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Who are the leaders that are moving American business forward?
It’s Business Drive Time®, and we are looking for some of the greatest business drivers regionally and nationally to feature in the Alpha® Board Fresh Octane Tour.
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It’s time. It’s Business Drive Time® in Kansas City!
As previously mentioned, we are working with a group of distinguished executives on a leadership and innovation tour of high-performance companies who are driving business growth forward in Kansas City and beyond. For more information, go to AlphaBoardTour.com.
As a special project tied to this tour, we are proud to pay tribute to the late Jeff Hanson of JeffHansonArt.com, an esteemed innovator, who touched people’s lives in a remarkable way. Jeff was known for his efforts around the Kansas City region, around the country and around the world. His legacy lives on through his work, his lifetime of benevolence and soon through a special new project in the Kansas City community.
Jeff was a prodigy contemporary artist who began his short, but wildly successful art career as a form of therapy when dealing with treatments for a childhood brain tumor. His early work evolved into a series of growing art and benevolence activities that continued to develop and expand until his death in December 2020 at age 27.
Despite serious visual impairment, and maybe because of his visual impairment, Jeff became a renowned contemporary artist. His efforts began with a “charitable” lemonade stand (Jeff’s Bistro) at age 12, selling baked goods and painted postcards. The initial summer project raised $15,000 for the Children’s Tumor Foundation. This evolved next into paintings for local charitable banquets in the Kansas City community. By age 15, Jeff was formally incorporated as a professional artist, and began selling and donating paintings to charity auctions around the country and beyond.
What made Jeffrey Owen Hanson so special was not just his art, or overcoming his handicap. He also had a big heart. During his short lifetime, and a career of little over a dozen years, he donated enough art to raise more than $7 million dollars for charitable causes around the country and around the world.
His art was collected by art buyers far and wide, including Sir Elton John, Warren Buffett and many others. He worked with numerous national charitable foundations, and helped to sell his art at more than 200 charity fundraising banquets throughout the United States.
Jeff’s parents, Hal and Julie Hanson, are continuing Jeff’s work to finish a milestone goal. Jeff had planned to raise $10 million for charity by his 30th birthday. Unfortunately, his time was cut short through the reoccurrence of a tumor that soon took Jeff’s life.
Hal and Julie Hanson of Jeff Hanson Art are working with Zahner (Zahner.com), a Kansas City-based metal architectural firm, and the City of Overland Park Kan., a Kansas City suburb, on a “Growing Kindness” art sculpture KCKindness.com. The sculpture, based on Jeff’s signature poppy paintings, will adorn the grounds of the new LongHouse Visitors Center at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens (https://bit.ly/3SRgSJV). This initiative ensures that Jeff’s legacy of kindness, creativity and benevolence will remain an inspiration for future generations.
For more information on Jeff’s life and career, you can watch a recent interview with Jeff’s parents at: https://bit.ly/3URy6Jt To learn more about the “Growing Kindness” campaign, visit: https://bit.ly/4c06nwC
It’s Business Drive Time in Kansas City. What does that mean? Kansas City is growing! Embrace it!
About 100,000 companies, including ours, are sitting at the national epicenter of business opportunity. We’re all running the business race each week, and as committed leaders, a large number of Kansas City’s businesses are consistent, profitable winners. We’re all living and working in a fine, centrally located Midwestern city that is poised for great things, now and in the future.
How do we define Kansas City’s drive? It’s difficult to articulate, but easy to feel. Joyce Hall, Hallmark Cards founder, and Norman Rockwell found it easier to depict visually. Kansas City culture has an unstoppable determination that is wrapped in the warm approachability typically found in a town less than one tenth its size.
Kansas City is among the most welcoming, inviting, yet results-driven cities in the nation. KC is the perfect blend of a globally-recognized, cultural metro with a happy hometown feel.
