NOVEMBER 2015 risk / reward issue
pr nightmare
Stephen Shinn
Page 68
weathering
the storm
disaster preparedness Page 40
THRILL SEEKERS
P.Y.S.K. Walt Capell
Page 35
Page 46
long-timers employees who stick Page 62
LUANNE GAINES Early Childhood Educator
The best thing about being a woman is the prerogative to have a little fun. MEET THE ROCK. A 2014 Street Glide Special Harley-Davidson motorcycle coated in Moroccan Gold. Our history began when I walked into Mid America Harley-Davidson to buy a new sugar skull helmet. As I made my way to the showroom floor, there was something about the way sunlight reflected off of his pearl white paint and shimmery gold tones. Without hesitation, I knew I had to take him for a test ride. Ever since then, The Rock has been the perfect fit for me. With his sporty look, comfortable feel and extra luggage space, I can really ride like a girl. It seems like guys always name their bikes after girls, but I call my bike “The Rock” because he’s a solid constant in my life. He keeps me grounded.
to be able to ride a motorcycle just like my brother. My persistence to ride paid off when my dad surprised me with my own bike. When I was seven, I rode a motorcycle for the first time and it felt like I had been doing it forever. I kept going in circles because I didn’t know how to stop. But, I didn’t really want to.
WHEN I RIDE “MY HARLEY,
I’M FREE
DURING THAT TIME, girls riding motor-
cycles wasn’t very popular. But, that didn’t matter to me. After 44 years and 17 bikes, I still ride for me because it makes me happy. When The Rock and I first take off on the road, I’m so tense and excited. Eventually, all of my cares blow away with the wind leaving me feeling good inside and out. When I ride my Harley, I’m free to feel the way I feel. And, Man! I feel like a Woman!
TO FEEL THE
WAY I FEEL.”
GROWING UP, my mom and dad rode motorcycles. My
mom thought I was too young, but I kept telling her I wanted
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From the Editor
Editorial Erica Pefferman, Publisher Erica@BusinessTimesCompany.com Brenna McDermott, Editor Brenna@BusinessTimesCompany.com Matthew Patston, Assistant Editor Matt@BusinessTimesCompany.com
Putting Risk Into Perspective ›› When the plane door opened and I watched my mother jump out, I was not scared. OK, that’s not entirely true. When she suggested that, in celebration of her milestone 50th birthday, we fly 10,500 feet up in to the air in a five-person plane, strap ourselves to strangers and step outside for a brisk 40-second fall, I was slightly afraid. But no way was my mother going to jump out of a plane while I watched safely from the ground. So, I had to find a way to temper my fear. First, I employed denial. Leading up to my jump, I didn’t think about the plane door opening; I didn’t think about willingly stepping outside of that open door. I just thought about how awesome it would be once I was falling. Second, I refused to let negative thoughts creep in. So many people Photo by Jackie Duewell asked me, “But weren’t you afraid the parachute wasn’t going to open?” I made a decision to trust the instructor who was attached to me, because if I was going down, he was certainly coming with me. And when we arrived that morning, I deployed my third tactic: be scared, but don’t let it stop you. Yes, sitting in a five-seater plane isn’t the most secure feeling. But I wouldn’t let the fear take over — because I knew no matter what, I was stepping out of that plane. So when my mother jumped out, and my instructor and I moved into position to follow, the fear became a dull throb in the back of my head. I could do this. More importantly, I would never live it down if I chickened out now. I got into position and stuck my right leg out of the plane. And then we fell. Watching the video my instructor captured of that fall, I’m still exhilarated. Yes, the fall was an incredible rush, but I get the biggest rush when I think about the choice I made to propel myself out of that plane. I. Jumped. Out. Of. A. Plane. And I’m also humbled when I see the video, watching the drool drip down my chin as 100 mph winds whipped my face while we fell 5,000 feet. Just in case I start thinking too highly of myself, I’ll remember the drool, and it puts things into perspective. I’ve used all three of my anti-fear tactics during my other new adventure: taking over as editor of CBT. We all experience fear and anticipation when we’re approaching a risk or a change or a new venture. The trick is to make sure those feelings don’t stop you from experiencing something amazing. In this Risk/Reward issue, you’ll read about CoMo business folk much more adventurous than I (page 46) and you’ll meet three dedicated people who have spent 31, 40 and 45 years with the same company (page 62). You’ll also take home some helpful how-tos, from minimizing your business’ risk after a natural disaster to planning for a PR nightmare (page 40 and 68, respectively). If there’s one thing Columbia has, it’s great insurance people, and you’ll find them throughout this publication. Last issue, I asked you to describe CBT in three words. This month, tell me this: What’s the one topic you want CBT to cover that we haven’t yet? And we want to hear your feedback – Tweet us @ColumbiaBiz — we want to have a conversation with you, our readers, about CBT. Thanks for reading,
Brenna McDermott, Editor brenna@businesstimescompany.com
NOVEMBER 2015 RISK/REWARD ISSUE
The Fitness Company’s Stephen Shinn actually brought a kayak with him for the photo shoot – but it was so large it wouldn’t even fit inside the studio. The cover turned out amazing anyway! Photo by Anthony Jinson.
PR NIGHTMARE
DESIGN Jordan Watts, Editorial Designer Jordan@BusinessTimesCompany.com Creative Services Keith Borgmeyer, Graphic Designer Keith@BusinessTimesCompany.com Kate Morrow, Creative Marketing Kate@BusinessTimesCompany.com MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES Deb Valvo, Director of Sales Deb@BusinessTimesCompany.com Stacy Zorn, Marketing Consultant Stacy@BusinessTimesCompany.com CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jackie Duewell, Anthony Jinson, Ben Meldrum CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Beth Bramstedt, Chris Danforth, Nicole Flood, Al Germond, Brandon Hoops, Tron Jordheim, Brenna McDermott, Matthew Patston, Monica Pitts, Brant Uptergrove CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR Tifani Carter Interns Caroline Harding, Jessica Kaiser, Peyton Kuligowski, Sean Nelson, Alisiana Peters, Brooke Skiles, Sierra Stewart, Amber Taylor, Rachel Trujillo MANAGEMENT Erica Pefferman, President Erica@BusinessTimesCompany.com Renea Sapp, Vice President of Finance ReneaS@BusinessTimesCompany.com Amy Ferrari, Operations Manager Amy@BusinessTimesCompany.com Crystal Richardson, Account Manager Crystal@BusinessTimesCompany.com SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscription rate is $19.95 for 12 issues for 1 year or $34.95 for 24 issues for 2 years. To place an order or to inform us of an address change, log on to ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com. The Columbia Business Times is published every month by The Business Times Co., 2001 Corporate Place, Suite 100, Columbia, MO 65202. Copyright The Business Times Co., 2008. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of any editorial or graphic content without the express written permission of the publisher is prohibited.
Stephen Shinn
PAGE 68
WEATHERING
THE STORM
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS PAGE 40
THRILL SEEKERS
P.Y.S.K. WALT CAPELL PAGE 35
PAGE 46
LONG-TIMERS EMPLOYEES WHO STICK PAGE 62
OUR MISSION STATEMENT The Columbia Business Times and ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com strives to be Columbia’s leading source for timely and comprehensive news coverage of the local business community. This publication is dedicated to being the most relevant and useful vehicle for the exchange of information and ideas among Columbia’s business professionals.
columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 19
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20 \\\ November 2015
about the last times What's happening online Karen Mareck Grundy @KGrundyMCB Thanks @ColumbiaBiz for profiling @MCBallet! Maya Szydlowski Luke @MayaSLuke <3 A Modern Influence: @InfluenceandCo Proves Only Results Matter — Not Age, Location, or Tradition @ColumbiaBiz
Around the office 20 Under 40 The applications are in for our 20 under 40 class of 2016! Now it’s time to prepare for the party. Save the date for Thursday, January 21, 2016 and come celebrate Columbia’s best young businesspeople with us at Stephens College.
The Loop @TheLoopCoMo If you’re a small business owner looking to boost your skills, check out the Masters Series from @ColumbiaBiz Sarah Hill @SarahMidMO Read all about Virtual Reality in the @ColumbiaBiz this month. @StoryUpStudios featured. Kari Hopkins @teamhopkins2 Fun read about #MizzouMade athletes winning in business by @courtsidehoops in the recent @ColumbiaBiz magazine.
Behind the scenes To bring you the great photos of Columbia thrill seekers, we brought in a smoke machine. We had a blast, and the pictures speak for themselves.
ABC Laboratories @abcLaboratories Latest from @ColumbiaBiz: “Growth Mode” about ABC’s recent changes, expansion and growth with @EvansAnalytical Gravity @gravitycomo Gravity owner Jonathan Sessions is featured in @ColumbiaBiz People You Should Know column. FortyThreeTc @FortyThreeTc Really excited about 43Tc founder @mattmcdermott in the @columbiabiz 11 Questions column! Mizzou Nursing @MizzouNursing Chk out @ColumbiaBiz great article on the DNP program’s 2015 Celebration of Excellence Award for Mature Program. Write to CBT editor Brenna McDermott at Brenna@BusinessTimesCompany.com
Corrections An article in our October issue spelled the company title of EquipmentShare as “Equipment Share.” columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 21
22 \\\ November 2015
November 2015 Vol. 22, Issue 5 columbiabusinesstimes.com
›› risk /rewa rd
Issu e
Departments
46
Adventure is Out There
Throughout Columbia, there are people whose passion for adventure infuses their work with energy and vision. These are five business leaders who thrive at the fault line between the ordinary and extraordinary.
40 Eye on the Storm
If business owners are waiting for a natural disaster to happen to develop a disaster preparedness plan, it’s already too late. Local experts weigh in on bracing businesses for the unthinkable.
58 Healthcare Collaboration The Affordable Care Act has changed how small businesses manage employee health insurance.
19 From the Editor 21 Letters to the Editor 25 Movers and Shakers 26 Briefly in the News 29 A Closer Look 30 Business Update 35 P.Y.S.K. 39 Opinion 74 Nonprofit Spotlight 76 Celebrations 79 Technology 85 Sales 87 Marketing 89 Did You Know 92 Business Licenses 93 Deeds of Trust 94 Economic Index 95 By the Numbers 96 10 Questions 98 Flashback
62 Tenured Talent
These folks have grown and advanced with their companies for 31, 40 and 45 years. But what hasn’t changed has been passion for the people and culture of their organizations.
68 Communicating Through Crisis How to define, prepare for and manage a crisis with effective communication to employees and the outside world.
Organizational Excellence Highly productive technology solutions Our customer wanted both a Smartboard and an LED for a conference room. We chose an interactive Smartboard that is touch sensitive, easily edited with a stylus or a finger, displays changes, and allows all edits to be saved on the computer. Both units feature flexible multiple inputs. Our team ran wire behind walls for aesthetics, mounted the LED and Smartboard, set everything up, tested all connections, and trained their personnel.
Workplace Music Systems • Digital Signage • Conference Rooms Restaurant & Bar Systems • Energy Management Automation & Control • Surveillance Cameras • Structured Wiring
24 \\\ November 2015
Movers and Shakers
›› Professionals grow, serve and achieve
Plank
Troesser
Rothwell
Myers
Schwend
Allee
Collins
Hinkel
›› Alicia Troesser
›› Boone County
›› Ryan Wiedmeyer
Alicia Troesser has filled the new position of art director at Caledon Virtual. She served as senior graphic designer since joining the firm in April. Prior to that, Troesser served as social media director at Communique and graphic designer at Veterans United Home Loans.
Terry Cassil has been selected as the director of Boone County emergency management and Chad Martin has been selected as the director of Boone County joint communications. Cassil worked for the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency as the chief of operations and response branch manager. Cassil was also a firefighter for the city of Columbia for 21 years before retiring in 2014. Martin was a captain in the Boone County Sheriff’s Department for nearly 19 years.
Ryan Wiedmeyer, vice president of commercial banking at The Bank of Missouri, was recently named volunteer of the year for Primrose Hill Teen Challenge. Wiedmeyer has been with The Bank of Missouri since February 2013. Primrose Hill is a residential recovery center for women who have drug and alcohol addictions and their families.
›› Bill Plank Naught-Naught Insurance Agency announced Bill Plank will join the company’s team, leading business development efforts. Plank has more than 15 years of financial and management experience. Recently, he established and ran the construction lending division for a mortgage lender in Missouri.
›› Kristen Grusenmeyer The Columbia Chamber of Commerce hired Kristen Grusenmeyer as Women’s Network coordinator. Grusenmeyer will oversee the Women’s Network division, which has more than 450 members.
›› Central Bank of Boone County Central Bank of Boone County announced 14 employee promotions. In customer service, Melissa Hecht was named a senior team leader and John Hiatte was named a senior customer service representative. Maria Garcia Limon, Linda Jordan, Radhia Khenissi, Jasmine Newman, Trista Reeder and Catherine Graver were named customer service representatives II. Leslie Adams was promoted to human resources coordinator II and Katie Baker joined as a human resources specialist. Kristen Petty was named a financial associate at the Keene Financial Center and Susie Conrad was promoted to customer service representative at Lake of the Woods Bank. Elizabeth Bauer, at the Downtown Bank, and Mariah McWhirter, of the Village Bank, were promoted to teller II.
›› Larry and Brenda Potterfield Larry and Brenda Potterfield, owners of MidwayUSA, received the John L. Morris award from the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, in recognition of their leadership in wildlife conservation.
›› Sarah Eagon Sarah Eagon, title production manager of Monarch Title Company, was honored with the 2015 Young Title Person of the Year award from the Missouri Land Title Association. This award is given to an individual 35 years or younger who excels in the title insurance profession.
›› Columbia College Columbia College announced that Suzanne Rothwell will be the interim director of advancement. Rothwell will oversee the college’s development, alumni relations and public relations departments. Rothwell has served as the director of public relations for more than two years. Brenda Myers has also been promoted to interim senior director of marketing. Myers will be responsible for directing strategic initiatives to raise brand awareness and drive growth through traditional and digital media channels. Most recently, Myers served as senior director of content and direct marketing.
›› Central Trust Company Kim Schwend and J. Bryan Allee have joined the Central Trust Company. Schwend serves as assistant vice president and relationship manager, and Allee serves as vice president and relationship manager. Schwend has nearly 20 years of experience in the financial industry. Prior to joining Central Trust, Schwend worked for its sister bank, Central Bank of Boone County, for 19 years. Allee has worked in the industry for more than two decades, with experience at Valley View Bank and Valley View Trust Company and the Midwest Trust Company.
›› Alternative Community Training Alternative Community Training has added three new members to its board of directors: Chuck Collins, Shelter Insurance; Myles Hinkel, Missouri United Methodist Foundation; and Aron Cowsert, Veterans United Home Loans.
›› Elizabeth Loboa Elizabeth G. Loboa has been named dean of the MU College of Engineering. Loboa was associate chair and professor of the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. Loboa was also a professor of materials science and engineering at North Carolina State. CBT
➜ Are you or your employees making waves in the Columbia business community? Send us your news at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 25
briefly in the news
›› A rundown of this month’s top headlines
McDavid will not run again
Landmark holds county Deposits
Columbia Mayor Bob McDavid announced he will not seek re-election in April. McDavid was first elected in 2010, and he is in his second three-year term as mayor. Mayoral candidates may file for office until January 12, 2016. Boone County selected Landmark Bank as its holder of deposits for the next two years. A county panel analyzed the costs and income of three depository proposals before selecting Landmark. Tom Schwarz, senior vice president for commercial sales and strategy, said in a press release, “As a local community bank, Landmark Bank greatly values the opportunity to work with the County of Boone as their banking partner.”
MU nursing innovation The Sinclair School of Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program has found success in technology integration: using cost-effective strategies to bring quality graduate education to nursing students on campus and online. The program received the Central Region Excellence Award from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association. The award is given spontaneously, based on merited nominations, rather than on a regular basis. Sinclair Dean Judith Fitzgerald Miller said, “This award reflects the able leadership of DNP program director Robin Harris, the focus area and specialty option coordinators, as well as the hard work and dedication of the entire faculty to achieve excellence.” 26 \\\ November 2015
Mediacom launches 1-gig Mediacom, a cable and communications provider in Columbia and Jefferson City, is introducing high-speed, 1-gigabit Internet to their residential network in midMissouri. Mediacom’s previous top residential speed was 150 MB per second, and with 1,000 MB in a GB, the new service should be noticeably quicker. Mediacom’s main area facility is in Columbia, where the company has made a “substantial financial investment” for 1 GB capacity. Mediacom will make the service available to customers in Columbia, Jefferson City and Holt’s Summit. Mid-Missouri will be Mediacom's first area with residential 1-gig capacity. Phyllis Peters, Mediacom communications director, says the company has provided business customers with up to 16 GB speeds.
Film Festivals among the best Stephens College’s Citizen Jane Film Festival was selected for MovieMaker magazine’s 2015 list of the 25 coolest film festivals in the world. The True/ False Film Fest made its second appearance on the list, giving Columbia two 2015 winners. Austin, Texas is the only other city to do so.
MU Biomed grants MU awarded five grants to accelerate biomedical research projects with potential for consumer application. As part of the school’s ongoing effort to help research projects become profitable businesses, the MU Coulter Translational Partnership awarded approximately $500,000 in grant money to five biomedical projects. Among the funded projects is a handsfree device, made with Google Glass, for first responders in mass casualty disasters and an improved salmonella testing system. MU’s partnership with the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation is one of 16 such relationships in the country. The program will also help researchers make connections in the private industry.
Chick-fil-A opens Columbia’s first Chick-fil-A franchise opened on Stadium Boulevard. The restaurant is owned by Jeremy Stouder, who has been working with Chick-fil-A’s corporate grand opening team, which helps launch franchisees around the country; he’ll now focus on operating a restaurant himself. Chick-fil-A plans to open 88 new locations in 2015. As part of the grand opening, Stouder held a book drive benefitting the Boys and Girls Club of Columbia.
Hancock Symposium
Westminster College held their annual lecture series in September, bringing in a number of speakers to discuss the 2015 theme, “Security vs. Liberty: Balancing the Scales of Freedom.” The school’s Churchill Institute invited lecturers including the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson.
