Lawrence Business Magazine 2017 Q2

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2017 Q2

Publisher: Lawrence Business Magazine, LLC Editor-in-Chief: Ann Frame Hertzog Chief Photographer: Steven Hertzog Featured Writers: Hank Booth Anne Brockhoff Steven Hertzog Emily Mulligan Bob Luder Patricia A. Michaelis, Ph.D. Tara Trenary Copy Editor: Tara Trenary Contributing Writers: Britt Crum-Cano Lauren Cunningham Elizabeth Keever Caroline Trowbridge Contributing Photographers: Patrick Connor

INQUIRIES & ADVERTISING INFORMATION CONTACT:

info@LawrenceBusinessMagazine.com www.LawrenceBusinessMagazine.com

Lawrence Business Magazine, LLC 3514 Clinton Parkway, Suite A-113 Lawrence, KS 66047 Lawrence Business Magazine, is published quarterly by Lawrence Business Magazine, LLC and is distributed by direct mail to over 3000 businesses in the Lawrence & Douglas County Community. It is also distributed at key retail locations throughout the area and mailed to individual subscribers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reprinted or reproduced without the publisher’s permission. Lawrence Business Magazine, LLC assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Statements and opinions printed in the Lawrence Business Magazine are the those of the author or advertiser and are not necessarily the opinion of Lawrence Business Magazine.

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2017 Q2

Contents Features:

24 Non-Profit:

Just Foods

29

Hilary’s All-Natural

and Sustainable

36 Fundraising:

Pennington and Company

40

Local Company Focusing

on Spotlighting Company Brands

46

National Landmarks Touched by Local Influences

54

Local Industrial Facilities

60

Expanding Scope

62

Music to Our Ears

67

Life on the Silicon Prairie

Software Companies With Global Reach

Produce Millions of Everyday Products

of Radio Broadcasting

Departments: 9

Lawrence in Perspective:

Settling With Barbed Wire

13

Business on the Hill

16

City of Lawrence

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Lawrence Memorial Hospital

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Professional Spotlight

Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little

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Local Scene

77 Newsmakers Mission:

Lawrence Business Magazine: Telling the stories of people and businesses making a postive impact on Lawrence & Douglas County. /lawrencebusinessmagazine

@LawrenceBizMag

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: LawrenceBusinessMagazine.com/SUBSCRIPTIONS

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LAWRENCE & DOUGLAS CO [IN PERSPECTIVE]

Settling the Kansas Prairies

With Barbed Wire

by Patricia A. Michaelis, Ph.D., Historical Research & Archival Consulting Photos from the Kansas State Historical Society, kansasmemory.org

During the settlement of the Midwest, local company eased pain of building fences on treeless prairies to keep livestock contained.

A Lawrence manufacturing company—Consolidated Barb Wire Co.—made an important contribution to the settlement of western Kansas and adjacent states. The treeless prairies made it difficult for farmers to build traditional wooden fences to keep in domestic cattle and to keep out buffalo and Texas longhorns being driven to railheads in Abilene and later Dodge City. The solution to this problem was the invention of barbed wire by Illinois farmer Joseph Glidden in 1873. This invention, and numerous patented versions of barbed wire, made it possible to build fences with minimal lumber (or limestone in some parts of western Kansas) for fenceposts with several strands of barbed wire. The barbs on the wire were sharp enough to “discourage” livestock from destroying the fences. Use of barbed wire also lowered the cost of fencing dramatically, and farmers and ranchers “fenced in” larger pastures or ranges. The wire was attached to the posts in various ways, but building sturdy corner posts and having enough tension on the wire to prevent sagging were keys to fence-building.

Albert Henley founded the Lawrence Barbed Wire manufactory,

the predecessor to Consolidated Barb Wire. Henley was born in Indiana and moved to Iowa, where he manufactured barbed wire on a small scale. He and his wife moved to Lawrence in 1878, where he continued to manufacture barbed wire. By 1882, he owned nine machines that produced 10,000 pounds of barbed wire per day. In 1883, Henley and several other small barbed wire companies merged to become Consolidated Barb Wire. The building housing the factory was 60 x 100 feet and two stories high.

The first floor opened on a level with the railroad tracks so the wire could be unloaded and loaded easily.

In 1891, a new building was constructed. It had a 300-foot frontage and extended back 60 feet. This building was next to the Santa Fe Railroad tracks between New Hampshire and Rhode Island streets. While one story at street level, the west half of the building had a basement that was created from the bluff on which the building sat. The building was a combination of wood and brick.

The brick portion housed boilers and other machinery, and was designed to be fireproof. The factory would employ 40 men, “all or nearly all of whom are heads of families, thus it will be seen this institution provides a means of subsistence for nearly two hundred people, indirectly.” The 1891 building still stands (Abe and Jake’s is housed there now) and is listed on the National Register of His-

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toric Places as part of East Lawrence Industrial Historic District.

Initially, Henley imported wire from the east, and the company turned it into barbed wire. By the mid- 1890s, he began purchasing the steel rods to manufacture barbed wire from start to finish in his own plant with a machine he invented himself. The process first involved making and then galvanizing the wire to prevent rusting.

The steel rods were heated, and the wire was “drawn.” An article in the Lawrence Daily Journal Nov. 16, 1898 described the galvanizing process as follows: The galvanizing process is an interesting one and this new department at the mill will be the occasion of many inquiries about the operation. After the wire is drawn to its proper size it is sent on to the galvanizing room without going through the annealing process. It is at once started through the furnace in this department and then on through the other processes that complete the operation.

A furnace forty-eight feet long is the first thing the wire is introduced to. The furnace is built with an arched roof of special bricks, through which there are holes that the strands of wire may be drawn. These flues run the entire length of the furnace. The brick are kept at a white hot heat all the time, the furnace so arranged that the fire is drawn along underneath the arched brick, and then back over the top. As the wire comes out of the furnace it is red hot. After running twenty to thirty feet through the air it is doused through a water tank then a cold muriatic acid bath is given to the wire followed by another muriatic acid bath heated by steam. The wire then goes into a vat of spelter or zinc, and is there coated and becomes galvanized. As it comes out of this bath it is run through an asbestos wiper that removes extra zinc. The wire is cooled and cleaned by running through a final water bath and then goes to the machine where it is wound on spools.

The automatic wire machine took wire from three coils, twisted two of the strands together and attached barbs cut from the third to

the twisted pair. The zinc from the galvanizing process came from mines in southeast Kansas, and Consolidated used 10,000 tons of zinc every 20 days.

The company had a great impact on the Western Plains and supplied barbed wire not only to Kansas but also Colorado, Indian Territory (Oklahoma), New Mexico and Utah. Eight traveling salesmen covered these areas to sell Consolidated Barb Wire products.

It was claimed that “Kansas uses more wire from this factory than from all other manufactures together, and there are many large dealers who handle no other make.”

Henley’s business expanded beyond barbed wire to woven fencing, bail ties and nails, with barrels for the nails made locally by two companies: Railbe Brothers and Hauber Brothers. In the early 1890s, the “wire mill,” as it was known to Lawrence residents, employed approximately 150 people. However, difficulties were on the horizon. Large numbers of lawsuits over patents for wire had been disputed in the courts for years. In addition, American Steel and Wire Co. made several attempts to buy Henley’s plant, but he refused their offers. In the end, American Steel and Wire secured a monopoly and the steel rods used to make the wire. Apparently, the company threatened that it would not sell Henley the raw materials needed to make the barbed wire. Faced with this ultimatum, Henley sold Consolidated Barb Wire to American Steel and Wire in 1899.

Henley’s new business, the American Cement Plaster Co., produced cement plaster that was a mixture of suitable plaster, sand, Portland cement and water that is normally applied to masonry interiors and exteriors to achieve a smooth surface. He and his new company continued to have an impact on Lawrence’s economy.

He also was involved in local politics, being elected mayor in 1888.

He served as a state representative for two terms and as a state senator. Henley died in 1919, but Consolidated Barb Wire was the first factory in Kansas to manufacture this specialized wire. Because the business dominated the Kansas market, it can be credited for its impact on helping settlers operate farms and ranches in the prairies of western Kansas. p

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BUSINESS on the [ HILL ]

A group of KU business students and international business lecturer Dan Galindau visited the Black and Veatch offices in Beijing on May 18, 2017, as part of a short-term study abroad program.

by Lauren Cunningham, Communications Director, KU Business School

KU School of Business Prepares Students To Be Globally Competent The University of Kansas School of Business has a long history of instilling in its students a global mind-set.

With opportunities to study abroad and events and programs about international business topics, the school aims to teach students the importance of global competence.

In 1993, the business school established the Center for International Business, known today as the Center for Global Business Studies. For more than a decade, the center enjoyed national recognition as a Title VI national resource center for international business education. Today, the center coordinates and supports the internationalization of students and faculty, and helps guide the school’s strategy for international initiatives, curriculum and policies.

Study Abroad Opportunities

The school’s Center for Global Business Studies serves as a resource for students looking to study abroad.

KU business students can choose from nine short-term programs that travel to China, Cuba, Costa Rica, India, Israel, Northern Europe, Panama, Slovenia or South Africa. Semester-long and other program options include an even wider selection of destinations.

In addition to focusing on business practices in other countries, some programs center on topics such as marketing, supply chain and entrepreneurship.

An increasing number of business students are choosing to study abroad each year. During the 2015-16 academic year, 341 students in the business school participated in study abroad programs. Business students who graduated in 2016 studied abroad in 23 various countries.

Just in May 2017, KU business students studied abroad in: China, Cuba, Northern Europe, Slovenia, & South Africa

During the summer, KU business students will participate in programs located in: • Argentina • Ireland • Australia • Italy • Austria • Germany • China • South Korea • Czech Republic • Spain • France • Thailand • India

Exploring International Business

The KU School of Business also offers events to students, faculty and industry partners that explore pertinent themes in international business.

On April 18, the school held the “Mexico, the Heartland and NAFTA” event in collaboration with the Consulate of Mexico in Kansas City and the Kansas Department of Commerce. It featured Kenneth Smith Ramos, an expert on U.S./Mexico trade, and provided timely information on the importance of trade with Canada and Mexico to the economies of Kansas and Missouri. Mexico was the top market for Kansas exports in 2016.

On March 31, the school, in partnership with EY (formerly Ernst and Young), held the “India: What’s Next?” conference, which featured a keynote address by Patrick Santillo, minister counselor for commercial affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. The conference was the third of its kind.

In 2013, the school held its inaugural international business conference, “China Emerged: Rethinking Your Global Strategy”; and in 2014, the event explored Brazil and its business environment.

Previous conference panelists and attendees have included business executives, industry experts and government officials. Each conference also has incorporated cultural components of the respective country, such as music, food and dance.

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Exposure to the international dimension of business is required of all students at the KU School of Business. The International Dimension Requirement ensures all students graduating from the School of Business have taken steps toward cross-cultural competence that enhance their business degree. All business students complete globally focused coursework, foreign language study or study abroad.

Students can also participate in the Global KEY Certificate Program, overseen by the Center for Global Business Studies, which helps them further develop cross-cultural skills during their time at the business school. Working closely with EY, the school has developed the Global KEY Certificate, which is designed to help business students supplement their academic program with choices that will help them develop a global mind-set. The certificate requires a combination of on-campus classes, study abroad and experiential learning opportunities designed to help a business student develop an openness to diversity across cultures and global markets.

The KEY Global Competence Certificate is a hands-on approach to acquiring cross-cultural skills during a student’s time at the KU School of Business. Students start the journey by attending a KEY Symposium, where they learn about opportunities to enhance their global knowledge and hear from business executives about the value of that preparation for business professionals today. As students opt into additional international experiences, they gain access to study abroad scholarships to enable them to spend a semester abroad.

Upon return, students will work closely with international business faculty while completing a global collaboration activity.

KU students with John Hedeman, director of the Business Leadership Program (BLP), visited Pipistrel, a company that designs and builds lightweight aircraft, in Ajdovščina, Slovenia, in May 2016. The trip was part of a collaborative study abroad experience between BLP and KU’s Self Engineering Leadership Fellows Program.

Krishna Ghimire, left, and Dr. Ranu Pal, an associate researcher at KU’s Higuchi Biosciences Center, kicked off the “India: What’s Next?” international business conference with a performance at Capitol Federal Hall.

