The Power Book 2023

MID-SIZED COMPANIES

CROSSFIRST BANK In banking terms, it’s still a pup: CrossFirst Bank was founded in 2007, and already, it’s the third-largest bank headquartered in Kansas, with $5.6 billion in assets. A good business plan helps, but the Leawood-based bank got where it is by hand-crafting a culture “built on trust, respect and an underlying commitment to our employees,” says Meggin Nilssen, chief of staff. To a staff now 368 strong, that culture gave a unified purpose: Extraordinary service, grounded in the values of character, competence, commitment, and connection. CrossFirst picks up 60 percent of employee health-care premium costs, with high-deductible and PPO plans that can hold an individual emp- loyee’s bi-monthly health, vision, and dental costs to as little as $119. GBA COMPANIES Bury the egos. Do what needs to be done. Support each other. George Butler launched his company in 1969 by grounding its prospects for success in the simplest of terms. Hard to knock the results: From that opening-day staffing level of 10 people, GBA Companies now employs more than 400, witness to its success in branching out in related design disciplines, adding new markets across the nation, and making strategic acquisitions. Headquartered in Lenexa, it has regional offices in Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Texas and Washington state. Employees are able to choose from medical, dental, vision and life insurance coverages, along with company-paid short-term disability insurance. BASYS PROCESSING It’s not just an Aretha Franklin hit: R-E-S-P-E-C-T was at the core of workplace design from Day One at BASYS Processing. “BASYS was founded in 2002 guided by the principle of treating everyone with respect,” says marketing director Patrick Redd. “We’ve grown a lot since then, but we’re still a small business at heart; our culture and continued growth exemplify that.” That’s in large part because Brad Oddo, founder and CEO, “sees company culture as our No. 1 job,” Redd says. “With a great culture, he believes we can accomplish anything we set our minds to.” Indeed: BASYS grew more than year over year in 2021, making it one of the 20 largest card-not present payment processors in the country. This year is shaping up even better. In 2020, the firm more than tripled its workplace ALPHAPOINTE It’s hard enough to establish a high-functioning workplace under the best of circumstances. Now imagine trying it when the majority of your workforce is visually impaired, even blind. So it says something about commitment to a strong corporate culture that Alphapointe, with that workforce challenge, is thriving: Revenues have tripled over the past 15 years; they’ve doubled over the past decade. Clearly, Reinhold Mabry and his leadership team are doing something right. They set the tone for the entire organization by always focusing on the core mission of empowering people with vision loss, says Mike Vietti, marketing director. A primary operational question is always ‘How many jobs for blind people will this create and how many blind people can we serve through our rehabilitation programs?’” The answer is quite a lot.

Health savings, flexible spending, and FSA Dependent Care accounts are available, and in addition to short- and long-term disability insurance, full-timers can enroll for life and AD&D coverage that maxes out at $500,000 in protection (with voluntary insurance layered over that). Maternity leave runs to a maximum of six weeks, and the retirement savings plans in-clude a 401(k) with a robust 5 percent company match and a stock-purchase plan that provides a 15 percent discount on share prices. The bank also values strengthening relationships not just with its clients but between employees and organizations about which they are passionate. “We encourage our employees to volunteer their time and talent by serving on boards and supporting the communities where they live and work,” Nilssen said. The firm also provides a 401(k) retirement plan with both a company match and a discretionary profit-share contribution and potential performance bonuses. Vacation and sick leave, plus parental leave, bereavement leave and an employee wellness program, along with EAP, all address work-life balance. Flexible-work arrangements are available, and employee professional growth includes professional development support and tuition assistance, and the firm reimburses fees for employees to obtain and hold various technical and professional memberships. Jeans Day? Sure, on Fridays, but in this casual work environment, says marketing director Mackenzi Baum, “we wear them other days, too!” The culture at GBA, she says, is “one of the many reasons people want to work and stay at GBA.” footprint with a 54,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art headquarters, complete with a self-serve barista area with locally sourced coffee, gym, covered deck, treadmill desks, and more. Competitive pay is a baseline, upon which BASYS adds a 401(k) program with company match, flexible working arrangements, and a PTO policy that encompasses vacation and holidays, as well as maternity and parental leave, as one might expect from a family-owned business with an emphasis on work-life balance. Healthy-lifestyle discounts and they cover over 75 percent of individual employee insurance cost, and there are monthly food trucks or catered lunches, holiday celebrations, an annual employee-recognition party, and a preference for filling managerial positions from within—one reason for industry leading retention not just with employees but clients and partners. Employees churn out tens of millions of products annually, making Alphapointe one of the largest employers of the blind, as well as one of the largest providers of low-vision rehabilitation services in the U.S. The unemployment rate among the blind is typically above 70 percent and the reality, Vietti says, “is that people who are blind can do most things their sighted peers can do—they just do things differently.” Alphapointe offers positions that require different skill sets, finding the right fit for people of all levels of visual impairment as well as people with no vision loss. That means a robust training program to raise skill levels and complementary training in areas that can truly make a differ ence in people’s lives—in adaptive technology, in orientation/mobility (how to use a cane, how to use public transportation), in Braille instruc tion, and in activities of daily living, such as cooking and cleaning.

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THE POWER BOOK

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