911 Center The county celebrated the groundbreaking for the new 911 call center on the campus of the Boone County Sheriff’s Department. The building will be funded by a 3/8 cent sales tax approved by voters in April 2013.
CoMo startup teams up with Bayer Elemental Enzymes, an agriculture science company that works out of the Missouri Innovation Center, announced a research partnership with Bayer CropScience. The two companies want to improve the life of crops by using licensed Elemental Enzymes technology. Soil microbes developed by Elemental Enzymes will be used to improve crop health and productivity, using the Bayer platform to introduce the product to farmers around the world. Elemental Enzymes was founded with research done in MU’s Bond Life Sciences Center. Drs. Brian and Kate Thompson founded the company in 2011, and they won the Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers’ Rising Star of Innovation award in 2012.
Startup Weekend winners
Startup Weekend Columbia, a three-day contest to launch new businesses with local entrepreneurs, celebrated its fifth year in September. The first place prize, which comes with $2,000 in seed money and a package of startup resources, went to StaffedUp, a web platform for small and midsize businesses to recruit and compete for talented employees. The company is tailored to retail and service employers and wants to provide efficiency and user-friendliness in staffing. The second and third place prizes respectively went to Tenant Loop and eSportsBooth. Tenant Loop provides mobile communication between tenants and landlords to make property management easy and personal; eSportsBooth is an online sportswear marketplace for the gaming community. CBT columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 27
Is proud to announce that Caleb Colbert has been named a 2015 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Up & Coming Lawyerâ&#x20AC;? by Missouri Lawyers Weekly. Caleb practices law in the areas of real estate, land use, construction and civil litigation.
Only 56 lawyers in Missouri were selected for this award in 2015.
601 E. Broadway, Ste. 203 Executive Building Columbia, MO 65201 | 573-442-3181 BrownWillbrand.com
The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be made based soley upon advertisements.
28 \\\ November 2015
a closer look
›› A quick look at emerging companies
1. Columbia Furniture Assembly
3. 2B Organized
Owner Debbie Koske was looking for a parttime job, to help her daughter with school expenses, when she realized her special gift. Unlike others, she loved assembling furniture. Thus Columbia Furniture Assembly was born, a company that will come to home or office, assemble and place products and dispose of empty packing materials. “When most people receive a huge box of furniture from IKEA, Wayfair, Pottery Barn or Amazon, they cringe with dread. But for me, it is like Christmas morning,” Koske says. She can also take care of other home projects, such as hanging pictures or installing curtain rods and window blinds. Contact: Debbie Koske, 573-489-3565
Franchisee Melanie Dixon brings the professional organizing firm 2B Organized to Columbia, making it the third location in Missouri. Services include residential and commercial organization; home staging and relocation; and move management. “I create order in households while implementing efficient solutions,” Dixon says. “It doesn’t have to be overwhelming, and we can help.” Residential services include organizing closets, garages, memorabilia organization, playrooms, coordinating out-of-state moves, decorating and un-decorating and more. Commercial services include paper management, space design and time management. Contact: Melanie Dixon, 573-489-8999
2. Social Butterfly Originals
4. Trailer Swift Photo Booth
6. Chick-fil-A
Yvonne Chamberlain created Social Butterfly Originals, a design company focused on original, custom and redesigned goods. That includes jewelry design; apparel design; construction and alterations; repurposing and repair; and mending and constructing home furnishings, including pillows, décor and bedding. “I believe the services and products that I offer allow clients to paint a visual picture of who they are through their unique style preferences,” Chamberlain says. Her specialty is redesign: turning earrings or necklaces into different pieces, turning dresses into skirts and even once turning a football into a purse for a Halloween accessory. Contact: Yvonne Chamberlain, 573-777-5977
Luke Fletcher and Chris Routledge, owners of Redlight Photobooth, have unveiled their newest business venture: a renovated 1954 Fleetwood camper trailer converted into a portable photo booth. The trailer, dubbed Trailer Swift, was purchased in winter 2014 and officially opened in August. “Trailer Swift is our newest venture, which offers the absolute best photos, best experience, large group accommodations, mobility and more,” Fletcher says. “A photo booth is often just a rented machine, but TS is a whole setup and theme that complements a party, wedding, school function, etc.” Rentals start at $950 and the trailer comes with photo props of all kinds. Trailer Swift Photo Booth will also hit many Columbia events, tailgates and concerts. Contact: Luke Fletcher, 573-673-0319
Columbia’s first Chick-fil-A restaurant, owned and operated by Jeremy Stouder, opened Sept. 16 at 305 N. Stadium Blvd. The chicken franchise includes dual drive-thru lanes, free Wi-Fi and an indoor play area. The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. This is the 29th Missouri location and one of 88 new locations the chain will open in 2015. “Personalized customer service and freshly prepared food have been the hallmarks of Chick-fil-A since the day founder Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant,” Stouder says. “My team members and I are committed to those same ideas as we welcome our guests to our new Stadium Boulevard restaurant.” Contact: Jeremy Stouder, 573 445-6627 CBT
1
2
5. Luke Offield – Guitar Technician An active musician in two bands, Luke Offield knows the importance of a guitar that works properly at all times, from live performances to writing sessions. As a guitar technician, he makes general guitar repairs, but he also does setups, restringing, intonation, nut replacement, broken headstock repair and more. Offield specializes in setting up guitars. “I can read them very well to find what is ailing them in order to get them into shape and play as best as possible for the owner,” he says. “When a guitar plays its best, the guitarist can free up their mind and relate more to the music instead of worrying about other things.” Contact: Luke Offield, 573-219-9121
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5
➜ Are you an entrepreneur? Are you sprouting a new business? Tell us about it at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 29
Kelly xx Klug, Ben Galloway, Gary Thompson, Scott Mackey, Gina Gervino Photo Photo by by Anthony Anthony Jinson Jinson 30 \\\ November 2015
business update
›› Transformed, trending and up-to-the-minute
➜ 2102 Whitegate Drive Columbia, MO 65202 573-474-6193
True to Their Roots
Columbia Insurance Group stands firm. By Matt Patston At the end of September, as the summer began to soften in Columbia, a team of executives from Columbia Insurance Group attended the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies annual conference in New York. One of the keynote speakers was Eric Wahl, a renowned graffiti artist and motivational speaker, but decidedly not an insurance executive. Still, he found a receptive audience in CIG’s marketing and communication specialist, Kate Stull. “Oh my gosh, he was amazing,” Stull says. “He talked all about creativity, which is sometimes a little bit hard to do in the insurance industry, but it’s necessary to move forward.” In some ways, this paradox reflects CIG. As insurance practices have tumbled and changed, it’s taken creativity for CIG to hold firm within its identity. The company is loyal to notions of personal service and honesty; it meets challenges with faith it will emerge even truer to its principles, like a sculpture emerging more clearly with each chunk chiseled off the marble. CIG celebrated their 140th anniversary in 2014, but there are no signs of complacency in advanced age.
The ‘Glorious’ Model In Stull’s mind, the company’s character begins with the nature of its business model. CIG uses an independent agent model only, meaning they sell insurance products to unaffiliated partner agents. That model stands opposite a captive agent model, in which an agent provides products from only one insurance company. “The challenge — and also the gift — that we take pride in is that our independent agents are advocates for our clients,” Stull says. “We may get chosen. We may not. But that’s the glorious part of the model.” The inherent checks and balances hold a constant incentive for CIG to operate with
integrity, an attitude that Stull traces back the company’s earliest movements in the 19th century. Insurance was scant on the frontier, but risk was not. So, farmers in Missouri formed mutual insurance groups to protect their property and the delicate local economy. “CIG still supports that model,” Stull says. “And I don’t think it’s outdated. I think it’s honorable.” CIG’s timeline, found on the company’s website, begins in 1874 with the creation of the Boone County Home Mutual Insurance Company, but their continuing narrative begins 15 years later, with H.F. Stapel.
"The rhetorical question posed was this: if we spend most of our waking hours at work, shouldn’t we enjoy what we do?” — Gary Thompson, CEO Stapel founded the Missouri Farmers Mutual Tornado, Cyclone and Windstorm Insurance Company, headquartered in a long, two-story building in Rock Port, Missouri, nestled in the northwest corner of the state. Stapel started a sister company, offering mutual hail insurance, and also unsuccessfully ran for governor before his death in 1918, at which point his 24-year-old son, John, became the company’s second leader.
John Stapel presided over the company’s move to downtown Columbia, first establishing an office on Ninth Street, then relocating to Hitt, and then to the Business Loop. The younger Stapel retired for a decade before resuming leadership, at which point he also presided over the company’s move to their current location, a former shopping mall off Paris Road. Columbia is, among other things, an insurance town — one of the biggest industries in the Forbes profile of Columbia. CIG matured alongside Columbia’s other homegrown insurance players, among them Shelter and the Insurance Group. The latter has been the source of past confusion. The Insurance Group is an independent agency that shops for different products to offer clients; Columbia Insurance Group offers some of the products that The Insurance Group shops for. The two are competitors in name only, and they routinely do business together.
A Big-Small Company The independent agent model creates flexibility for CIG, which began expanding into other states in the 1980s. The company now maintains branch offices in Columbia, Atlanta, Austin, Omaha and Salina, Kansas, but their true reach, Stull says, comes from their partner agents. They’re strung along different towns throughout CIG’s service area, and the company uses these partnerships to learn about local customers needs. Stull calls these agents the “eyes and ears” of the company, and she’s proud to work with them. “The Columbia Insurance Group supports small businesses, and an independent insurance agent is a small business,” she says. The independent agency model becomes especially potent in a disaster. In the aftermath columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 31
Columbia Insurance Group dates back to 1874. The company now has customers in 19 states. Photo provided by Columbia Insurance Group
of the 2011 Joplin tornado, CIG leaned on area agents, and their collective response to the situation is a point of pride for the company. “When Joplin happened, we were there within 24 hours,” Stull says. “I’ve talked to insurers personally, and they said that Columbia ‘gave me money for things I didn’t even know I was insured for.’ . . . When a disaster strikes, we show our true colors.” In that particular disaster, Stull says the company’s personal relationship with agents allowed them to find clients the correct coverage. The curated CIG network of more than 4,000 agents gives the company the impact of a superregional company with the quickness of a small firm. At the Columbia office, the corporate culture reflects smallness rather than bigness. “Columbia is a small enough company that we all have access to each other,” Stull says. “That’s one advantage about working at a bigsmall company.”
Pruning and Feeding The company — closing in on a century-anda-half in business — has had only eight corporate leaders, from Stapel to current CEO Gary Thompson. Stull describes Thompson as a “wonderful leader” and says he “definitely 32 \\\ November 2015
"Our independent agents are advocates for our clients. We may get chosen. We may not. But that’s the glorious part of the model.” — Kate Stull, marketing and communication specialist subscribes to the servant-leadership model.” Thompson immerses himself in the activities of his employees and maintains the office’s signature accessibility. He has worked at CIG for 26 years, which he categorizes as “the 26 years I’ve been privileged enough to serve on the Columbia Insurance Group team.” Insurance, Thompson says, is a service industry, and that’s stuck in his mind as the company has transitioned to an online world. “Long before me, leaders in our organization recognized that we spend most of our waking hours engaged in our work,” Thompson says. “With that realization, the rhetorical question posed was this: if we spend most of our waking hours at work, shouldn’t we enjoy what we do?” CIG pays meticulous attention to employee health and experience. The company encour-
ages employees to participate in local non-profits and serve on boards to better know the community. During the last United Way fundraising campaign, the company raised their $500,000 goal on the third day of a nine-day campaign. Under Thompson, the goal has been mindful growth. He likens the company’s corporate structure to a garden; to be a good gardener, one must prune and feed appropriately. A few years ago, Stull says, the company stopped insuring individual homes, instead opting to focus on commercial lines of business. This year, 85 percent of revenue came from those commercial lines. CIG pruned, fed and grew. The gardener creates something where there was once nothing, making gardening a creative act. It’s no surprise that the metaphor has caught on at CIG. CBT
columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 33
Tracy Ell Certified Prosthetist
Meet Tracy Ell, Certified Prosthetist and one of the owners at Mid-MO O & P. Mid-MO O & P specializes in designing and fabricating artificial limbs and braces using the latest technology to ensure their patients receive the ultimate results. Tracy and his partner, Shawn Bright, obtained an SBA loan from The Bank of Missouri to refinance debt and secure working capital to expand and offer more services to their clients. An SBA loan from The Bank of Missouri is one of the best financing options for small and growing businesses. An SBA loan can help you finance an entire business, equipment and fixtures, business real estate and much more.
Andrew Zorn SBA Loan Officer
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Karin Bell Sr. VP, SBA Manager
P.Y.S.K. Person You Should Know
Job description: I manage day-to-day operations and set goals and objectives with department managers.
Walt Capell
Years lived in Columbia/Mid-Missouri: I moved to Columbia in 1995, so that’s 20 years.
The Insurance Shop LLC, Member/Owner Age:
Original hometown: Grew up in Belton, Mis-
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souri. Born in Lejeune, North Carolina.
Education: I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy, with a business minor, from William Jewell College. I have an MBA from William Woods University.
Community involvement: I started a nonprofit in 2014, called Armani’s Angels, with Jessica Robertson and friends after one of our dogs was severely beaten during a break-in of our home. Armani's Angels raises funds to financially assist people with the treatment of severely injured or ill animals. I was also coach and club president of Columbia Soccer Club until I stepped down earlier this year. Professional background: Prior to starting The Insurance Shop in 2004, I worked at Moresource Inc. I started in the benefits department in 1998, then I moved moved to sales, director of marketing, director of operations and finally president.
Photo by Ben Meldrum
If I weren’t doing this for a living, I would: I
›› Why I’m passionate about my job: I enjoy working with entrepreneurs, and businessto-business gives me the opportunity to learn about interesting business models and ideas. Commercial property and casualty insurance is an important part of owning and operating a business, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. Our distribution model is fun and fast-paced because it’s in line with how many young and upcoming businesspeople prefer to communicate and engage in insurance services.
really can't imagine not doing this for a living, but I would seriously have to contemplate moving to Idaho or Montana and endeavoring to become a fly fishing guide. I get the opportunity to fish out there a few times a year and have met some highly intelligent and happy guides who traded their law degrees and management jobs for a drift boat and an office in the middle of a river.
What I do for fun: I live on 20 acres with dogs, cats and chickens, and I have a few gardens. There are always projects to be done, including protecting the chickens, weeding, mowing, brush hogging, repairing the driveway, cutting firewood from downed trees, repairing something that broke and helping in the garden. I enjoy fly fishing just about anywhere that has trout, but I especially enjoy fishing anywhere you can see some mountains. columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 35
A favorite recent project: I spent last year with our technical team developing and integrating our new internal intranet sales portal and agency management systems to work in unison with company lead distribution, insurance quote processing, policy binding, accounting, client services and policy renewals.
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fession where an individual can build solid, lasting relationships with their customers and a strong book of business that rewards their knowledge, skill set and ability to develop interpersonal relationships. It never gets old because insurance products, related laws, and business needs are always changing.
Family: I have been in a long-term relationship with Jessica Robertson for a very long time — too long to mention without getting grief from my friends as to why we are not engaged or married. My daughter, Adison, finished high school at Hickman last year and just started college at University of Missouri. She was super excited to move into the dorms, attend rush, and become a Tri-Delta. My son Griffin just started Hickman High School. He is currently playing soccer there (like his sister did) and swears he is also playing basketball and running track. We hope to leverage sports for good grades. My mom, Nancy Fields, recently moved to Columbia from Florida and is currently working at The Insurance Shop in our research department. My children's mother, Pia Capell, lives in Columbia, as well as my children's grandparents Lynn and Pat Hostetler. Pet dogs Gunner and Etta make us always want to come home. We have too many cats and chickens to mention or remember.