In addition, students can earn a concentration in international business. The concentration involves proficiency in a foreign language (completion of the school’s International Dimension Requirement Option No. 1) and 12 credit hours from a selection of courses focused on international business topics.

Learn more about the business school’s international business offerings at business.ku.edu. p

Chuck Ballard, export compliance director at Miller and Co., speaks at the “India: What’s Next?” international business conference.

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Lawrence Ahead of Curve with GASB Standards

By Britt Crum-Cano, Economic Development Coordinator, City of Lawrence

Each year, the City of Lawrence publishes a comprehensive annual economic development report for review by the City Commission. This year, for the first time, standards are in effect that require state and local governments to provide reporting for tax-abatement incentives. These standards have been established by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).

Lawrence is way ahead of the curve, having published a comprehensive economic development report that surpasses the GASB requirements since 2011.

The 2016 Annual Report: Economic Development Support and Compliance, reviews the annual performance of economic development programs, participating projects and the public funds distributed for them during the year. In addition to city contributions, a summary of county-only economic development programs is also included.

Report highlights include four 2016 property tax-abatement projects that met all compliance requirements, delivering: • 72% more real property capital investment than projected ($6 million projected, $10.3 million delivered) • 3% more personal property investment than projected ($9.4 million projected, $9.7 million delivered) • 162% more full-time jobs than projected (142 projected, 372 created) • 24% higher wages than projected ($32,094 projected, $39,802 paid) • average wages $8,480 higher than the private community wage • average wages $13,594 higher than the community wage floor In addition, these property tax-abatement projects paid $194,837 in property taxes out of a total $341,955 due in 2016 ($147,117 abated).

Of the city’s seven authorized Neighborhood Revitalization Areas (NRA), five were eligible for rebates, with rebates totaling $110,300 for 2016. After rebates, taxing jurisdictions realized an average of

18.6% more real property tax revenues in 2016 compared to if these five properties had been left in original condition.

Nine companies had Industrial Revenue Bonds (IRB) in 2016, the majority of which were not affiliated with a property tax abatement but, rather, were utilized to obtain a sales tax exemption on project construction materials.

The city continues to support three Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts and three Transportation Development Districts (TDD).

• Downtown 2000 TIF — funds 10th and New Hampshire city-owned parking garage • Oread TIF and TDD — partial reimbursement for public and transportation improvements related to The Oread Hotel project • Ninth and New Hampshire TIF & TDD — partial reimbursement for public and transportation improvements in South Project area (Hotel) and North Project area (mixed-use) • Free-State (Bauer Farm) TDD — partial reimbursement for transportation improvements in Free-State development area

2016 TIF Distributions Tax Increment Financing

Amount

901 New Hampshire Street (Downtown 2000 District)

$28,085

The Oread TIF* TIF Sales Tax

$63,493

TIF Property Tax

$283,002

900 New Hampshire TIF (South Project)** TIF Sales Tax

$116,652

TIF Property Tax

$297,330

888 New Hampshire TIF (North Project) TIF Sales Tax (under construction in 2016)

n/a

TIF Property Tax (under construction in 2016)

n/a

TIF Total

$788,562

* For 2016, not all distributions collected had been reimbursed due to a contractual dispute. **City retains 5%, up to $900,000 for "Arts Common" project.

a subsidiary of First Management Inc.

Building for a Better Tomorrow.

901 New Hampshire Suite 201, Lawrence KS 66044 | 785-841-8476 FirstConstructionLLC.com

TIF distributions were approximately $788,600, and TDD distributions were approximately $278,700 in 2016. (Not all amounts distributed for The Oread project were reimbursed in 2015 and 2016 because of a contractual dispute.)

Overall, 2016 PAYGO (pay as you go) programs provided approximately $4.69 in private-sector capital investment for each $1 of public-sector assistance provided.

In addition to the PAYGO programs, the report also reviews direct public support provided for economic development services and projects, including grants, loans, capital investment, operations funding, relocation assistance, affordable housing, infrastructure assistance, technical education and workforce training.

Real Property Investment

Total Projected (in 2016 dollars) n/a $4,890,000

n/a $9,183,997

Comparison (Projected to Actual) n/a 188%

Sunlite

$1,130,000

$1,158,155

102%

Total (2016 )

$6,020,000

$10,342,152

172%

Company Amarr Grandstand

Total 2016

Personal Property Investment Company Amarr Grandstand Sunlite Total (2016)

Total Projected (in 2016 dollars) $9,400,000 n/a

Total 2016 $9,700,000 n/a

Comparison (Projected to Actual) 103% n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

$9,400,000

$9,700,000

103%

New this year, the report presents a brief overview of the economic climate for the community, profiling jobs, wages and the balance between commercial and noncommercial community assets.

The City Commission received the report at its meeting on April 4, 2017, and referred it to the Public Incentives Review Committee (PIRC) for review and recommendation at its April 17, 2017, meeting. It then received the report and PIRC recommendation at its May 2, 2017, meeting and voted to accept it.

For more information, please contact Britt Crum-Cano, economic development coordinator, at 785-832-3472 or bcano@lawrenceks.org. p

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Longtime LMH Nurses Reflect on Rewards of Their Calling

By Caroline Trowbridge, Marketing Communications Manager, Lawrence Memorial Hospital

LMH-Nurses_Vickie Friel, left, and Sylvia Black

There wasn’t any hesitation.

Not if two little girls—one in south-central Wisconsin, one in eastern Kansas—were asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“When I was 7, I got a nurses kit for Christmas—a stethoscope, little candy pills, a hat, a cape. I put it on. I don’t think I took it off. I wore it all day, and I’m sure I went to bed in it,” recalls Vickie Friel, who, this month, celebrates 40 years in nursing at Lawrence Memorial Hospital (LMH). In June, she will mark the 50th anniversary of her start in the profession.

Clearly, the little girl from Reedsburg, Wisconsin, knew her own mind.

“I’ve had the perfect job at the perfect place,” she says.

It’s been much the same for Lawrence native Sylvia Black.

Before Friel hired her as an obstetrics nurse 32 years ago, Black had lots of experience with LMH. She’d worked as an aide there for four years during school. She was born at LMH. She’d been a candy striper at LMH.

“I don’t remember anything but wanting to be a nurse,” Black says.

“When I might struggle with my science courses, I would ask myself, ‘What else do I want to do?’ There was always a blank there because there was nothing else that I wanted to do.”

As these women, who are two of the longest-employed nurses at LMH, celebrated National Nurses Week last month, neither was thinking much about retirement.

Of course, Friel, who now works alongside Dr. Roger Dreiling, at Cardiovascular Specialists of Lawrence, has cut her schedule to three days a week.

“That seemed like a great way to extend my career,” she explains.

“At this point, I don’t have plans to retire. I feel like, as long as I’m mentally sharp and physically, I’ll continue. I love the people I work with. I love the patients.”

Friel also works at staying physically fit. She loves downhill skiing and, for 30 years, has been a member of the National Ski Patrol at Snow Creek, near Weston, Missouri. The year she turned 60, she traveled to Colorado to ski the steepest run in North America, she hiked the Grand Canyon, and she ran her first marathon.

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For Black and Friel, nursing has provided them flexibility for life away from nursing and certainly as they raised their children.

Black, who has worked in the mother/baby or pediatrics units since Friel hired her, moved to the night shift 27 years ago so she and her husband could more easily care for their three daughters.

“It works for us. It doesn’t work for everybody,” Black says.

Each woman has tremendous pride in the hospital where they have found a home.

“We are a family,” says Black, whose coworkers affectionately refer to her as “Mama Bear.” “This is family. I have a family outside of LMH, and this is a family inside LMH.” While Black’s career has focused on expectant mothers and fathers, and children, Friel has done a bit of everything—cardiology, intensive care, the emergency room and maternal-child, where she was director for more than 15 years.

During their long careers at Lawrence’s community hospital, change has been a constant.

Gone are the days when oncology patients waited in LMH’s lobby before boarding a van to leave town for treatment. Now, many of those patients are treated here. Gone are the days when patients smoked in their rooms, and staff could smoke in the lounge. “We don’t do that anymore, and that’s a good thing,” Black says smiling. And gone are the days when nurses used pens and paper to write in patients’ charts.

“We have a whole floor (for IT) in this hospital that didn’t exist when I started,” Friel explains.

And the patient/physician relationship has changed. From her vantage point, Friel says, doctors have mellowed. They’re listening more to patients, who have become more active participants in their health care.

“It’s a kinder, more helpful environment than ever before,” she says.

In the past 40 years, the LMH complex of buildings has more than doubled in size. Outpatient visits to the hospital have skyrocketed, while in-patient stays have grown shorter.

“A lot of care is being assumed at home that used to be our care,” Black says.

But the depth and breadth of care available at LMH has expanded.

“What the hospital has been able to offer the community is so incredible,” Black continues. “I’ve seen that growth, and I’m very proud of that. We’re a great community hospital, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

LMH is recruiting nurses who are committed to exceptional patient care. For information about nursing opportunities at LMH and affiliated practices, visit www.lmh.org/careers. p

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PROFESSIONAL [ SPOTLIGHT ]

What have been some of the most important aspects of your personal success?

The University’s?

While KU has grown in remarkable ways and elevated our national stature during my time here, I would like to mention three accomplishments in particular. First, we have overhauled our admissions and enrollment-management process and, as a result, have now experienced five straight years of freshman class growth, even as the population of Kansas high school seniors has declined. In 2016, we welcomed our most academically talented freshman class ever, as well.

Second, we accomplished a successful capital fund-raising campaign, Far Above, that raised $1.66 billion for the University. This is a testament to our donors, and their generosity will elevate KU for decades to come.

BERNADETTE GRAY-LITTLE CHANCELLOR UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Also, we have undertaken a once-in-a-generation upgrade Aside from providing education, what is the University’s most important commodity or service?

Scholarship and research are the other important contributions of a public flagship research university like KU. Teaching and research provide a service to society by providing an educated citizenry and by making discoveries that have the capacity to improve our national and global society. So many of the ideas, cures and inventions that ensure our future well-being come from universities, and KU is proud to be a part of that tradition.

What is the University’s most important priority?

Our most important mission is to educate leaders, and one of our most important priorities is to work to improve our students’ success. As we seek to educate these leaders, we accomplish this in a number of different ways and have undertaken initiatives to improve the way we teach and the way we keep students engaged in their education.

of our facilities and infrastructure that will transform our university, especially in the area of science. Our new Integrated Science Building within the Central District of campus will add 280,000 square feet of state-of-the-art space for our science fields, closely integrating research and the classroom. This is in addition to the Earth, Energy and Environment Center comprising Slawson and Ritchie halls. These much-needed additions will replace classrooms and labs in the aging Malott Hall, which was built before we put a man on the moon.

How many people do you work with, serve, interact with on a daily basis and are responsible to or for?

Rarely are two days alike. Interacting with people is a critical part of the job. I regularly meet with faculty, students, administrators and staff across KU in addition to many people outside the University with an interest in our activities. In many ways, however, the role is even broader than that. We have five campuses, and our university outreach efforts affect every county in Kansas. The University is a large organization within this region, and, as a result, I also regularly interact with business leaders and public officials. While the chancellor technically reports to the Kansas Board of Regents, the position is ultimately responsible to all the people of Kansas, and I try to approach each day with that in mind.

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CALL OR GO ONLINE TODAY TO SEE HOW EXPRESS CAN HELP. 785-749-7550 http://lawrenceks.expresspros.com 1000 Iowa, Lawrence KS 66044

How do you, and the University, make a positive impact on the Lawrence community?

The Lawrence community is an ideal setting for the University of Kansas. The city and the University have grown up together for more than a century and a half. The University, town and county have a strong partnership through the Bioscience and Technology Business Center (BTBC) on our West Campus. That facility serves as an incubator for new businesses in the community and is just one part of the economic engine of the University from which the community benefits. Also, residents can enjoy a number of university activities, including guest speakers, musical events, museums and sporting events.

What do you see as your personal responsibility and the University’s responsibility to the community?

First, we have to be a good citizen. We take seriously our contribution to the quality of life in our community, and through economic development, we can directly benefit the community and grow together. Truthfully, things that positively or negatively affect the community also have a direct effect on the University, as well, and our ability to recruit talented faculty and students to KU. So we’re often after the same goals.

