Bryden Becker was born and bred New York City. As a youngster he spent his summers camping and hiking in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. When he was 15 he went on a two-month, 1000-mile horseback ride in Colorado: “It was a life-transforming experience,” says Becker. “We carried our food and stood night watch. A chuckwagon replenished supplies weekly. It was the most extraordinary experience of my life.” Then he went to high school in Wyoming where he also worked for some local ranchers. Becker owns Will Wyatt’s Cowboy Couture in Overland Park along with wife Jennifer Thurston Becker; the couple relocated to Kansas in 2004. He had a career as a senior executive and producer of multi-million-dollar corporate events, a 34th-floor apartment in a tony New York neighborhood, a beautiful wife, and two young children. “We wanted to raise our family in the mid-west.” says Becker. “Jennifer grew up on a farm in Concordia, Kan. and we decided to come back and open a store that represented our mutual passion for the American West’s past, present and future. We have since added a pure bred Kansan, named Jack”. The Beckers gravitate to the Western style and know it’s broader than the stereotype of hats and boots. Their store carries furniture, clothing and accessories that are typically found in Aspen, Jackson Hole, Vail and Santa Fe high-end boutiques. Becker regards this area as the true center of the American West because of its extraordinary history and its contributions to the growth of young America. “There is a work ethic here that is just exceptional. And a belief in the future of this part of the country that’s infectious…in the good way!” When the Beckers moved to Overland Park they became involved in the Saddle and Sirloin Club and the Royal. “The surprise for me was what seemed to be the local lack of interest in the Royal and all things agricultural. As my favorite bumper sticker says: “If you eat, then you’re involved in agriculture.” Becker, chair of the Royal’s first annual TableSteaks fundraiser, which will be held again on October 27, acknowledges his motivation for involvement is to give back to the community and send a message that the Royal is a worthwhile place to spend and invest money, time and participation. “We want to help raise more money for scholarships granted through the Royal and recruit new blood into the volunteer ranks, including top businessmen and women, grassroots interests and the media,” says Becker. “As a country we cannot give up our lead in agri-science and production.”
David W. Dickey currently leads business pricing for the Sprint Nextel’s 19 million customer Business Markets Group. In his 12 year Sprint tenure he has also held a variety of executive positions in online, media, advertising, direct marketing and segmentation strategy. Prior to joining Sprint he had stints with Deloitte, Nestle and Hoffman/Lewis Advertising. David currently serves on the Mission Hills City Council, the Board of Directors of Luna Vineyards, as well as non-profit service on the board of the Mid-America chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. David received his BA from Stanford University in History and Economics and his MBA from the University of California’s Haas School of Business. He also is actively involved in his children’s school, coaches youth soccer and basketball, and enjoys spending time with his family and two Labradors
David Fowler Office Managing Partner, has been with KPMG LLP in Kansas City for over 32 years with virtually all that time as a tax professional. He has worked extensively in the areas of federal & state corporate taxation and mergers & acquisitions. As the office managing partner, Dave’s primary responsibilities include overseeing the delivery of high-quality client service, attracting and retaining key resources and representing the firm in the marketplace and business community. Dave has significant client service experience, has traveled extensively in numerous capacities, and has held several leadership positions within the firm. He also serves in an account executive capacity on certain key accounts. Dave attended the University of Missouri in Columbia receiving his Bachelor of Science degree and a Certified Public Accountant in Missouri. His professional associations include: member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants. Other Community Activities Board Member: American Royal, Economic Development Corporation, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City Executive Board Member, Boy Scouts of America. Member, Civic Council of Greater Kansas City. Board Member and current Co-Chair, Kansas City Area Development Council, Board of Trustees Member, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Bryan Frank is Partner and Vice President of Operations for National Equipment Company (NEC), a 105 year old design-build display and point-of-purchase manufacturer/distributor located in Kansas City Missouri. He’s also a Partner at Clear Impact Acrylics (CIA), an acrylic + plastic fabrication & design firm also located in Kansas City Missouri. Both companies have sales combined in excess of $10 million per year. Mr. Frank has over 18 years of senior management with NEC and 5 years with CIA. Bryan has been one of the lead-designers for Sprint’s various retail locations, call-center and expansion processes for the past 10 years. Helping Sprint grow from under 100 locations to over 1300 locations nationally. He and wife Tracy have volunteered at the American Royal for over 10 years. In 2008 and 2009, Bryan and Tracy served as Chair and Co-Chairs of the Junior Premium Livestock Auction Committee. Bryan is a graduate of Wichita State University. He and his wife Tracy have two boys, Will 8 and Weston 6. They reside in Louisburg Kansas.
