big-box retail/grocery, and pro soccer’s Sporting KC stadium, all of which gave a much needed boost to the county’s tax base.

TOM MCDONNELL DST SYSTEMS / KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION

MICHAEL MERRIMAN FINANCIAL HOLDINGS CORP.

LEO MORTON UMKC/AQUILA

If there’s a poster boy for civic engage ment from the C-suites in Kansas City, it might be Tom McDonnell. A native of Kansas City, he secured

In 1979, Michael Merriman earned his business degree from Southern Methodist, then carved out a huge presence in Kansas City business. As

Business leader ship. Higher-educa- tion administration. Non-profit philan thropic strategy and execution. Leo Mor- ton brought it all to the Kansas City

an MBA in finance from the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, then signed on with DST Systems. At that time, it wasn’t far removed from startup as an information processing and computer software ser vices company spun off from Kansas City Southern Railway. For nearly 40 years, he oversaw DST’s expansion domestically and its international growth, turning it into one of the region’s biggest public companies. He also demonstrated a fierce commitment to improving Kansas City, spearheading efforts to marshal support for the redevelopment of Quality Hill, home to DST’s headquarters. He followed that up with a stint as president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

chief executive officer of Financial Hold- ing Corp., he built a private-sector bus iness empire with vast holdings. His broad business background now covers real estate development, brokerage, man agement, and construction, along with design, sales, and leasing. Mainly through Americor Investment Group and FHC, his empire has spanned a diverse range of business interests. Among them are various insurance and financial-service entities, the Marriott Downtown Kansas City, a Washington-state winery, a gas exploration company, leasing and mort gage services and a cemetery. Recognized among its distinguished alumni, his alma mater has benefitted from his service on the executive board at the Cox School of Business.

region over a career that still hasn’t seen its final chapter completed. The Alabama-born mechanical engineer from Tuskegee Institute earned a master’s in management from MIT before embarking on a business career that took him to General Motors (designing jet engines), Corning Glass, Bell Labs and AT&T. He fixed anchor here with Utilicorp United in 1994 and held various leadership positions there, including chief admin istrative officer after it became Aquila. From there, he stepped into higher ed as “interim” chancellor at UMKC in 2008—and stayed on for nine years as Chancellor. At that point, he completely failed retirement and signed on with the DeBruce Companies as pres- ident and COO.

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Kansas City’s Business Media

May 2024