What would you change about working with businesses in Lawrence?

During the past eight years, the University has become more directly involved in the business community here in Lawrence. Through partnerships like the Bioscience and Technology Business Center at KU, we have strengthened existing ties and created new ones.

More than 40 companies are housed in the BTBC business incubator, totaling more than 215 private-sector jobs. By working together, we can have an impact not just here in Lawrence but well beyond our city limits. I believe communication between businesses and the University is better and more open today, and I would like to see that continue.

Why did you choose education? What inspires you? Is there a specific thing, person or incident?

One could say, really, that education chose me rather than the other way around. As early as my high school years, I was taken by the opportunity to learn and to know as many things as possible. I wanted to see how things worked and learn as much as I possibly could. When I first went away to college, there wasn’t a field that I couldn’t imagine myself majoring in. And now, by extension, to help facilitate that process in others has been very rewarding throughout my career.

What is the biggest challenge you feel the University faces?

First, we must have stable funding. Absent that, much of what we are trying to do falls apart. So that is our biggest challenge. The effects of unstable or inadequate funding are profound, ultimately eroding morale and commitment, which are critical to everything we do. Related to that issue, KU and other universities across the nation are confronting questions about whether higher education in this country is truly a public good, not solely a private one, and therefore, to what extent the public should bear the responsibility for its support. Beyond funding, we are challenged to continue to address social issues like diversity and sexual assault, which cannot be addressed solely with more money. No single action will help us to accomplish our goals in these areas, so we need to remain systematic and comprehensive in our efforts.

How can the University navigate the challenges of the future?

The benefits that research universities provide to our society— educated leaders, healthier communities and discoveries that change lives and create jobs—have only grown over time. Leaders at KU and other universities will have to strongly advocate for what we do in order to continue to change lives. We also will have to push ourselves to step outside our comfort zone and accept new ideas and new strategies that will help us accomplish our mission. p

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NON- [ PROFIT ]

LOCAL FOOD RECOVERY PROGRAM EASES WORRIES OF STRUGGLING FAMILIES

by Elizabeth Keever, Executive Director, Just Food

The Just Food program provides not only shelf-stable foods but also fresh foods thanks to its extensive list of partners.

Forty percent of food in the United States is never eaten. At the same time, one in eight Americans worries about where his or her next meal is coming from. This food is lost or wasted throughout many stages of the supply chain, from harvest to consumer. Food waste may be accidental or negligent, but it ultimately leads to less food available for all, especially those who need it the most.

In Lawrence, Kansas, we see a very different picture thanks to Just Food and its Food Recovery partners. Hunger remains on the rise in Lawrence, leaving 16 percent of the population struggling to put food on the table for their families. Just Food’s expansive Food Recovery program eases the worries for many of these families. Forty-five percent of families struggling with hunger in Douglas County are not eligible to receive SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) or food stamps. This means that Just Food and its partner agencies are their only options. Hunger in Douglas County often affects the most vulnerable members of our community: children and the elderly. In the Lawrence school district, 39 percent of children are eligible for free and reduced lunch. For seniors, 9 percent don't know where their next meal is

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coming from. Many have to choose between life-saving medications and food. In 2016, Just Food served nearly 13,000 residents in the community.

In 1996, The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act was passed. The bill was created to protect the donor and the recipient agency against liability, excepting only gross negligence and/or intentional misconduct. This freed grocery stores and restaurants from the liability of donating a wide variety of foods to food banks and pantries. In the past five years, there has been growing momentum behind the food-recovery movement.

Food-recovery efforts in the Douglas County community play a huge role in keeping up with the growing demand of food assistance. The Food Recovery program was created in late 2013 with just two stores, Hy-Vee and Natural Grocers. The partnership started because several employees at these stores struggled with throwing away good food that was no longer sellable. The first items donated were mostly bakery items and grew from there as the stores became more educated on common misconceptions about food that can be donated to food banks and pantries.

In the first year of the Food Recovery program, Just Food collected 124,390 pounds of food that would have otherwise been

thrown away. It quickly became known that the food recovered was some of the most desirable food for the program’s clients. On an average day at Just Food’s food pantry, shoppers are greeted with a variety of shelfstable items, including beans, canned vegetables and boxed dinners. With the addition of Food Recovery, the Just Food shelves began to look a lot different. On any given day, families visiting the pantry could now get a gallon of milk, fresh produce, eggs, fresh meat and cheese. The fresh selection began to make a big impact on the families that Just Food served and opened the doors to conversations about healthy diets and lifestyles.

Families that face hunger are at a much higher risk of diet-related diseases, including high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. This comes at a great cost to these families and the community at large. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that a 10-percent weight loss could reduce an overweight person's lifetime medical costs by $2,200 to $5,300. With this information and the access to fresh foods, Just Food has created programming aimed at teaching its shoppers healthy and budget-friendly meals.

The first two stores paved the way for Just Food to expand food recovery along with funds received by the City of Lawrence to purchase a refrigerated box truck to make transport easier and safer for the food being donated.

Partners now include restaurants, farms, university dining programs and convenience stores. Now, upwards of 2000 pounds of food are recovered each day, with nearly every grocery store in the community participating. In 2016 alone, Just Food recovered 787,072 pounds, which represents a value of $1,338,022.

The Food Recovery program would not be possible without the committed employees of local restaurants, farms and grocery stores. It feeds hundreds of families each day healthy, fresh and nutritious foods thanks to its partners: Hy-Vee, Natural Grocers, Dillons, Sprouts, Walmart, Target, Aldi, Checkers, The Merc, Kwik Shop, Lawrence Farmers Market, Voigts Farms, Juniper Hills Farm, WheatFields, LongHorn Steakhouse, Chipotle, 23rd Street Brewery, Great Harvest Bread Co., Smallcakes, Which Wich, 1900 Barker Bakery, Moon on the Meadow, Beisecker Farms, Irick Farms, Pendleton’s Farm, The University of Kansas Dining, Limestone Pizza, Clearfield Farmhaus and Eat Fit Go Healthy Foods. p

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All-Natural & Sustainable: LOCAL FOOD COMPANY GROWS RAPIDLY AS DEMAND INCREASES

By Anne Brockhoff photos by Steven Hertzog

Hilary’s Eat Well appears unassuming, its low building painted in earthy grays and greens, and sheltered from the busy intersection of 23rd Street and Haskell Avenue by a swatch of grass and trees. The front door opens onto a bright and airy office. The air is fragrant with spices, the employees smiling and relaxed, the hum of machinery muted.

That calm, however, belies a frenzied pace of growth since Hilary’s launched in 2010. Its products are now sold across the U.S. and in Canada and France, and in 2016, it ranked 897th on the Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Companies.

“We’re emerging out of entrepreneurship to what I’ve been a part of at other companies, which is hyper growth,” says Greg Easter, senior vice president of sales. “We’re experiencing amazing growth in a short amount of time.”

Hilary’s sells frozen veggie burgers, veggie bites, sausage, millet medleys and seasonal holiday stuffing reflecting almost a dozen cuisines, plus shelf-stable salad dressings. All are certified gluten free, non-GMO (genetically modified organism) verified, certified organic and free from dairy, eggs, corn, soy and nuts—qualities consumers are increasingly seeking, according to Packaged Facts, a Rockville, Md.-based market research firm.

“Bold and unique flavors; varieties inspired by world cuisines; cleaner labels and healthier nutrition profiles; and products that accommodate special dietary concerns will drive purchases,” David Sprinkle, Packaged Facts’ research director said in a 2017 report on the $22-billion U.S. market for frozen dinners and entrées,

pizza, side dishes and appetizers and snacks.

Of course, burger-type foods made from vegetables aren’t exactly new. Tennessee-based Madison Foods unveiled its “Soy-Burger” in 1937, according to the SoyInfo Center (a soy industry advocate). And a 2013 article in Smithsonian Magazine reported that the “VegeBurger” launched by a London restaurant in 1982 was the world’s first commercial veggie burger. Brands like Morningstar Farms and Boca Foods now dominate the frozen- and refrigerated-meat alternatives market in the U.S. But these are meat analogs, notes Becky Harpstrite, vice president of marketing for Hilary’s. Most are made with soy and/or wheat derivatives, flavorings and additives that yield a facsimile of meat’s texture and flavor.

Hilary’s takes a different approach. It incorporates things like quinoa, millet and rice; beans and pulses; root vegetables; leafy greens; coconut and olive oils; and herbs. Ingredients that don’t pretend to be anything but what they are: real and minimally processed food.

“Back in the day, there was just this one type of burger,” Harpstrite says. “When we came on the market, we were a disrupter.”

Hilary Brown, the company’s founder, developed what she dubbed the World’s Best Veggie Burger in 2005 for Local Burger, her vision of a sustainable fast-food restaurant. Like most things on her menu, it was free of all common allergens and artificial ingredients, largely because Brown was allergic to so many of them herself.

The veggie burger proved so popular that Brown began selling them from a freezer case and, five years later, created Hilary’s Eat Well to manufacture and market them. Brown eventually closed

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Local Burger to concentrate on Hilary’s Eat Well, and, by 2012, Whole Foods Market was selling its veggie burger nationwide.

packaging with both French and English, but the distributor handles export logistics.

“From there, we’ve grown pretty quickly and pretty tremendously,” says Harpstrite, who pegs current distribution at between 7,000 and 10,000 natural and conventional retailers across the country.

“There has to be market demand to be successful, and we’re finding there is a lot of demand for our type of product in Canada,” says Butler, who adds the country now generates about 10 percent of Hilary’s sales. It’s early days in France, but she’s optimistic about the potential there, as well.

Brown is no longer involved in the business, which is now owned by several investor groups and governed by a board of directors, Harpstrite says. The privately held company does not disclose financial figures, however Inc. magazine reported sales grew 447 percent over a three-year period, and total revenue reached $4.6 million in 2015.

To keep that momentum going, Hilary’s in 2015 crafted a threeyear strategic plan with a trio of pillars: distribution growth, sales growth and new-product development. Moving beyond the natural foods retailers and cooperatives that have long embraced Hilary’s was a crucial first step in that plan, CFO and president Lydia Butler says.

Three years ago, “you could find a Hilary’s product in virtually every natural grocery store in the U.S., but you couldn’t find us in conventional grocery stores, the Hy-Vees, Dillons and Krogers,” she says.

To build that demand, Hilary’s forged relationships with mainstream retailers at a time when many were seeking to expand their natural foods offerings. Easter routinely meets with store buyers to introduce the company’s line and tell the Hilary’s story, a story he says resonates especially with buyers courting millennial customers.

That builds demand. Distributors, in turn, help Hilary’s satisfy it.

The company works with United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), perhaps the biggest distributor of natural, organic and specialty products in the U.S. UNFI’s Canadian division distributes Hilary’s in that country.

Going international was relatively straightforward, thanks to that partnership, Harpstrite says. Hilary’s developed dual-language

Distribution is just the start, though. The next step is boosting velocity, or the number of people who try and then continue purchasing Hilary’s foods.

“Our core customers are as loyal as can be. We just need more of them,” Easter says.

Most purchase decisions are made at the point of sale, so in 2015, Hilary’s revamped its packaging to create a more cohesive look and emphasize its whole food, “free-from” positioning.

Packaging is “one of the most important elements when communicating about our brand,” Harpstrite says.

Last year, Hilary’s courted potential customers at six consumer trade shows, including the Gluten Free and Allergen Friendly Expos (it attended 15 industry trade shows, as well). The company uses coupons and giveaways, is active on social media, collaborates on recipes and works closely with bloggers and influencers—all means of encouraging shoppers to simply try Hilary’s.

“So often, people are nervous about trying something if they haven’t gotten a recommendation from a friend,” Butler says.

Certainly, there’s a lot to try these days. During the past two years, Hilary’s has aggressively evaluated market opportunities and created new products to capitalize on them.

Take protein. More than a third of consumers are seeking protein from nonmeat sources, according to research by Mintel, a global market intelligence agency. To meet that demand, Hilary Kass, who oversees research and product development, reached for lentils and adzuki, garbanzo and other beans—all with a solid pro-

The Hilary Eat Well Factory on Haskell Avenue

tein profile that still fit Hilary’s plant-based, minimally processed, free-from mandate.

“We have things measured by people putting them in their mouths,” Kass says.