Most people don’t know that I: I absolutely have a tremendous fear of public speaking. Despite my strong opinions on a myriad of topics, I'll never run for public office or move into any profession that requires me to speak in public or even large groups. CBT
columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 37
38 \\\ November 2015
Roundtable â&#x20AC;ş Al Germond
Step Right Up With a trio of local elections coming up next year, perhaps this would be a good time to reconvene the unofficial, perhaps fictitious Boone County Hot Stove Political Club. In times past, loosely organized groups of politically-minded residents would gather at some hideaway, perhaps lubricated by a Niagara of corn liquor, to ruminate, speculate, motivate and even ambulate the candidacy of Al Germond is the individuals for office, with the promise host of the Columbia that, if elected, they would carry out the Business Times Sunday wishes of this merry little band of moonMorning Roundtable shiners. With a few months remaining at 8:15 a.m. Sundays before the filing window for city offices on KFRU. He can be is nailed shut, and somewhat longer for reached at county offices, the mood of the electoral@columbiabusiness ate borders on a quasi-revolt, leading times.com. perhaps to the termination of the political careers of a number of officeholders in both realms of area governance. The potential for a shift in direction in Columbia is predicated on who the next mayor will be and whether or not incumbents in wards three and four are permitted to remain in office. No less significant would be the possible eclipse of Boone County's three commissioners by a potential bloc of challengers, who decide we've had enough of them and run for office successfully. The Democratic Party's overwhelming dominance of Boone County politics dates back to pre-Civil War days. There was a long drought when Republicans didn't even bother to run for county office and where the greatest excitement came from single party primaries to sort out the aspirants for a "sure thing" victory. One recalls the near-earthquake on November 8, 1966 when the late Major George W. Parker Sr. (1923-2009), a highly decorated World War II Army-Air Force combat pilot running as a Republican, defeated attorney Scott Orr in a race to represent the 120th District, which encompassed Boone County in the state legislature. In more recent years, ideological wobbles among Democrats nationally have eaten away at party loyalty, especially among rural constituents, allowing an occasional Republican in Boone County to gain admittance as a commissioner to the august chambers of the Court House. We will have to see if any opposition materializes versus incumbent office holders, and whether they surface among fellow Democrats poised for an August primary challenge, or whether the GOP will extricate itself from the umbra of obscurity to endorse challengers in their own right to win on November 8, 2016. Several issues guaranteed to elicit controversy in next year's race among this troika of county commissioners will include the future of the Boone County Events Center, and the recent eviction of the annual Boone County Fair. There are several matters wrapped up as contentious ideological issues
that some would argue were mishandled as they collectively buckled to the agitated. This led to the removal of a six-ton rock from the southwest corner of courthouse lawn and the ruckus about a smaller, less conspicuous slab of stone several score feet northeast of it: a monument honoring two deceased Desert Storm veterans, inconveniently tagged with a religious symbol that offended a group of nincompoops somewhere back east. The passage of a quarter percent "mental health" sales tax in a special one-issue initiative petition election by a tiny, decidedly unrepresentative minority of highly energized special interest group voters may have forever poisoned the once-giving well for the passage of any sales tax and bond issue propositions from now on. While defending Boone County government as overwhelmingly honest and well-managed, the mechanism is a relic of the past. Maybe there will be candidates and a supportive electorate who are now ready to steel themselves for another plunge into the icy waters of home rule. Political party labels for both the mayor and council members have been a moot point for Columbia once home rule was approved on March 29, 1949. Judgmentally, we love to label people. Here's a go at it. The Columbia City Council now includes five Democrats and two Republicans. Five "progressives" and two who are not. Five who are in concert with the "gown" and two who represent the town. Five who favor no growth and two who are for it. Five who espouse personal agendas and talk too much against two who are less prone to activism and endless babbling. Columbia is a city whose electorate is closely divided based on the results of recent elections where several "winners" squeaked across the finish line with comparatively low two-digit vote margins. One recent election appeared to gerrymander and discourage representative turnout from a rapidly growing, somewhat isolated suburban neighborhood in one ward on the city's eastern edge by concentrating a quartet of polling places one could argue was deliberately placed in neighborhoods where the winner, by 34 votes, had the election in the bag to begin with. Had there been a more geographically equitable placement of places to vote, it's likely CVS would be building their drugstore at the southeast corner of Providence and Broadway. The sorry saga of CVS is just another notch in the richly decorated continuum of contentious controversies that have graced the history of Columbia over the years. Anyone interested in diving into this swirling volcano of elective office volunteerism has until early January to make his or her wishes known. The pay is hardly compensatory, but aspirants will end up compensating consultants. This is not a job for those who are easily frustrated; upset by insults, the loss of personal privacy and blasts on the Internet; or who are otherwise fragile of mind and spirit. Some of these points have traditionally darkened the appeal of running for elective office among members of the city's business community. Maybe it's now or never for this group to recruit and support candidates for office, irrespective of party label. Business people who eschew some of the radical tendencies they allege exist among several council members need to marshal their forces and come up with a trio of winners on Tuesday April 5, 2016 or quit their grousing. CBT columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 39
thinkstock.com 40 \\\ November 2015
STORM How can Boone County businesses brace for natural disasters? By Matt Patston
columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 41
O
n June 5, 1917, Gov. Frederick Gardner declared a holiday. Two months and one day earlier, America entered World War I. June 5 was Registration Day. Around 5,000 men registered in Boone County, 1,129 of them in Columbia — the Daily Missourian declared there were “no slackers here.” The mayor held a patriotic celebration at the courthouse that afternoon, part of which involved a sales pitch for liberty bonds. Then night fell. The early summer heat receded. Around 10 that night, the rain was falling hard and the wind was blowing fast in Columbia when, some 20 miles away, the tornado reached Centralia. It moved northeasterly through the town. It yanked telephone poles out of the ground and threw them hundreds of yards. It ripped roofs off houses and barns. Livestock disappeared, and the tornado disassembled a Ford so completely that the largest piece left of the car was an intact radiator. The tornado grabbed a woman, Mrs. Roy Douglas, who tightly held her baby as they flew off the ground and dropped 200 yards away. Both survived. The tornado hurled a piece of timber into a child’s bedroom. The timber scratched the child’s face, but the child survived. But the tornado did kill 20 people in all, including Roy Douglas, who was less lucky than his wife and baby. The next day’s Daily Missourian — the June 6, 1917 edition — recounted the tornado’s sweep, “destroying everything in its path of about one hundred yards wide.” It wound 47 violent miles through Boone County, coming as close to Columbia as Midway, about 7 miles west of town, before arcing around the city’s northern edge. A week after the storm, the Columbia Insurance and Rental Agency took out a square ad on the third page of the Missourian. They headlined it, in bold, “Tornadoes.” They listed 11 property owners “saved from total loss,” and included the price of a tornado insurance policy: $4.00 per $1,000 insured for three years. Disaster insurance has evolved since the 1917 Boone County Tornado, but the motives for preparedness largely remain the same: in the unlikely event that disaster strikes, what happens? Natural disasters — tornadoes, floods, blizzards, earthquakes, or any other — are inherently spectral. How should businesses protect themselves?
T
he Boone County Hazard Mitigation Plan could enthrall a paranoiac for hours. The plan spends 424 pages exploring every avenue of a potential disaster in the county: how many dams would probably kill people if they failed (potentially as many as 45 dams ), which parts of town 42 \\\ November 2015
could slip into a sinkhole (the south, and some of the northeast), how many dollars of damage an EF2 tornado would cause Columbia ($19,114,169) and how many dollars for an EF3 ($80,784,412), the chances that a 6.0 or greater earthquake would come from the New Madrid Fault (25 to 40 percent), the chances of a 7.5 to 8.0 quake (seven to 10 percent), and what sort of damage that quake would inflict on Boone County (considerable, especially in poorly built structures). The list goes on, but the general conclusion of the report is that lots of disasters could threaten Boone County. But the biggest threat is tornadoes. “The state then ranked the counties by total vulnerability,” one part of the report says. “Since tornadoes are random in their location, it was decided to consider the low end of the vulnerability scale to have a Moderate Risk and the high end to have a Very High Risk. The planning area/ Boone County was among thirteen counties identified as having a Very High Risk for tornadoes.” And while a tornado is still unlikely — based on historical data, there’s only a 30 percent chance a tornado of any strength touches Boone County in a given year — Boone County’s tornado catastrophe risk is rising in another way.
30%
ness might become less effective, creating a domino effect. Say, for example, that a trucking company is untouched by the disaster, but a handful of suppliers can’t reopen business. Then the trucking company wouldn’t haul enough cargo to be profitable, and then it wouldn’t be able to operate. After that, the trucking company’s other clients — previously two steps removed from the hypothetical disaster — have no one to ship their goods, and so on. The recovery hurdle seems higher to small businesses. With a thinner portfolio of resources (lacking the employees and money to spend time developing a comprehensive continuation plan), discernment is key. To foster efficiency in planning, Pounds has businesses conduct a self-interview. What is my risk? What do I need to do business? Do I have what I need to recover documents and data? (See sidebar for more on preparing for disaster.) “Find out what you’re vulnerable to: tornadoes, flooding, windstorms, storms in general,” Pounds says. “Your risk assessment plan just says ‘what is my risk and how do I prepare for it?'”
chance a tornado of any strength touches Boone County in a given year.
“There has been a rapid growth in population and housing in the planning area in recent years,” the report says. “A larger population and more extensive built environment increase the risk of injury, loss of life, and damage from tornadoes.” It’s not the tornado itself that’s a disaster, but rather the damage inflicted on the community. The more entwined the community, the more damaging the disaster. Martina Pounds, public information officer for the Boone County Fire Protection District, helps design business continuity plans: ways for businesses to recover as quickly as possible and relink their economic chain in the community. “In a disaster, the economic impact is high, and we want to minimize that,” Pounds says. “Sometimes what devastates communities the most is businesses not being able to open back up.” When businesses can’t open, the services they provide are gone. Then another busi-
The preparation then requires communication: first to employees, then to your neighbors. Matching plans with other businesses can ease the recovery process, especially for businesses working in close proximity, like in a shopping center. Owners can share resources and learn from other continuation plans. Big companies are easy for Pounds. They readily adopt continuation plans; it’s easier for them to do so, with more employees and more access to different resources. She interacts with small businesses less because they’re harder to find, like a surgeon has an easier time with an appendectomy than a neurosurgery. “[Small businesses] are really the backbone of the community. They think they aren’t a part of that, but they are. And the more prepared you are, the less economic impact on the community.” The days after a disaster can be unpredictable. Pounds diplomatically described why businesses should, as she put it, “pro-
tect your assets,” because “when a building has no security, you know, people have access to things.” In simpler terms: prepare against looting. Secure supplies needed to do business. Make contact with suppliers (a few of which, Pounds says, should be non-local) and your most important customers. “Talk to your insurance company,” Pounds says. “They’re usually a great resource for recovery, because it’s in their best interest, too — to get their investment back as soon as possible.”
C
olumbia Insurance Group, or some earlier iteration of the company, has moved headquarters all around Missouri. Their first policy was issued in Columbia, but then the company moved to Rock Port in 1889; after relocating back to Columbia, headquarters was on Ninth Street, then Hitt, then Business Loop 70. In 1975, they moved into an old shopping mall off Paris Road, where they still operate. From there, they’ve stretched tendrils into most of the Midwest and the South. In the company’s embryonic stage, it was the Missouri Farmers Mutual Tornado, Cyclone and Windstorm Insurance Company. While their location has changed, Boone County’s big risk hasn’t. “A tornado is still probably the big one here,” says Brian Callahan, quality control coordinator in the corporate claims division at CIG. In the seat next to him, VP of Claims Michael LeBlanc nods his head. LeBlanc only moved to Columbia a couple weeks before, having spent the previous five years at CIG’s Atlanta branch, but he’s familiar with Missouri. Both men remember when, four years ago, an EF5 tornado struck Joplin. Humanitarian concerns aside, that tornado imposed business problems for CIG in policy and practice: While hearing claims and estimating damage, CIG’s area agents were sorting their own business’s chaos. The biggest challenge wasn’t about insurance; it was about, in the simplest sense, doing business. “We learned a lot from the tornado in Joplin just from talking with our agents down there,” Callahan says. “Their buildings got directly hit. When it happens in your town, and your building is gone, and here comes your customer saying, ‘I need help.’ You’re saying, ‘Hold on a minute. Where’s your record?’” Technology management is pivotal in a disaster. If done correctly, it can carry a business through recovery, but if used incorrectly, it hampers a business’s chances of ever coming back. Backing up files, preferably at a far-away site, becomes critical. A lot of employees can work from home, LeBlanc says, but that doesn’t help if all of their company’s data vanishes when a tornado knocks out their infrastructure. Other precautions are more tangible. “Keep your electronics charged,” Callahan says. “Lock your file cabinets. That was a big one in Joplin. File cabinets were flying everywhere.” In the summer of 2015, CIG ran an article called “The Upside to Disaster” in their company’s internal publication, The Flag. It’s a best practice handbook for CIG agents, “to ensure the scales tip toward success” in a disaster. Callahan is quoted in the article, saying, “Agencies need to be proactive in helping out their clients in order to expedite the claims process after a storm.”
Continuity tips No business wants to deal with a disaster, but it’s important to have a plan in place. In the unlikely event of a catastrophe, preparedness can mean the difference between coming back quickly and not coming back at all. Here are five tips from conversations with the Boone County Fire Protection District's Martina Pounds.
Ask yourself the tough questions. What do I need to do business? Who are my most important customers? Who are my essential employees? What disasters am I particularly vulnerable to? Being prepared begins with knowing your soft spots. Focus on what you need and how you’ll keep it safe.
Spread out. Consider keeping your data stored offsite, even out of town. Have a widespread supplier network. Make your data accessible for employees working at home. Even if a disaster strikes, some of your infrastructure will stay in place.
Protect your property. Make sure all your doors, windows, filing cabinets, etc., are locked. Take photos of your business and take as much inventory as possible. It will be important to know what you need to recover.
Be a good neighbor. Talk with fellow business owners about their continuation plans and see if you can coordinate with each other. Get all surrounding businesses on the same page. Talk with your insurance agent as soon as possible. This will help all of you recover more quickly and efficiently.
Don’t underestimate yourself. Every business, no matter how small, plays a part in the economy. Don’t think that disaster preparedness is only for big companies; everyone has customers counting on them to be ready and able to bounce back. columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 43
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Callahan elaborates in person: “You have to make a plan, and you should test it at least once a year. One to three times a year. It’s just like when you were growing up: if a tornado hits, what do you do? Oh, we go three doors down for shelter. It’s the same thing for businesses.” He’s describing some of the continuity plans that Martina Pounds designs, and CIG makes sure they have one in place. In a disaster, insurance companies have an obligation to recover quickly. CIG tells agents to become operational as soon as possible, and then start assessing claims. “The first thing we try to do is make sure no one is hurt,” LeBlanc says. “After that, we start working with local contractors, making inventory lists, estimating damage, that sort of thing.” Toward the end of their interview, both Callahan and LeBlanc shrug at a question: Given that a disaster is unlikely to happen, how do you communicate the value of disaster preparedness? “Well yeah, it’s not happening today, but that’s the whole idea of buying insurance,” Callahan says. “That’s the idea with this. We have to be ready before something’s happened, because after it happens, it’s already too late.”
A
week after the 1917 tornado, Boone County was recovering. A fleet of Columbia doctors went to care for the injured. Some victims, including Roy Douglas, died at the hospital, but others recovered. The city held fundraising events for the relief committee, including a special screening of “The Dummy,” starring the rising actor Jack Pickford, at the Columbia Theater. By June 12, $2,600 in donations had come in: nearly $50,000 in 2015 dollars. A good chunk of that came from businesses: the Hamilton Brown Shoe Factory donated $15, the Barth Clothing Company donated $25, the Parker Furniture Company donated $150. Their philosophy resonates as well in 2015 as in 1917. After a disaster, the business community recovers together. Note: This article owes thanks to reporting from the Daily Missourian, which covered the 1917 Boone County Tornado with astounding detail. CBT
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IS OUT
Throughout Columbia, there are people whose passion for adventure infuses their work with energy and vision. They’re at their best when jumping out of a plane from 13,000 feet or swimming with great white sharks — but they also thrive in the workplace. When you peel back the layers, you’ll find what makes them tick: an insatiable curiosity to explore paths that are scary, unpredictable, exhilarating and rewarding. These are five business leaders who thrive at the fault line between the ordinary and extraordinary. by brandon hoops | photos by anthony jinson
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stephen shinn THE F ITNE S S C OM PAN Y It’s not surprising that Stephen Shinn, who walks across the top of bridges for fun, would need something more imposing than triathlons to satisfy his competitive fire. After two years as a sponsored triathlete, the races were proving to be too predictable. He could count on a lot of wear on the body and maybe an occasional flat tire or broken chain. Shinn wanted a bigger challenge. He wanted a thrill like reaching the summit of a 40-foot bridge truss in Ralls County. He found it in adventure racing. “I want to find things that test my adrenaline,” Shinn says. “Adventure racing is tough physically and mentally, and it’s more fun because the unexpected happens.” When Shinn crossed over into adventure racing, he found some familiar disciplines. Each race includes cycling, running and water sports as base components, but adventure racing ups the ante. Instead of swimming, adventure racers might find themselves facing rapids in a canoe. Instead of biking on pavement, adventure racers often navigate single-track trails on a mountain bike. Instead of running a marked course, adventure racers typically have to orienteer and hike through dense forests. No one adventure race is the same as another. Some last several hours, others span several days. Some might be a few miles, others can stretch on for hundreds of miles. And because there are no set courses, racers, who compete in teams of two to five people, must reach a series of checkpoints strictly by a compass and a map. Shinn, 32, has become one of the uber-dedicated crazies who thrives on adventure racing. He was hooked from his first race, eight years ago, in Kentucky. Even though he had learned to orienteer two days earlier, and even though they ran out of water and had to drink iodine-infused creek water, his team finished second. This intensity is most evident when Shinn describes his desire to qualify for the USARA Adventure Race National Championship. “I’d love to get to the national race,” Shinn says, before cutting himself off, “wait, sorry, that’s a negative. I will get there.” Shinn is an entrepreneur who puts the same level of discipline and tenacity into making his two-year-old business succeed. He founded The
Fitness Company with Jeff Carr, a friend and training partner, as a way to deliver higher quality training and educating in Columbia. The dream started in two separate garages. For more than two years, Shinn and Carr saved up money by training 50 clients each out of their two garages. In 2013, they were able to open a studio without taking out a loan. “When we moved in here, my clients told me they missed my garage,” Shinn says. “I was like, ‘Do you remember the summers and the winters?’” Shinn, whose passion for fitness developed at Culver-Stockton College, also hoped building from the ground up might inspire others that goals are achievable. “We don’t want to set people up for failure,” Shinn says. “We try to be as positive as possible and build great healthy habits.” The Fitness Company has experienced accelerated growth, highlighted by a recently expanded studio, 360 active clients and the training they provided for MU’s Golden Girls. Shinn says reaching this point is a testament to sharing the load with Carr. They pushed each other, especially in those early days when they were turning the dream into reality. “I was scared crapless,” Shinn says. “We thought we’d be successful, but you have no idea, especially when the bills started coming and you put most of your savings into this thing. “But it’s great to have a partner. It takes some of the fear out of it. The Fitness Company wouldn’t be this big yet if I had done it on my own.” Since adventure racing emphasizes teamwork more than individual achievement, Shinn is determined to find like-minded partners to compete with him in three-person, co-ed races. Of all the qualities he could want in a teammate, one in particular rises to the top: Are they all in? Will they put their whole body and mind into a race? Halfhearted or casual won’t cut it. If they’re in, Shinn has no doubt they can work together to conquer a grueling race and go as far as the national competition. “I’m very competitive,” Shinn says. “I’m not in it just to finish the race. I want to win.”
FUN FACT Every adventure race incorporates paddling, biking and running. The rest varies. For instance, at one physically and mentally exhausting checkpoint, Stephen Shinn and his teammate couldn’t move on until they sang “I’m a Little Teapot” without any mistakes.
