Ingrams September 2023

A Collective Vision for Kansas City’s Future

Members of Ingram’s 250 sound off on recent success, civic goals, economic prospects, and much more.

n The new airport is up and running to nearly universal acclaim. What’s Kansas City’s Next Big Thing? n Incessant talk of a potential recession is everywhere. Do the leaders of this region’s most influential companies agree that a downturn is coming? n The past year has been an elevator ride—but is it taking companies higher, or are they dropping a few floors? Imagine you had the opportunity to pose those ques tions to 250 of the most influential executives in this region. We did, and from the responses that came back, we’ve discerned that most companies are moving forward—reces sion projection or not. Most plan to increase staff size in the near term. Most feel as though we hit a community home run with the new airport. And most see this region as something of an inflec- tion point, with potentially global implications head- ing toward 2026. As a community, they say we are wit- nessing new opportunities to showcase the community to an audience of unprecedented scale, rethink and re- build regional transit infrastructure and rewrite a social agenda to provide more early childhood educa tion and improve health care, especially in mental health.

Along the way, many sounded off with personal details about their morning news intake, the influence of key mentors, best business books read, most-admired CEOs—and in many cases, what needs they would address if they could start their own non-profit. The insights you’ll glean from their personal stories are the stuff of network-building: You may have a lot more in common with many of these elite leaders than you realize. Therein lies the foundation for an opening conversation—many con versations, actually, each of which could become a springboard for the natural next step in a business relationship: the mutually beneficial transaction. That’s why we produce the Ingram’s 250 each year. It’s all about connections. Read on. Then go make new ones.

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September 2020