Ingram's May 2024

That claim is bolstered by the presence of home-grown global design/build firms Burns & McDonnell, Black & Veatch, TranSystems, Kiewit Corp.’s power divi sion based here, and Terracon. On the construction side, the JE Dunn brand is now a Top 20 firm nationally, while MMC Corps, Performance Contracting Group, Herzog Enterprises and D.H. Pace all are Top 100 regional enterprises with a hand in the built environment, either as designers, builders or both. Tech/IT Without question, this region has been fertile soil for tech startups over the past five decades, but the past isn’t slow ing down: Since 2017 alone, more than one-third of the region’s 191 startups are tech-focused, according to yoh.com. A huge spark for that was the creation of what would become Cerner Corp. and, in time, the region’s largest private-sector employer, though that status has been diminished since the 2021 acquisition by Texas-based Oracle Corp. A former

Cerner exec who has replicated much of that service model for behavioral-health establishments, Mike Valentine, has fur thered the region’s tech presence with Overland Park-based Netsmart. Manufacturing The region’s fifth-biggest employment sector is manufacturing, and the addition of 4,000 production jobs at the Pana sonic Energy plant will only enhance that status. But Panasonic isn’t operating in a vacuum; its presence here is already triggering relocation and expansion ef forts by companies that supply the bat tery maker. Outside EV power systems, increasing automation, robotics, and 3D printing are expected to drive job growth in the next decade. That comes on top of what’s traditional ly been viewed as blue-collar factory work in the automotive sector, especially with Ford Motor Co.’s Claycomo assembly plant, which employs more than 7,100 hourly workers. Though not as strong a presence, the General Motors plant in Kansas City,

Kan., also boasts a large payroll—roughly 2,300. And both of those exert a gravita tional pull on suppliers who continue to relocate production facilities here. Financial Services Two hometown banks with histories that go back 160 and 111 years also happen to be the two most dominant players in one of America’s most competitive bank ing landscapes—Commerce Bank, the el der, and UMB Bank, the larger, based on assets. That’s the older, established players. More recent history has produced some financial services enterprises that are shaking things up on a national scale. Among Barron’s magazine’s annual rank ings of the nation’s best wealth-manage ment firms, Creative Planning and Mari ner Wealth Advisors are now figures in the Top 5. Creative Planning, in fact, has become the largest player in this market after an acquisition spree that, twinned with organic growth, propelled it past the $300 billion mark and ahead of longtime No. 1 American Century Investments.

Together

When we team up, we overcome obstacles and create change to enrich the lives of millions. At Netsmart, we believe we’re stronger together. Over 2,500 of our associates work with our partners to develop and deliver technology that improves the healthcare system for everyone.

www.ntst.com | #BeTheDifference

60 I ngr am ’ s

May 2024

Ingrams.com