Their lifetime commitment to education has left a legacy throughout Kansas and Missouri
When Ingram’s launched its 50 Kansans You Should Know feature in 2011, we met several arched eyebrows from The Doubters. They wondered whether the momentum from such recognition could be sustained for more than a year or two.
To which we reply: Do the math. Let’s just assume that just one-10th of 1 percent of a given population will consistently yield accomplished leaders in business, education, public office or artistic and cultural venues. In a state of 2.8 million people, that would amount to 2,800 people. Which means we’d run short of likely subjects in . . . 2067. We’ll get back to you on how that turned out.
For now, the third installment of 50 Kansans has shown us exactly what the two previous versions did: That the Sunflower State is absolutely brimming with high achievers, critical thinkers and visionaries who understand and embrace values they consider typically Kansan—hard work, self-reliance, entrepreneurship, friendliness and an unmatched sense of honesty, integrity, care and compassion. As you read about this year’s honorees, you’ll see those traits come shining through again and again.
The funny thing is, these people are not the products of a giant genetic cookie-cutter. Regardless of ethnicity, regardless of gender, regardless of political orientation or the size of the communities they call home, almost every one of them has drawn on the same characteristics to make his or her mark on the state.
We hope you’ll find their stories as informative—and as inspirational—as we have.
Tom Devlin
Devlin Enterprises, Wichita
In Kansas, says Tom Devlin, “a hand-shake is still a handshake.” Devlin should know: He’s closed many a deal with one, building Devlin Enterprises into a broad-based company with interests in retail, service, manufacturing, transportation, fast food, commercial real estate and businesses both private and publicly held. The capital wellspring for that diversity came from the 1987 sale of Rent-A-Center, the company he co-founded in 1973. Its $594 billion sale to British-based Thorn EMI—equal to $1.2 billion today. But even a sum like that hasn’t changed him at his core: “I’m a plain-Jane guy,” Devlin says. “I am what I am.”
His successes in multiple ventures shaped his belief that the best investments are based on the quality of a company’s management, not its product or service. “The problem with entrepreneurs,” Devlin says, “is if they were successful in oil or gas, they’ll think ‘I’m good at this,’ and get into 50 other things they’re not good at and lose it all. I bet on the management, not the concept.”
Family will always be his crowning achievement, and Rent-A-Center will always be the pinnacle of his business success. But a close second will be Flint Hills National Golf Course, which Devlin developed because he thought Wichita deserved a Top 50 golfing venue. One of America’s five wealthiest men, Charles Koch, advised him not to get too extravagant with the amenities, there, but Devlin pushed ahead.
Testament to the course’s quality and the breadth of Devlin’s connections: More of the memberships are held by out-of-state residents than Kansans. At 65, he’s playing the best golf of his life and celebrating 40 years of marriage with Myra this year. They raised two sons and, living just minutes away, Devlin is able to play with his grandchildren whenever the urge hits.
“I am,” he declares, “the luckiest guy in the world.”
Colleen Lechtenberg
KU Medical Center, Kansas City
Being a neurologist and medical director for the Comprehensive Stroke Center at the University of Kansas Hospital and faculty member at the KU Medical Center, Colleen Lechtenberg didn’t think of herself in entrepreneurial terms—until she looked up the definition. “And that made me think, yes, the team here and the program looked at the opportunity in the state of Kansas to be a leader as a hospital that treats stroke patients, and to help smaller communities treat stroke cases, as well,” she says. From that perspective, entrepreneurial skills were exactly the driver of her program’s ability to secure stroke-center designation late last year from the national accrediting Joint Commission. That’s a big deal for the state and its residents: “Nationally, about 5 to 7 percent of stroke patients get the immediate treatment they need for stroke; in Kansas, that’s just 1 percent,” she says. Just as important has been her work to help community hospitals across Kansas to elevate their treatment acumen. A native of the area, Lechtenberg earned her undergrad degree at the University of Utah, and came back home for medical school and residency at KU. She and her husband, Derek Snyder, have two children, ages six and one.
