As historical chapters go, perhaps there’s one that we should not yet close the book on. For when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark floated the Missouri River, bumping here and there along the river banks that would later nestle against Kansas City, exploring a new world for the fledgling United States to expand into, they had no idea how striking the parallels would be between the emerging world they lived in and the emerging world we now occupy.

And it is a similar world, make no mistake. It took unrestrained courage and vision to successfully explore the landscape that was the Kansas City area 200 years ago, and it takes nothing less than that to succeed still today. In fact, one could argue that it takes even more cunning and savvy to navigate the ebb and flow of what has been a murky marketplace these past few years than it did to survive the grueling journey up the river two centuries ago.

And so now, bolstered by the bicentennial celebration of Lewis & Clark’s visit to what is now Kansas City, we at Ingram’s turn our attention to our own explorers, leaders, and visionaries, for it is they who will lead us into the uncharted, ever-changing landscape of our business community. These pioneer’s have claimed their position on Ingram’s 19th Annual Corporate Report 100 competition, and we’re proud to be able to present them to you.

CORPORATE REPORT 100

NUMBER ONE