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LEIGHANNE LAMB LAN D MAR K B AN K Leighanne Lamb is not one to turn down a dare or an invitation to adventure. When she was 5 years old, Leighanne’s two older brothers urged her to stand on a tree branch without using her hands. An already blossoming competitor, she wanted to prove her toughness. Her valiant attempt resulted in two broken wrists. “I always wanted to keep up,” Leighanne says. “I always wanted to be better.” Now 35 years old, Leighanne, vice president of real estate lending at Landmark Bank, is still up for a good challenge, especially ones initiated by her husband, Zach Lamb, 35, who’s also the youngest of three siblings. For two former William Woods University athletes, who can be found at the gym five days a week, events like a Tough Mudder or an Urban Challenge force them to stay in shape while also tapping into their competitive sides. “Now we’re has-beens, so we had to find something else,” Leighanne says. Leighanne agreed to participate in the couple’s first Tough Mudder last October. The 12-mile race in Shamrock, Missouri required them to overcome 18 obstacles, including climbing a 3.5-meter wall and running through electrified water. “I don’t like running, but put obstacles in there and tell me I might get hurt? Yeah, I’m in!” Leighanne says. “It was hard, and you don’t know if you’ll finish. But your adrenaline gets going, and by mile eight, I was thinking, ‘This is a really fun date.’” Nothing about her competitive and passionate spirit surprises her husband of nine years. “She has always been into pushing the envelope, whether it be roller coasters, water slides, hiking in the Smoky Mountains, or wave runners at the lake. She likes to go big and go fast, which was fine with me, so I married her,” Zach says. “If she is going to commit to something, it is going to be 100 percent.” Leighanne launched Landmark Bank’s Home Mortgage Center on Chapel Hill Road in November 2014 with similar expectation and intensity. Add four motivated loan originators, one who played football at MU
and another who was a Tiger cheerleader, into the mix, and Leighanne is not surprised the endeavor has resulted in an increase in home loan volume. The camaraderie and drive reminds her of playing volleyball at William Woods. “They’re young and they’re hungry,” Leighanne says. “They want to do well. They go out and build new business. They don’t just sit there and wait for it to come in.” Leighanne also prefers to be out in the community instead of staying in a 1,500-square-foot office doing paperwork. “I love sales because there’s always something new and exciting,” Leighanne says. “People are going to buy a house, and they’re happy. Then there’s the next one and the next one. You have a goal, and something is always driving you.” As much as getting the next deal gives Leighanne a boost, she discovered her favorite adrenaline-inducing activity in July, when she joined her husband for a business trip to California. One morning Zach called to ask if she wanted to go skydiving. He figured she would need to think it over, but he got an immediate, “Yes!” When he asked if she would be scared, considering they have two young daughters at home, she said, “Not really. I have a higher chance of getting in a car wreck and dying. Let’s go jump out of a plane.” After a 20 minute plane ride to 13,000 feet (the highest of the three options they could choose) the doors opened, and Leighanne was the first one to soar over Pismo Beach, California at 120 miles per hour. Sixty seconds later, when the parachute was released, Leighanne took in the expanse of cliffs, beach and ocean — which beat the alternative of jumping over cornfields in Missouri. “It was the best thing I’ve ever done,” Leighanne says. “I can’t even compare it to anything. When we landed, we were like, ‘Let’s do it again.’ It was probably three hours until we finally came off the high. I will do it again many more times.” Even their two daughters, who are 4 and 6 years old, want to get in on the action. Of course, Leighanne says — but not until they’re 18.
FUN FACT Leighanne Lamb’s Tough Mudder race involved obstacles like the Boa Constrictor: racers crawl through pipes full of freezing mud so small that racers can only use their arms to crawl through. Then there’s the Gauntlet, where runners climb a steep, muddy hill while being high-pressure hosed from two sides. columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 51
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DAN BURKE WHITE WOLF HOME C ONSTRU CTION AN D INS P ECTION The remarkable views and the uncommonly blue skies are not what entice Dan Burke back to British Columbia. He returns because of his affection for Whistler Mountain. With 70 world-class downhill mountain biking trails, including the chance to descend 7,000 feet in under 20 minutes, Whistler dares Burke to stay away. He can’t. Burke’s mind is especially preoccupied with the simple pleasures, like soaring in the air for more than 60 feet off an 8-foot jump or navigating a 40-foot, near-vertical drop by leaning back so far he can barely reach the handlebars. It’s common for Burke to reach speeds over 40 mph and for his brakes to glow bright red by the bottom. “There are places in Whistler you can’t walk down but you can jump your bike off it and be fine,” Burke says. “When you say ‘epic,’ there should be a picture of Whistler behind it.” When Burke, 44, is not bounding down mountains on a bike, he builds, remodels and inspects homes in Columbia and across Missouri as the owner of White Wolf Construction and Inspection. It’s a business he started in 1997 and brought to Columbia in 2008. His favorite part of any project is the custom finish work, what he calls, “the wow stuff.” He developed this fondness as a teenager in his first job, at a cabinet shop in Oregon. His boss valued fine-tuned, detailed work and didn’t use power tools. What some call the “old school” equipped Burke with principles and ideas that have allowed him to complete tasks and solve problems others might avoid. “What really struck me was he loved what he did,” Burke says. “He was passionate about it, and at the time I didn't understand what that really meant. But now I’m the same way about my craft. I absolutely love what I do.” Burke learned his work alongside a skilled craftsman, and he learned mountain biking in much the same way. On his first visit to Whistler, Burke rode up the chairlift with a commander from the U.S. Navy. The commander was an experienced rider who frequently docked in Van-
couver just to ride the trails, and he volunteered to guide Burke down various runs. Burke’s first ride was Freight Train, a black diamond trail, the second most difficult rating a trail can receive. “He said, ‘Don’t look at anything but the back of my bike,’” Burke says. “I remember the first jump. It felt like the closest thing to flying.” Burke quickly realized that arriving at the bottom in one piece was contingent on the ability to manage fear. Overthinking a landing or hesitating while approaching a jump would increase the chances of getting into trouble. “What can get you hurt is stopping,” Burke says. “Your fear is usually 90 percent worse than what could possibly happen. Fear makes you go back when you should have gone forward.” Some might think trying to launch a home construction company in a new city during a historic housing crisis would elicit enough fear to cause a small business owner to turn back, but Burke’s experiences on Whistler conditioned him to push on. Besides, when you have a passion and a gift for something, you can’t just sit and calculate. You have to go after it. Sure, he collected some bumps and bruises along the way, but he trusted the process and it’s paid off. While other contractors have come and gone, White Wolf has built and maintained a steady workload. Burke says he is booked out through the beginning of 2016. “We do good work, and that’s why people keep calling us,” he says. But Burke also knows to nurture his passion for what he does. He has to travel; he has to get back to Whistler, or at least the best the Midwest has to offer. This too is an imprint left by his first boss, who told Burke not to wait to do the things that make life fun. The more you listen to Burke, the more you realize just what the trips give him in return. “When I’m on my bike, there is no room for thinking about the next project,” Burke says. “I like that it’s so intense it shuts everything out. It’s forced and active meditation.”
FUN FACT Before Dan Burke started White Wolf Construction, he made bows for archery by hand. His bows sold worldwide, including a specially designed one for a Spanish Olympian, and once received praise from Earl Hoyt, the founder of the modern-traditional style bow.
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CHRIS NYENHUIS E Y E S ON F REIGHT Don’t wait until tomorrow to do something if you have opportunity today. This live- in-the-moment thinking is how Chris Nyenhuis and his wife, Anita, ended up swimming with great white sharks off the coast of Gansbaai, South Africa. Chris’ decision meant reneging on a promise he made with his dad before the honeymoon: not to get into the water with sharks. But an opportunity popped up, and he couldn’t resist the fulfillment of a childhood dream. The dive took place on a dreary day in the channel between Dyer Island and Geyser Rock, popularly known as “Shark Alley.” They saw several baby great whites. “They were so huge and, if they wanted, they could have destroyed the cage, but we didn’t worry about dangers or anything,” Chris says. “We wanted to enjoy and experience as much of it as possible. It was amazing.” Chris developed his fascination with sharks as a child growing up in Cape Town and in costal areas in Brazil. Being so close to beaches and oceans, it was only natural for the creatures hidden below to embed themselves in his imagination. With one dive down, Chris, 33, has set his sights on making dives off the coasts of California and Australia. “Long term, I want to do a dive to see great whites at every major point in the world,” Chris says. This goal was temporarily put on hold earlier this year after Chris made another promise, this time to Anita. She wanted Chris to suspend all diving plans and focus on getting his startup, Eyes on Freight, off the ground. It’s a promise he intends to keep. “We have a joke between the two of us,” Anita says, “that I’m his handler and help him determine whether it’s reasonable or not.” If only starting a business had been as easy for Chris as getting into the cold Atlantic water with great white sharks. Chris had always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and for years after graduating from the MU, he would throw out possibilities to Anita. But he wasn’t sure how to move forward.
Finally, Anita stepped in and gave him a dose of courage. She didn’t want his ideas to shrivel inside of him. You only live once, Anita told Chris. Let’s jump off a cliff and start a company. This encouragement, combined with Chris’ experience in the logistics industry, led to the launch of Eyes on Freight in 2012, a matching platform for logistics and supply chain services. “We’re a lot like the Match.com,” Chris says. “We build profiles for the shipper and the shipping company, and then simply match them with one another on a domestic and global level. Our platform focuses on the needs, preferences and budget of the shipper, and we focus on the ‘ideal’ client for the shipping company.” By November 2014, Chris and Anita quit their full-time jobs in Kansas City, sold their house and relocated their budding company to Columbia to work with the Missouri Innovation Center. In July, they moved to San Francisco to join 500 Startups, a 4-month business accelerator that provides resources and support to take a startup to the next level. Eyes on Freight still maintains an office locally at the Missouri Innovation Center. Today, Chris can’t help but look into the future. There is something addictive about starting a company, he says. You can’t get enough. You want to see how far you can go. It reminds him of another motto that’s influenced his life, something he heard regularly from his mom during his childhood: “Jump as high as you can and see where you end up.” “When we initially took the first steps, it was absolutely terrifying,” Chris says. “But with each step it has become more intriguing and exciting.” Even Anita, his wife of eight years and the Midwest girl who thought she’d live there the rest of her life, is eager to see where this can go. “He takes risks others aren’t willing to take and he’s seeing it pay off,” Anita says. “We are definitely never bored."
FUN FACT During a shark dive, the instructors asked for the most experienced divers to go in the cage first, which Chris Nyenhuis admits he was not. But his friend volunteered the two of them anyway, and Nyenhuis was the first one in the water and into the cage. “Needless to say, my heart rate was going off the charts,” Nyenhuis says. columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 55
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RUSS DUKER MA S TERTE C H & TRA D E - S ER V E Almost every week, you can find Russ Duker soaring 700 feet above Columbia and the surrounding areas in his “lawn chair.” The ritual starts from a pasture near the Missouri River bottoms. With 100 pounds strapped to his back and a wing resting on the ground, he puts the paramotor, which looks like a giant fan attached to a chair attached to a parachute, into action and walks off into the sky. Before long, his tension fades with the evening light, and the city he has called home for 30 years comes alive in new and beautiful ways. “When I was younger I always had dreams of being like Peter Pan and flying,” Duker says. “With paramotoring, I get that complete sense of freedom — flying above trees, skimming across grass or going up near clouds.” Sure, he had similar experiences serving four years as a pilot in the Air Force, but paramotoring is particularly meaningful to Duker, 54, because it’s something he shares with his 24-year-old son, Nathaniel. The two embarked on the new pursuit more than a year ago. Unfortunately, Nathaniel had four knee surgeries during that period, and they didn’t complete their training until August. Paramotoring might look dangerous, but Duker, who also likes to whitewater kayak, is used to handling nerve-testing situations. He proved as much during his first paramotor training run, when his engine died around 100 feet in the air. “The instructor was able to see me and talk me through my first emergency landing, which just happened to be my first landing,” Duker says. Duker’s pursuits have not only offered family bonding and relief from work, they have also provided powerful insights to enhance his business leadership, especially in 2008, when the housing crisis put a strain on MasterTech Plumbing, Heating and Cooling, the company he founded out of a canary yellow van in 1991. “We were a little smug at the beginning of 2008 because everybody was getting hammered and we were rocking,” Duker says. “But by November, it came home to us. It was like someone turned off a faucet.” With a significant loss in revenue, Duker wrestled with how to make cuts and reshape his business. Kayaking gave him clarity about what to do when life roars and pounds.
As Duker describes it, small rapids are easy for kayakers to navigate because they can be seen from far off. Large rapids are another story. Because kayakers sit low in the water and because the river changes abruptly, you cannot see large rapids until they are seconds away, and just before you see them, your senses are assaulted with the noise of unseen pounding water. As the thundering becomes louder and more intimidating, the heart, the eyes and every muscle prepare for what’s ahead. You start back-paddling, only to realize you’re still being sucked in. It’s inevitable. Retreat is not an option. You must go forward. “All the worries of the world — what you’re going to do tomorrow or what you did yesterday — disappear in that moment,” Duker says. “I’m alone in a small ship. There’s nobody to come help me. It’s just me and the water crashing on the rocks. My focus comes down to charting my course.” Duker says your objective cannot solely be to avoid the rocks. You have to find the hole, take the drop, let the waves wash over you, roll back upright, if necessary, and celebrate on the other side. Applied to his situation at MasterTech, Duker realized he was spending too much time analyzing the consequences of problems and forgetting to focus on finding a way out. “So I sat down with my profit-loss statement and said, ‘Where’s the exit?’” Duker says. “I came up with a solution and pulled out almost 50 percent of the budget, ignoring the consequences and throwing overboard what wasn’t necessary to getting through the rapid.” MasterTech has navigated calmer waters in recent years thanks to Trade-Serve, a company Duker started in 2011 to help increase efficiencies in a field that Duker says is 75 percent inefficient on a good day. Now MasterTech is performing three times better than similarsized businesses across the nation, according to a peer evaluation from Nexstar Network, a member-owned association of contractors. Some might label this willingness to bring in new ideas and technologies to disrupt an organization as risky, but Duker has never been one to hold back when he can reach new heights. “Because business owners are willing to go through change, people say it’s risky,” Duker says. “But it’s measured risk.” CBT
FUN FACT Russ Duker started kayaking in 2003 after printing off a piece of paper with six photos about how to do a kayak roll. He would go to Finger Lakes State Park to practice — get in, turn upside, get out, pour out water, repeat. "I did that for a whole summer and finally learned how to do a kayak roll just because I wanted to learn how to do it," Duker says. columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 57
HEALTHCARE COLLABORATION The Affordable Care Act has changed how businesses handle insurance, with positive and negative outcomes. But one thing has become clear: from benefits to taxes, DIY healthcare management is a challenge for small businesses. by Brenna Mcdermott
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April Melvin spends most of her day on hold. Eight hours straight is her personal record. As an insurance broker at The Insurance Shop, she works on other accounts while she waits to speak with a customer service agent at the health insurance marketplace, established from the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Melvin’s job is to help clients navigate the ins and outs of health insurance laws, which have changed every year. For small business owners, understanding options for their employees and the legalities surrounding health insurance choices can be a challenge. “It’s a big issue.” “It’s a lot to keep track of.” “I couldn’t do it on my own.” Each person interviewed expressed those sentiments. It’s more difficult for one person alone to stay up to date on healthcare law. As small businesses adjust to changing health insurance regulations, they’re relying more on professional services. In order to manage the increase in regulatory responsibility and obey the law, small businesses are reaching out for help.
‘Business is not ready’ For Anne Williams, president of JobFinders, her company has purchased software to manage health insurance and hire an additional payroll specialist to set up insurance premiums. Beginning in 2015, employers with 100 or more full-time employees needed to provide a group plan under the shared responsibility provision of the ACA. It took JobFinders a year to get ready before selecting a group plan in October 2014, Williams says. After shopping for months for the right plan, she says, “You just have to pull the trigger.” Before changing plans, JobFinders offered a minimal voluntary pay plan for temporary staff. The company has about 350 employees, 80 percent of which are full-time. Williams estimates the premiums have cost the company at least $50,000 this year. Going in to year two of this plan, she does not expect an increase in premium cost. That expense had to be absorbed somewhere, and Williams says some of that was passed on to clients. Larger clients expected it; smaller companies struggled with the increase of three to five cents per hour per employee that JobFinders staffed. But overall, Williams says the increase hasn’t affected her number of clients. And the benefits have improved with the new plan for employees. Some of JobFinders’ temporary staffers have never had insurance before, Williams says. Some of her employees have
declined the insurance, but that doesn’t lessen the amount of paperwork the company has to do. Erin Lent, accounting and administrative manager for the company, says the reporting and auditing required to insurance companies and the government has become more burdensome, especially for temporary staff, as their employment changes so regularly. “I do think it’s great that our employees have the benefits,” Williams says. “We’ve had other plans that weren’t wonderful. They offered a little bit, but it was not good. This is a much better plan.” It’s been a year-long learning process, says Williams. “Business is not ready,” Williams says. “Businesses, overall, are not ready. They don’t know how the reporting is going to go for sure. They are still learning their new systems.”
