Of Power and Glory

This year marks the 11th annual Ingram’s 250, which began with an A-ha! Moment at our Alliance of Area Business Publishers Summer Conference in 2015. My good friend and then-publisher of D-CEO, Josh Schimmels, presented a concept he and his team previously published in Arizona where his editors then collaborated to create a bold list of the most consequential and powerful business leaders in Dallas. Multiple billionaires among them.

There was a requisite: that their influence was significantly articulated through business leadership and rock-solid performance.

Two other publications followed suit the next year to produce a similar publication—the L.A. Business Journal and Ingram’s. To be sure, Kansas City does not stand on the same population platform of a Dallas or an L.A., so we opted for a field of 250. The following year, the three publishers from these nationally-respected titles presented to colleagues a progress report at the AABP convention: Ingram’s performed the highest in page count (126, including covers) and in number of ads in the issue (74). 

As well as we did that first year, ad rates at Ingram’s are far more affordable than in Dallas and L.A., so we ranked third in that category. What we learned, however, is that our readers and executive leadership had a huge thirst for the Ingram’s 250 publication. It became our best-read issue of the year and a publication reaching more executive eyeballs reading it than any other. 

That appeal continues today.

The Program and The Strategy

Theme-oriented issues work effectively, and our team has worked hard over the years to build valued annual traditions. In addition to general business trends and regional business success stories and business news, Ingram’s has two other very important primary category silos. One includes our three major Competitions and Rankings: Corporate Report 100 (the 100 fastest-growing companies—2027 will be our 42nd annual CR100 competition). Ingram’s 100 (top 100 Private Companies, which debuted in 2011). And the compilation of more than 60 industry ranking lists called The Power Book, formerly known as Ingram’s Book of Leads & Lists. (We’ve published this edition for 28 years—since 1998).

Recognition Programs that often become annual theme publications create another major silo, and colleagues throughout North America have lauded Ingram’s as being among the most innovative in developing a robust family of recognition award and honors. On a broad level, they introduce high-performing organizations and individuals to the rest of the business community: Connections matter.

These programs can also create a personal career legacy for thousands of business leaders profiled over the decades. I’m personally most proud of the portfolio we’ve designed and built and we’re honored to serves as the steward of these recognition programs: 

• Ingram’s Executive of the Year and C-Suite Awards (7th year in ‘27)

• Heroes in Healthcare (24th year in ’27)

• Icons of Education (20th year in ’27) 

• Best Companies to Work For (20th year in ’27)

• Best of Business Kansas City (Reader Choice Awards—39th year in ‘27)

• KC’s Top Doctors (31st Year in ’27)

• 20 in Their Twenties (20th year in ’27)

• WeKC (Women Executives Kansas City—26th year in ’27)

• Ingram’s Philanthropist of the Year (11th year in ’27), although the Philanthropy Edition was established the day we bought Ingram’s in February of 1997.

Two other recognition programs we’re extremely proud of and that we work on literally every week of the year include:

• Ingram’s 40 Under Forty (29th year in ’27, with 1,080 alumni and counting)

• Ingram’s 250 (12th year in ’27)

Truly a Team Sport

Truth be told, we absolutely love building traditions and administering them. As with your own organization, we enjoy aligning with team members who have served long-term and we’re searching for extraordinary team members going forward. In terms of commitment, I want to take a moment to publicly thank and send a shout out for our long-term team members:

• Jack Cashill, Author and Writer  (’27 will be Jack’s 40th year with Ingram’s)

• Jim Ryan (Controller) and Michelle and I are entering our 31st year.

• Traci Meisenheimer, Art Director (22nd year)

• Dennis Boone, Editor (19th year)

• Leadership Team Average: 29 years

I’m particularly proud to have worked side-by-side Dennis and Traci as the closers to finish hundreds of magazines together. The issue you’re holding may be the 250th the three of us have worked as closers. Naturally, it takes an entire team, and thanks goes to our newer team members: Will Crow (4th year in ’27); John Ward (4th year); Nancie Boland (5th year) and our two newest team members Foli Assiongbon and Emmanuel Olatunde. (2nd year in ’27). And Colin Lobdell, who has assisted our list research efforts (12th year in ’27). 