Kansas City embodies a welcoming atmosphere for starting, leading and growing a successful business, and is consistently recognized nationally as a great place to live, work and raise a family. bit.ly/3vmtKzI
Like great local barbeque and Boulevard beer, Kansas City goes down smooth and spicy wherever you are from. The city of Kansas City and all it represents puts smiles on the faces of visitors from Boston to Bangkok, from Toledo and Tupelo to Toronto and Tokyo.
This is not only a local story. We’re on a national tour of “Business Builder” cities. Kansas City is among the first three cities 
on our list. We’re targeting a baker’s dozen of the best up and coming U.S. business metros for profitable growth opportunities over the next decade. Livability, an educated population, traditions, culture, a critical mass of job opportunities and a place people want to live, work and start companies are all considerations for the cities we choose.
We are featuring leaders, companies, industries, products and lifestyles in each of the cities. In addition, we are offering opportunities to connect business leaders across the country with each other. Growth is about getting your name out.
The Fresh Octane® Tour also involves networking and spending time with peers and other business leader from a variety of industries and professions. We’ll be featuring companies, hosting events and leadership round-tables, holding company open houses, conducting new product reviews and putting Kansas City in a national news reel about growing cities. There are many ways to participate and they are all about showcasing great leaders and providing new market opportunities.
Kansas City is the headquarters for our company and will serve as home base for our national, ultimately global Alpha Board Fresh Octane Tour. www.freshoctanetour.com
We’ll be speaking about the hidden and not so hidden drive behind the city and its people. We want to learn more about KC’s determined quest for progress, success, growth, great lives, opportunity and at least at times, national attention.
For you, your company, your local customers, and for Fresh Octane cities and companies across the nation, it’s “Business Drive Time®.” It’s time to grab the stage, the spotlight and the microphone. It’s time to tell your story and share it with other leaders around the town, around the Midwest and around the country to let them know that Kansas City is “On the Move.”
We’re looking for committed leaders to feature. For more information about the Alpha Board Fresh Octane Tour, I can be 
reached by phone at 913 685-4850, or via email at dave@alphaboard.com.
You can also follow tour progress at www.alphaboard.com and on Twitter at @Alpha_Board.
© Copyright 2014-2024 by Alpha Board. All rights reserved. Alpha Scouts®, Alpha, NeuVision®, Fresh Octane® and Business Drive Time® are all registered trademarks of Dave E. Anderson. All other brands are trademarks of their respective companies.
It’s time. It’s Business Drive Time® in Kansas City. The region has been experiencing a growing reputation for many years. Lately, we’ve become an ever-expanding national story, and for great reasons. Kansas City has much to be proud of.
We are working with a group of local leaders and innovators on a business growth tour of the Kansas City region. One tour objective is for executives to share views on why Kansas City is doing so well as a growing city. We also want to discuss the opportunities for future growth, and understand the who and what are the key drivers of progress. As a part of the tour, we are featuring prominent industries, local companies and example leaders who are engaged in growth and progress in the Kansas City area.
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It’s time. It’s Business Drive Time® in Kansas City.
We are working with a group of local leaders and innovators on a technology tour of Kansas City and beyond.
It’s no secret that tech is not just for California anymore.
Technology is a major driver of productivity in every city and nearly every company. Without it, we’d slide backwards.
What is the outlook for tech growth in Kansas City and its peer cities? How do up and coming tech cities compare, and what are the strengths and challenges with tech innovation.
We’re reaching out to respected influencers who have a pulse on tech innovation, not only in the Kansas City area but across a number of key non-coastal U.S. cities.
We are particularly interested tech innovations and innovators that are flourishing outside the traditional coastal development hubs.
We are looking for a select group of local tech executives and standout companies to feature in the initial the tour discussions.
If you are a leader in technology, we’d like to speak with you about your role and predictions for what is NEXT in Tech.
For more information on the www.alphaboardtour.com, reach out to Dave Anderson at 913 685-4850 or via cell/text at 612-810-4000.
Who are the leaders that are moving American business forward?