‘I feel like now I’m in the dark’ Focus on Health Chiropractic co-owner Krista Kippenberger says that last enrollment season her business almost had enough employees to utilize a group plan. The company has 10 employees. But instead, she’s sent each employee to work with an insurance broker to pick out individual plans. Some pay $25 a month, some $50 a month, depending on salary. Prior to ACA regulations making it illegal, Kippenberger was paying a stipend for 50 percent of her employees’ individual insurance premiums. She now increases employee annual pay to cover 50 percent of their insurance costs. Krista and her husband, Dr. Curt Kippenberger, are on an individual plan as well. “It’s been good,” she says. “But mostly I think it’s more of a catastrophic plan, so if you’re a person who goes to the doctor frequently, and you’re on a lot of medicine, I don’t know if it’s the greatest plan for you.” For Focus on Health’s employees, the biggest headache has been communication. One of Kippenberger’s employees signed up for his insurance and didn’t get an insurance card for six months. “He couldn’t go to the doctor because he didn’t have a card. He didn’t feel like he could go to the pharmacy,” Kippenberger says. “That was kind of disheartening.” They may consider a group plan now that they’ve hired more employees, but Kippenberger feels like she needs to think about how it will impact her staff. “[One employee] is a single person and pays like $90 a month,” she says. “So if she was in a group plan with us, she’d probably be pay-
ing $150, $200. She doesn’t want to do that. So I want to look out for my employees to make sure they’re getting the best price. But I know a group plan might cover us better.” She says they rely more heavily now on their CPA, insurance broker and the professionals around them. “I felt like it was pretty straightforward [before]. We took in insurance, I have insurance. I knew most of that. But I feel like now I’m in the dark and that a lot has changed. So I do rely heavily on them.” From a business standpoint, Kippenberger says handling patient insurance has changed. Previously the company had been in network with many insurance carriers – meaning they were a healthcare provider health insurers contracted with to provide health care services. After the ACA went into effect, they realized Focus on Health wasn’t in some networks – nor had they been asked. “When we got payments back, they told us we were out of network. What do you mean we’re out of network, we’re in network with Anthem, so why aren’t we in network with Anthem’s ACA plan?” Because it takes 30 days for insurance to tell the Focus on Health office if they’re going to pay for a patient’s claim, some new patients were being billed for hundreds of dollars, as new patients come several times a week at the beginning of treatment. Some patients left to use other providers that were in network. For now, they’re on waiting lists to get in network. They have been since last summer. They’ve heard from multiple insurance companies that no one else is getting in network right now. They end up referring more patients instead of sticking them with a bill they can’t pay, Kippenberger says. “It is frustrating,” she says. “Especially after they’ve heard good things and they want to try us out. They have insurance, they’re paying for insurance, they should be able to use it where they can or where they want to. “And it’s not for the fact that we don’t want to be in network. It’s that they’ve closed us off. Now if it was my choice to be out of network, that’s a different story. But mid-Missouri people like to use their insurance. They don’t like to pay cash.” Some patients have benefited from improved copays. Kippenberger says some patients, many of whom students and single moms, have a $100 deductible and $3 copays.
‘No benefit to DIY’ Many business owners once provided employees with a stipend to go find an individual plan. columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 59
The fine for providing a stipend is $100 per employee per day. “Employers can certainly wage up the employees to compensate if they choose to,” Melvin says. “But the employers that are providing those insurance premium rebates or kickbacks need to stop doing that.” Melvin says she knows of companies in Missouri still being advised to provide the stipend. It all adds up to spending time and energy trying to figure out the system. A business owner going through the process alone has the potential to be misinformed. The marketplace has customer service representatives, Melvin says, but like any call center, some reps are helpful are more helpful than others. That’s when professional services can help a small business owner navigate complexities of ACA. Melvin says she’s seen people who try to navigate the marketplace independently end up with everything from increased tax plans to purchasing a completely wrong plan. “[Someone] got into some short term medical plan that wasn’t really ACA compliant, ended up paying a lot of money for something that didn’t really cover anything,” Melvin says. “We were able to get him into a fully-funded plan, and it’s been extremely affordable for him. I think he and his wife are covered for maybe $130 a month, and he was paying $600 to $700 [a month].” Melvin’s own uncle shopped the marketplace himself and ended up in a non-compliant plan. “I think people need to understand there’s no benefit to DIY,” Melvin says. “It would be like buying a fence with free installation and then putting it up yourself. You’re already paying the [fee] to work with a broker, regardless of whether you use one or not.” Melvin says ACA has blended the insurance world, tax world and payroll world. And getting a second opinion from a different insurance broker, CPA or payroll company doesn’t hurt, she says. “There is so much coming down the pipeline, and you can’t always stay on top of it. So just because someone tells you it’s fine, it’s not a bad idea to talk to somebody else.” Moresource president Kat Cunningham says post-ACA, emails to her internal staff regarding health insurance are no longer sent to just one department. She copies human resources, payroll and insurance. “We’re having to integrate and disseminate that information to the entire team because it’s impacting everything everybody touches,” Cunningham says. “So if you don’t have an HR professional or you don’t have a team that can 60 \\\ November 2015
work together like that, you’re going to be in a world of hurt.” Lent says she tries to be a resource for JobFinders employees who have questions about their benefits, but she’s grateful to have an insurance broker to put them in contact with. “We’re not expected to know it all,” Lent says. “Which is good, because that is so not our field.”
Getting it right It’s not just about providing health insurance, but providing affordable health insurance, Melvin says. That means businesses must meet requirements that premiums won’t cost more than 9.5 percent of the lowest paid employee’s salary. “It is really costly in certain industries,” Melvin says. “If you’re paying somebody $9 or $10 or $11 an hour, you’re looking at a monthly premium that can’t really exceed about $160 a month. The plans that are out there, it’s hard to find a composite rate that’s even close to that.” And, Melvin says, there are no benefits to sticking with the same provider year after year. Each carrier has filed for increasing rates for next year. There’s no loyalty, she says, and employers have to re-evaluate and shop each year to find the best deal. Moresource insurance and benefits specialist Jenny Mullette says "Misunderstandings can cost big time if people don’t understand what they’re buying. For example, individual seeking health insurance through the Exchange need to be aware that they input their annual wage to apply for an insurance policy. That same individual policy holder needs to update income estimates throughout the year, in order to avoid future penalties." “I don’t think some people technically really understand what 'tax credit' means or 'subsidy' means in terms of utilization,” she says. “It seems oftentimes the individual finds out they can buy a policy and not have to pay very much for it because they qualify for the credits or subsidies, use it as much as they need, because that's what it is there for. However, when it comes time to file income taxes, it's going to be a wake-up call for some of them. Wages reported are sometimes under-reported to gain access to credits and/or subsidies. The truth comes out at tax filing time.”
Tax considerations Cheryl Edington, CPA and firm partner of Baer & Edington, says that, from a business perspective, the ACA regulations have been negative because health insurance costs have gone up. “So either small businesses had to pay the additional premiums or pass it along to their employ-
Health Insurance Terms to know source : healthcare.gov Affordable coverage - Employer coverage is considered affordable if the employee’s share of the annual premium for the lowest priced self-only plan is no greater than 9.56 percent of annual household income. Cost sharing - The share of costs covered by your insurance that you pay out of your own pocket. Generally includes deductibles, coinsurance and copayments, but it doesn't include premiums, balance billing amounts for non-network providers or the cost of non-covered services. Deductible - The amount you owe for covered health care services before your health insurance or plan begins to pay. For example, if your deductible is $1,000, your plan won’t pay anything until you’ve met your $1,000 deductible for covered health care services subject to the deductible. Marketplace - A resource where individuals, families, and small businesses can: learn about their health coverage options; compare health insurance plans based on costs, benefits; choose a plan; and enroll in coverage. In some states, the Marketplace is run by the state. In others it is run by the federal government. Grandfathered health plan - A group health plan that was created on or before March 23, 2010. Grandfathered plans are exempted from many changes required under the Affordable Care Act. Plans or policies may lose their “grandfathered” status if they make certain significant changes that reduce benefits or increase costs to consumers. Group health plan - In general, a health plan offered by an employer or employee organization that provides health coverage to employees and their families. Individual health insurance policy - Policies for people that aren't connected to job-based coverage. Individual health insurance policies are regulated under state law. Open enrollment period - The yearly period when people can enroll in a health insurance plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace. For 2016 coverage, the Open Enrollment Period is November 1, 2015 – January 31, 2016. Premium - The amount that must be paid for your health insurance or plan. You and/or your employer usually pay it monthly, quarterly or yearly. Self-insured plan - Type of plan usually present in larger companies where the employer itself collects premiums from enrollees and takes on the responsibility of paying employees’ and dependents’ medical claims.
ees,” Edington says. “So I’m seeing businesses who used to be able to pay 100 percent or 80 percent of their employees health insurance costs, now they pay 50 percent or had to drop employersponsored plans because the cost is too high.” Another down side for small businesses, Edington says, is many with under 50 employees qualified for a tax credit for paying for 50 percent or more of health insurance for employees. The credit is available for businesses with no more than 25 employees and average wages no more than $50,000 who were paying 50 percent of employee premiums. From 2010-2013, she saw many clients qualify for the tax credit. Starting in 2014, employer health insurance had to be purchased through the marketplace to qualify for the tax credit and none of her clients qualified, since they kept their old plans. Edington says most of her clients fall under 50 full-time equivalents and so are not mandated to provide health insurance for their employees. For those businesses, the biggest changes have been an increase in premiums, but most of those plans have been grandfathered in for now. Now small business employers must also add health insurance to W2 forms at the end of the year. She says when preparing tax returns she and her associates have additional requirements to ask individuals questions about health insurance to determine if penalties should be calculated on their return. They have to ask if the person has health insurance, if they purchased it, it if it was purchased by an employer or through the marketplace and if they received subsidies through the marketplace. Because of this new reporting, Edington says it’s possible they are considering taxing health insurance benefits as a revenue raiser down the road. Right now that is not the case. “But in the back of my mind I wonder down the road, is that something they’re considering for a revenue raiser: potentially taxing everyone’s health insurance? Right now, it’s not.” Edington says she advises small businesses to watch cash flow when providing group insurance for employees. That may mean passing on the cost of health insurance to employees or increasing product costs.
Changes Melvin says businesses under 50 employees who have never offered insurance before probably won’t offer health insurance in the future. Instead, many businesses offer an avenue for employees to get an individual policy through an insurance broker.
“Especially once that transitional relief goes away, and in companies that are never going to see 50 or more employees, the rates on these ACA compliant plans are so high that, in a lot of instances, it doesn’t make sense,” Melvin says. She works with the employees one-on-one to understand if the marketplace is the best place to go and to help them navigate the system. Melvin thinks that more companies will start to eliminate group plans.
“I think people need to understand there’s no benefit to DIY. It would be like buying a fence with free installation and then putting it up yourself." “I do think that employers will start to get more creative on their benefits package but then again, the industries that need health insurance, like our company, are always going to offer health insurance to our employees,” Melvin says. “We need that to attract and retain good employees.” Cunningham says the expense and the time put into navigating the system and reporting requirements are not encouraging for small business owners to pursue health insurance. She has heard consultants reporting time for the required paperwork completion can be up to 4 and 5 hours per employee. Payroll companies have the software that speeds up the process, but companies doing payroll in-house will struggle with the time commitment. Between the tax credits and subsidies individuals can receive through the marketplace and the costs of premiums on a business owner, Mullette says she thinks more small businesses will do away with providing group plans. It would allow individual employees to purchase a plan, poten-
tially pay a lower premium, and be able to take advantage of lower deductibles and lower out of pocket expenses. But individuals need to know that if there is a group plan available through the employer, and they don't participate, it could often times affect the subsidy amounts.
Alternative Benefits Some companies are using alternative benefits, such as retirement plans and ancillary benefits, a secondary health insurance that covers hospital stay expenses. Partially self funded plans are gaining popularity, Melvin says. It’s a high-deductible plan, noncommunity rated, meaning gender is taken into account, which has an impact on male-dominated industries. The healthier the group, the better the rates. Melvin says for the right group, they’re less expensive than ACA compliant fully funded plans. Whatever is left in the claims account goes back to the group. It gives the employer the ability to gamble that employees are going to be healthy. Edington says she sees self-funded plans gaining popularity for businesses with young, healthy employees as a way to keep costs down. But if something major happens, premiums could go way up. She says several businesses she works with have received insurance refunds back because there were so few claims. Some businesses are incentivizing healthy lifestyles, Cunningham says, with wellness programs. Business will pay for more of the premium for employees with no tobacco usage or low cholesterol.
Looking Ahead Next up, Melvin says, employers should be aware of the Cadillac Tax, an excise tax on highcost, employer-sponsored health insurance, according to the IRS. “Basically, if you’re providing insurance that’s too good, too expensive, even if it meets the safe harbor requirements for your employees, you could still get a Cadillac tax,” Melvin says. Businesses with 50 full-time equivalents need to be shopping for their plans, and in 2016 businesses with 50 or more full-time employees will be penalized if they don't offer health insurance. “They need to be looking, they need to be shopping, and really by the time this [article] comes out, they really need to figure out what they’re going to do,” Melvin says. “Because November is going to be a crazy time to find a plan.” CBT columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 61
thinkstock.com 62 \\\ November 2015
It’s rare to stay with one organization throughout the course of a career. Carol Heim, Jim Stock and Phyllis Grant have each worked for their organizations for 31 to 45 years. During that time, they’ve seen changes in landscape, technology and company size. They have grown and advanced alongside their companies. But what hasn’t changed — and what has caused them to stay — is a passion for the people and culture of their organizations. BY Nicole Flood
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T en u r ed Ta l e nt
phyllis grant
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y e a rs Columbia college Photo by Anthony Jinson
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hyllis Grant’s name is widely known on the all difficult subjects — I want someone to feel that they can come talk to me about those Columbia College campus. Having been kinds of questions.” with the college since 1984, she is a welcoming smile who has worked for many departments In this role, Grant works with two colleagues during the course of her career. processing a biweekly payroll and two adjunct payrolls. There are 1,049 biweekly employGrant started working for Columbia College as the campus visitor coordinator in Novemees, which include faculty, staff and students. There are 836 adjuncts, paid ber 1984. Since then, she monthly, which include has worked as an adminonline, nationwide and istrative assistant and "I would love to evening campuses. Grant’s director of student actividepartment is also responties in the student affairs stay here until I department and worked as retire and I would sible for paying taxes, filing administrative assistant and quarterly reports and producbe very, very accounts payable coordinaing W-2 forms annually. tor in the adult higher edu“There have been a lot proud to say that of changes over the years,” cation department. In July I retired from the Grant says. “I’ve worked 1999, Grant joined the payplace where I began for four presidents. I would roll department, and she was my career." have to say the biggest promoted to payroll manchange is the growth of ager a year later. the college, not only in the “The position I’m curnumber of employees, but rently in as the payroll also in the landscape. In my years, I feel like we manager is where I feel most fulfilled in my have really grown physically.” entire career,” says Grant. “I feel like I can help people. I like working with people that Columbia College now has 36 campuses in might find it hard to talk about the situa13 states, and the day campus, in Columbia, has grown to 72 full-time faculty members. Student tions they’re currently in. Whether it be their enrollment has also grown over this time. Grant taxes, retirement, garnishments — those are 64 \\\ November 2015
was at Columbia College when the online campus was created, a huge undertaking for the school. “The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that you have to be open and willing to change … everything changes all the time, which is great,” Grant says. “It means that things are moving forward and improving.” Columbia College employees have the ability to take courses and complete their bachelor’s degree at no cost. In 1990, Grant received her Bachelor of Science in business administration by taking evening courses. “I just love Columbia College and the employees. I completed my bachelor’s degree and just never left. I cannot tell you the passion I feel for Columbia College,” she says. Grant is also involved in several extracurricular activities with the college. She works with the school’s Relay for Life team, which has been the highest generating team in Boone County for several years. Grant also serves on the sustainability committee, and she was instrumental in starting the campus’s recycling movement. With 31 years of service already done, Grant plans to stick around. “I would love to stay here until I retire, and I would be very, very proud to say that I retired from the place where I began my career.”
Ten u r ed Ta l en t
jim stock
40 y e a rs L a n dma r k Ba n k Photo by Anthony Jinson
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im Stock is a career banker. He started with Landmark Bank just over 40 years ago, when the bank was much smaller. Throughout his career, he has either worked in or managed every department in the bank. Stock went to college at the University of Central Missouri. After graduating, he went into the Army and served in the finance corps as a disbursing officer. Stock then came to Landmark Bank (then called First National Bank) to manage the Garth Avenue location, as the bank had added a new location downtown. Today, Stock is senior vice president and head of enterprise risk management. “We were doing a lot of things to manage risk all across the organization, but this whole idea of enterprise risk management was to bring that together under one management function and to better coordinate what we were doing,” Stock says. When discussions about creating this new department began, Stock was considering retirement. Instead, he agreed to give up his role in operations and technologies to oversee the new risk management operation. Stock finds this function fulfilling because it’s integral in evaluating and managing risk in all areas of the organization. But Stock says it’s more about the people than any job function. “I can look back on a number of people that I was either involved in hiring or
training or mentoring to help them develop and become successful employees, managers and, in some cases, senior managers of the organization,” Stock says. “And so over time, that’s certainly been the most fulfilling — to see those people develop.” Stock has seen changes throughout his time at the bank. The Landrum family owns the largest percentage of the organization, and during the past 40 years, the eight banks they own have merged. The bank became known as Landmark Bank in 2009, after the merger of the final three banks, in Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. When Stock started, the Columbia bank had $37 million in total assets and 50 employees. Today, after all the banks merged, the total assets are $2.3 billion, with roughly 700 employees combined. Stock has also seen big changes in technology, which has helped serve customers in a changing industry. “Over that 40 years, we went from no computers to computers on every desk today,” Stock says. “We went from a banking environment with a fairly minimal amount of regulation to just an incredible, overly burdensome amount of regulations today.” Throughout his career, Stock learned three big lessons: patience, listening and appreciation. “I’ve really tried to be, along with being patient, a better listener, and I’ve tried to get more people actively engaged. It certainly helps in their
development and you get more ideas out on the table,” Stock says. “People respond much better to appreciation and positive feedback, and that applies whether it’s at work or at home — just be more appreciative.” Stock has been able to progress in responsibilities and authority over the course of his career. “If you feel like you’re making a contribution, you’re recognized for that, you have the opportunity for more responsibilities and you’re advancing in your career. If all of that is going fine, and if there’s the right kind of culture and the right kind of people that you work with and you have a good boss, then you want to stay there. And that’s been the case for me.” Stock says that his three pieces of career advice would be to develop a career plan, ask questions and be flexible. “Sometimes you’ll get thrown a curve that may be a problem, but sometimes you may be thrown something that you didn’t really realize would be such an opportunity to try something new, to work with some different people,” he adds. Employees need to sit down and think about how their goals align with the organization, which is why a career plan is key. “If I was going to give advice to someone about their career, it wouldn’t necessarily be to stay at the same place for 40 years,” Stock says. “I don’t know if that’s the right thing for most people, but it worked out for me.” columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 65
T en u r ed Ta l e nt
Carol Heim
45 y e a rs S helter I nsu rance Photo by Anthony Jinson
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arol Heim has worked for Shelter Insurance for 45 years, starting as a typist and moving her way up to advertising supervisor. Heim handles various things, including compliance, software maintenance, advertising and branding. When Heim started at Shelter in 1970, four other young women started alongside her. Of the women hired that summer, Heim and three others still work at Shelter, having advanced in different areas of the company throughout the years. “As one of the group remarked, we walked in these doors 45 years ago as strangers, we became friends quickly and have remained friends throughout the years,” Heim says. “We now know each other's family members, celebrate milestone events together and support each other through tough times.” Heim started as a typist in the Word Processing Center and was then promoted to a typesetter. In 1983, she transferred to the marketing department as a sales promotion assistant. Heim was promoted to advertising supervisor in 1997. “We manage the co-op program for the Shelter agents,” Heim says. “There’s roughly 1,300 agents and they can do any type of advertising: radio, newspaper, TV, Internet, billboards — we work with them on whatever type they want to do.” Insurance is a highly regulated industry, and Heim handles all compliance elements and helps protect the brand for all of the advertising tem66 \\\ November 2015
plates. She also oversees all advertising forms and the proprietary computer software program. In her work, Heim can go from designing an ad to working in a database. Heim finds the most fulfillment in assisting Shelter agents with their advertising programs. “It's always rewarding to talk through advertising strategies with an agent and help them develop an affordable marketing plan to promote the agency and Shelter,” Heim says.
