nbkc bank
Brian Unruh, CEO of NBKC Bank, has a different leadership style than some other business owners, and he is perfectly OK with that. What sets his style apart? In a word: communication. Unruh communicates with everyone in the bank and his orbits. It starts with his leadership team and extends to employees and customers. His strategy is that transparency, telling the truth and letting everyone in on the information—good or…
phil giordano
We all know that Mother Nature works in mysterious ways. Nobody knows that more than Felici “Phil” Giordano, owner of Grade-A Tree Care. Working full-time as a tree trimmer for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Giordano had picked up extra jobs and customers off and on for a few years, but a winter storm in the early 1980s catapulted his business into high gear. Before the storm, Giordano had…
ripple glass
If you use food and beverage products that come in glass, “Ben” hopes you will help feed the big purple bins throughout the Kansas City area. “Ben” is the purple winged bottle mascot of Ripple Glass, the area’s recycler of glass products with purple containers across the metro and beyond. In 2017, the company celebrated recycling its 1 billionth bottle, and next year, Ripple will mark its 10th anniversary. “Our…
renner supply garage door
Denise Dahms’ family has been selling garage doors for more than 60 years, but the family business barely survived its first year. In 1955, Gene Renner, Denise’s dad, was selling garage doors—among other things—for a local lumber company. A year later, he started R&R Garage Door with his father, Elmer Renner, but the company struggled. Gene Renner wanted out of the business, but an F5 tornado in May 1957 changed…
chicken n pickle
Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the nation, so it should be no surprise that Chicken N Pickle has expansion plans of its own. The owners of the North Kansas City hotspot broke ground on their second location in May in Wichita, but the expansion won’t stop there. Kellen Mumm, vice president of business development, said the company could have as many as 10 locations within three years….