It’s Business Drive Time®, and we are looking for some of the greatest business drivers regionally and nationally to feature in our 2024-2025 Alpha Board Business Leadership and Innovation Tour.
Who are the innovators? Who are the leaders? What (and where) are the opportunities? Which companies, technologies, products, people will be propelling growth over the next few years?
The National Alpha Board Tour includes a market study, leader profile interviews, business news coverage and series of leadership exchanges among standout business leaders across the country and throughout the most promising industries.
We have already begun to engage business leaders and leading businesses in multiple cities, as well as rural America. We’re working with those that will be most responsible for the leadership, innovation, products, companies and programs that will be driving business forward. If that includes you, we’d love for your organization to participate.
Discussion topics:
To learn more about the Alpha Board Tour and to share with us who you believe are the best business drivers, give us a call. You may call Dave Anderson at (cell/text) 612 810-4000, (office) at 913 685-4850 or by email at dave@neuvision.com.
J.D. Higgason of Koehler Bortnick Realty is a premier home real estate professional in the Kansas City area. He has served as an advisor to Alpha Board on the growth elements of the Kansas City metro area. J.D. is an expert on the dynamics of local real estate market. J.D.’s Kansas City area home real estate practice is tied directly to the growth and vibrancy of the region. By working with local residents as well as families who are relocating to Kansas City, he knows what makes the Kansas City region attractive to working families.
J.D. is the most senior level team member of the Koehler Bortnick Group beyond the firm’s founders, having worked there for over 15 years. Koehler Bortnick’s Leawood, Kan. based office of Reece Nichols Realty (reecenichols.com) is owned by Kathy Koehler and her daughter Heather Bortnick. With more than 45 real estate professionals, Koehler Bortnick was ranked 25th nationally among its peers in total sales in 2017 as according to the Wall Street Journal. https://bit.ly/2E32itu Also consistently number one in the Kansas City area, Koehler Bortnick sold more than 850 houses in 2018 averaging one house sold about every 10 hours throughout the year. Koehler Bortnick’s sales for 2018 were $356 million.
The insights J.D. has provided include the view of an executive realtor, as well as a resident, leader and member of the Kansas City business community. J.D. is a consummate professional with his career devoted to sales, service and account management.
J.D. has and will continue to provide us with information about what residents and newcomers believe is special about the Kansas City community. He has helped us better understand where and why people choose to locate in the Kansas City region. J.D. described for us what he believes are key drivers of growth in the area, the special attractions, activities and culture of the Kansas City community as well as the leadership and growth that the city provides as a 21st century, Midwest business hub.
J.D. is a father, husband and former high school and college athlete. He has a degree in agricultural economics from Kansas State University and was raised on a farm in rural Norton County, Kan. near Logan.
To reach J.D. to discuss your own Kansas City real estate needs, you can reach J.D. at the Koehler Bortnick office of Reece Nicholls Realty at www.KBSells.com.
Lisa Dunleavy is a valued advisor to the Alpha Board Tour. She is an expert on the Kansas City region, past, present and future. She could write a book about the city, and maybe she will! At first glance, Lisa is a typical member of the community, experiencing the daily life of the region like the rest of us. But there is more. Her family history with the city spans more than 150 years.
Along with her husband, they share a lifetime experiences as a part of two large Kansas City families. Between the siblings in each of two families, their classmates, their friends, nephews, nieces and cousins, they have cultivated lasting relationships and connections reaching nearly every corner of the city. With four generations still living in the Kansas City region, Lisa gives a whole new dimension to the word connected.
Lisa has a family heritage that has been a recognized part of the Kansas City community since the very early days of the city. Lisa is providing the Alpha Board Tour with Kansas City knowledge, insights and experiences that we could find in few other places.
We’ll start with a few highlights, and continue the conversation with Lisa as we continue through the tour.
After growing up in Kansas City, Mo. Lisa and her husband Steve raised their family in the Johnson County, Kan. suburbs. The area is home to a melting pot of residents from all over the country and beyond. According to Lisa and others, people feel an attraction to the Kansas City metro that makes it a difficult place to leave.
