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Kansas City is home to some very big names in business, including companies that have not just national, but global brands. Here are several companies headquartered in the KC area:
SPRINT
Long one of this region’s largest employers, Sprint is one of the nation’s three biggest wireless and wired communications providers. It recently closed on a majority-interest sale to the Japanese firm SoftBank, but remains headquartered in Overland Park, Kan. where its sprawling campus draws thousands to work each day. Dan Hesse is the CEO.
GARMIN
Founders Min Kao and Gary Burrell helped moved GPS technology into the public realm with devices for driving directions on demand. The company has since
expanded into product lines not just for automobiles, but aviation, marine, outdoor, and personal fitness products. Based in Olathe, the $2.7 billion company is now led by Cliff Pemble as president and CEO.
H&R BLOCK
Under the direction of CEO Bill Cobb since 2011, the venerable tax-preparation company has moved swiftly to bolster its on-line tax filing operations. Still the biggest name in tax preparation, the company has been headquartered in Kansas City since its founding in 1955.
BATS
Almost from its inception in 2005, BATS changed the equities-trading world, soaring to nearly $1 billion in revenues with-in its first five years and now stands as the world’s second-largest trading platform, behind only the New York Stock Exchange. The company, un-der CEO Joe Ratterman, operates stock and options markets in the U.S. and Europe, including Europe’s largest stock market.
HALLMARK
Hallmark Cards: Yes, the advent of In-ternet-based greeting cards has been a challenge, but Kansas City remains the greeting card capital of the world today because of the vision of J.C. Hall more than a century ago. The company has moved into the on-line realm itself, but continues as the standard-setter not just
for greeting cards, but gift wrap, party products, memory-keeping, ornaments, stationery and more. Don Hall Jr., the founder’s grandson, is the CEO today.
CERNER
In a community that prides itself on entrepreneurial thinking, no better example of that exists than with this company founded as a maker of software for health-care information technology. Co-founders Neal Patterson (longtime CEO), Cliff Illig (co-chairman) and
Paul Gorup (Chief of Innovation) have taken the company in new directions and kept it on a rapid growth pace, with nearly $2.7 billion in 2012 revenues.
LOCKTON
Another home-grown success, the Lockton Companies was founded in 1966 by Jack Lockton in his apartment. Today, it’s a billion dollar enterprise and the world’s largest privately owned independent insurance brokerage, with insurance, risk management and employee benefits products. Company chair David Lockton is the founder’s brother; John Lumelleau is the CEO.
DST
DST Systems: When it was founded in 1969, this company was a division of Kansas City Southern, the transportation and logistics company based here. After splitting up, DST focused on its software development mission to assist clients in asset management, insurance, brokerage, retirement planning, health care and other sectors. Steve Hooley became CEO in late 2012.
ENGINEERING
Engineering Excellence: Black & Veatch, Burns & McDonnell and HNTB are three big names with global reach, but other firms located here make KC No. 1 in the
number of engineers per-capita in the U.S.
Other major companies with significant presence in Kansas City:
FORD
One reason Detroit no longer has the hammerlock on vehicle assembly is because communities like Kansas City have skilled, efficient work forces that shore up the economics of making cars and trucks. Ford’s Claycomo plant is powerful evidence of that; the company worked with Missouri officials to craft an incentive program that has led to a $1.1 billion company investment there. The plant produces F-150 pickups and the Transit van.
GM
Likewise, GM has invested heavily in upgrading the Fairfax Assembly Plant, the region’s largest manufacturing employer. Most recently, that entailed $600 million for a 450,000-square-foot bi-level paint shop at this plant, which produces the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick LaCrosse.
ATK
On a massive tract in eastern Jackson County, ATK operates the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, which churns out more than 1.6 billion rounds of small-caliber ammo each year. The company employs more than 2,700 in this region.
HCA
One of the nation’s largest for-profit hospital companies also owns the largest share of the Kansas City market’s hospital beds. Its local division, HCA Midwest Health System, also operates outpatient centers, clinics, physician practices and surgery centers.
BNSF
No other U.S. city ships greater tonnage of goods by rail than Kansas City,
and Texas-based BNSF is one reason why. It further cemented its ties to this region by partnering in the development of Logistics Park Kansas City, adjacent to a line that leads to coastal ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles.