Veggie sausage patties moved Hilary’s into the breakfast category, while adding more veggie bites and millet medleys hit the frozen snacks and side dishes mark. Convenience is still important, and quality and healthfulness even more so, the Packaged Facts report said. That’s all good news for Hilary’s.

“We’re hitting all these attributes that consumers are looking for in one product,” Harpstrite says.

Hilary’s launched 13 brand extensions and new products in 2016 in what Butler admits was a banner year. The company now sells seven veggie burgers in addition to its original World’s Best: Adzuki bean, hemp and greens, root veggie, black rice, spicy Thai, curry and kimchi. There are original, Mediterranean, broccoli casserole, spicy mesquite veggie bites and both apple maple and spicy veggie sausage patties.

As she developed new offerings, Kass experimented with ingredients, balancing flavor, cost and availability in what she calls a blend of art and science. It can be tricky. The company buys only from suppliers that are certified organic, non-GMO and gluten-free.

While that market is expanding, it’s still difficult or costly to find some of Kass’s favorites, like sumac.

A new line of millet medleys come in herb, savory mushroom, fresh Greek and golden curry flavors. The seasonal holiday stuffing tastes of celery, apple and herbs. The company’s shelf-stable salad dressings, which are made in Nebraska, include ranch chia, remoulade, apple fennel, balsamic thyme, beet vinaigrette, spicy island, chili lime and tomato Kalamata olive.

Sustainability is also a priority. Hilary’s eschews monoculture crops in favor of grains such as millet, which is drought-resistant and easily grown in the U.S., and a variety of black rice from Lotus Foods that requires less water, seed and labor.

Hilary’s isn’t just about food, though. The company is committed to a broader definition of sustainability. It has installed solar panels and energy-efficient lighting, and recycles. Food waste goes to local livestock farms, while excess finished, edible products are routinely donated to agencies including Just Food, a Douglas County food pantry, and the Food Equality Initiative, a nonprofit that provides food for the low-income food-allergy and celiac communities.

Hilary’s works with certifying organizations to routinely audit ingredients and guarantee organic, gluten-free and other standards are being met. Once production begins, there’s no risk of crosscontamination because things on the “free-from” list simply don’t come in the plant.

“That’s the level of trust you have” when purchasing from Hilary’s, Harpstrite says. “That’s really our sweet spot, being ‘free from.’”

Once a recipe’s been developed, Kass makes small batches in a test kitchen. She follows with increasingly larger batches until certain flavor and quality can be maintained in a full-run quantity.

Products are tasted in-house then shared with external “trusted contacts” who sample each and complete a survey.

And the company wants to do more. Hilary’s recently started working with the Climate and Energy Project, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing clean-energy options, to better manage issues such as wastewater disposal.

Membership in the Sustainable Food Trade Organization, which supports the organic food industry, helps Hilary’s network with companies facing similar challenges, like sourcing more environmentally friendly packaging.

“It’s not always the easiest and most cost-effective thing to choose

Ellie Barton, Hilary Kass, Becky Harpstrite, Greg Easter & Lydia Butler in an executive meeting

a sustainable option,” Harpstrite says. “We know long-term for the planet and our company, it is a better choice.”

Hilary’s is also a B Corporation, one of more than 2,000 worldwide that’s been certified by the nonprofit B Lab to “meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.”

That means how the company treats its employees is just as important as its environmental concerns. Hilary’s provides everything from picnic tables and raised garden beds near the parking lot to fair wages, Butler says. The company offers professional development one Friday a month—a day when the production team is usually off—to address topics as varied as food safety, quitting smoking and personal financial management. Hilary’s has also helped build a nearby Habitat for Humanity house and volunteers to plant flowers for the city.

Butler updates her more than 30 employees twice yearly on the company’s performance, and monthly “dew-gooder” awards recognize employees that have been especially helpful in some way. Perhaps someone had a manufacturing-related idea or maybe helped a fellow employee change a tire.

“That social element is something we really focus on,” Harpstrite says. “We want to create an environment where people thrive.”

The company’s success in that is apparent on the short walk between the office space at the front of the 8,000-square-foot building to the manufacturing area in back: The boxes of packaging and dried ingredients stacked in racks along the way all sport Magic Marker smiley faces, hearts and encouraging messages.

On a recent visit, the employees, too, appeared as cheerful as they were focused. They prepped spices and vegetables; cooked millet, adzuki beans and jasmine, and black rice in the tilt skillets lining one wall of the production kitchen; and combined the grains and legumes with various greens, sweet potatoes, cumin, garlic and other ingredients in a massive mixer for the black rice patties being made that day.

The mixture was then fed into the former, a piece of equipment that presses patties out onto a narrow conveyor belt. They were cooked, quickly frozen in a spiral freezer, sealed in pairs into plastic and inserted into cardboard cartons.

The plant’s multiple critical control points ensure food safety. Hilary’s also tests for cross-contamination that might have occurred in any of

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its suppliers’ facilities to confirm the absence of allergens and gluten. The final control point is a metal detector that screens for any bits of metal that might have accidentally found their way into a batch (a common safeguard throughout the food manufacturing industry). Finally, cartons are boxed, boxes stacked on a cart, the stack shrink-wrapped and the whole thing wheeled into a freezer.

It’s a well-honed process, but Butler says her team is always looking for ways to improve and will soon begin working on the next threeyear strategic plan. Distribution, velocity and products will likely remain priorities, although the emphasis on each may shift, Butler says.

Production might increase beyond the current single shift that runs four days a week. The company might add more employees. No matter how the plan evolves, Butler says one thing is certain: She and her team will aim for continued, steady growth while adhering closely to the Hilary’s core mission of providing real foods made with minimally processed ingredients that are organic, non-GMO and free from gluten and common allergens.

“We’ve got a very talented and dedicated team that knows how to focus,” Butler says. “Focus is critical when you’re growing this fast.” p

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Patrick Alderdice conducts a staff meeting in one of the Pennington Company conference room

FUND-RAISING for greek organizations & more

By Hank Booth photos by Steven Hertzog

“We want to make raving fans out of our customers.” With those words, Patrick Alderdice, CEO of Pennington and Co., expresses the bottom-line goal of a local company that has since become the premier fraternity and sorority fund-raising firm in the nation. What started as a regional fund-raising organization by two Lawrence men in 1993 has grown into a national company with headquarters in Lawrence, Kansas. Pennington and Co. has raised more than a half-billion dollars, with help from alumni groups it puts together, primarily for Greek organizations for use in building and remodeling living facilities all across the country.

Pennington and Co. was started by Daniel Pennington, John Esau and Mary Dillon in a small office in west Lawrence. They were the only employees of the new company. In 1996, they hired a young man named Patrick Alderdice and, three years later, went in other directions in their business careers, and sold the company to Alderdice. That marked the beginning of a new Pennington national Greek fund-raising organization that today raises more money for its clients than all of its competition combined.

Pennington has grown from six employees in 2000 to 85 in its newly upgraded facilities in two buildings in the same location just off of Sixth Street. In addition, 25 other employees carry the Pennington message in 15 cities in every time zone in the country, and that number is growing every year. Today, Pennington represents more than 60 national fraternities and sororities on more than 135

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college campuses.

But, that’s just the numbers. The underlying passion, philosophy and personal relationships of those working for this remarkable business are really the story of Pennington and Co. It is a story they are proud to share.

When Alderdice and those who stayed on took over 24 years ago, Pennington was a regional company and confined to schools in the Midwest. The company quickly spread its wings to Greek houses at Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Florida and Cornell University as some of the early clients. Its success was driven, in part, by product knowledge. (After graduation from college, CEO Patrick Alderdice had served in several positions with his own college fraternity, Delta Chi’s, national organization.)

Early on, Alderdice and Pennington team members asked alumni of the fraternities and sororities needing the facelift to help with fund-raising, and his background from his own college days and early work experience helped get that done. Perhaps more importantly, the early Pennington team became excellent trainers of future employees. Word of their early work in successfully putting together alumni groups to raise the money for major projects quickly spread. They combined fund-raising, communications and marketing expertise with a personal commitment to the value they shared of having a Greek life experience in college.

Just as important as that commitment to financing and building quality living facilities for Greek organizations is the internal dedication of Pennington’s management team to create a great work-

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Purveyors of gourmet kitchenware & unique home goods in historic downtown Lawrence.

732 Massachusetts DelaneyandLoew.com

place. In 2015, the company was named as a Best Company to Work For in companies under 100 employees by the Lawrence Journal World. It has grown since then but is just as committed to the PFI (Pennington Fun Index). Alderdice explains it simply, “Service is our job, and my No. 1 product is our people.” Employees agree. “We want to make raving fans out of all of our clients,” he says.

Pennington and Co. covers it all in the world of fund-raising for Greeks and is currently moving into smaller private schools. Locally, it has worked with Lawrence’s Bishop Seabury Academy. From start-up feasibility study to needs assessment for the house being remodeled to raising the money and finally to managing the project through completion, Pennington covers all of the bases and promises to work just as hard for the small school as it does for large national Greek groups. It’s all part of creating raving fans out of all those who choose Pennington’s style to win the fund-raising game. p

(top to bottom) Sigma Chi Stanford Beta Theta Pi – OU Delta Gamma –SMU

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Lawrence Company Spotlights

by Emily Mulligan, photos by Steven Hertzog

Though you may not have known it at the time, you’ve likely sipped a brew from a Grandstand mug.

Just about every Lawrencian has used or worn a Grandstand Glassware and Apparel product; they just don’t know it.

Grandstand’s products are ubiquitous in restaurants, local coffee shops and craft breweries across the nation. Yet, consumers may not recognize the company’s name—but that is by design, as Grandstand’s mission is to spotlight its clients’ brands.

Founded in Lawrence and located here since 1988, Grandstand, which is privately owned, is a perfect example of a small-time company that has hit the big time. With 195 employees in its East Hills Business Park headquarters and continual recent growth, Grandstand’s glass is definitely half-full.

As its name states, Grandstand specializes in designing, printing, distributing and marketing glassware and apparel for thousands of specialty beverage companies nationwide.

The company began as a small screen-printing shop on Haskell Avenue, headed by Chris Piper, previously notable in Lawrence as a University of Kansas men’s basketball player. For the first year, most of the company’s business was printing T-shirts and water bottles. The shift to incorporate glassware came in 1989, when a new restaurant, the Free State Brewing Co., opened its doors on Massachusetts Street. Free State remains a Grandstand customer.

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Business grew steadily for two decades, and then the craft-brewing trend hit the beer industry, which was great news for Grandstand. Craft brewers and craft-beverage makers now account for 40 percent of the company’s business. Grandstand moved to its current facility in 2011 with 56 employees and has grown exponentially in the past six years.

“It’s a tribute to the leadership there and the employees, that they’re doing something right. They continue to innovate and look at other opportunities, and it’s a really good story,” says Steve Kelly, vice president of economic development at The Chamber.

“Pour” Over all the Choices The company has four aspects to its operation: decorative glassware and drinkware for all types of beverages; screen-printed and decorated apparel, including shirts, hats and server uniforms; promotional items, such as sunglasses and dog bowls, which are decorated by a separate vendor; and creative services, which include creating logos, artwork and branding for newly established clients.

Grandstand’s business model is not just about being a clearinghouse for products and artwork for its customers, though. Instead, owners want their customers to see Grandstand as a partner to their own brand. And with the services Grandstand provides its customers, to round out and enhance the production process, customers can easily “drink in” all the expertise.

“We work with well over 4,000 craft brewers. That allows us to see trends on the west coast and the east coast, and different industries,” Marketing Director Josh Christie says.

So, at the same time that Grandstand is offering more and more options to its customers, the company is also making it more turnkey to take advantage of those options.

“They’ve done a good job of putting themselves in good market segments, but beyond that, they’ve done a great job of performing for their customers, giving their customers and clients the service and products to help them be successful,” Kelly explains. “It has allowed them to continue to grow and be sourced by these companies.”

Grandstand’s recent expansions with the creative services department and fulfillment warehouse ensure that when a customer orders merchandise to sell, Grandstand can do all the finishing so the items arrive “retail ready” and can go straight onto display shelves. That can include providing customized decorated packaging, such as boxes that Grandstand staff assemble, or rolling T-shirts into eye-catching bundles that make nice souvenirs and gifts.

“We look at the products as a profit center, not as a cost center,” Christie says.