The schools, sports, activities, restaurants, a healthy family atmosphere, ties to the Kansas City area culture and activities are all elements of consideration. One of the most important elements mentioned by Lisa is the open friendliness that allows everyone to feel welcome and at home in the region. Overland Park has been recognized repeatedly as one of the best places for families in the nation. https://bit.ly/2ByMjlr
Kansas City 2020 ̶ Rich Culture and HeritageLisa is providing us with a view of what Kansas City is like as a new, modern, entrepreneurial, cultural city. While the city carries with it a deep history and Midwest roots, it has also become a melting pot for tech, a new economy town and a city that is connected to people around the country and around the world, both personally and professionally. Dozens of major cultural venues and events allow Kansas City to thrive as a vibrant, sometimes undiscovered, crown jewel in the nation’s portfolio of cities.
Kansas City also has a history and culture that creates a pride in the community. Much of that culture is tied to prominent Kansas City people. J.C. Nicholls built the Kansas City Country Club Plaza, patterned after Seville Spain. Built in the 1920’s, the Plaza was and remains the country’s first outdoor shopping mall. It was the blueprint for Rodeo Drive. Others include: Walt Disney. Joyce Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards. President Harry Truman. Members of the Eisenhower family. All of these notables have called Kansas City their home.
Kansas City also includes prominent names like the Kemper family of the Kemper Museum and Kemper Arena; the Kauffman family of the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurism and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts; Lisa’s Muehlebach family of the Muehlebach Hotel, the Muehlebach Brewery (the city’s first major brewery), and Muehlebach Field (the first baseball stadium); President Harry Truman; William Rockhill Nelson who gave the city the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs. All of these and more have left their mark in the rich heritage of the city. And, while they lived lives of distinction, these families were and are approachable citizens blended into the fabric of daily Kansas City life.
Someone once referred to Kansas City as a town with 1.2 degrees of separation from anyone and anything local. Never mind Kevin Bacon. As the title suggests, J.D. Higgason of Koehler Bortnick Realty refers to the city as “the largest small town in America.” An approachable culture despite a major metro of more than two million people, the friendliness and closeness of the city, and its Midwestern roots make it easier than most cities to get your arms around the town.
You cannot experience Kansas City’s rich culture without also tasting the local cuisine.
A literal melting pot of fine food: Italian, Steak, Barbecue, Mexican, Americana, Greek, Thai and more
Kansas City was the original home of the American Restaurant Association (ARA.) Funded in 1919, ARA is celebrating a century of fine food this year from their new headquarters in Chicago. It was patterned after the Kansas City Restaurant Association, established two years earlier.
The restaurants in the Kansas City region bring with them a kaleidoscope of different genres, nationalities, flavors and tastes. With nationally renown foodies like Michael Smith farinakc.com, Christopher Elbow elbowchocolates.com and Jasper Mirabile Jr. jasperskc.com, there is always something cooking in the heartland city.
It’s no surprise that Lisa grew up with some of most notable restaurant families in town. The Mirabiles, the Dunleavys, the Muehlebachs and the Fiorellas were neighbors and friends. Once a community, always a community.
With a global flair, Kansas City also has its own styles as well. While both Jasper Mirabile and Michael Smith are known for their authentic Italian cooking, both can cook up a mean steak. Kansas City was once a major Midwestern livestock hub. This helped to not only to create an indelible tradition of great steaks, but also jazz, entertainment, hotels and speakeasies. Eating a steak in this town is a must.
Kansas City is also home of the original Kansas City Strip. While New Yorkers like to put their own spin on the name (New York Strip,) the name and cut of beef originated with a butcher in Kansas City, America’s hometown of great steak.
The KC Strip was originated when a local Kansas City butcher separated the two major sections of a Porterhouse steak. The smaller, more tender cut becomes the tenderloin filet. The larger, more flavorful cut becomes (became) the Kansas City Strip (steak.)