"Look beyond the paycheck and look at the benefits and stability of the company. The amount you’ll make is the big hook, but the character of the company is also important. Ask yourself: is this somewhere you can proudly say you work?" Throughout her 45 years at Shelter Insurance, Heim says the most dramatic changes stem from technology advancements. “In the early ’70s, every transaction was completed and recorded
with paper copies — no email, no faxes, no electronic fund transfers, no FTP sites,” says Heim. “That’s the big thing: how fast you can communicate with clients and agents.” Heim says the most valuable lessons she has learned over the course of her career involve taking time to step back and analyze before rushing in. “Never react until you've taken time to investigate the entire situation. There are always two sides to a situation. Many times, people simply want someone to listen and acknowledge their feelings.” “I've enjoyed the time I've spent at Shelter,” Heim says. “What makes Shelter a great place to work is the people. Everyone is devoted to customer service, whether your customer is an insured, a claimant, a vendor or a co-worker.” Heim offers this advice to those starting out or thinking of switching careers: “Look beyond the paycheck and look at the benefits and stability of the company. The amount you’ll make is the big hook, but the character of the company is also important. Ask yourself: is this somewhere you can proudly say you work?” This mentality is part of what makes Heim a valued employee at Shelter and one who has received numerous staff awards during her tenure. She works hard to do a thorough job and doesn’t rush things — so the end results are always something she is proud of. CBT
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68 \\\ November 2015
Keeping cool when your world is falling apart. BY Beth Bramstedt columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 69
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The day is progressing like any other: meetings with staff, lunch with a client, emails to return and paperwork to complete. You’re busy with activities for the fall, tying up year-end projects and planning for new initiatives. Then the phone rings. You answer casually, only to feel your heart race and your blood pressure rise. Something unexpected has happened — sending your company into crisis. A wave of panic shoots through your veins. After your body recovers from the initial shock, your brain shifts into overdrive with a list of questions to ask and actions to take. You know time is critical and communication necessary, but where do you begin?
Defining Crisis Crisis is a negative incident or event that impacts an organization, outside the scope of normal operations or decision-making processes, and usually requires immediate action. Jonathan Bernstein, president of a leading crisis management firm in Monrovia, California, describes crisis as “any situation that is threatening or could threaten to harm people or property, seriously interrupt business, significantly damage reputation, or negatively impact the bottom line.” Crisis can come from any direction and in many forms. Outside sources, like a fire, theft or lawsuit, can wreak havoc on a business. Internal threats like the illness or death of an executive; embezzlement of funds; or any other immoral, unethical or illegal activity can damage an organization for years. Today, an emergency can even originate from inside your computer or walk through your front door wielding a gun. The threats are limitless, yet very real.
Experiencing Calamity “Crisis communication happens nearly every day for us,” shares Michelle Baumstark, community relations director for Columbia Public Schools, “mostly because we are a large district with lots of moving parts.” Baumstark recalls a situation from last school year when a teacher observed a suspicious individual, whom she believed was carrying a gun, in the parking lot. The teacher dialed 911 while walking to the principal’s office, and the situation resulted in a full lockdown. Law enforcement was on the scene within minutes, and the district’s safety and security directors arrived to secure the building and direct parents. “It happened right at the end of school,” Baumstark remembers, “so we weren’t going to let kids out until the threat was diminished.” The district used their text alert system to notify parents and later sent a follow-up email with details. The incident was fully resolved within a few hours. For some crisis situations, however, the outcome cannot be resolved as quickly or easily. Michele Stafford, a former payroll specialist for a local accounting firm, experienced crisis up close and personal last November, when her boss was arrested. He then died, in his home, less than a month later. After news of the emergency broke, Stafford found herself in a state of disbelief, and she describes the situation as “devastating.” The memory 70 \\\ November 2015
of reporters standing outside the office door and snapping pictures of the building is still etched in the recesses of her mind. According to Stafford, the events that unfolded in just few short weeks led to the loss of significant business for the firm, with Stafford and five others eventually losing their jobs due to the financial strain. When thinking about defining success in the midst of crisis, Baumstark, who has worked in her position for 10 years, asks herself “Is there a resolution to this particular situation?” She describes the ultimate resolution for crisis as one where those involved are safe, have been communicated with and have trust in the staff and organization. “Regardless of the outcome,” Baumstark says, “we want those involved to feel like we did everything we could.”
Preparing for Emergency As a business owner and leader, you may not be able to keep a calamity from impacting your business, but you can plan ahead. “Once the crisis happens,” shares Bob Klausmeyer, director of campus safety and custodial services for Columbia College, “it’s too late to prepare.” Columbia College created a crisis response plan following a recommendation from the Missouri Campus Security Task Force assembled by Gov. Matt Blunt in 2007. Blunt charged the 29-person task force with providing recommendations for campus safety in light of the Virginia Tech shooting, which left 32 students and faculty dead in April of the same year. Klausmeyer now administrates the plan for the college and leads the crisis response team charged with revising and implementing the initiative. The group meets every two weeks and includes representatives from departments that would be involved in an actual crisis. “Our plan is pretty general, since you can’t predict the specifics of a crisis,” Klausmeyer says, “but the responsibility of each department is identified in the plan.”
During meetings of the Missouri Campus Security Task Force, it was noted that 86 percent of Missouri higher education institutions had developed an all-hazard emergency plan. The same survey acknowledged, however, that 92 percent of colleges identified emergency notification and communication as the greatest challenge they faced in implementing the plan.
For smaller organizations without the need or resources for creating a formal plan, Klausmeyer suggests three simple tips for planning ahead:
• Identify key players. Klausmeyer recommends deciding who would best represent your organization in planning for crisis and asking them to participate. For Columbia College, the key players include staff from public relations, plant facilities and operations, student affairs and information services.
• Meet together regularly. Klausmeyer admits that keeping an organization safe is a lot of labor for one person. He encourages organizations to create a team and spend time brainstorming.
• List sources of crisis. Once you’ve gathered the key players, Klausmeyer suggests evaluating potential threats. Once you’ve got a working list, assemble a proposed response to each risk. Baumstark says that crisis management is a combination of both planning and training. “Those involved need to know what to do, but also how to do it,” she explains. “The practice is as important as having the plan.” She credits much of the success in crisis scenarios, like the one last school year, to teachers, administrators and students having rehearsed similar situations before they actually happen.
Communicating Externally Once you have a plan, it’s time to turn your attention to communication. During meetings of the Missouri Campus Security Task Force, it was noted that 86 percent of Missouri higher education institutions had developed an all-hazard emergency plan. The same survey acknowledged, however, that 92 percent of colleges identified emergency notification and communication as the greatest challenge they faced in implementing the plan (See sidebar for tips on effective crisis communication). Sam Fleury, assistant director of public relations for Columbia College, and his team are involved with communication once a crisis has been determined. Believing that social media is the most effective way to communicate to their audiences during a crisis, the social media manager for the college sits on the crisis response team. The school would use the Cougar Alert System, the school website and social media outlets to disperse information to faculty and students if needed. Fleury remains grateful that Columbia College has not had to initiate their crisis response plan in recent years, but he believes their reaction to severe weather conditions has given them a working model. “We have a clear decision-maker for these types of situations and a clear communication structure,” Fleury says. Fleury agrees with Klausmeyer that gathering your trusted advisors and thinking through crisis scenarios are the most important steps in
10 effective TIPS FOR
crisis communication It’s go time. Your company is facing an emergency and it’s about to go public. Rather than panic, grab this quick reference list off your bulletin board and proceed with confidence. Any one of these 10 crisis communication strategies, compiled from experts locally and across the nation, might just save your organization’s reputation and your bottom line.
1 D o n ’ t b u r y b a d n e ws . I t w i l l g e t o u t e ve n t u a l l y. 2 Re s p o n d i n a t i m e l y m a n n e r. 3 B e q u i c k , fa ct u a l a n d a vo i d speculation. 4 N e ve r s a y “ N o co m m e n t .” I t i m p l i e s g u i l t o r a p a t h y. 5 A d d re s s yo u r a u d i e n ce ’s m o st p re s s i n g co n ce r n s 6 Ex p re s s e m p a t h y a n d co n ce r n w h e n v i ct i m s a re i n vo l ve d . 7 S e l e ct a s p o ke s p e rs o n to re p re s e n t t h e o rg a n i z a t i o n t h ro u g h o u t t h e p ro ce s s . 8 D i re ct a l l co m m u n i ca t i o n s t h ro u g h o n e c h a n n e l . 9 C o n s i d e r a v i d e o re s p o n s e by t h e p r i m a r y s p o ke s p e rs o n to g i ve a m o re h u m a n to u c h . 10 Plan to suffer in the short-term in
order to succeed in the long-term.
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preparing for a crisis. He encourages business leaders to incorporate these three principles when facing an emergency:
• REMAIN CALM. Keep your cool and look at the situation you’re facing from every possible angle.
• BE QUICK, BUT DON'T HURRY. You want to respond in a timely manner, but you also want to be prepared.
• HAVE CLEAR MESSAGE POINTS READY. Draft several and keep pivoting back to them.
With more than 18,300 students enrolled in the school district, Baumstark agrees that you don’t have time to panic when a crisis arises. “The first 30 minutes are the most important,” Baumstark says. “They will make or break the situation and help you manage the emergency as it develops.” The first half-hour should include quickly assessing the situation, jumpstarting communication and gathering needed information. Once those tasks are covered, move on to resolving the situation and providing additional communication. “The decompression comes later,” says Baumstark. “But first you need to prioritize, make quick decisions and be ready to communicate.”
"When it comes to internal communication, I often see businesses taking the laissezfaire, wait-and-see approach. This is a huge mistake, one that opens the door to misinformation, rumor and innuendo – all of which pose significant harm to a brand."
Communicating Internally In addition to dealing with the general public and media during an emergency, it is critical to lead your staff through the process. A 2010 survey conducted by Towers Watson, an international HR and risk management firm, showed that companies communicating with courage, innovation and discipline during times of challenge and change are more effective at engaging employees and achieving the business results they desire. Stafford clearly remembers her boss’s response to the crisis he and the business faced. “The day after his arrest, he pulled in the staff and gave us details,” she says. “I have to commend the man: he was very open. He genuinely cared about us.” Stafford says he continued to keep the team informed and was around the office until his death. After his death, Stafford’s experience changed. “Once he passed away, there were lots of closed doors and people coming and going,” 72 \\\ November 2015
she recalls. “There were lots of unknowns. The quiet, secrets and whispering created anxiety and fear.” The company has since been acquired, and it’s now part of the local firm Gibson & Company PC. Brent Gibson admits it was a very difficult tax season for the staff. “They are here now, however, working with our local firm,” he adds, “taking care of their clients and very optimistic about the future.” To help guide employees through times of uncertainty and change, here are three key tips:
• KEEP YOUR TEAM INFORMED. If there’s a situation affecting your company, you owe it to your staff to explain the situation before they hear it from an outside source. “When it comes to internal communication, I often see businesses taking the laissez-faire, wait-and-see approach,” says Jennifer Connelly, founder and CEO of JCPR, a public relations firm based in New York. “This is a huge mistake, one that opens the door to misinformation, rumor and innuendo – all of which pose significant harm to a brand.” Connelly says it is critical for companies to communicate openly and to be the source of news for their workers and stakeholders.
• DON'T RELY ON EMAIL. When you have a crucial message to send your team, don’t rely on email as your primary — or only — form of communication. According to Phil Simon, author of “Message Not Received,” the average person receives 120 to 150 emails each day. He notes that employees can become overwhelmed by the amount of information they’re required to process through their inboxes and can easily misplace, delete or not even see a critical message.
• INVEST IN MANAGERS. In times of crisis or change, your managers make up a unique audience that is perfectly positioned to help facilitate communication within your staff. According to the 2010 Towers Watson survey, the most financially successful companies invest in leaders and managers by offering additional training and information on how to communicate with their employees in a crisis.
Responding Confidently You set the phone down and take a deep breath, a sense of relief passing through your body. The adrenaline begins to fade and is replaced with a sense of peace. It’s going to be all right. After all, you’ve planned for this. You’re as prepared as you could possibly be for the storm that’s coming. You reach over your desk and grab the file marked “crisis communication plan.” As you review the notes, you’re reminded of the work your team has completed preparing for this moment. Confident about next steps, it’s time to assemble the key staff and assess the situation. You walk out of your office to face crisis head on. CBT
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›› Access Arts
Creativity For All
Access Arts educates everyone from students to retirees. BY Chris Danforth | photos by Ben Meldrum Initially known as the School of Service, Access Arts was founded by local architect Hurst John. As the father of a son with cerebral palsy, John observed how the rest of his family would benefit from their interactions with his son, who enjoyed art. In 1971, he developed what would become Access Arts, which gained its 501(c)3 status in 1973. John founded Access Arts to be “an atmosphere of inclusion,” according to executive director Shawna Johnson. That ideal has driven Access Arts for the past 44 years. “We believe that it’s important for everyone to have access to art and art education,” says Sarah Catlin, the newest member of Access Arts board of directors. “It’s in the name — Access Arts!” Access Arts has grown up since 1971. Initially meeting once a week, in the basement of
their office, Access Arts has expanded to offering year-round classes on their three-building campus. Classes include 3-D art, such as jewelry making and weaving; graphic art, like drawing and painting; and clay art. Now serving an average of 800 artists annually, the students come primarily from Columbia and surrounding cities. Johnson did note, however, that they had a pair of students from Kansas City, who came to take a weaving class that they were unable to find in their hometown. “We have great facilities,” says artist-in-residence Patrick Hutti. “We’re able to offer a lot of choices that some high schools might not.” Access Arts is also involved with community children’s programs. Last summer, Access Arts partnered with Boys and Girls Club of Columbia to let their kids experience a collaborative art
project. “We did a collaborative piece at the Boys and Girls, where we found out people’s strengths and we moved people around a lot,” Hutti says. For this project, the students worked together to create a number of clay vessels, which will eventually be placed in one of Access Arts community partners’ facilities. “Everybody was able to learn something about themselves,” Hutti says. While Access Arts is well known for its youth classes, it also offers a number of courses for adults and students. “We have a significant part of the student body that’s older,” Johnson says, “people who have empty houses for the first time, or who used to be artists, or who wanted to be artists and never had the time.” These artists are often veterans. Hutti, who became an artist-in-residence in July, works closely with the VA as part of his community
Jenny Sennott "My proudest moment has been watching one of my special needs students blossom from a hesitant beginner to a confident, accomplished weaver."
Patrick Hutti "My proudest moments are when I see the joy my students have from making art."
Shawna Johnson "Art education is so vital to a person’s development. This organization continues to make it possible for everyone to be creative. I like knowing that my efforts are part of that."
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➜ 1724 McAlester Street Columbia, MO 65201 573-875-0275
outreach. He wants to provide veterans with opportunities to utilize Access Arts resources and teachers. “Oftentimes it’s not just talent,” Hutti says. “It’s having the right tool, or the right instruction, and bridging the gap over that initial fear — the ‘I can’t make art’ fear — and when they see that it’s just having the right tool, or the right technique, it becomes accessible.” Empty-nesters make up another significant portion of Access Arts artists. “We have one student who’s almost 80,” Johnson remarks. “Once the kids leave the house, people find they have time to pursue art.” As Access Arts engages the community through art and teaching, they also rely on the community financially. Their funding comes from benefactors such as the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Boone County Community Trust, Boone Electric Community Trust and the Missouri Arts Council. They also depend on community fundraisers through local businesses, like Lucky’s Market and Bluestem Missouri Crafts. These local efforts help to raise both money and awareness for Access Arts. Access Arts also benefits from its artist-inresidence program, Johnson says. A mutually beneficial relationship, Access Arts is able to
offer newly graduated artists materials and facilities so they can continue to make art and grow their portfolio. In return, Access Arts is able to offer their students skilled teachers from outside Columbia who are able to bring different skills to the program. When asked about the future, Catlin gets excited. “We want to offer more programs to more people, obviously,” Catlin says. “We have the ability to grow, and the facilities to
grow. We do a great job with kids and with adults, but we tend to lose students in their teenage years.” Johnson agrees, noting that adding more students would allow them to add more programs. When it comes to teenagers in the program, Hutti wants to see them use Access Arts to further their dreams as artists. “We have the ability to bridge the gap between college and high school. Not just that they’d get into college, but that they’d get scholarships.” Hutti says, noting that high school students are also able to receive guidance and mentorship from the artists-in-residence. This guidance can often be the difference between getting into an art school and “getting into a top art school and having a career as an artist,” Hutti says. As for teaching students whose college years are behind them, Hutti enjoys taking the “stress out of people’s life for three hours out of the week.” Helping people develop new artistic skills while learning about themselves is something Hutti believes in, and it’s been Access Arts’ mission since 1971. CBT
Doris C. Agwu "From individuals with special needs to our beloved veterans, Access Arts strives to create wonderful experiences for any and everyone."