In other words, the decorated glasses might cost a little more than plain ones, but that also means the beverage customers will want to buy one to take home. And that translates to more dollars per brewpub customer.

Grandstand sees its role as a retail consultant for all the merchandise, not just the glassware, that a beverage maker may want to sell. Staff analyzes the merchandise lineup and ensures there is enough variety of apparel and other items to appeal to wide-ranging tastes. And when the weather is getting warmer, for example, Grandstand offers to add something like a tank top or visor to keep choices fresh.

Grandstand has even thought of all the possible ways to take the order-fulfillment burden off its customers by supplying a customized e-commerce portal with the brewery’s merchandise that its customers can access seamlessly through the brewery’s website.

For example, Grandstand sells decorated glassware to craft brewers so they can stock their bars and serve their customers. But Grandstand also goes a step further and allows that craft brewer’s customer to order glassware for himself or herself directly, and the company packages and ships the order straight to that customer.

So, if customers enjoy a craft beer on vacation at a brewery, and they want glassware but don’t want to pack and carry their new glasses the rest of the trip, they can just order some to be shipped to their home.

Clients’ Brands, Not Its Own

New innovative glassware by Grandstand

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Grandstand factory in East Hills

Grandstand also offers direct online ordering for liquor distributors across the country. If a regional distributor is holding an event and wants to serve in brewery-specific glassware, they can order straight from Grandstand, even if the distributor isn’t a Grandstand customer.

Along with the Craft Master Grand, Grandstand has an exclusive partnership with Rastal to provide all of the increasingly popular specialty-beer drinkware best suited to different varieties of beer, such as stouts, Belgians and barley wines. They can all be decorated and customized—and of course custom-packaged, fulfilled and shipped.

The Cup of Ideas Runneth Over

The other product line that integrates Grandstand’s across-theboard efforts begins with the Grandstand-trademarked phrase “Support Local Beer.” There are 50 different designs, one for each of the 50 states, of T-shirts, coasters and glassware—nothing short of a full merchandise line, naturally—that breweries can provide and sell to promote the concept of local beer in their area.

Two Grandstand product lines illustrate best how the company’s operations, services and products complement one another.

The first is the Craft Master Grand, which is a beer (or coffee) glass Grandstand created exclusively with German glassware designer, Rastal. The glass launched this year and offers characteristics that the traditional pint glass cannot: It stacks without sticking, its design is a lot less susceptible to chipping, and its wider opening allows more of the drink’s aroma to reach the drinker’s nose. The Craft Master Grand looks nice but is still practical, with its 16-ounce capacity and ability to fit in a standard dishwasher, as well as its weighted bottom that won’t tip on trays.

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“ ‘Support Local Beer’ is registered to Grandstand. Anytime you see that somewhere, that’s us,” Christie says.

2017’s marketing plans have included focusing on some other burgeoning craft beverages. Grandstand has compiled glassware and drinkware product lines so it can branch out to coffee shops, cider brewers, distilleries, wineries and soda brewers. Alchemy Coffee House in Lawrence already uses a full line of Grandstand

No Glass Ceilings, Only Glassware

products, such as growlers and glassware, for its coffee and cold-brew products.

Christie says the artisan trend from microbrew beer has spilled over into other beverage categories, with drinkers of all sorts making small batches on a local scale. Grandstand’s products easily translate to those other beverages, as well.

“We believe that we put a superior product out there, and we provide a superior level of service,” Christie says.

Grandstand works to foster a collaborative environment for all departments. Production for both apparel and glassware decoration runs 120 hours per week. Since moving to East Hills in late 2011, there has been growth in all departments. The Creative Services department, which began in 2013, now has 16 full-time designers. There has also been growth in fulfillment, finishing, technology and e-commerce, marketing and sales.

“There are not a lot of layers here—it’s very flat. In all of our meetings, we have everyone involved, so ideas can come from any department, and they are heard by everyone,” Christie says. “Working at Grandstand is one of the few opportunities you get, no matter what position you get to, to see the impact you have on the company every single day, by seeing people use literally the product you printed.”

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Full color organic glassware printer

Sipping on Some Trends Specialization and specification of certain glasses for certain types of beverages continue to gain in popularity. Grandstand’s partnership with Rastal all but guarantees the growth of that concept.

There are a couple of new trends in glassware decoration that have expanded Grandstand’s capabilities. Glass “nucleation,” or engraving on the inside base of a glass, not only gives drinkers a little design flair at the end of their beverage but also sets off the carbonation in beer to continually distribute vertically in the glass. (Next time you finish a beverage in a restaurant, make sure you notice the bottom of the glass.)

The state of California recently updated Proposition 65, which is designed to prevent toxic chemicals from reaching drinking water. That includes the glass that contains the water. So now, decorated glassware must be printed with only organic ink. Grandstand has adapted an organic formula, made of monomers and pigment, which can be used to decorate its full range of glass products.

Apparel trends include T-shirt hoodies, fitted unisex and female T-shirts, soft fabric sweatshirts and T-shirts with equally soft printing that doesn’t bunch or poke, as well as custom headwear, Christie says.

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Grandstand employee lounge

Raising a Glass to the Community “A lot of our efforts in Lawrence aren’t necessarily to promote Grandstand,” Christie explains. He lists Grandstand’s involvement with Lawrence Restaurant Week, the Craft Brewers Expo and Lawrence Oktoberfest as examples.

There is also the company’s “Best Places to Work” committee, which meets weekly to figure out how to best be involved in the community. Through that, Grandstand employees have volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, Lawrence Humane Society, Douglas County CASA, Sexual Trauma and Abuse Care Center, Van GO Mobile Arts, Boys and Girls Club, March of Dimes, Just Food, Penn House, Ballard Community Services, Lawrence Arts Center and Downtown Lawrence Inc. p

State of Kansas Registration #13-116214

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Prominent National Landmarks Touched by Local Influences New York, Washington D.C., even as far away as Qatar: These local companies provide their services to expansive projects all across the globe.

by Bob Luder, photos by Steven Hertzog

Bet you didn’t know the last time you were in New York City gazing upon the majestic spire that is the Empire State Building that you were looking at a little piece of Lawrence.

The same can be said of the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Or, a number of state capital buildings throughout the Midwest. Or, the inside infrastructure of any number of city and county government, or health-care and educational buildings throughout the country.

Just because Lawrence is a mid-sized college town located smack in the middle of the country—“flyover territory” as many coastal dwellers call it—that doesn’t mean its reach can’t extend from coast to coast, border to border.

One of the most profound ways the city impacts the rest of the country is through the many businesses that, while local in housing its headquarters in town, operate on a national or even

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international scale. In terms of the aforementioned structures, it’s our local companies that help design, build and maintain many of the nation’s prominent landmark buildings that give Lawrence residents reason to be proud.

PROSOCO, a decades-old cleaning solvent company—its name is short for Process Solvent Company—has used its chemical cleaning and waterproofing solutions on the Empire State Building; in a 1980’s restoration of the U.S. Capitol; in a ’90s protection of the spectacular Getty Center in Los Angeles; and in a 2002 repair of the Pentagon following the 9/11 attacks.

Build SMART, a sister company of PROSOCO, creates prefabricated wall panels and foundation systems that have been used for veterans housing projects in the Philadelphia area.

Treanor architecture firm has designed buildings or completed restoration projects on 90 college campuses in 42 states, has worked on several state capital buildings and even completed a $600-million project in Qatar in 2012.

360 Energy Engineers has upgraded core building infrastructure systems, with a focus on energy efficiency, in education, hospital and government buildings throughout the Midwest and beyond.

These companies do business all over the country and the world, and they’re proud to call Lawrence home.

“We’ve found that we can support projects very efficiently from Lawrence,” explains Scott McVey, division vice president, lead engineer and cofounder of 360 Energy Engineers. “It’s very accessible to an airport (Kansas City International) and accessible to every corner of the U.S. “And, it’s a great place to live and raise a family.”

Here’s a closer look at each of these four nationally prominent companies.

PROSOCO cleaners have helped restore and protect hundreds of monuments nationwide, including the U.S. Capitol.

Jerry Boyer (pictured below) is the second son of Al Boyer, who founded PROSOCO in 1939

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PROSOCO It started with cars.

Selling used cars was young Al Boyer’s calling and talent in the late 1920s and early ’30s, and despite America being in the throes of an economic depression, he thrived, for a while anyway. Also a skilled mechanic, he found a solution to the mineral deposit buildup problem that plagued car radiators back in that day and purchased a descaling formula from a chemical engineer.

Thus begun Solvent Process Co., which later would be reshuffled to Process Solvent Co. and then PROSOCO. Boyer traded his shares of the car business in Kansas City, Kan., for his partner’s shares in the solvent company.

Matt Travis (left), vice president of operations for PROSOCO, and Paul Grahovac (right), who’s in charge of new business development for Build SMART (sister company of PROSOCO), are pictured in PROSOCO’s warehouse facility

The company received its big break years later when a ready-mix concrete company discovered that Boyer’s initial product, Sure Klean #1, was effective in washing hardened cement dust off the side-mounted radiators on their trucks. The company renamed the cleaner Sure Klean 101 Lime Solvent and marketed it as a truckwashing compound.

“Those trucks were going out to construction sites every day,” says Matt Travis, PROSOCO vice president of operations. “(Boyer) would follow those trucks to the construction sites and sell.”

Meanwhile, ready-mix operators in Texas began selling the lime solvent as a brick cleaner. Jerry Boyer, Al’s son, who studied chemistry in high school and college before following dad into the business, reworked the lime solvent formula for bricks.

Tom Stalnaker, laboratory manager for PROSOCO, looks at an unusual stain on brick.

That led to the company’s first major contract: the 14-story Mountain States Telephone Building in Denver. The city’s tallest structure needed cleaning as part of a renovation project, but current cleaning methods were too abrasive for the delicate terra-cotta surface. Jerry Boyer created a solution that cleaned the masonry without damaging it, and PROSOCO’s reputation for cleaning structures flourished.

The recession of the late 1970s and early ’80s brought construction of new buildings to a standstill. That shifted focus to renovating and cleaning existing structures, and prompted the company to move into the northeastern part of the country. With Jerry Boyer now the company president, PROSOCO built plants in New Jersey and Atlanta, and also had a warehouse in California, solidifying the national scope of the company.

The company built the plant it uses today in Lawrence’s East Hill Business Park in 1999, closed the plants and warehouses around the country, and consolidated its operations in the ensuing few years.

PROSOCO has not only cleaned the Empire State Building, the Capitol and countless others, it’s also cleaned wine stains from concrete in California wineries and even King Kong’s blood. When Paramount Pictures shot a remake of King Kong in 1976, the film’s climax had Kong fall from the top of the World Trade Center to the paved terrace below. Jerry Boyer was brought in to clean the Karo syrup and red food-colored blood off the terra-cotta.

Customers of PROSOCO are often surprised to talk to a real live person right away when they call corporate headquarters. Pictured are customer care representatives Colleen Peters and Ted Barnekoff.

Build SMART R-Guard plays a large role in Build SMART’s relationship with PROSOCO. Adam Cohen is the architect behind what is known as “passive house construction,” which is a list of rigorous energy-efficiency standards resulting in less of an ecological footprint and lower energy costs. In 2010, PROSOCO began promoting R-Guard and its fluid-applied flashing to the passive house community, and that community was receptive. Cohen started Build SMART and joined forces with PROSOCO. He serves as Build SMART’s founder and technical director, while David Boyer is that company’s president, as well.

In 2005, PROSOCO, today run by a third-generation Boyer, Jerry’s son, David, diversified its product portfolio with the introduction of R-Guard, a line of air- and water-resistive barriers for walls.

Build SMART manufactures its prefab walls with its air- and watertight installation process at PROSOCO’s Lawrence plant. Insulation, windows and doors are preinstalled in the panels, making the construction process more efficient.

In 2007, the company launched another new line of products designed to treat and protect polished concrete floors.

Whitehall, a three-story, 49-apartment building in Spring City, Pa., that provides U.S. war veterans safe, comfortable and affordable

Build SMART panels offer an affordable and simple building methodology to achieve an extremely energy-efficient building standard called Passive House.

Build SMART wall panels are pre-fabricated in the company’s Lawrence headquarters in the East Hills Business Park, just south of PROSOCO’s national headquarters.

housing, is Build SMART’s most prominent national project to date. But there also have been projects in Canada, Kansas City, Kentucky, Ohio, northern Ontario and Virginia.

