North Kansas City construction firm Mega Industries Corp. announced this month that it is now 100 percent employee-owned. Founded in 1992, the construction company became a 56 percent Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in 2006, beginning its approach to total employee investment. Until June, CEO Brian Gordon and COO Craig Bridgeman were majority owners. “We wanted to send a clear signal to all of our employee-owners that Craig and I…

Two area law firms have announced that they will combine forces. Rouse Frets Gentile Rhodes LLC and White Goss PC merged effective Sept. 30. The new legal name of the firm is Rouse Frets White Goss Gentile Rhodes PC. Chuck Rouse and Harold Goss will serve as managing officers of the combined firm, which will maintain the White Goss office near the Country Club Plaza and the Rouse Frets locations…

LaunchKC, Kansas City’s innovative funding program for entrepreneurs, was awarded a Bronze Excellence in Economic Development Award in the entrepreneurship category by the International Economic Development Council. The award was given Oct. 2 during the IEDC’s annual conference in Atlanta. As one of the largest organizations for economic development professionals, IEDC supports economic developers to create, retain and expand economic opportunities that encourage growth and a stable tax base within…

A.B. May, an HVAC plumbing and electric company based in Kansas City, Mo., has received a Global Healthy Workplace Award for its company-wide well-being program. Presented by Wolf Kirsten International Health Consulting and i-genius, the Global Healthy Workplace Awards began in 2013 and are open to any organization from any nation in categories of Small and Medium-sized, Large Enterprise, and Multinational. A.B. May won in the Small and Medium-sized category…

A new class of entrepreneurs is poised to grow with guidance from seasoned business leaders. The Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program (HEMP) announced 16 entrepreneurs entering its 2018 program. The program was founded in 1995 by Barnett Helzberg Jr., former owner and president of Helzberg Diamonds.  Inspired by Helzberg’s 23-year mentoring relationship with Ewing Kauffman, HEMP matches seasoned, successful entrepreneur mentors with less experienced mentees. “The HEMP class of 2018 is…