Sherry Wohlgemuth "I took a class years ago and loved it. Life got busy, but then I got my kids involved in classes years later, and it just seemed like a good fit. I believe in the mission, and that makes it easy to be involved."
Sarah Catlin "I wish everyone knew how fabulous our teachers and visiting artists are and that anyone can enjoy making art. We have something for everyone."
"Oftentimes it’s not just talent. It’s having the right tool, or the right instruction, and bridging the gap over that initial fear – the ‘I can’t make art’ fear – and when they see that it’s just having the right tool, or the right technique, it becomes accessible." - Patrick Hutti, artist-in-residence
columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 75
Steve Sowers, Valerie Shaw, Teresa Maledy, Lyle Johnson xx Photo by Anthony Jinson 76 \\\ November 2015
celebrations
➜ 901 E. Broadway Columbia Mo. 65201 800-453-2265
›› Commerce Bank
Off to a Good Start
Commerce Bank celebrates 150 years in business. Teresa Maledy didn’t bank on a career in banking. Yet 35 years later, as the CEO and president of the Commerce Bank Central Missouri region, Maledy has a zeal for the company, celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. “I’ve had so many opportunities within Commerce, whether it was working in St. Louis or Kansas City or back here in Columbia, my hometown,” Maledy says. “And I felt that this organization values the can-do attitude. They’re very customer-centric, so that fits well with what I enjoy doing. They’re very supportive of their employees as well as trying to provide really good solutions to our customers. So I am very fortunate that I matched up with Commerce, because it fits me.” Commerce Bank began as the Kansas City Savings Association, founded with $10,000 in 1865 by Francis Long. In 1881, Dr. William S. Woods purchased the bank and changed the name to Bank of Commerce. The company was taken over by the Kemper family in the 1920s, and the Kempers still lead the company today. “Many times, when I’m talking to people about Commerce and having been with the company so long, I say we’re unique in that we’re publicly traded, but we’re family-led,” Maledy says. “And we’re now in the sixth generation of family leadership. We’ve had incredible stability and we’re very forward thinking and we invest longterm in the company.” Maledy remembers James Kemper Jr., who served as company president when she joined Commerce Bank. “He had a really strong belief that we would acquire banks that were very similar in culture to Commerce and then give local managers quite a great deal of autonomy, and then we would invest in those communities,” Maledy says. “The philosophy, what we call it internally, is a ‘super community bank’ philosophy, and that’s what we still follow today. We’re all locally driven and we really try to reflect the communities we serve.”
The company is still family-led today, with David Kemper serving as chairman and CEO since 1991. “I think they understand the banking industry, but they’re also able to pay attention to what’s on the horizon and understand how our bank might be able to leverage technology or other innovations to better serve our customers,” Maledy says. “Internally, we think about there being three tenets: strength, community and innovation. And I think financial strength comes about because we are able to take that long-term view and build lasting relationships with our customers.” The Columbia bank reflects the community, Maledy says, with many student customers and major industries, like higher education, health care and insurance, as clients. The company has grown to 195 branches in five states. Maledy has served as president and CEO for the Central Missouri region, which includes Columbia, Moberly, Mexico, California and Tipton, since 2002. Today, the region holds $805 million in deposits, has 11 full-service branches and 24 ATMs. The Columbia market makes up $543 million of those deposits, seven full service branches and 16 ATMs. The Central Missouri region employs 175 people; Columbia makes up 129 of that total. To commemorate the sesquicentennial, the bank is celebrating with “150 Acts of Commerce,” ways that employees can serve organizations in the bank’s communities. In Columbia, the company has provided lunches at Douglass Park for Lunch in the Park free lunch program for children and partnered with Youth Empowerment Zone to provide vouchers for clothing and athletic shoes for 100 kids in the community. Looking at the bank’s local achievements, Maledy is proud of the trust department established in Columbia. “We saw our market was very significant and warranted a trust team locally,” Maledy says. “So just seeing that take hold and the
By Brenna McDermott strength of our team here, and the way private banking, trust services and brokerage are growing, is very gratifying. So looking forward, I’d like to see that continue.” Looking forward, Maledy anticipates more technology developments with mobile banking, accounts payable automation and remote deposit. Maledy says one of the bank’s recent anniversary advertisements resonated with her. It read, “We’re off to a good start.” “I think that’s so appropriate, because I can really see Commerce Bank going forward for another 150 years, easily.” CBT
Timeline 1865 › Kansas City Savings Association is organized with $10,000 in capital. 1881 › Dr. William S. Woods buys control of the bank; name changes to Bank of Commerce. 1921 › W.T. Kemper becomes chairman of Commerce Trust. 1938 › W.T. Kemper dies. James Kemper Sr. becomes chairman of the board. 1966 › Commerce Bank organizes bank holding company Commerce Bancshares. In 1967, it starts acquiring banks in Missouri. 1969 › Commerce enters Columbia market after acquiring Columbia National Bank. 1971 › Commerce Trust Company changes name to Commerce Bank NA. Commerce Bancshares begins publicly trading on NASDAQ. Assets pass $1 billion. 1979 › Commerce installs its first ATM, located in Springfield, Missouri. 2015 › Commerce Bank commemorates 150th anniversary, has $24 billion in assets, operates more than 190 branches and employs more than 4,800 people. columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 77
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technology
›› Brant Uptergrove reviews the latest trends in tech
Getting spam a lot? Recently at Midwest Computech, we are seeing an increase in spam emails that are meant to trick the recipient into clicking on an attachment or a link in the email. These emails have been directly tied to viruses. Most of the time, these types of emails are not dangerous to your network if you don’t open the attachments or click on the links. Just make sure you delete the email. One good rule of thumb is to never open an attachment or click on a link if you were not expecting an email from the sender. If an email looks suspicious, it likely is. If someone you know sends you an email that you are not expecting, take the time to ask the person if they meant to send it. This can save hours of downtime while computers and network files are being restored after a damaging virus. A few examples of these types of emails are highlighted below, along with some tips for determining if an email is safe or not. Email Type 1: One of the more popular spam emails going around has a subject line that says “My resume” and a body that says something similar to this example: Illustration by Tifani Carter
One key thing that should stick out is the incorrect grammar. A lot of spam is generated from other countries. Please take the time to read through an entire email before clicking on a link or an attachment. Email Type 2: Another example we are seeing a lot is emails that have the Unsubscribe Here link at the top of the message. Most of the time, it’s normal to click on unsubscribe links. What is different about these emails is the position of the link.
Spammers put these links at the very top of the email. The malicious sender, wanting you to click the link, tricks you into thinking you can easily get rid of any future emails from them. In reality, it’s a link that goes out and downloads viruses. Legitimate unsubscribe links are located in the footer of emails, near the disclaimer section. The body of these emails, which offer things such as $100 gift cards, free weight loss supplements and even free trips, also have links trying to get
b r a n t up t e rg rov e
people to click on them to receive their freebies. Let’s be honest: nothing out there is actually free. Email Type 3: A third example is an email that is asks people to re-confirm their account. Recently, this kind of spam appears to be coming from Intuit, the maker of Quickbooks software. The subject line will say something like “URGENT: Confirm your account” or “Re-confirm your account.” The body of the email will be similar to the following:
Here are five takeaways to help protect your computer from spam. 1. If the email looks suspicious, it probably is. 2. If the email is completely off topic or different from your normal communication with a person, then the email is likely fake. If you are not expecting an email from someone, then ask the sender before you click on any links or open any attachments. 3. If the grammar is not correct, do not open it. 4. Make sure your anti-virus and anti-malware software is up to date. 5. Forward any suspicious emails to your IT department or IT consultant to investigate. Delete the message from your inbox and block the sender. CBT
➜ accou n t ma n age r at midwest com p utech columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 79
inside the LINES
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sales strategy
›› Tron Jordheim talks business trends and the art of selling
Taking the Risk Out of Selling Selling is a risky affair. What if people don’t buy from you? What if they don’t like what they buy? What if the costs of doing business outpace the revenue coming in? I can’t alleviate all your worries, but I can give you three strategies to take some of the risk out of selling.
1. Reach out to one more prospect. At the end of the day or the end of a trade show, reach out to just one more prospect. When it is quitting time, try one more phone call, send one more email or knock on one more door. Do that every day and you’re contacting 20 additional prospects per month. Whatever the closing ratios are in your business, and whatever the average lifetime value is for your business, 20 more prospects a month can generate a good return. One big risk in sales is running out of potential clients and seeing your resources dry out. By making one more attempt every day, you are buying some insurance against that risk.
2. Give great customer service. It costs more to get a new customer than to make an existing customer happy. Giving great customer service also decreases your costs of fixing errors and makes reputation management a lot easier. Taking great care of customers increases their lifetime value to you and means they will refer you to others — and referrals are always the best way to find new customers. Another big risk in sales is customer churn, or the rate at which old customers leave you. If you can’t bring in new customers fast enough to replace the ones leaving, you have a big problem. Making sure your customer service is top-notch removes much of the risk of an upside-down churn ratio and gives you a steady stream of referrals and new business.
3. Be active on social media. Social media is a great way to be found and a great way for current, happy customers to interact with you. People who might be interested in your product or service are all over their social networks. If they find
Taking great care of customers increases their lifetime value to you and means they will refer you to others.
t ro n j o r d h e i m
Illustration by Tifani Carter
your profile and like what they see, you have a huge advantage over your competition. A favorable comment from a current customer in your social media is every bit as good as a personal referral. If your social media activities are up to speed, you will be getting new customers that you might not have been able to identify or to approach. Social media will keep people coming into your pipeline, and it provides a great way for happy customers to express appreciation. Social media is a passive source of new prospects: a very nice way to reduce the risk of a shrinking prospect pool. Selling does not have to be as risky as it seems. If you work on these three risk minimizers, you will see sales grow. So focus on reaching out to one more prospect, giving great customer service and keeping up social media accounts for your business. Selling is not for the weak or the frightened, but you can reduce your risks — and take some of the anxiety out of your sales program. CBT
➜ C E O of T r o n Jo r dheim E n te r p r ises a n d P r oduce r of C ause W eek columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 85
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MARKETING
›› Monica Pitts talks marketing trends and tips
How to Build a Marketing Sandwich We call a sandwich with ham in the middle a ham sandwich. But when you read a menu, is it the ham that entices you to order the sandwich? Here’s what I mean. Which sandwich would you order? Honey Ham Griller: Thick-sliced honey baked ham, just how your grandma makes it, on buttered Texas toast grilled in a cast-iron pan. Topped with lettuce, tomato slab, caramelized onions and our secret savory honey mustard mayo. Ham Sandwich: Our signature ham sandwich. I know which sandwich I’d order. When faced with creating a marketing plan, business owners think strategy: how to market their message, how to generate more website traffic, how to set more appointments, how to make more sales. Your strategy is ham. It’s the meat of the sandwich. But if you jump straight to the meat, you miss the crucial why and what, the details separating your sandwich from others, that support your how.
WHY: The perfect sandwich is built on purpose. The chef of the Honey Ham Griller knows why he cuts the ham in thick slices and why the savory honey mustard sauce is the perfect complement to balance the acidity of the tomato and the sweetness of the ham and onions. This sandwich was not built on accident. Be purposeful when cooking up your marketing plan. Know your why. First, know why you’re in business to begin with. Understand your core values, mission and vision. Anna Lawrence, partner at Vantage Consultants, suggests business owners ask themselves two great “why” questions: • Why would anyone want to use my product or service? • Why is my product or service better than what my competitor can offer? “Answering these questions will position your business as meaningful to your customer,” Lawrence says. “The first will make them hungry. The second will have them craving your ham sandwich as opposed to the turkey they were previously considering.”
WHAT: Find a perfect pairing. Then determine what you want to achieve, and set goals. Do you want to gain customers? Generate referrals? Reach a new target market? As you’re researching and planning your activities, you can refer back to your why to ensure the data supports your choices and entices your target market. With your goals in mind, you can begin researching, documenting and gathering the ingredients you’ll need to create a perfect marketing plan.
m o n i ca p i t ts
Illustration by Tifani Carter
You'll need market research; a target market; brand and product positioning; competitive analysis; and a budget.
HOW: Make a mouth-watering proposition. Now that you’ve done your homework, you can consider the tactical activities you’ll engage in, the daily grind of your marketing endeavors. Last but not least, consider how you plan on monitoring the success of your plan. “Doing all the work of marketing without tracking is like finishing your meal and wishing you would have ordered something else now that you’re already full,” explains Lawrence. “Not only can you find out what is not working, but you may also find things that are working much better than you expected. Smart business owners set benchmarks to track and measure throughout the marketing campaign and are willing to make adjustments when opportunities arise.” Your marketing sandwich is more than just meat. Strategy, while an essential element in your marketing plan, isn’t the only component in your marketing sandwich. Examine your why and what first and you’ll concoct the perfect recipe for marketing success! CBT
➜ C hief c r eati v e di r ecto r at M a y ec r eate desig n columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 87
IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY TO DRESS FOR SUCCESS! COLUMBIA’S ONLY CHILDREN’S BOUTIQUE
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did you know?
›› Fun facts CBT staff discovered while reporting this issue
The Fitness Company, located at 124 E. Nifong Blvd., trains the University of Missouri’s Golden Girls. Read more about co-owner Stephen Shinn and his adventure racing on page 46.
Even small businesses without a public relations department can prepare for a crisis. Some tips? Gather key players, identify sources of crisis and meet together regularly. Read more about communicating through a crisis on page 68. Commerce Bank is celebrating its 150th anniversary. The company employs 129 people in Columbia. Celebrate with Commerce on page 76.
Columbia Insurance Group was originally named the Missouri Farmers Mutual Tornado, Cyclone and Windstorm Insurance Company. Talk about a mouthful! Some of their agents lend us their expertise in our “Eye on the Storm” feature on page 40.
Phyllis Grant, payroll manager at Columbia College, has worked at the school for 31 years. Grant was instrumental in starting recycling on campus years ago, and she still serves on the college’s sustainability committee. Read more about Phyllis on page 62. Photo by Kaci Smart
Which Columbia insurance bigwig played the clarinet and saxophone Startup Weekend awarded the 2015 first place prize to StaffedUp, a web platform for recruiting employees. Read more about the winner on page 27.
in junior high? Find out in 10 Questions, page 96. columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 89
90 \\\ November 2015
TOP B2B PRODUCT DELIVERY SERVICE
First Place: Culligan Water 1801 Commerce Court, Columbia, 573-874-6147, culliganmidmissouri.com Second Place: Major Brands
TOP HAPPY HOUR
First Place: 44 Stone Public House Second Place: The Roof
TOP ARCHITECT
First Place: Jennifer Hedrick Second Place: Nick Peckham
TOP COMMERCIAL BUILDER/CONTRACTOR First Place: Coil Construction Second Place: Little Dixie Construction
TOP REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER
First Place: Starr Properties Second Place: John Ott, Alley A Realty
TOP PLACE TO WORK
First Place: Veterans United Home Loans Second Place: Hawthorn Bank
TOP ENGINEER
First Place: Timberlake Engineering Second Place: Trabue, Hansen & Hinshaw Inc.
TOP ACCOUNTING SERVICE
First Place: Williams-Keepers Second Place: Accounting Plus Inc.
TOP CATERER
First Place: Hoss’s Market & Rotisserie Second Place: Bleu Restaurant & Catering
TOP STAFFING COMPANY
Second Place: The Insurance Group
TOP COMMERCIAL LENDER
First Place: Matt Williams, Landmark Bank Second Place: Drew Smith, Commerce Bank
First Place: Influence and Co. Second Place: Global First Responders
TOP WEB DEVELOPER
First Place: MayeCreate Design 700 Cherry St., Suite C, Columbia, 573-447-1836, mayecreate.com
First Place: JobFinders Second Place: Caroline and Co. Inc.
TOP CULTURE
First Place: Veterans United Home Loans Second Place: Murry’s Restaurant
TOP OFFICE DIGS
First Place: True Media Second Place: Woodruff Sweitzer
TOP BUSINESS WITH A COMMITMENT TO PHILANTHROPY First Place: Veterans United Home Loans Second Place: Joe Machens Dealerships
TOP JANITORIAL SERVICES
First Place: Atkins Building Services Inc. Second Place: Tiger Maids
TOP COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Second Place: Delta Systems
TOP ADVERTISING AGENCY
First Place: Woodruff Sweitzer Second Place: MayeCreate Design 700 Cherry St., Suite C, Columbia, 573-447-1836, mayecreate.com
First Place: LG Patterson Second Place: Casey Buckman Photography
TOP EVENT LOCATION
First Place: The Tiger Hotel 23 S. Eighth St., Columbia, 573-875-8888, thetigerhotel.com
TOP PLACE TO HAVE A BUSINESS LUNCH
First Place: Murry’s Restaurant Second Place: D. Rowe’s Restaurant & Bar
TOP OFFSITE TEAM MEETING LOCATION
First Place: Logboat Brewing Co. 504 Fay St., Columbia, 573-397-6786, logboatbrewing.com
TOP COFFEE MEETING LOCATION
First Place: Kaldi’s Coffee Second Place: Dunn Brothers Coffee
TOP AMBASSADOR OF BUSINESS IN COLUMBIA First Place: Dave Griggs Second Place: Mary Ropp
TOP NEWBIE TO BUSINESS
TOP BUSINESS INSURANCE
First Place: Mike Messer Agency – Shelter Insurance 908 Rain Forest Parkway, Columbia, 573-442-5291, shelterinsurance.com/ CA/agent/mikemesser
TOP BUSINESS WITH INTERNATIONAL IMPACT
Second Place: Les Bourgeois Vineyards, 14020 W. Highway BB, Rocheport, 800-690-1830, missouriwine.com
TOP PLACE TO CLOSE A DEAL
First Place: Nick Hardy Second Place: Max Prokell
TOP CHAMBER VOLUNTEER
First Place: Wally Pfeffer Second Place: Michele Spry
TOP LOCAL TEAM-BUILDING EXPERIENCE First Place: Logboat Brewing Co. 504 Fay St., Columbia, 573-397-6786, logboatbrewing.com
TOP OLD-TIMER IN BUSINESS
First Place: Kat Cunningham Second Place: David Keller
TOP COMMERCIAL VIDEOGRAPHER
First Place: 44 Stone Public House Second Place: Boone County Title Co.