“You can achieve passive house performance with any number of strategies,” explains Paul Grahovac, new-business development with Build SMART. “We think Build SMART has one of the best solutions.”

Treanor Treanor was established in 1981 in Lenexa, Kan., but quickly moved to Lawrence, where it has established its legacy and history.

The company started designing residential and light commercial properties before moving into more institutional work in the early ’90s.

Interdisciplinary Research Building at The University of North Texas Health Science Center, Rendering by TreanorHL

“Toward the late ’90s, we reorganized into two practices of architecture,” says Dan Rowe, Treanor president. “The first was general practice. The second was specializing in certain building types and positioning ourselves as experts.”

Those building types gravitated toward student-life buildings on college campuses and justice buildings at the county level. Once the firm made the move toward specialization, it was only natural that the company grow beyond its local and regional roots, Rowe says.

“There are only so many government buildings in the area,” he continues.

“That specialization dictates that you geographically expand in order to make your expertise known.”

Today, Treanor employs about 150. Most are at the company’s studio space in downtown Lawrence, but there also are offices in Atlanta, Colorado Springs, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Kansas City, San Francisco, St. Louis and Topeka. Still others work remotely.

Hullabaloo Hall Living Learning Center at Texas A&M, Photographer: Timmerman Photography Inc

In Lawrence, Treanor designed the University of Kansas (KU) School of Engineering. It also has completed a lot of work on university buildings in Texas, including a $180-million project at Texas A&M, and Arkansas. Its work on justice buildings extends as far east as Vermont.

“We’re focused on becoming nationally present and known,” Rowe says.

“We’re thought of as a Midwest company that practices nationally. We want to be a national company that practices nationally.”

Another goal for Treanor, he says, is to one day make it into Architect magazine’s Top 50 Architecture Companies in the U.S.

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Lobby of Treanor offices in Lawrence

360 Engineers: boilers and chillers and complexity of piping RIght: The 100 kW solar installation, utilizing renewable energy, is an excellent project for the City of Lawrence, and illustrates the breadth of projects 360 develops and implements for clients as part of our portfolio of engineered energy-saving projects. (left to right ) Justin Pape, 360 Construction Manager, Doug Riat, 360 VP of Business Development, and Nick Pedersen, 360 Electrical Engineer.

360 Energy Engineers 360 Energy Engineers was founded in April 2010 by friends and colleagues Scott McVey, Joe Hurla and Aaron Etzkorn. Four-anda-half years later, the company was acquired by Willdan Group Inc., headquartered in Anaheim, Calif.

360 specializes in renovating existing building systems—mechanical systems, controls, lighting, electrical and plumbing systems— with a focus on energy efficiency.

“Starting out, we were almost exclusively doing projects for public institutions in Kansas,” McVey says. “We opened a Denver office in 2012 and expanded into Nebraska, Wyoming, Arkansas and Missouri.”

Once Willdan acquired 360, the expansion reached farther, into Arizona, California, New York, Texas and Utah.

“We’ve done some jobs for private hotels in Salt Lake City and in Arizona,” McVey says. “But public institutions has kind of been our bread and butter.”

The building boom of the 1990s has assured that 360 remains busy. Most, if not all, of those buildings today are in need of refurbishment. McVey says his company currently is doing work on about 40 buildings in Lawrence. It has an ongoing maintenance contract with KU, are performing a retro study with Johnson County Community College. And then there’s all the work in other parts of the country.

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“We bring a lot of engineering expertise to develop a building on a holistic level,” McVey explains. “We don’t think there’s any area of a building where we don’t see opportunities.”

A Place To Call Home A midsized college town smack in the middle of the country: It might seem an odd, or at least disadvantageous, place to operate a business on a national/international scale, but these four companies have never seen any reason to consider anyplace else.

“The Boyer family is from (Kansas City, Kan.); we’re a very deeprooted family business,” Matt Travis says of PROSOCO. “But it also makes sense geographically. You can go 360 degrees here in the middle of the country. We’re shipping a lot of weight, so air doesn’t work. Our trucks here can ship to either coast in about the same amount of time.”

There are plenty of benefits to being in Lawrence for Treanor architects, as well, as Rowe is quick to point out. Not only are the company’s heritage and foundation here, there are two excellent schools of architecture (Kansas State University having the other), making it easy to recruit top-notch talent. And, the quality of life for families of employees is hard to beat.

“Also, I think there’s great clout given to Midwestern values,” Rowe says. “There’s a certain thing that comes from Midwestern values that’s hard to quantify, but it’s there. It’s just a level of credibility and respect that’s hard to find anywhere else.” p

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LOCAL INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES Produce Millions of Everyday Products From garage doors to gift wrap, these companies make things that are used in homes all across the country.

by Emily Mulligan photos by Steven Hertzog

Amarr/Entrematic Garage door section assembly line

There are literally millions of products manufactured in Lawrence that are enjoyed regularly in homes across America. Two industrial production facilities in two completely different businesses keep a low profile in Lawrence and quietly produce consumer goods that millions of Americans use and value every day.

Entrematic is now the name of the company in East Hills Business Park previously known around Lawrence as Amarr Garage Door Co. The doors are still Amarr brand doors, but the company has been called Entrematic since its purchase in 2013 by Swedish company ASSA ABLOY. Hallmark Cards Inc. is a brand that needs no introduction. A Kansas City-based company, Hallmark’s Lawrence Greetings Production Center on McDonald Drive produces and packages about 70 percent of all Hallmark’s greeting cards worldwide.

Entrematic Entrematic has had substantial operations in Lawrence since 1989 as Garage Door Group. Today, Entrematic’s Lawrence operation comprises several arms of the company, which also has a manufacturing facility in North Carolina and expanded production to Shawnee, Kan., in 2017, including manufacturing, engineering, national procurement, finance, human resources, training and customer service. More than 750 people work for Entrematic in

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Lawrence, and the company is hiring this year as it expands operations further.

“Our manufacturing facility here in Kansas in the middle of the U.S. allows us to efficiently serve all of our North American customers. Our global presence serves the customers in those specific regions around the world,” says Delbert Phlipot, director of value analysis value engineering (VAVE), who has worked at the Lawrence facility for more than 20 years.

In Lawrence, Entrematic produces Amarr residential and commercial garage doors, movable doors and sectional doors, with mostly steel, aluminum and glass materials. The doors are sold through professional garage door dealers, big-box retailers and online.

“Amarr has built up one of most successful garage door businesses in the U.S., with both a residential and commercial offering.

What we also value is the strong footprint across North America with multiple local door centers, along with very skilled and experienced people,” says Juan Vargues, executive vice president of ASSA ABLOY and president and CEO of ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems.

Besides manufacturing, the company’s Lawrence operations have a nationwide reach. The procurement department in Lawrence, which Entrematic calls Supply Chain, purchases supplies for all of Entrematic’s North American facilities and coordinates logistics and delivery of those supplies.

Customer service in Lawrence is for Entrematic’s 90 nationwide

(Counter clockwise from above) Delbert Phlipot – Director VAVE Steel roll forming operation Section window & glass installation Garage door track riveting area Amarr Entrematic literature depicting their new Multiview aluminum doors

distribution centers, large garage door installation dealers and a call center for big-box retail stores to furnish and install garage doors.

Most of Entrematic’s jobs provide on-the-job training for its proprietary equipment, but many jobs also involve more specialized training in pneumatics and electrical programmable controllers.

“We have good opportunities for people to move up into higherpaying positions and grow and expand their skills and responsibilities. Jobs here can also be a stepping stone to other places,” Phlipot explains.

Company History

Amarr started out as a building-supply company in Winston-Salem, N.C., founded by Abe, Morris and Herb Brenner in 1951. They streamlined their operations into garage doors and began manufacturing wood garage doors for supply throughout the Southeast in 1969.

The industry changed from wood to steel garage doors in the 1970s, and Garage Door Group began producing steel garage doors in Kansas City, Mo., then expanded to Lawrence and opened Entrematic’s current facility in 1989. Amarr bought out the partnership in 1998 and has twice added square footage in Lawrence to accommodate demand and product variety.

Products and Trends

The main constant since the advent of Amarr is that the doors are still installed through professional garage door dealers. The variety of styles, colors, material combinations and purposes for garage doors in residential and commercial settings that Entrematic produces borders on infinite.

“The end users of the products, whether it’s the homeowner or the building manager, is much more focused on design, energy efficiency, quiet operation, safety and low maintenance,” Phlipot says.

“The current trend is garage doors with wide expanses of glass. As the indoor/outdoor living trend continues, more and more homes and restaurants are installing aluminum, full-view garage doors to allow for maximum natural lighting.”

Garage doors that look like carriage house doors are also increasingly popular, as home-improvement shows emphasize the need

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for homes’ improved curb appeal. That trend was part of the reason for Entrematic’s expansion of manufacturing in Shawnee, so the company could better accommodate the more detailed design and assembly processes required.

Economic Challenges

The globalization movement of manufacturing in the late 1990s did not have much of an impact on Amarr, mostly because garage door sizes and demands are largely country-specific. But the recession of 2008 affected Amarr as residential construction slowed to a halt after the housing crash.

“During the U.S. recession in 2008, we were hit hard like most building product companies. Thankfully, with our continued development of new products, our focus on becoming more efficient and reaching new market segments, we have surpassed our company size before the recession and continue to see more growth opportunity,” Phlipot says.

Community Involvement

Entrematic has been closely involved with the creation and development of The Dwayne Peaslee Technical Training Center. As with many manufacturing-related businesses, Entrematic has seen a gap in trained labor as baby boomers have begun to retire. The Peaslee Center will offer training in some of the areas that could qualify people for skilled jobs at Entrematic, and the company also has begun coordinating with the high schools to encourage careers in manufacturing and allow students to begin training as part of their schooling at Peaslee.

In addition to Peaslee, Phlipot says the company and employees support organizations such as local Goodwill, the Humane Society, Lawrence Memorial Hospital and University of Kansas research and development.

“Amarr is serving a market with general underlying growth; and having both a residential and commercial line supports the longterm success,” Vargues says. “In terms of our industry, we expect further consolidation in the years to come, and we intend to be one of the driving forces in this development, building further on our fast expansion the last years.”

Hallmark The Hallmark Greetings Production Center has been in the same location in Lawrence since it opened in 1958. It covers 650,000 square feet and employs about 800 people to produce greeting cards, envelopes, boxed cards and invitations, stationery and store displays.

Although Hallmark will not release specifics about how many cards and items are produced at the facility, the numbers are in the millions of cards per week. The Lawrence center is one of just two U.S. manufacturing facilities for Hallmark (the other one is in Leavenworth, Kan.). Production and hiring in Lawrence have increased in 2017, as popularity of the company’s Mahogany cards and Vida cards, with African American and Latino themes, respectively, has grown.

Hallmark’s cards are sold in more than 100 countries and in more than 30 languages, through more than 100,000 stores. It is a $4-billion company with 27,000 employees worldwide.

Production in Lawrence runs for three shifts during the week, with weekend production that is a little less, and just a few idle days each year.

Steve Eck, who has worked for Hallmark in various capacities since 1999, was recently appointed general manager of the Lawrence Greetings Production Center.

“It is significant to Hallmark to have a facility close to Kansas City.

We can stay in tune and change and adapt as we need to. Hallmark feels good about this facility, and we have 750 people who have the same passion for Hallmark,” Eck explains.

Hallmark has developed proprietary technology that it uses in Lawrence to cut, fold, foil-stamp, flock and decorate cards quickly and efficiently.

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“One card has many different paths. The advantage of the facility is being able to manage the complexity of the card and getting it through the process,” Eck says.

Because of the many processes undertaken at the Production Center, there are a range of jobs, the majority of which provide on-the-job training and opportunity for advancement.

“The average seniority is north of 20 years. It’s amazing to think about the dedication they have. Our competitive advantage in our manufacturing is all about our people, and that is proven in the amount of people who stay beyond 25 years,” Eck says.

Company History

Hallmark was founded in 1910 in Kansas City by Joyce Clyde (J.C.) Hall and his brother Rollie, when they began printing and designing postcards. By 1915, they were selling cards in envelopes for Valentine’s Day and Christmas, and the greeting card was born. They also invented the concept of mass-produced decorative gift wrap. The Hallmark name began to be included on every card in 1928.

