Opinion: Wine retreat offers more than vacation time

My mother and other colleagues at Springfield Business Journal have long recognized that doing business in Springfield has a special, very personal quality that isn’t characteristic of every market. The business news found on our pages is people-centric because businesspeople and the relationships among them are truly at the foundation of every story.

In that vein, SBJ is very proud to serve as the media sponsor for the second annual Business Class awards and celebration.

Business Class is a recognition event, conceptualized and presented by UMB Bank, which celebrates great local companies and is designed to foster and/or nurture the kind of close working relationships that typify much of the Springfield professional community.

For the second year, UMB has gathered with a specialized team of co-presenters to recognize 10 companies for excellence in financial performance, innovation and community involvement. Co-presenters include BKD LLP and Lathrop & Gage LLP. Five top companies have been selected from the group of finalists to participate in an all-exclusive executive retreat in California wine country.

Ann Marie Baker, UMB market president for Springfield, echoes the sentiments of all that were part of the 2012 wine country retreat by describing the synergy that started there and has grown during the last year.

“By coming together in an executive retreat setting, we believe the honorees gain insights from interacting with other businesspeople who share their same passion for excellence,” Baker says. “The honorees and partners brought so much energy and knowledge together. The collective result was just amazing. Not only were they incredibly talented businesspeople, they had a great time together, too.”

Randell Wallace, managing partner of the Lathrop & Gage Springfield office and one of two partners representing the firm at the 2012 retreat echoed Baker’s sentiment.

“The retreat is a unique opportunity to quickly bond with an amazing group of area businesspeople and their spouses,” he says. “My wife, Carla, and I established relationships that will last for many years.”

This special SBJ publication is dedicated to the recognition of the 2013 Business Class finalists. Each are profiled on the following pages. Likewise, all 10 finalists were celebrated at the June 28 luncheon event held at Highland Springs Country Club, with a special recognition and announcement of the five top-ranking companies selected to attend the 2013 retreat.  

Nominations for Business Class recognition were opened to all companies that operate within 50 miles of Springfield, have been in business for no less than three years and posted annual revenues of at least $3 million. Nominees were sent applications and asked to provide local and national employee counts, revenue growth percentages and revenue growth percentages for the most recent three-year period.

The companies also were asked to respond in essay format regarding how they demonstrated industry leadership and innovation in the last 12 months, as well as their contributions to the betterment of the Springfield area through philanthropy and community involvement. An independent judging panel of five area business leaders used those applications to narrow the field to 10 finalists. 

BKD LLP managing partner John Wanamaker personally verified all confidential financial information submitted by nominees so that the judging panel saw only the responses to the open-ended questionnaire.

“2013 brings another impressive group of finalists,” Wanamaker says. “It is exciting to see local businesses thriving that cover such a wide spectrum of industry sectors.”

All of the presenting partners are proud to celebrate the 2013 finalists, a broad representation of local industry, including health care, manufacturing, hospitality management, nutrition, food service, logistics, staffing, automotive servicing and repair and auto racing. The editorial staff of SBJ is honored to tell their stories.[[In-content Ad]]