Clifton Pemble
Garmin International, Olathe
Cliff Pemble can cite two key developments that positioned him for the success he found after graduating from MidAmerica Nazarene University in 1986. First, the financial-aid staff at the Olathe university, he said in an appearance before students there, worked diligently on his behalf. “There was really no way that my family could support me and help me through college,” Pemble said. “The staff at MidAmerica worked hard, and before you knew it, I had a series of federal grants, and a very nice scholarship.” And while he was still in school, his love for aviation led to connections with executives from the former King Radio, an avionics manufacturer right there in Olathe that has since been acquired by Honeywell. Two professors with ties to King Radio proved to be powerful influences. “I was able to find something that I was passionate about that was not only academic but interesting to me in life” because of them, Pemble said. Just three years out of college, Pemble signed on at the launch of a company known today as Garmin International. He used his degrees in math and computer science to help Garmin build from that 1989 beginning, and moved up the ranks, in turn. Pemble oversaw engineering for the company, became vice president, then a director, as well as president and chief operating officer. Laptop magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people in mobile technology—ahead of the company’s founders, even—and he reached the pinnacle in December with the announcement that Min Kao would retire as CEO. Pemble assumed those duties Jan. 1 at the ripe old age of 47.
Lynn Jenkins
U.S. House of Representatives, Topeka
Lynn Jenkins may have one of the toughest jobs in Washington: A certified public accountant by training, she must confront fiscal numbers that just don’t add up. “The budget numbers are frustrating,” says Jenkins, “but it is more painful to look at them as a hard-working mom. Right now, every child inherits more than $50,000 in debt the day they are born. That means my two kids have $100,000 in debt thanks to Washington’s out-of-control spending habits.” So in representing the 2nd Congressional District of Kansas, she commits herself to policies that will increase jobs, stave off inflation, boost incomes and, in general, make it easier for people to succeed. But as time goes on, she notes, “solutions become harder to implement.” But solutions aren’t impossible: “Common sense,” she declares, would help. But it’s in short supply when a nation goes three years without its Senate passing a budget. “How can we balance the budget and control spending, when we cannot even agree on what the budget should look like?” says Jenkins, who hopes the new Congress—and her new leadership role in the House—is a fresh start to that end. The farm girl from Holton, who grew up to become mother of two, holds three Kansans in high esteem: Former senators Bob Dole and Nancy Kassebam, and Dwight Eisenhower. “The night before D-Day, he drafted a letter accepting full responsibility if the invasion was not successful,” Jenkins says. “It was not stature or fame that motivated him, it was his responsibility to his soldiers and his country.” Dole and Kassebaum also lived a code of accountability, she says, “and I try to remind myself of it when I get frustrated with the way things are in Washington.”
John Murphy
Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Overland Park
He could have practiced law anywhere, but John Murphy is the head of the largest law firm in Kansas City and the state of Missouri, thanks in part to the mass-transit web that encircles New York. While he was still in law school, “taking the train into my summer job was a one-hour, 20-minute commute, and more often than not, standing,” he remembers. “I wanted more of an atmosphere.” He knew that when he finished at Washington & Lee University’s School of Law that he’d be able to practice anywhere, but it had to be the right fit. “I wanted to do big-time litigation, and always thought I’d have to be on a coast to do that.” An interview with the firm he heads today disproved that thinking. “I came to Kansas City in the fall of ’78 and fell in love with the firm and the city,” Murphy says. “I saw the opportunity to do cutting-edge litigation on a national basis and still live within 20 minutes of the office. I don’t think I could find that anywhere else.” He has been a defensive maestro in product-liability cases, including several winning outcomes representing Ford Motor Co. He’s also been elected chairman of the firm for a fourth consecutive term, and he draws heavily on the region’s strengths to keep it No. 1. “The people here have a combination of intelligence and common sense that you don’t always see around the country,” Murphy says. “I get to tap into it every day.”
Steve Scott
Pittsburg State University
Steve Scott’s idea of an inspirational Kansan is Dwight Eisenhower, but not because of Ike’s mastery in the art of war. “Just think what he created,” said Scott. “The interstate highway system, and maybe even more important, his creation of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which led to the Internet.” But Scott also admires Eisenhower’s humility, a quality he tries to embrace as president of Pittsburg State University.
“I’m not sure there is a single more valuable characteristic for a leader to have, and I feel blessed that in my upbringing, humility was a part of the environment,” says Scott. “Putting others first and focusing on something larger than yourself is a value that is evident in many Kansans.” Liberal doses of that quality—and such Kansas attributes as honesty, integrity, a strong work ethic and friendliness—have defined Scott’s approach to leadership. All have been key to moving the university forward with programming in information technology, planning, and facilities, and all have helped him build a leadership team he calls “outstanding.” One of his biggest sources of pride is the $33 million Center for the Arts breaking ground this month and opening in the fall of 2014. “To see the building begin to rise out of the ground will be good for Pittsburg State University and the overall community,” Scott said.