The Hall family wanted to keep the company in Kansas City as it grew.

“They bought land in surrounding areas so that as the company expanded, they could expand, as well, but still in the Kansas City region, which they considered home,” says Andy DiOrio, Hallmark’s public relations and social media director.

The Lawrence Greetings Production Center has produced cards since it opened in 1958, although at the time of its opening , most cards were created with handwork. The technology has evolved massively in 59 years, DiOrio and Eck agree.

The company’s manufacturing operations in Lawrence and Leavenworth—where gift wrap, bows and tissue paper are produced—as well as its massive distribution facility in Liberty, Mo., keep its U.S. operations all in the Kansas City area.

Trends

Although Lawrence no longer has one, there are 2,000 Hallmark Gold Crown stores in five countries, most of which are independently owned, and thousands of outlets that sell cards and gift wrap nationwide within other retail operations.

Recently, Hallmark has begun offering its products in about 70 Westlake Ace Hardware stores for what it calls “a store within a store,” DiOrio says.

(Left) Front entrance to the Hallmark corporation in Lawrence (Top to Bottom) Finished product is loaded onto a trailer headed for the Distribution Center in Liberty, Mo. A print operator checks color densities at the printing press Sheet of cards ready to be cut Envelopes embossed with the signature Hallmark logo are produced on site.

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“It brings store traffic to the hardware stores at slower times of year for them. It is smaller than a Gold Crown store, but it allows folks to access our product with a local business feeling when they are already shopping,” he says.

There is no word yet on whether Lawrence’s Westlake Ace Hardware stores will be part of this Hallmark expansion.

Community

There is a strong emphasis on community involvement within Hallmark, DiOrio says, and the Lawrence facility is no exception.

In fact, Eck himself is on the Douglas County Economic Development Commission. There is an employee community-involvement committee that makes decisions about distributing funds from the Hallmark Corporate Foundation, and local Hallmark employees are strong supporters of the United Way of Douglas County.

“Wherever Hallmark plants its seed, the company wants to give back to the community, not just as a thank you, but because it’s the right thing to do,” DiOrio says. p

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Left: General manager Tim Robisch surrounded by “Big D and Bubba.”

Below, Clark Howard

Technology Enhances Scope of Radio Broadcasting Local radio stations are now able to reach all over the country and the world via live stream technology.

by Tim Robisch, General Manager KISS-FM, The Bull and KLWN New FM & 1320

Technology has changed the landscape of radio broadcasting, and anyone can have the live and local programming of New FM 101.7 and 1320 KLWN, 92.9 The Bull and 105.9 KISS FM anywhere on the planet. Those changes have enhanced the impact our local radio stations continue to make in our lives. That same technology provides national reach for shows like “According to the Record,” the longest-running radio program in Kansas, and “Rock Chalk Sports Talk,” both KLWN shows . Plus, that technology brings top national programming to our local community.

Many ask, “Has digital technology silenced the voice of live and local radio?” The answer is a resounding no! Nielson Audio’s most recent study of national listening habits show that local radio stations reach over 93% of Americans on a weekly basis and on average we spend over five hours weekly with our favorite radio stations. Our stations, and other forms of audio sources are available on via internet “streams,” however, the percentage of listening to sources like XM, Spotify and Pandora amount to less than 10% of weekly listening.

That same advanced web technology allows apps like “Tune In” to make radio stations available anywhere there is internet access.

That means you can use your smartphone, tablet or computer to follow your favorite radio personality, sports team or talk show host anywhere in the country or the world for that matter via that radio stations streaming signal. Certainly a long way from plugging in an antenna and the stereotype of old time radio.

Our live local radio stations have other benefits of being nationwide via the information superhighway: They have access to highquality programming that would otherwise not be available to our community and are tailored to our community needs. Two very

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popular programs, “The Clark Howard Show” on New FM 1017 and 1320 KLWN, and “Big D and Bubba Morning Show,” on 92.9 The Bull, are heard daily here in Lawrence and Douglas County while originating from their home bases in Atlanta and Nashville.

Technology enables those personalities to provide us great guests and highly relevant information and entertainment that we would otherwise not be able to access. That same technology enables customization for breaking news, weather and information for our community at a moment’s notice.

Clark Howard is an excellent example of a national personality who perfectly fits our Lawrence community, its needs and its attitude. He is heard weekdays from noon until 3 p.m. on New FM 100.7 and 1320 KLWN. He is widely recognized as a “consumer champion” from his base in Atlanta, where his goal is to help everyone save money by spending less. Practical advice from his huge network and nationwide following gives our community valuable information about finances, technology, cost-conscious shopping and health we would otherwise not be able to access.

92.9 The Bull features Big D and Bubba from 6 to 9 a.m. every weekday morning, bringing unique humor, access to the top performers in country music and national accolades as the best morning show in country radio. That is only part of what Big D and Bubba bring to northeast Kansas from Nashville. In addition to live interviews and in-studio performances, we receive local news and interact with 92.9 The Bull listeners, as well as broadcasting weather information and information on Lawrence area events, shows and community issues. Whether it is information on our Jayhawks, a show at the Granada or a stage in Kansas City, Big D and Bubba bring their positive attitudes to us daily.

Technology offers a worldwide microphone for Lawrence, keeping it engaged and entertained on our special and unique community by delivering top-tier talent to us every day. p

New pipes receiving their initial shop voicing

Music to Our Ears story & photos by Steven Hertzog

Complex and time-consuming to make, Reuter Organs are made right here in Lawrence.

When someone thinks of the great violins of the world, one thinks of Stradivarius and the city of Cremona, Italy. When someone listens to the finest pianos in the world, one is often hearing a Steinway, built in New York.

When a guitar maestro is on stage, there’s a good chance the instrument is a Martin, made in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. And when someone is sitting in church anywhere in the United States, odds are they are listening to a Reuter pipe organ, made right here in Lawrence, Kansas.

The Reuter Organ Co. was founded by Adolf Reuter and Earl Schwarz in 1917 in Trenton, Illinois. Starting with six employees, its goal was “to put out an instrument second to none.”

In 1919, when an organ was commissioned for the Masonic Temple, in Lawrence, local business leaders put together a package of economic incentives, and the Reuter Organ Co. moved its operation to Lawrence.

The downtown Lawrence building the company moved into, which previously housed the Wilder Brothers Shirt Factory, was located near Sixth and New Hampshire streets. Reuter remained downtown until 2001, when it moved to larger facilities in northwest Lawrence.

Casting sheets of pipe metal.

(Left: Top to Bottom) Laying out pipes to be cut and formed Freshly formed and soldered pipes before washing Wiring windchest components Aluminum-clad expression shades for volume control

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The move to larger headquarters allowed the company to cultivate a custom-production line and create a better space to build worldclass pipe organs.

As Reuter begins its second century of crafting fine pipe organs, the stewardship now falls under the watchful eye of Albert Neutel, affectionately know to everyone as J.R., (as in J.R. Ewing). J,R. began working with Reuter in the 1980s. He worked as an organ finisher and also handled sales. He took over for his father, Albert, who is now chairman of the board, while Neutel serves as president and chief executive officer.

“First, you start with the sales person,” Neutel says. “Then you go to the engineer, then the pipe makers, the chest makers, the wind systems, the consoles, the voicing; so there are a lot of different facets to building a pipe organ.”

Reuter is a multimillion-dollar international firm with organs in the United States, Canada, Taiwan and Korea. There are very few pipe organs in the Asian market right now, and Neutel is working to change that. He spends as many as 250 days a year traveling the world promoting the Reuter brand. Besides churches and synagogues, people will put pipe organs in concert halls, universities and even private residences.

The creation and manufacturing of a Reuter pipe organ is incredibly labor-intensive. Neutel estimates that more than 1,000 hours of labor go into the making of a single custom-made organ. Think about it: If one person worked full-time to build an organ, it would take nearly six months to complete.

The cost of a pipe organ makes it a high-end luxury product. Next to the construction of a church, its pipe organ is likely the second-most costly At work in the case department part of the church. A modest, brand-new pipe organ in today’s economy would cost anywhere from $350,000 to several million dollars.inset (Below) Vintage pen and ink proposal rendering What makes each pipe organ so unique is mainly the space in which it Completely assembled pipes awaiting voicing is installed, the acoustics and the visual setting.

“We have a saying in the organ business that if an organ looks good, it automatically sounds good, at least to the public,” Neutel says. “And that’s eight-tenths of the battle. But there are so many organs you don’t see because they are built behind screens, so then that organ gets evaluated only on what people hear.”

It’s a fact that 99 percent of all Reuter organs are built in Lawrence. Reuter brings in raw metal for its engineers to melt down and shape into the company’s proprietary pipes. The company brings in its own wood to build wood pipes, wind chests and structural framing. Reuter builds its own keyboards and some of the electrical components. The company handles its own engineering, milling, casting and pipe-making. It also makes its own wind chests, consoles and casework, and does its own finishing, assembly and installation.

Except for the blower that provides the air for the organ, everything else is built in-house at the company’s Northwest Lawrence facility.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating and least-known elements of creating a pipe organ is “voicing” the pipes. Reuter has a team of voicers that literally gives voice to the pipes, which, in effect, is teaching the pipes to sing. The members of the company’s voicing team are all professional musicians. They prepare every pipe for every organ and produce balanced ensemble sound with consistent speech and tone.

“What is really neat about this business, and I constantly remind our employees, is that we have been in business 100 years,” Neutel says.

“We have built about 2,500 new organs and worked on at least 5,000

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organs that we have refurbished and/or enhanced. So you take that and all the organs that are out there, and all the lives they touch every Sunday—it is just mind-boggling.”

Music enthusiasts refer to Nashville as the home of country music. Memphis is the sound of rhythm and blues. New Orleans gave birth to jazz.

Antonio Stradivari created the finest violins the world has ever known. The early mass production of rock ’n’ roll can be attributed to the Tin Pan Alley. Soul music was derived from African American gospel music being sung in Southern churches. And thanks to Reuter, the city of Lawrence, Kansas, may just be the home of the church pipe organ. p

Left: A three-manual drawknob console Construction progressing in the assembly room

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LIFE ON THE

SILICON PRAIRIE These Lawrence-based software companies all strive to produce the best product for their clients while maintaining their businesses right here in the heart of the Midwest.

by Tara Trenary photos by Steven Hertzog

If you think big metropolitan cities are the way to go when starting a new business, think again. These days, entrepreneurs are choosing to launch their companies somewhere in the middle.

According to a 2016 article in Entrepreneur magazine, “Mediumsized cities throughout the Midwest are becoming go-to spots for young entrepreneurs looking to start businesses. Great ideas stand out more, and startup costs are typically lower in nearly every aspect, making the area a better bet for entrepreneurial success.”

Dubbed the “Silicon Prairie” by some, the Midwest is an ideal location for startups such as software and technology companies for a number of reasons: lower cost of living, more affordable labor, office and retail space, more manageable shipping costs, which translates to more competitive pricing, and an overall family- and cost-friendly lifestyle.

“Another critical advantage belongs to college towns, which, by their very nature, usually offer more by way of arts, restaurants and entertainment than other places,” explains a 2016 Forbes magazine article. “This means, for the time being at least, the strongest smaller cities will be those which attract people and companies from bigger places by offering better amenities, cheaper housing, better schools, growing populations and, in many cases, college campuses—all offering a better quality of life but in a smaller, usually more affordable place.”

Data Protection Richard Spurlock, CEO and founder of Cobalt Iron, agrees. “We are a global software company building industry-changing technology that happens to be based in Lawrence, Kansas, the heartland of the United States. This was a conscious decision,” he explains.

“I love the Midwest work ethic, absolutely love the passion that people bring to their work here. Yet, the pace and quality of life in the Lawrence area is special.”

And being based near the University of Kansas (KU) was also a conscious decision for Spurlock. A graduate of the university with a degree in electrical and computer engineering, Spurlock says more than 50 percent of Cobalt Iron’s employees are KU graduates. “There’s good talent here; there’s great people. It’s a great ecosystem to build a business and support the families that drive this business to success.”