First Place: Spectrum Studios Second Place: Baker HD
TOP BANK
TOP HR FIRM
First Place: Boone County National Bank Second Place: Landmark Bank
Second Place: Stoney Creek Hotel & Conference Center
First Place: MoreSource Inc. Second Place: Accounting Plus Inc.
Second Place: The Canvas on Broadway
TOP IT COMPANY
First Place: Midwest Computech 311 Bernadette Drive , Columbia, 800346-8934, midwestcomputech.com
Second Place: Easy PC
New Business Licenses
›› Columbia residents and their upstarts
Brain Balance of Columbia 2703 E. Broadway Program for children
Kia of Columbia 710 W. Business Loop 70 Auto dealership
Magnifyre 2509 Chelan Circle Online marketing services
The Tan Bar 2201 Hollow Ridge Court Spray tanning service
Complete Weddings + Events 3305 Clark Lane Wedding and event services
Adams Consulting and Construction 2909 Falling Leaf Lane Construction and site prep consultation
Haby Hair Braiding 209 Nikki Way Online sales of hair products
The Big Cheeze 5801 Islip Drive Food trailer – grilled cheese, soups
King’s Things Photography 1413 Hinkson Ave. Photography
Start Right Foods 124 E. Nifong Blvd. Manufacturing of frozen waffles
All Clean! Windows and More 2529 Northampton Drive Cleaning services KPS Construction LLC 200 Forum Blvd. General construction Cricket Wireless 1400 Forum Blvd. Mobile phone store Consign & Design 9 N. Tenth St. Retail consignment shop Risk Innovations LLC 3201 S. Providence Road Wholesale insurance brokerage Mac Daddy Lyfts 601 Medford Drive Free downtown shuttle golf carts 92 \\\ November 2015
Chick-fil-A 305 N. Stadium Blvd. Restaurant – fast food D-Life Fit Merchandise LLC 2318 Hollyhock Court Wholesaler of shirt, sweatshirts and sweaters Angel Campbell Photography 2201 Chapel Plaza Court Photography Perfection Cleaning 1532 Bodie Drive Cleaning
2B Organized 2000 E. Broadway Professional organizing firm My Perfect Nails 2601 Rangeline St. Nail salon Noodles & Company 21 Conley Road Restaurant – fast casual Melvin’s Plumbing 704 Big Bear Road Plumbing Stone Crow Studio 707 Vandiver Drive Tattoo shop Once Upon A Child 2101 W. Broadway Resale shop The Wolf’s Head 201 N. Tenth St. Restaurant – Bistro Roof Cleaning of Mid-MO 2601 Spruce Drive Liquid solution that removes algae Triumph Christian Counseling 1000 W. Nifong Blvd. Psychotherapy
Pendulum Bob’s Clock Shop 1400 Forum Blvd. Clock and watch sales
Cardno ATC 1206 W. Business Loop 70 Environmental and engineering consulting
Penberthy Communications 4007 Tropical Lane Cable company
The Woods Spa 200 S. Old 63 Spa CBT
Deeds of Trust
›› Worth more than $423,193
$162,000,000 FQSR LLC Wells Fargo Bank LT 101 PT Hyde Park Planned Commercial Sub Block 1 $10,070,000 Columbia II LLC Landmark Bank LT 201 Heritage Village Plat No 2 $7,520,000 Discovery Hotels LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT 303 Discovery Park Subdivision Plat 3 $7,000,000 Ash Street 185 LLC Berkeley Point Capital LLC STR 10-48-13 //SW FF W/ Easement $3,000,000 Happytime Exchance LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT 154 PT Columbia $3,000,000 The Campus Corner LLC Central Bank of Boone County Watson Place FF PT $2,600,000 Socket Telecom LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT 1 White Gate South $2,325,000 Sigma Development Company LLC The Callaway Bank LT 1A Alpha Gamma Sigma $1,848,864 Wendling Development LLC The Callaway Bank LT 1 Academy Village Plat 1
$1,740,000 Sodawerx LLC Landmark Bank LT 153 PT Columbia $1,550,000 Wendling Development LLC The Callaway Bank LT 4 Academy Village Plat 1 $1,340,173 Barkhem Holdings LLC Hawthorn Bank LT 10 Golf View Gardens Plat No 1 $1,136,000 Saracey Landholdings LLC The Bank of Missouri LT 3B Sterling University Plat No 1-A FF With Easements $1,000,000 Broadfield Properties LLC Hawthorn Bank LT 1C Old Hawthorne Plaza Plat 1-C $844,263 Wendling, Stephen & Cheryl The Callaway Bank LT 1 Chateau On St. Charles Plat 1 $840,000 DMSSLS Revocable Trust Agreement The Bank of Missouri STR 19-47-12 //SW SUR BK/ PG: 2897/91 AC 10 FF Tract 8 $650,000 Sulzberger Gamble & Nichols LLC Landmark Bank LT 102 Keene Medical Building Condominium
517
Deeds of trust were issued between 8/31 and 9/24 $620,000 1201 Broadway LLC Landmark Bank LT 8 PT FF Wilson Second Addition $496,900 Prenger, Mitchell Anthony Hawthorn Bank LT 121 Gates Plat No 1 – Rearrangement The $490,000 Forum Investments LLC First National Bank & Trust Co. LT 40 Barkwell Place FF Highview Sub $480,000 Amelon, Sybill & George Mid America Mortgage Services Inc. LT 1 Kari Lane Acres - Plat 1 $478,000 Hatley, Charles C Jr & Robyn A Central Bank of Boone County LT 30 Harpers Pointe BLK 2 $440,000 1800 Woodrail LLC The Callaway Bank LT 1 Woodrail Subdivision Plat #14 $425,000 Price, Allan F & Tina W Landmark Bank STR 17-47-13 //S SUR BK/PG: 4347/61 AC 23.23 FF Tract 7 $423,193 Jones, Krista & Scott A Veterans United Home Loans LT 1317 Old Hawthorne Plat NO 13 CBT columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 93
Economic Index
›› It’s all about the numbers
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Housing:
Labor:
Single-family home sales, August 2015: 185
August 2015 – Boone County
Single-family active listings on market, August 2015: 692
Labor force: 97,934 Employment: 94,350 Unemployment: 3,584 Rate: 3.7 percent
Single-family homes average sold price, August 2015: $210,416 Single-family homes average days on market, August 2015: 55
August 2015 – Columbia, Missouri Labor Force: 66,070 Employment: 63,720 Unemployment: 2,350
Single-family pending listings on market, August 2015: 180
Rate: 3.6 percent
Construction:
August 2015 – Missouri
Residential building permits, August 2015: 79
Labor Force: 3,068,371 Employment: 2,907,422 Unemployment: 160,949
Value of residential building permits, August 2015: $12,501,863 Detached single-family homes, August 2015: 42 Value of detached singlefamily homes, August 2015: $11,120,095
Rate: 5.2 percent
Utilities: Water September 2015: 47,917 September 2014: 47,494 Change #: 423 Change %: 0.9 percent Number of customers
Commercial building permits, August 2015: 29
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Value of commercial building permits, August 2015: $4,073,438
receiving service on Oct. 1, 2015: 48,450 Electric September 2015: 48,437 September 2014: 47,943
Commercial additions and alterations, August 2015: 24 Value of commercial additions and alterations, August 2015: $2,794,134
Change #: 494 Change %: 1 percent Number of customers receiving service on Oct. 1, 2015: 48,450 CBT
By the Numbers
›› Boone County statistics
Insurance is one of CoMo’s most important industries. It can be serious and complicated, but it can also be lighthearted and interesting — CBT went to the numbers and found both.
Boone County Agriculture Comparison
shelter fountain dimensions
Source: USDA Census of Agriculture $1b
Source: Shelter Insurance
1,500
1,322
1,171
8
9
#
#
State Farm
Roughly 38 feet of waterfalls
62
Source: Bureu of Labor Statistics
$80,000
$38,740
$40,790
$20,000
Missouri $10,000
United States
0
Numbers of pages in "Navigating Your Health Benefits for Dummies" by Aetna.
5
Radiology: $200
4
Other preventive: $40
3.41
3.40
3
TOTAL: $7,840 2.77
but patient pays 2.15 1.41
1 0
0.92
0.76
Insurance Underwriter
Deductibles: $300
1.87
2
Columbia
Co-pays: $200
Missouri
Co-insurance: $1,350
United States Insurance Sales Agent
Insurance Claims & Policy Processing
2012
206
196
150
50 2007
0
2012
2007
2012
avg. size of farm (acres)
City of Columbia property valuation Source: Boone County Hazard Mitigation Report
30,491 properties market value: $5,380,779,916
3,789 properties
market value: $1,492,222,500
21%
2%
77%
Properties N/A market value: $52,323,750
Hospital charges (baby): $900
Prescriptions: $500
5.37
2007
average value per farm
Routine obstetric care: $2,100
Laboratory tests: $500
6
250 200
average value per acre
Anesthesia: $900
Insurance Claims & Policy Processing
Insurance Sales Agent
Insurance Underwriter
3,644
$
2,805
$
1,000 0
Hospital charges (mother): $2,700 Columbia
0
2012
2,000
$
Source: Aetna Student Health
$39,100
$30,000
3,000
2007
having a baby as an mu grad student
$63,730
$60,700
$65,100
$62,100
$40,000
$55,820
$50,000
jobs per 1,000
Annual Wage
$60,000
$70,750
$70,000
200,000
100
Center basin smaller fountains spray height: 10 feet
insurance labor statistics
400,000
estimated market value
4,000
$
Center nozzle spray height: 20 feet
Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance
Shelter Insurance
$
549,026
$
$
0
2012
$
218
1,078
2007
600,000
$
$200m
number of farms
49 water nozzles
29
#
1,168
0
749,119
$
800,000
$600m
500
Total water surface area: roughly 2,100 square feet
Source: REDI
$
$400m
Outer basins: 16 foot radii
top insurance employers
877,218,000
$
1,000
Center Basin: 40 foot diameter
$
$800m $725,812,000
Limits or exclusions: $150 TOTAL: $2,000
city of columbia's self insurance reserve fund expenditures Source: City of Columbia $6 mil
5.7m
$
5.4m
$
$5.4 mil
$4.8 mil
4.5m
$
$4.2 mil
4.2m
$
3.8m
3.8m
$
$3.6 mil
3.7m
$
3.6m
$
$
3.5m
$
3.5m
$
3.5m
$
$3 mil
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 95
10 questions
➜ 200 Southampton Drive Columbia, MO 65203 573-875-4800
›› Get to know your professionals
Veterans of the Industry
Skip Grossnickle, vice president and COO, The Insurance Group
"
Without question, benefits compliance missteps can be costly and debilitating to businesses of all shapes and sizes.
"
2. What are the biggest insurance challenges that business owners face today? Compliance. Without question, benefits compliance missteps can be costly and debilitating to businesses of all shapes and sizes. And healthcare reform made it even more challenging. Many larger (or selffunded) businesses have some important filings that will be due in early 2016, and unfortunately many organizations have overlooked the significance of these requirements.
F U N FACT: 96 \\\ November 2015
3. What kinds of products do you offer for businesses? We offer a wide range of products and solutions that pretty much run the whole spectrum of options. The placement of “products” is the typical result of our analysis and diagnosis. Brokering is the basic blocking-andtackling of our business, but it’s just a sliver of what we do.
7. What is next for The Insurance Group? We will celebrate our 125th anniversary in about eight years, and we have some pretty lofty goals to reach by that date. We can’t share any details, but we expect to expand our services in our benefits practice soon. 8. To what do you attribute your company’s success? It starts with our people. We have been fortunate to have smart, service-oriented people that have facilitated our growth over the years. Our people give objective advice and craft meaningful solutions to help our clients be successful around the state.
4. What is a major change the company has experienced in the last few years? The continued growth of our St. Louis office and expansion of our relatively new office in Springfield, Missouri.
9. What is one misconception about the Columbia insurance industry? Many folks think The Insurance Group and the Columbia Insurance Group are the same company. We, The Insurance Group, are an independent advisory firm that actually represents the Columbia Insurance Group, which is a fine insurance company.
5. What challenges does your company face? We have the same types of aches and pains that many multilocation companies have. It takes an extra effort to communicate effectively and maintain your culture across offices around the state. 6. What is the one thing you wish business owners did differently when it comes to insurance? Talk to us! We like to be actively engaged with our clients.
Photo by Ben Meldrum
1. The Insurance Group is an independent insurance agency. What does that mean? It means two simple things. One, we are not tied to any one insurance company; in fact, we have access to hundreds of insurance companies and solutions. And two, as advisors, we represent our clients.
10. What is a fun fact that people might not know about you? Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped playing the clarinet and saxophone in junior high. CBT
➜ Skip played cornerback for MU Football, and he's a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
ADVERTISER INDEX 43Tc.........................................................................................................................................8 Accent Press.................................................................................................................45 Accounting Plus........................................................................................................99 Anthony Jinson Photography......................................................................... 33 Baer & Edington, LLC................................................................................................. 24 Betz Jewelers...............................................................................................................88 Bleu Restaurant & Wine Bar................................................................................ 78 Brown Willbrand....................................................................................................... 28 Budget Blinds...............................................................................................................44 Caledon Virtual..........................................................................................................14 Carpet One.........................................................................................................................9 Central Bank of Boone County.........................................................................5 Central Trust & Investment Company..........................................................11 City of Columbia Water & Light........................................................................18 Clearvision..................................................................................................................... 82 Columbia Regional Airport.................................................................................90 Commerce Bank............................................................................................................ 28 COMO Connect.............................................................................................................86 D & M Sound...................................................................................................................... 24 Designer Kitchens & Baths..................................................................................90 Equipment Share............................................................................................................6 Fibrenew........................................................................................................................... 73 Foundation Recovery Systems........................................................................38 GFI Digital.........................................................................................................................20 Gibbs, Pool, Turner....................................................................................................16 Gravity................................................................................................................................ 12 Hawthorn Bank.........................................................................................................100 Hoss's Market & Rotisserie..................................................................................94
Inside The Lines..............................................................................................................81 Insurance Shop, LLC, The...........................................................................................7 Job Point.................................................................................................................92 & 93 KFRU....................................................................................................................................... 37 La Di Da................................................................................................................................88 Landmark Bank................................................................................................................2 MayeCreate Web Design......................................................................................... 67 Mediacom.......................................................................................................................... 22 Mid America Harley-Davidson...............................................................................3 Midwest Computech.................................................................................................45 Missouri Dept. of Conservation....................................................................... 17 Missouri Employers Mutual................................................................................. 15 Modern Litho/Brown Printing.........................................................................84 Moresource Inc............................................................................................................ 13 Naught Naught Insurance Agency............................................................... 73 Peckham Architecture............................................................................................10 Personal Touch Cleaning Service................................................................86 Property Protectors............................................................................................... 4 Shelter Insurance Agents................................................................................... 97 Socket................................................................................................................................38 State Farm Insurance - Stephanie Wilmsmeyer.....................................45 Studio Home................................................................................................................... 78 Tech Electronics...................................................................................................... 82 The Bank of Missouri................................................................................................34 University Club............................................................................................................36 Wilkerson & Reynolds Wealth Management......................................... 73 Wilson's Fitness..........................................................................................................80
columbiabusinesstimes.com /// 97
flashback
➜ 1817 W. Broadway Columbia, MO 65218 573-214-4500
›› Columbia, then and now
By Jessica Kaiser Photo by Ben Meldrum
The Shelter Fountain was approaching its 50th anniversary when the announcement was released in fall 2014 — the fountain would close for renovations. The fountain’s age had started to show. Leaky plumbing and faulty wiring stirred concern about its ability to survive another 50 years. The fountain stood at 1817 W. Broadway since Shelter’s earliest days, before the company even became Shelter Insurance. The company was founded in 1946 as the MFA Mutual Insurance Company. In 1957, MFA completed construction on its corporate offices in Columbia. The next decade was one of rapid growth for MFA, as the company added life insurance
and regional claims to their services while managing to expand their operating territory to nine more states. In 1965, the fountain was built, functioning as a symbol of the company’s prosperity and a foreshadowing of their success in Columbia. The fountain kept pumping when the company cut ties with MFA and adopted its current name in 1981. From the fountain’s completion in 1966 to its closing in the fall of 2014, it has hosted proposals, prom photos, 49 spring opening celebrations and countless other events and moments in the lives of Columbia residents. On April 30, the newly renovated fountain reopened to mark the beginning of spring for the 50th time.
Now, the total water surface area is 2,100 square feet, with 1,800 gallons per minute of water in motion, 49 nozzles and approximately 38 feet of waterfalls. The center basin’s nozzle sprays 20 feet high. These features, and the fountain’s new LED multi-color lights, will allow the fountain to function like never before, according to Jay MacLellan, media relations director at Shelter. Expanded light and water shows are now a possibility at the site. The Shelter Fountain will host as many exciting events in its future as in its past. It will continue to mark the arrival of spring in Columbia and will continue to be a symbol of the Columbia community. Updates and repairs have ensured this landmark will see many more anniversaries. CBT
➜ We love Columbia business history. If you have any interesting photos and stories, please send them to Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com 98 \\\ November 2015
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“Through it all, what sustained us then, sustains us today.” David Turner, CEO, in Times Square where our 150th Anniversary was announced by NASDAQ
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