The Mid-America Regional Council is seeking nominations for its 2017 regional leadership awards.Since 1992, the awards have recognized individuals and institutions that have made outstanding contributions to the greater Kansas City area, including  advocating for regional approaches, advancing a regional vision of excellence, addressing regional challenges, applying innovative solutions or achieving an improved quality of life for residents. Recipients may be current or past elected officials; individuals employed as professionals…

Willoughby Design Inc., a Kansas City-based global brand strategy and design firm founded by Ann Willoughby in 1978, announced three executive promotions resulting from an ownership change. Current company partners Megan Stephens, Zack Shubkagel and Nicole Satterwhite purchased the firm from Willoughby. Stephens will assume the managing principal role, and all three partners will share equal ownership stakes in the company. “We learned that it’s rare for a firm like…

Twentyseven Global, a custom software engineering firm, built and launched an events-based mobile application platform for Kansas City-based startup Ziyak. Built for Android and iOS platforms and a cloud-based web application, the custom mobile app shows users events that are happening around their city or in cities where they may be traveling. Randy Grommet, president and co-founder of Ziyak, and Evan Holwick, vice president and co-founder, developed the app to…

Online investment advisor Blooom (Thinking Bigger Business cover profile, Dec. 2015) recently raised $9.15 million in a Series B round of investment. Previously, Blooom secured a $4 million round of Series A investment from Alexandria, Virginia-based venture capital group QED Investors, DST Systems, UMB, Prudential and other venture capital firms. The latest round of investment brings Blooom’s total raised to $13.15 million. Investors in the new round include existing investors…