Cobalt Iron, based here in Lawrence, is a software technology company founded in 2013 by Spurlock that provides software to companies small and large that eliminates the complexity of backup, restore and recovery of data for businesses using a simple “pay as you grow” approach. In a more than $10-billion market, the company targets Fortune 2000 companies, large enterprises that are struggling with data protection, but also services smaller businesses. In a space where 99 percent of businesses use IT (information technology), Spurlock says systems will inevitably fail.

However, Cobalt Iron’s Adaptive Data Protection software relieves the stress its clients feel about this universal problem.

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After 25 years of having run multiple software companies and watching customers take an IT solution and not deploy, operate or life-cycle it effectively or efficiently, Spurlock decided something needed to change. “When you build a house with wood instead of steel, it has a different life span. It’s not bad or good, it’s just different,” he says. “Data protection is really important because this stuff’s gonna fail, and humans make mistakes. Some percentage are system failures, but an interesting percentage are human failures.”

One of the things that makes data protection important is the concept of the Cloud and the rate that people are going to it. And legacy solutions (buying a product from a large company and building your own solution) does not allow customers to simply manage, migrate and move data to and from the Cloud, as Cobalt Iron’s software does, explains Mark Ward, Cobalt Iron COO. “It’s a web application, meaning it allows access to the key information pieces that make up data protection 24/7 around the world,” he explains. “Whether you’re on your smartphone, tablet or sitting in your office, you have web access to the application that is protecting your data and reporting on your data’s availability throughout the data-protection process. We deliver a point-andclick, drag-and-drop, available solution on Day 1.”

Ward explains that strategic partner IBM gives Cobalt Iron strength and breadth by allowing the company to reach beyond what its people can do. As a relatively young and growing company without physical employees around the world, IBM partners with Cobalt Iron to service its clients and deliver to them anywhere IBM has a presence. The software is currently in use in 44 countries around the world.

Cobalt Iron CEO Spurlock says the transformation of Cloud is aggressive and fast-paced, and the problem is it’s just a server.

Somehow, he says, you still have to protect the information that’s held on that server.

“Our dependence on these IT systems is incredible,” he explains.

“Everyone in this space builds a tool that goes into a customer toolbox. These tools break, wear out, get replaced over time. We are the analytics and intelligence engine that sits above and controls those. Instead of delivering another tool to go do something,

Richard & Mary Spurlock owners of Cobalt Iron head up a staff meeting

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we’re actually transforming that complexity and delivering it with very simple elegance to the customer.”

And Cobalt Iron is delivering this essential tool all over the world from right here in Lawrence. “We put more money back into our technology than we do into our real estate. That, at the end of the day, is what smart businesses do,” Ward says.

Research and Medicine Another software technology company based right here in Lawrence, Pinnacle Technology Inc., sells laboratory research equipment primarily for biomedical and pharmaceutical researchers at universities, research hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, government laboratories and contract research organizations. Founded by Donna Johnson, president and CEO, in 1995, Pinnacle Tech provides turn-key tools including hardware, software and all other items researchers need to study the brain more effectively.

“The tools that we have designed are being used anywhere from developing new drugs for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, depression, epilepsy, etc., to studying how the brain responds to sleep, anesthesia, chemical-warfare gases, opiates and more,” Johnson says.

“What our customers do with our products never ceases to amaze us.”

An oceanographer by trade, Johnson worked for the U.S. House of Representatives and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory before taking a job in Kansas City developing technology to make chemicals and fuels from wood and other types of plants. This led to her starting her own company in Lawrence on April Fools’ Day. “When we first opened, we were primarily working on renewable energy (wind and chemicals from biomass) and did contract engineering,” she explains. “We gradually dropped the renewable energy side of the company and began to do all the engineering and software for our own products, not for clients.”

Pinnacle Tech has 25 employees, including electrical and software engineers, chemists, neuroscientists, a sales team with Ph.D.s in analytical chemistry and neuroscience, as well as electronics and sensor technicians. Johnson’s brother, David Johnson, with a doctorate in electrical engineering and semiconductor industry experience, also joined as a co-owner in 1996. He is in charge of research and product development. Many of Pinnacle Tech’s employees are graduates of KU.

Though the company has no local clients in Lawrence, at the time it opened, it did a lot of business with groups in Topeka and the surrounding area. So, Lawrence was a good central location for the company’s home base. “Now, we have a great relationship with KU, both in terms of research collaborations and hiring graduating KU students,” Johnson says.

Lab technicians work in the Pinnacle Technology Inc laboratories in Lawrence.

Today, the company sells its products in 38 countries all over the globe, including in the United Sates. Working in other countries, Johnson says, brings its own set of challenges.

“There’s a big difference between national and international customers. In the U.S., we are comfortable with the culture and customs. When you sell overseas, besides all the laws that you need to be aware of, there is the knowledge that you must have of local business customs. In some cases, it is imperative you work with distributors,” she explains.

But Pinnacle Tech still contributes locally. “We are a small business located in Lawrence that has a national/international reputation.

Most people in Lawrence don’t know the company exists,” Johnson says. But research funding from small business programs and the federal government “brings federal dollars to the state and local economies.”

Sports When you think about software technology, data and research might pop into your head immediately. But what about sports? Just Play Solutions bridges the technological gap between high school, college and professional athletes, and their coaches.

Donna Johnson, President & CEO, with co-owner David Johnson

Founded by former college athletes Austin Barone (KU football) and Andy Wachter (Wichita State University and Pittsburg State University basketball) in 2014, Just Play Solutions is a software platform of digital coaching tools combined with player learning applications including playbooks, game plans, scouting reports and quizzes that creates a more dynamic learning experience for both coaches and players.

“Coaches are facing one of the largest technological divides to date between themselves and players, and we are passionate about helping them better teach and better coach this age of digital learners,” Barone explains. “College athletes between the ages of 18 and 22 were born between 1995 and 1999. They grew up on technology, and it’s a huge part of how they communicate.”

Barone played football at KU for three years and says this is where he began to see what coaches and players needed to better connect and understand each other. Players lugged bulky playbooks around like pieces of equipment. He knew there had to be a way to streamline this process.

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Austin Barone owner of Just Play Solutions

With an accounting degree in hand and several entrepreneurial awards in tow (Pipeline Innovator of the Year “Student Spotlight,” KU Innovation and Collaboration Student Pitch Competition, Tortoise Capital Young Entrepreneurs Scholarship, the Morris New Venture Business Plan Competition), he set out to build a platform that could access all of this information digitally.

Just Play Solutions has not only 200-plus high school and college football and basketball teams as clients (KU, UCLA and Duke basketball; Villanova and Columbia football), it also boasts WNBA teams including Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Dallas Wings, Los Angeles Sparks, Seattle Storm and Washington Mystics. The company also serves several international clients.

Barone says his company is immersed in the Lawrence community, but he considers Just Play a “larger company with small-town roots. There’s a healthy mix of small-town and city attitudes within our office, which I see as a huge benefit,” he says.

“We are extremely tied into the University, as I would attribute much of our success to the guidance and support I am continually given by KU’s faculty and staff,” he says. The KU School of Business has helped the company grow in a protected environment, and Just Play has also had the opportunity to participate in The Catalyst, KU’s startup incubator, which provides resources essential to launching a new business successfully.

Barone believes technology changes the way we interact with the world, and it never stops evolving. “Coaches tell players all the

time to relax and ‘just play.’ That ability to relax and to play confidently is directly attributed to being prepared.”

Barone describes Just Play Solutions as a “one-stop shop for coaches to create content and teach a generation of athletes that learns fundamentally different than they did when they were playing.” He hopes his company will help coaches and athletes become better prepared than previous generations through technology.

“With a better understanding of how technology can help students learn, and as technology becomes easier to implement, there is endless potential that technology can have in the world of sports,” Barone says. p

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JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT Class of 2017 Announcement

THE LOCAL

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FREE BIKE HELMETS & BIKE SAFETY Spring Football Game

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THE LOCAL

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KANSAS UNIVERSITY MIDWEST Sports Performance Conference

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MARDI GRAS: Benefit for Boys and Girls Club photos by Jason Dailey

PEASLEE TECH Celebrates First Graduating Certificate Holders 75

NEWS [MAKERS] PEOPLE ON THE MOVE James Otten Dentistry Welcomes Nikki White

James Otten Dentistry is pleased to welcome Nikki White as part of our family of exceptional caregivers.

Nikki joins us as Operations and Development Director and brings a 20-year career in health promotion including substance abuse prevention, communication coalition work, diabetes education, health care administration and business development. “Nikki shares our vision of giving people choices for lifelong health and is an excellent addition to our team” said Dr. Jim Otten.

“I look forward to enhancing and growing the practice’s mission of providing expert, integrative care in a personalized, quiet and comfortable environment and maintaining its reputation as the premier dental practice in the region and one of the best in the nation. I am excited to work with an outstanding team that shares the vision of enhancing how we build health in the future.”

Sunflower Bank Congratulates $1,892 Drawing Winner

Sunflower Bank congratulates $1,892 drawing winner, Janiene Winsor of Lawrence, Kansas. The drawing is part of a larger celebration commemorating Sunflower Bank’s 125th birthday with special events and gifts.

“We are thrilled for Janiene and excited to have the winner of our $1,892 drawing here in Lawrence,” commented Glynn Sheridan, Market President and Regional Director. “For 125 years, we at Sunflower Bank have made it our focus to support and create possibility for the people of our communities. It is a focus we honor and continue to this day. We are proud to serve Lawrence and people like Janiene.”

“My family and I are so appreciative to Sunflower Bank for this wonderful prize,” commented Janiene Winsor. “I’ve been wanting to take my whole family to Disneyland in California for a vacation, but couldn’t afford it. Now I can. This will be my first vacation! Thank you Sunflower for making this possible!”

Sunflower Bank’s Signature ABC Program Created to Raise Funds for Education Has Raised Over $1 Million.

Sunflower Bank raised $102,363 for schools and students this year in Kansas, Colorado, and Missouri, bringing its 16 year total to over $1,139,000. More than $3,000 of the funds raised this year are being donated to schools and students in Lawrence.

“This year we are celebrating both our 125th anniversary as a bank and the 16th anniversary of our ABC Program,” said Mollie Carter, President and CEO of Sunflower Bank. “We have a long and successful history, and we have made it our mission to create possibility for the communities we serve. This is why we initiated the ABC Program in 2001 to help provide needed resources for the schools and students in our communities. For 125 years, we have strived to make a positive impact and we plan to continue this tradition in the many years to come.”

Successful Kansas small businesses receive awards at Kansas SBDC Awards Event

The Kansas Small Business Development Center (Kansas SBDC) statewide network recognized 17 small businesses across the state in the 2017 Existing, Emerging, and Exporting Businesses of the Year ceremony.

(L to R): Kansas SBDC State Director Greg Panichello; Kansas Secretary of Commerce Antonio Soave; Primary Color Music team member Josh Atkinson; Primary Color Music owner Sam Billen; Kansas SBDC at KU Business Advisor Brian Dennis; State Senator Marci Francisco; State Representative Dennis Highberger

“The selected businesses were given careful consideration by our Kansas SBDC regional directors and consultants,” said Greg Panichello, Kansas SBDC state director.” Collectively, the KSBDC team believes these 17 small businesses are excellent examples of small business adaptation and success in challenging times.” Lawrence Businesses that received awards: Existing Businesses of the Year: Primary Color Music, Sam Billen, Lawrence Emerging Businesses of the Year: Limestone Pizza, Debbie Howe, Lawrence

Kansas Accounting Firm Mize Houser & Co. P.A. Named 12th Largest Firm in the Midwest

Mize Houser & Company P.A., a regional accounting firm with offices in Topeka, Lawrence and Overland Park, Kansas is now ranked the 12th largest firm in the Midwest according to Accounting Today. The firm is also the only Kansas accounting firm in the top list of Midwestern firms. Additionally, Mize Houser is ranked #24 in the publication’s Beyond the Top 100: Firms to Watch list.

Selection criteria are based on several factors, including performance and growth. With locations in Topeka, Lawrence and Overland Park, Kansas, Mize Houser enjoyed a 7.19% increase in growth in 2016 with total revenues of $26.4 million.

Mize Houser & Company P.A. has also received other awards, including Inside Public Accounting’s (IPA) Top 200 Firms.

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WH OSE D ESK? Be the first to correctly guess which local business figure works behind this desk. Winner receives a $50 gift card to 23rd Street Brewery. facebook.com/lawrencebusinessmagazine

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