Duane West
Former Mayor, Garden City
Duane West has packed a long list of achievements into nearly 82 years. He’s been the mayor of Garden City. Served on its City Council for 12 years. He helped make Buffalo Dunes Golf Course a reality. He manages the career of Texas-based artist Jesse Montes. And most recently, he added the title of playwright to his resume with a tribute to the city’s co-founder, Buffalo Jones. All of those made him a player in Garden City, but his four-year stint as county attorney put him on the national stage: West is the man who prosecuted Dick Hickok and Perry Smith, whose murders of the Herb Clutter family near Holcomb in 1959 became the basis for “In Cold Blood.” “We got ’em convicted, got ’em hung, and they ain’t ever killed anyone else,” says the plain-talking West. For that accomplishment, “I’ve been bedeviled by people ever since, all over the world,” West says, “but I’ve made some good friends as a result.” That experience, though, was by no means the defining moment of his life. Far more significant was his marriage to Orvileta, “my wife of 56 years who’s put up with me,” and raising two children. In addition to his civic accomplishments, West dabbled as an inventor, securing a patent for Slice Cream—single servings cut like pieces of pie. He launched a personal quest in 1990 to pay tribute to Jones—the city’s first mayor and one of the nation’s earliest preservationists. “It took me 21 years, but we had the world premiere in Garden City in 2011,” West beams.
Neal Sharma
Digital Evolution Group, Overland Park
Seven critically formative years in Syracuse, Kansas—grades 2 through 8—helped define Neal Sharma, a founding principal of the fast-growing Internet marketing firm Digital Evolution Group. His mother was one of just two doctors in what he calls “a small, one-stoplight town in southwestern Kansas,” where it was hard, he says, “to look out over the great expanses of land out there and not believe that anything is possible—that anything can sprout up from basically nothing.” Combine that sentiment with the instructional quality of the Blue Valley School District, where he went to high school, and you had the makings of unchained potential. That experience, he said, gave him “exposure and access to the bigger world beyond our borders.”
While still a teenager, he honed critical-thinking skills through experiences like Leadership Overland Park and working for Sen. Bob Dole, which taught him about integrity, pragmatism and humility. “Kansans are problem-solvers,” he says. “They want to do what makes common sense, is practical, and accomplishes the task. Once we dream big, we like to put in place a straightforward plan to accomplishing that dream.”
Brady Gros
Fuller Brush, Great Bend
These days, his hometown of Andale is a bedroom suburb of the state’s largest city, but when Brady Gros was growing up, he spent most of his time on his grandfather’s farm. “The knowledge and skills that I acquired while growing up prepared me for my career: Work ethic, running a business, mechanical skills, responsibility” and more, he says. After earning his degree in accounting from Wichita State and becoming a CPA, he joined Fuller Brush Co. in Great Bend as a staff accountant in 1990. Within a few years, that company with a pedigreed name in household cleaning products would be buffeted by a changing marketplace, selling first to a publicly traded company, then to a private equity firm. As Fuller’s chief operating officer, Gros was a key member of the leadership team. After Fuller Brush filed for bankruptcy, the trustee determined he was the man to revive the company. Gros helped put together a plan to save the company, preserving roughly 180 jobs in Great Bend. “A company like Fuller Brush brings in commerce from outside the local area,” he says, and “the presence of a marque company such as Fuller Brush in a small community is invaluable to recruiting/attracting new businesses for growth.”
Scott Ernest
Cessna Aircraft, Wichita
Scott Ernest is the keeper of a legacy. More than 85 years after Clyde Cessna lent his design skills—and his name—to a nascent aircraft industry, Ernest is the current chief executive of Cessna Aircraft Co. In the years since the founder introduced a plane designed without wing struts or braces, no company on earth has sold as many planes: More than 193,500. That, along with a work force of 8,500 and billions of dollars’ worth of orders for light and mid-size business jets, turboprops and single-engine aircraft, has helped make Wichita the Air Capital of the World. And it has given Kansas a surprisingly strong manufacturing sector to complement its agricultural base. When parent company Textron made Ernest the president and CEO in 2011, it turned the reins over to a native Kansan—born and raised in Topeka—who spent 29 years with General Electric, ending his tenure there as vice president and general manager of global supply chain with GE Aviation. For decades, the Air Capital has endured serious economic pain and prosperity as the fortunes of its general aviation stalwarts—built by iconic names like Boeing, Lear and Beech—have ridden the pronounced cycles of general aviation. Tens of thousands worked at those plants at their zenith, generating just as many jobs in supplier businesses and machine shops. When Ernest was designated CEO, aviation analysts praised the move, citing his reputation for taking a long-term view and for making steady, measured changes that positioned GE Aviation for success.
