Opinion: Wine retreat sets apart Business Class Awards

Business Class is fast becoming the most talked about 3-year-old on the Springfield professional scene. July 11 marked the third go-round for the luncheon event designed to recognize and celebrate a group of finalists from 10 companies with at least a three-year history of outstanding financial performance, industry leadership and community involvement.

UMB Bank Greater Missouri Region President Ann Marie Baker brought the Business Class concept to Springfield following the bank’s success in other markets with similar recognition events.

The model proposed by Baker called for a partnership with a business media organization (that’s us) and an elite group of professional advisors including a certified public accounting firm, legal firm and insurance company.

BKD LLP managing partner John Wanamaker and Lathrop & Gage Springfield managing partner Randell Wallace became part of that alliance in the inaugural year. This year, Ollis & Co. President and CEO Richard Ollis came aboard as the fifth presenting partner of the Business Class awards and completed the group.

All partners are united in our desire to identify and recognize those companies in Springfield that are leading the charge toward a more vibrant and robust local economy. I believe the current class does just that.

The class of 2014 finalists provide a strong showing from the local health care industry with Citizens Memorial Healthcare, CoxHealth and Family Pharmacy. Equally prominent is the food industry with Hammons Products Co., MaMa Jean’s Natural Foods Market LLC and National Enzyme Co. Inc. Design and construction are alive and well with Anderson Engineering Inc. and DeLong Plumbing LLC. Manufacturing and information technology also made the list with CNH Reman LLC and JMark Business Solutions Inc., respectively.

This special publication of Springfield Business Journal is dedicated to the recognition of the 2014 Business Class finalists named above, nine of which are profiled on the following pages.

National Enzyme Co. declined to move forward after the selection process was complete due to the increased demands of its current growth cycle.

Nominations for Business Class recognition were open to all companies that operate within 50 miles of Springfield, have been in business for no less than three years and post annual revenue of at least $3 million. Nominees were asked to provide local and national employee counts, basic financial information and growth percentages for the most recent three-year period. Nominees also responded to open-ended questions related to leadership, innovation and community betterment.

Then the real work began. An independent panel of five judges was charged with the task of reading and evaluating all but the private financial information provided by nominees in order to select the 10 finalists.

If you had a seat at the table for the June 11 Business Class luncheon, then you already know the group of finalists was further narrowed to a handful of lucky winners. Midway through the celebration, Baker announced five winners of an exclusive executive retreat to California wine country, taking place in the fall.

The Napa Valley retreat is the element that truly sets this recognition event apart from all others. A top executive and guest from each of the five winning companies will join representatives of UMB’s top management team and from each of the presenting partners on an exclusive tour of some of Napa’s finest dining, wineries and remote landscapes.

Napa Valley Lodge in Yountville will serve as home base during the trip and provide the setting for an economic outlook briefing and a roundtable discussion with the winners focused on the outlook for their unique industries and the conditions under which they are thriving.

I wish I could invite you all along for the trip. Instead, I invite you to read about these nine special companies and what makes them great.

Consider nominating another company or even your own to be among the best of the best in 2015.