You cannot say Kansas City without barbecue. Kansas City has a rich heritage of jazz, barbecue and baseball that goes back more than a century. Local hangouts like Joes KC joeskc.com, Q39 q39kc.com and Jack Stack jackstackbbq.com attract barbecue fans from around the country. With more than a dozen local barbecue favorites, and thousands of fans, the annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue® www.americanroyal.com/bbq/ keeps the chefs sharp and the fires hot.
A late breaking entry must be included. The Jones Sisters of Jones BBQ was recently featured on Queer Eye’s Season 3. It’s worth checking out the episode on Netflix, and also their BBQ! An adorable pair who are faithfully carrying on their father and brother’s legacy in Kansas City, Kan. The sisters have been starting the Q at 4:30 a.m. for nearly 40 years! www.JonesBBQKC.com, www.netflix.com, https://bit.ly/2UGPmPY
Kansas City is a private company town. With more than 100,000 privately-owned companies in Kansas City, it is a city of entrepreneurs and business builders. That is one company for every man, woman and child in town, meaning the average size of a company is approximate 12 employees, despite global giants like Cerner, Sprint and Hallmark.
While most of the private companies are small family-owned businesses, over the years established companies grow. The region is home to hundreds of multigenerational businesses. Family names like Muehlebach, Kemper, Mirabile, Fiorella, Lockton, Hall, Baldwin, Regnier, Dunn, Goppert, Stowers and many more are not just tied to Kansas City businesses, they are tied to Kansas City families and a rich Kansas City heritage.
Kansas City is home to regional offices of major companies based throughout the U.S., North America and the globe. John Deere has their North American Sales and Marketing Center in Kansas City. Major national companies like Ford, Microsoft, Google, U.S. Bank, Accenture, KPMG and many more have regional offices in the Kansas City metro. And, Kansas City is home to headquarters locations for some of the nation’s notable law firms as well. Five major Kansas City based firms have offices around the world, yet they call the area their home.
The ebbs and flows of a diversity of people moving in and out of the region, as well as daily business and personal travel to destinations beyond, keep Kansas City moving and connected in ways that few consider. Kansas City may be perceived by outsiders as an isolated Midwest city, but it’s truly a melting pot of personal and professional diversity.
We’ll continue to check in with Lisa Dunleavy as we progress through the Kansas City Alpha Board Tour. 
She will continue to provide us with insights into the past, present and future of the Kansas City region. Lisa will connect us with stories of Kansas City area leaders, the culture, the landmarks of the city and some of the people, past and present, who make the city what it is today. She’ll help us tell the stories of why and where people love to live in Kansas City. And as she has time, Lisa will help guide us to other cities as a part of Alpha Board Innovation Tour across the nation and ultimately beyond.
We are a key player in a national business leadership tour, industry market study and executive leadership exchange. The program is a showcase platform to highlight the best business drivers across a number of major metros throughout the United States.
We are meeting with high-growth companies and innovative business leaders within vibrant American cities. We are visiting cities that are poised for significant new growth over the next five years. The tour includes a number of metro markets that are benefiting as people and companies depart the coasts and seek more livable cities. Kansas City is first on our list.
We have some special plans for Kansas City area leaders. The region has been our home for many years. We want to take this opportunity to showcase the city and learn from Kansas City area leaders. The “Growing up KC” program is a special series to better understand and describe what is driving growth and progress in the region. The story will be told by the leaders who are helping to drive the city forward.
In addition to learning about the region, there are unique opportunities for visibility. The Growing Up KC tour will promote area leaders, companies, lifestyles and growth opportunities on a local, regional and national scale.
So, what does that mean for you and/or your company? Quite simply, “leaders wanted.” We are putting together a list of some of the standout leaders who represent not only the legacy of the region, but the future. We are seeking business owners, CEOs, senior executives, business advisors, and also “Kansas City lifestyle” experts to helps us tell the story of Kansas City to the world.
