Between Was and What’s To Come
January is a month of suspense. What just happened last year? What could happen this year? More than any other, January is the month that holds us between what was and what’s to come. For 31 days—usually gray, cold days confining us indoors with nothing much to do but ponder—it is as if we’re suspended in midair, able to see what happened behind us while also glimpsing what lies ahead.
This month Ingram’s starts off 2005 by looking back at some of the region’s largest trade developments of the past year. The article, “The Biggest Projects & Business Deals of 2004,” was researched and written by Dale Garrison, a regular contributor to the magazine and a man who follows the birth and progress of business deals with the same intense consideration that most of us give to stock tickers and box scores.
In his “Between the Lines” column, Ingram’s Executive Editor Jack Cashill sheds light on the recent upheaval at UMKC. Elsewhere in this issue, Jack highlights the dialogue that took place during Ingram’s ;recent Industry Outlook forum. We gathered some of the area’s most knowledgeable bankers and economists, including Tom Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, to get their thoughts for the 2005 Economic Forecast, internationally, nationally and regionally.
Further mixing the past with the future, Ingram’s this month launches “Corporate Champions,” a backward-looking feature with the purpose of moving philanthropy forward. For our inaugural “Corporate Champions” feature, we profile a select group of area businesses and their employees who have made the effort for many years to be good corporate citizens by contributing to the present and future well being of their respective communities.
It is often said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. But not always. To that end, Ingram’s analyzes perhaps the region’s biggest business story of 2004, the Sprint Nextel merger. In the article, Ingram’s tries to outline the implications of this significant deal for Sprint and Nextel, its employees and our community as a whole.
January is also the month when we begin to think about paying this year for all that we earned last year—that is, paying taxes. In our Financial Adviser section, guest columnist Dan Powers of Grant Thornton highlights some important changes to the tax code. Other guest columns include Two West’s Ethan Whitehill on building trust with consumers; MAMTC’s Lavon Winkler suggests a New Year’s resolution for the health of your business; while David Frantze of Stinson Morrison and Hecker articulates the metro area’s rare opportunity to chart its course for the future.
Continuing our look toward the future, next month Ingram’s will again highlight the unsung workers in the care-giving industries with our “Heroes in Healthcare” feature. In April we’ll return with our original and ever-popular annual feature, “40 Under Forty.” To find out more about these features or to nominate a worthy candidate, please visit www.ingramsonline.com or send an e-mail to Editorial@IngramsOnLine.com.
As I wrote above, when things change, sometimes they stay the same and sometimes they don’t. All around the 20-county region we’re witnessing change in the form of far-reaching development and concrete business growth. As Kansas City and the outlying areas move forward, so does Ingram’s. We’ve recently settled into our new offices in the historic Freight House District. We’ve expanded our coverage area, reaching out to the surrounding counties that contribute so much to our local economy. We’ve also expanded our staff, including hiring myself as the new managing editor.
But in the midst of all these changes for Kansas City and for Ingram’s, one thing is constant. As it enters its fourth decade, Ingram’s remains Kansas City’s only independent, monthly business publication committed to bringing readers the intelligent, substantive reporting and analysis of the real business issues important to all of us.
At Ingram’s we will continue to chronicle the future as it becomes the present all across the business landscape of Kansas City proper, the metro area and our 20-county region.
Editorial@IngramsOnLine.com