Mentors and Counselors

Emery Sapp and Sons, Inc. (ESS) offers a comprehensive list of services, including excavation, grading, concrete paving, underground utilities, structures and more. ESS is also proud to serve both the private and public sectors of our community for a wide range of project types, including federal, county, municipal, military, aviation, Department of Transportation, residential, multi-family, commercial and substations.

Project Group 2000 is a comprehensive cell tower service company for Wireless Carriers of all sizes and technologies. The company provides on-call emergency repair and maintenance services, as well as fully documented site audits and inspections. Its field crews are designed for travel while delivering large-scale projects. The company currently operates in the Nashville, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri markets and have a proven track record of successful build outs.

Blender of Epoxies used for Transportation Infrastructure, Renewable Energy Construction and Industrial Coatings.

Education/Coaching/Consulting - Leadership Health/Wellbeing to improve personal and professional performance.

StarRecruit LLC is a premier IT recruiting firm, with over a decade of experience finding and recruiting the top 5-10% of talent in IT and software markets. We use proprietary databases, advanced Boolean searches, experience and skill to uncover “hidden”, passive candidates that aren’t looking for work. These high performers don’t show up on job board databases (Dice, Monster, Career Builder, etc). Our candidates are top performing, "free-agents" that are looking to upgrade their careers and lives. To borrow a sports analogy, we use our experience and skill to find the best players on the opposition team and work as their agent to help them upgrade to a team that is a better fit for their career objectives. Many recruiters are “smile and dial” telemarketers that make 100 calls a day hoping to wear down client companies into “giving them a shot”. This is generally proceeded by the telemarketer sending unemployed, unhappy, unqualified candidates to a client hoping that they are desperate enough to hire the candidate. StarRecruit LLC is quite the opposite.

Global Big Four Accounting Firm

Operating Multiple Locations Franchising Business Consulting

An E.S.O.P. company that is an outsource for sales and marketing for various, non-competing manufacturers in the electric utility, telecom and contractor-industrial markets in a seven state territory.

Since its start in 1986, Harvest has set a standard for customer service in the audio visual industry. We strive to help our clients achieve "WOW" moments for their patrons by collaborating ideas and creating the ideal project for the occasion. Our production team can range all the way from the management and execution of high-end productions to the simple day-to-day rentals of equipment.

The Shirley and Barnett Helzberg Foundation provides support for other charitable organizations especially in the areas of entrepreneurship, education and the arts in Kansas City. Support is given to the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program (HEMP), University Academy, Friends of University Academy, Helzberg School of Management, The Nelson-Atkins Museum, The Kansas City Symphony, The Kansas City Zoo, Village Shalom, Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City and other areas.

Hoffman Management Corp. manages investments in oil and gas production, as well as real estate.

Warehouse1 solves the material handling requirements of clients in Kansas City, across the US, and around the world. Utilizing our technical knowledge and expertise, we maximize the use and minimize the cost of vertical space and square footage in warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing and government facilities. We buy, recondition and install material handling products including 25 acres of in-stock pallet racking, shelving, conveyor, cantilever rack, pallet jacks, mezzanines, dock equipment, lockers, storage and flammable cabinets, bins and totes, and wrapping and packaging equipment.

More than 5,300 professionals at Lockton provide 41,000 clients around the world with risk management, insurance, and employee benefits consulting services that improve their businesses. From its founding in 1966 in Kansas City, Missouri, Lockton has attracted entrepreneurial professionals who have driven its growth to become the largest privately held, independent insurance broker in the world and 10th largest overall.

LKLL&L is involved with commercial real estate. Prior Company EZTax, specialized in development and licensing of software products that automated sales, use and numerous other transaction tax calculations, filings and situs determinations. I sold this company to Avalara in June of 2015.

I owned Stouse Inc for 38 years and recently sold it in November of 2015. Stouse was a specialty printer specializing in screen printing, flexography, foil stamping, embossing, digital printing. Stouse in 2015 had approximately 330 employees located in Gardner Kansas . The facility consisted of 20,000 office space with 160,000 manufacturing space. Stouse sold through resellers located nationally with approximately 16,000 active distributors. Stouse products sold through a 130 page cataloglue. The primary product were decals and posters, banners.

Dredge America performs professional hydraulic dredging services throughout the entire U.S. We specialize in portable hydraulic dredging, meaning we can go anywhere. We have been learning and improving our craft for over twenty years.

Strenuus helps insurance companies design smarter physician networks. Network360, its flagship SaaS application, was used by every national insurer, and well over half of the BCBS plans nationwide. Strenuus also developed physician search and recommendation tools used by private health exchanges. One out of ten health plan enrollments in the US use these tools.

Restaurant Management Company

Coffee Roaster

Industrial Distribution

Lux Research is an independent research and advisory firm, providing strategic advice and ongoing intelligence on emerging technologies. Science-driven innovation is a cross-cutting key to success in today's business environment. In an increasingly crowded competitive landscape, decision makers need critical advice about markets, technologies, and strategy – both to position existing business for growth and to launch new businesses wisely. Emerging technology fields are fertile hunting grounds for new business opportunities, and corporate executives, investors, policymakers, and entrepreneurs across many industries look to these areas to drive growth. Whether it is cleantech or conventional oil and gas, advanced aerospace or consumer packaged goods, electronics or agriculture, the industries we serve are highly dependent on innovative materials, processes, and strategies to lower costs, increase revenues, defeat competitors, and serve customers. However, emerging technology markets are also uniquely challenging to understand and to take advantage of – Lux Research analysts are specialists in understanding and assessing these complex and rapidly-changing fields. Our research products are: Driven by proprietary primary research, not just publicly available data. We conduct over 5,000 interviews annually with company management, customers, partners, and outside experts, including on-site visits and facility inspections in 45 countries Based on a deep understanding of technology and markets. Our researchers are not generalist consultants or market researchers, but domain experts (most with advanced degrees in science and engineering), familiar with issues and trends in these technology areas. At the same time, our analysts aren't simply technologists, but are well-versed in assessing business implications of emerging technology Factual, detailed, and numerate. We don't indulge in vague generalizations, but support conclusions with specific data, examples, and case studies. Lux Research reports and other deliverables are not merely qualitative, but provide specific numbers – market sizes, figures of merit, price/cost, revenues – to help make decisions Bold and opinionated. We do not simply take claims or reports at face value, but apply critical analysis to cut through the hype and get to what is really true. We do not just report data or information, but say what it means – and put a firm stake in the ground in recommending what clients should do.

Marketing/Corporate Communications/Electronic Media Production/Live Event Production

Consulting services that help companies identify and develop market driven growth opportunities. Services include strategic planning, marketing, brand development and research.

RC Royals & Associates, LLC is a global consulting firm specializing in improving the operating performance of our customers. Our focus is financial services that encompass a broad range of companies that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are banks, credit card companies, consumer finance companies, stock brokerages, investment funds, and some government sponsored enterprises. The company is uniquely positioned to creatively transform your financial performance of mid­-market companies.

Catalog & Direct Marketing Agency

Commercial Real Estate

Founded in 1990, Taben is a National provider of Employee Benefit Administrative services. We offer COBRA, Direct Billing and Flexible Benefits Administration to larger employers around the country. www.taben.com

My business partner Scott Almsberger and I built a company which became the world's leading cigar accessory brand. We launched dozens of "cool" innovations annually, all incorporating great Function, great Form, great Feel at a Fair price. We then supported our customers and consumers with a lifetime unconditional guarantee. We sold that business in January 2018