It’s an opportunity for leaders to interact with each other, meet other leaders in other cities, highlight their businesses, and gain further visibility and recognition for you and your organization’s efforts in Kansas City region and beyond. We cannot promise the cover of Rolling Stone magazine but our past efforts have been well received. Previous efforts have been recognized by BusinessWeek, Forbes, CNBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, MSNBC, EuroInvestor, and dozens more.
If you are a stand-out leader with major ties to the region and business community, we’d love to have you join us.
For more information on Alpha® Board, and/or to include your company in our tour, you can call me at 913 685-4850 or 612 810-4000, or reach me via email at dave@neuvision.com.
Alpha Board and NeuVision Group are founding hosts of the 2023-2024 Alpha Board Tour. In addition, we’ll be including sponsors and co-hosts throughout America’s Heartland.
Kansas City is jumping. We’ve been through alot over the past few years, but things are getting back to normal. Companies are expanding. New organizations are finding their beginnings in the city. Employers hiring. They are looking for great people, and they are finding them in Kansas City! With all the changes in the market, and turmoil on the coasts, people and companies are looking from better markets. Better places to live. Better places to locate companies and employees. And, there are opportunities, especially in tech, for remote positions. As a result of this, and Kansas City’s overall reputation, KC is developing a notable spot on the national map.
A recent study by the Brookings Institute ranked Johnson County, Kan., the key suburban county of the Kansas City metro, as one of the most vibrant counties in the nation. https://bit.ly/2EmCBmq Kansas City City is feeding off that energy, and the city’s future is as bright. Kansas City based events like the 2023 NFL Draft, a recent Super Bowl Win and the awarding as a host city for the FIFA World Cup 2026 are all nods from national influencers that Kansas City is on the map.
What is Kansas City’s secret sauce? What makes Kansas City a great place to live and work? Why is it an attractive metro to own and run a company? Kansas City has become a hotbed for innovative new companies, new technologies and new business growth. We will discuss why!
Alpha Board Leaders: We are addressing these topics and more in the Kansas City segment of our Alpha Board National Business Leadership Tour. We are featuring a select group of area professionals as a part of the national tour. Join us as we showcase Kansas City leaders and newfound Kansas City growth! www.AlphaBoardTour.com
The national Alpha Board Tour is featuring some of the hottest markets across the nation. We’re reviewing the cities where business leaders, families and companies truly want to live. Fresh Octane® cities like, Kansas City, Denver, Minneapolis, Phoenix-Scottsdale, Nashville, Dallas, Austin and Raleigh-Durham all have a number of things in common. They are vibrant and growing. They are great places to locate businesses. Technology companies are thriving, plentiful and welcome in each city. And their livability indices far exceed the livability and affordability ratings of their coastal peer cities.
Alpha® Driven Growth: As a part of our tour, we’re looking for the finest drivers to help us tell the best business stories! If you are distinguished business owner, CEO advisor, a noted business development professional or a recognized leader in the Kansas City region (or another Fresh Octane City,) we’d love to include your story in our national tour! To learn more, call Dave Anderson at 612 810-4000; email Dave@AlphaBoard.com.
About Alpha® Board
Alpha Board is CEO power hub and National Business Leadership Exchange™ for leaders of high growth companies.
Alpha Board is designed to enhance the reputation, learning and market reach of CEO’s, Alpha Grade™ executives and the companies they lead. The Alpha Board Tour includes a series of regional industry visits throughout the U.S. This will involve news interviews, company visits and a market study on the topics of leadership, tech development, business growth and new product innovation. Other Alpha Board programs feature national speakers, executive exchanges, corporate profiles, leader roundtable discussions and open-house events at leading companies. Alpha Board works in collaboration with NeuVision Group, a 20-year-old new business development firm, as well as local,regional and national participants throughout the U.S.Past efforts have benefited owners across the U.S., 
and gained the attention of noted business media outlets throughout two continents. More information about Alpha® Board, NeuVision® Group and the Fresh Octane® Tour can be found at www.AlphaBoard.com.