BUSINESS SERVICES
Best Accounting/Consulting Firm
Eons, it seems, have passed since the days when accounting firms were marked by dour figures in green eyeshades, crunching numbers and doing little else. Today, a firm thrives not just by the quality of the financial statements produced, but by providing guidance in corporate finance, tax and succession planning, employee stock-ownership plans, wealth management and many more niches. Kansas City’s Gold-level firm for such one-stop assistance is BKD, the Springfield-based firm with a prominent footprint in this market. Delivering Silver-quality service for readers is Accenture, a global company based in Ireland, with U.S. headquarters in Chicago; it serves 96 of the Fortune 100 companies worldwide. Marks Nelson Vohland Campbell Radetic, the largest locally owned accounting firm in Kansas City, weighs in with Bronze.
Best Small Advertising Agency
A decade ago, it was a boutique advertising agency with 18 employees. Today, Trozzolo Communications Group is one of the 10 biggest communications specialists in the Kansas City area, delivering an integrated suite of advertising and marketing strategies for clients. And fans responded by making it this year’s Gold winner. In a similar fashion, another company that experienced tremendous growth over the past decade is Two West, our readers’ pick for Silver, with offices in Kansas City just west of the Liberty Memorial.
Best Large Advertising Agency
This isn’t the 1960s, and VML bears no resemblance to the Mad Men creators’ idea of an ad agency. One of the first to jump headlong into digital marketing back when most of us were still enamored with that “You’ve Got Mail!” salutation, VML works with clients around the globe to manage brand image in a rapidly changing technological environment. Its work there is just one reason why readers bestowed Gold honors this year. Silver, meanwhile, goes to Barkley, the largest employee-owned advertising agency in the United States; you know them by Howard Hughes’ TWA-era rocket on top of the Crossroads offices, but the rest of the ad world knows them for integrated advertising acumen. And whether you’re looking to message in print, broadcast, digital or direct venues, Bernstein-Rein Advertising provides the full range of services that warrant Bronze designation this year.
Best Airline Serving KCI
If you fly at all, do you really think this could go anywhere else? Gold belongs to Southwest Airlines, and for all practical purposes, the voting stops there. Airline consolidations and other market factors have turned Southwest into the clear-cut favorite among KC’s jet-setters. Based in Dallas, Southwest is the nation’s most successful low-fare carrier, now serving 73 cities and 38 states with its fleet of nearly 560 Boeing 737s. No other airline finished in medalist territory.
Best Architectural/Design Firm
It’s been a while since stadium-building heavyweight Populous was on a fast track for growth, but the company cinched its belt, sharpened its focus and tightened its grip on the Gold for architectural and design firms in a community that is absolutely swimming with talented competitors. This year’s Silver goes to is Helix Architecture + Design, which designs the interior spaces of buildings as well as the structures themselves. Two other hometown heroes of design, HNTB and 360 Architecture, share the Bronze.
Best Bank
For six decades, Country Club Bank has been steadily increasing its presence in the Kansas City banking market, and while it’s far from the biggest, the relationships it has formed have made it the best in the eyes of readers, who again confer Gold status on CCB. And the biggest locally owned institution as measured by assets, Commerce Bank, claims Silver not only for the strength of its financial management, but its access: it has more than 50 locations in the region. This year’s Bronze co-winners are US Bank, based in Minneapolis, and UMB Bank, the second-largest locally owned bank in this region.
Best Engineering Firm
Across nearly two dozen engineering disciplines, Burns & McDonnell has built a reputation for both design and construction, turning into a billion-dollar firm that operates globally. That record makes it a Gold winner in the eyes of Ingram’s readers, who place a high value on scale, history and community ties. They also made Black & Veatch, the Overland Park-based firm founded in 1915, this year’s Silver winner, and turned to HNTB, based Downtown and founded in 1914, for Bronze recognition.
Best Commercial Contractor
There’s a reason why J.E. Dunn Construction has dominated so much of the regional construction scene for nearly 80 years. It’s the same reason the company has gone from regional player to national force in that sector over the past generation: It delivers as promised. Its growth, its commitment to KC and its civic engagement all work to make it a Gold winner in the eyes of voters and has since the inception of this award. McCownGordon Construction has flourished through is commitment to building long-term relationships, and voters accordingly awarded it the Silver. Nearly a century old, Straub Construction carries on a family tradition of its own, and earns Bronze.
Best Commercial Printer
Goodness: This certainly doesn’t happen very often, but we have a Gold-level tie between Alpine Litho and Best Graphics. For Alpine, success comes from skilled people, state-of-the-art pre-press capability and presses that print to the strictest standards and tolerances. Best Graphics, meanwhile, relies on competitive pricing, quality work and speedy delivery, a formula that has worked well since its inception in 1984. With dual winners here, there was no Bronze to award, but the Silver goes to Henry Wurst, founded in 1934 and listed among the Top 100 North American printers by Graphics Arts Monthly.
Best Commercial Realtor/Firm
Here’s where experience counts with Ingram’s readers: When it comes to commercial realty, Kessinger/Hunter and Co. has been doing its thing for 133 years. And the firm isn’t just experienced, it has some serious scale as well, managing nearly 16 million square feet of commercial space today. That’s good for Gold honors in this category. Zimmer Real Estate Services claims this year’s Silver honors, while two other companies, RED Development and newcomer Reece Commercial, tied for the Bronze recognition.
Best Ground Transportation
Launched with a single vehicle in 1979, Overland Limousine has established its position in the rankings of area luxury transportation services, an achievement that readers recognize with a sixth straight Gold award. Breaking into the Best of Business rankings for the first time—and in impressive Silver status at that—is Westport Livery Services, based in Mission. And to round out this category, Ingram’s readers demonstrate that they are nothing if not practical: Also getting a nod is an element of public transportation with KCATA/The Metro earning the Bronze.