Ingram’s Magazine and Ingram’s Media is a micro small business but I would lead this team into about any battle. I’m proud to work with such dedicated, talented and loyal journalists and support team members.

Lessons Learned

I may have the best under-paid job in the region but I honestly love what I do. In 1998 it was my duty as an AABP board member to secure a guest speaker for our 1999 Summer Conference in Washington, D.C. When asked at our Chicago board meeting who I was considering inviting to be our keynote speaker, I responded Steve Forbes was my preferred choice. He is a colleague and was at time a presidential candidate. The immediate responses? Serious doubt that I could pull it off. So I waged $100 bets.

That afternoon, on the drive back to Kansas City, I talked with two gatekeepers at Forbes. The following morning our then-editor, Pat Lowry (now with Kansas Department of Commerce) shouted out, “Joe—Steve Forbes on line 3!” I’ve had the pleasure to meet many extraordinary leaders and I value my acquaintance with Mr. Forbes. At the time, the Internet was in its infancy and his editors’ often searched through the content of regional business publications throughout the nation to identify extraordinary leaders, companies, emerging trends and under-the-radar topics.

“We subscribe to every Alliance of Area Business Publishers title, but I religiously read only three,” Forbes told me on that call. “Crain’s Business New York, because it’s home, Crain’s Chicago Business, because it’s arguably the best regional business publication in America, and I read Ingram’s Magazine.” 

Stunned at this response, I asked why. He replied that Ingram’s was often-times required reading for dozens of talented journalists on his editorial teams, and he complemented Ingram’s for providing a unique content style that he considered excellent executive summaries. In other words—brevity, but on-point. 

“Executives do not have time to read long-form features, and they appreciate journalists that get to the point and enable them to consume features and columns in manageable  bites,” said Forbes. I had a great visit with him and welcomed him to Washington to be our keynote speaker—and it was with great pleasure to introduce Steve Forbes to colleagues and that it was particularly fun to collect the money from several publishers on our bets.

The lessons we’ve learned and the extraordinary leaders we’ve met over the years are truly gifts and we’re so honored to serve as a steward of business trends and growth. We knew Ingram’s was a highly-respected and valued business magazine when Michelle and I bought the publication 30 years ago, but the moment we realized what it meant to some business leaders and their careers came at the funeral of our friend, Jack Lockton, in the spring of 2004. During his eulogy, we learned that one of Jack’s career high points was being featured on the front cover of Ingram’s. Stunned, Michelle and I looked at each other in disbelief. That revelation put into perspective the importance of Ingram’s and what it means to so many who have earned their place to be honored in this publication. 

With honor and pride, I am pleased to present you the 2026 Class of Ingram’s 250. Congratulations to this year’s members and thank each of you and your teams for serving your industry and our community and region as you do. We learned years ago that size does not always matter, and we’re honored that so many in the business community have embraced Ingram’s for 52 years. This publication would not exist without the ongoing support of our advertisers, sponsors and paid subscribers. On page 19 is a list of our valued advertisers who supported this important edition. Should your organization be on this list? We greatly appreciate organizations that support our efforts to support their business interests. With the support of the business community, we’ll continue to do our very best and 2027 will bring some exciting enhancements as well as a robust new lineup of useful Ingram’s Digital services and tools. Please consider putting Ingram’s on your marketing plan. Financial pressures, including ridiculous postal-service rate increases, continues to make it increasingly challenging to effectively operate and know we’re trying very hard but do need reasonable support from the business community. 

We hope you enjoy this issue covering 250 of our region’s most accomplished and powerful leaders. Congratulations to our 2026 class and thank you for being a reader.