Best Health Club
A year ago, LifeTime Fitness extended its market reach with the addition of a new facility in Lenexa, complementing the Deer Creek-area facility in south Overland Park. That additional membership appears to have made a difference; for the first time, LifeTime Fitness brings home the Gold for area health clubs, building on its reputation for facilities with plenty of available workout machinery, fitness programming and all the right touches when it comes to amenities. Silver honors go to 24-Hour Fitness, with eight locations in the Kansas City area and access that is virtually unmatched. Bronze goes to Prairie Life Center, with locations in Overland Park and Olathe.
Best Health Insurance Provider
Well, the health-care reforms passed a major test with the Supreme Court; now it’s up to insurance companies to step up their game, and last year’s leaders in this category are prepping for that challenge—and back in this lineup, in the same order. Leading the way with Gold is the region’s largest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, with more than 1 million customers. Humana’s range of individual and corporate health plans, plus Medicare coverage, warrants the Silver. UnitedHealthcare, which provides not only health but life, dental, vision and disability insurance, checks in with the Bronze.
Best Hospital/Medical Center
The University of Kansas Hospital, the public health authority that dominates health-care delivery on the Kansas side of the region and draws extensively from patients who live across the property line in Missouri, moves up to Gold status. One reason, perhaps, is the significantly higher profile it has as a research center, particularly in the fight against cancer. Saint Luke’s Hospital, the largest of a four-hospital network that leads the region in combined patient admissions, wins the Silver this year. And nearly half a century of health-care delivery has defined Shawnee Mission Medical Center as Johnson County’s premier provider, an achievement recognized by readers with Bronze honors.
Best Hotel
Eight years straight, and no signs of impending checkout from Gold status for the Intercontinental Hotel Kansas City, which provides luxury accommodations and one of the best views from any vantage point of the Country Club Plaza, on the opposite bank of Brush Creek. Moving in tandem for high honors is its neighbor across Wornall Road, the Raphael Hotel, earning yet another Silver for its charm and its luxury—and perhaps, its sentimental value as a Kansas City landmark. Bronze honors this year go to the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center, reflagged last fall after a 31-year run as the Hyatt Regency Crown Center.
Best Law Firm
Kansas City executives who count on their legal advisers know that bigger can indeed be better—when it comes to law, size often means a greater range of specialties. No surprise, then, that three of the region’s four biggest firms reside in that territory this year. By a slim margin Gold honors go to Polsinelli Shughart for a third straight year, nudging past Silver-winning Shook Hardy & Bacon, the largest firm in this market by both lawyer headcount and billings. Picking up Bronze are the folks at Stinson Morrison Hecker, which has a formidable presence in banking law, but excels in many other areas of concentration.
Best Meeting/Conference Facility
A year after seizing the Gold ring in this category, Overland Park Convention Center is back for more, an implicit recognition that Kansas City does not stand alone in the quest for convention and trade show business. The Ritz Charles, also in Overland Park, is known for the quality of its accommodations, if not the raw square footage of its facilities, and that’s good for Silver. When it comes to size, though, the undisputed king of convention facilities is the Kansas City Convention Center; the Downtown cornerstone of convention appeal for this region checks in with Bronze honors.
Best Retirement Community
The way things are going, an entire cohort of retirees will cycle through Bishop Spencer Place never knowing anything less than Gold status for their accommodations; this year marks three straight for the Westport-area facility. It earns that by providing residents with the kinds of independence and engagement they long in their golden years, as well as easy access to health-care services and, of course, the Plaza. Tallgrass Creek, in Overland Park, offers full-service retirement living that earns Silver this year. And Lenexa’s Lakeview Village, with more than 550 residential units and 700 residents on a campus that covers 95 acres, wins Bronze.
Best Spa
Spas come and go, but for nearly a quarter-century, Prairie Village-based bijin salon & spa has addressed the well-being—in mind, body and coiffure—of area residents, who repay that service [provided either on-site or in the comfort of your own home] with Gold designation. The Spa at Briarcliff goes beyond the facials, waxings and nail treatments that are standard fare at other spas, adding in cosmetic medical procedures, as well; that complete package is good for Silver. And in Overland Park, Sunlighten Day Spa redefines rejuvenation and detoxification of your body with its Bronze-winning suite of treatments and products.
Best Wealth Manager (Firm)
Past performance, as the investing pros caution us, is no guarantee of future returns. But readers who have their own financial interests at stake with Waddell & Reed’s Ivy Funds say those instruments are the Gold standard for performance. With roughly 2 million clients and $89 billion in assets under management, the Overland Park-based company is obviously doing something right. So too, is Mariner Wealth Advisors, this year’s Silver winner, which has exhibited eye-popping growth fueled by strategic acquisitions. Another Lea-wood company, Creative Planning, continues its rapid growth and claims Bronze.
Best Wireless Phone Service
Few trends in technology have affected business quite like the advances in mobility, making wireless communications absolute essential. That’s where Sprint has registered with the hometown crowd; this marks three straight years as Gold winner for the Overland Park company. That time frame roughly coincides with customer-service efforts that produced a J.D. Power & Associates award for Sprint in 2011. Bagging Silver this year is AT&T, which, like Sprint, has long since moved past its roots in 19th-century land line communications. It now offers computer and wireless networking, mobility and app management and other services. Verizon, which also ranked as most-admired company in its industry by Fortune magazine this year, claims the Bronze; its suite of offerings also includes cloud computing services, global networking, security and advanced communications technologies. 
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