Rick Hoffman is the Chief Executive Officer of Triumph Foods, a pork processing company located in St. Joseph, Missouri with sales in excess of $1 billion per year. Mr. Hoffman has over 25 years experience in senior management positions in the food and agribusiness industries. Prior to joining Triumph, Mr. Hoffman served as the President of American Dairy Brands and Chief Executive Officer of Seaboard Foods. Rick is a graduate of Kansas State University. He and his wife Nancy are lifelong residents of the Kansas City area.
Jim Holland My family is, of course, the center of my life. My wife Michele and I have five wonderful children and two grandchildren. We have lived in the K.C. area all of our lives (still live on the same farm I was born and raised on). I graduated from Colorado State University and Michele graduated from M.U. I have been involved in a family owned construction company for 35 years! We specialize in asphalt paving, grading and site development! I have been involved with the American Royal for over 15 years; having served on the Rodeo Committee on two different occasions, one as Co-Chairman. My job as a former member of the Board of Directors was very exciting and educational. We have also had the opportunity to act as a Rodeo Sponsor for many years.
John P. Kelly - Jack serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of American Italian Pasta Company (AIPC), the largest producer of dry pasta in North America. He originally joined AIPC as Chief Operating Officer in November 2007 and assumed his current position in January 2008. Jack brings to AIPC over three decades of leadership experience and expertise in the food industry. Prior to joining AIPC, he was President and CEO of San Antonio Farms, a producer of premium Mexican sauces for leading private label brands. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Fiorucci Foods (U.S. subsidiary of Italy’s largest processed meats company); Vice President of The Haagen-Dazs Company; and held numerous sales and marketing positions at General Foods and Oscar Mayer, wholly-owned subsidiaries of Kraft Foods and Phillip Morris. His experiences, both in the United States and abroad, have given Jack a broad base of knowledge regarding both private label and nationally branded food products. Jack currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) and is Chairman of the PLMA Food Industry Task Force. In addition, he is a member of the President’s Advisory Council of the Grocery Manufacturer’s/Food Processor’s Association. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Food Marketing from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”
Brant Laue is a lawyer, rancher, and horseman. He is a partner in the Kansas City office of law firm Armstrong Teasdale LLP, where he defends class actions and complex litigation. He is also a partner in the Laue Ranch, a family ranching operation in North Central Kansas, which produces purebred Charolais Cattle and Quarter Horses. As the owner of Laue Ranch Racing Stable, he breeds Thoroughbred horses in Kentucky, and races them throughout the country. He previously served in the U.S. Justice Department during the Reagan Administration, and is a graduate of Oral Roberts University and the Cornell Law School.
Ron Lockton is the President of Lockton Kansas City’s Property and Casualty Division. Lockton Companies is headquartered in Kansas City and is the 11th largest U.S. insurance broker, with over $650.0 million of revenue and more than 3500 employees. Ron has been at Lockton since 1991. Ron is on the Executive Committee of Lockton’s Kansas City operation and serves on the Board of Directors for Lockton Companies, Inc. Ron’s day-to-day responsibilities are to provide leadership to Lockton’s Kansas City Property and Casualty operation, while continuing his business development and client service responsibilities. Ron continues to be active in the community having been on various boards including Gillis for Children and Families, Kansas City Area Development Council, Friends of Turning Point, the University of Kansas Cancer Center Advisory Committee and the American Royal Board of Directors. Ron has also been appointed Big XII Group Chair for the 2009 Greater Kansas City United Way Campaign. Ron graduated from the University of Kansas. Ron’s wife, Kelly, is also actively involved in the Kansas City community and currently serves with The Children’s Place and Friends of the Zoo. Ron and Kelly have three children; Lindsay, age 12; Tyler, age 10; and Jack, age 7.
Greg Maday
Joe Mandacina has spent his entire professional career in the telecommunications industry. After a two-year stint with leading global supplier of telecommunications, Ericsson, Joe joined Sprint Corporation in 1988. With an expertise in marketing, finance and communications, Joe has spent career rotations in consumer marketing, general management, financial operations, business development and since 2001, corporate communications. Currently, Joe heads up all CEO communications for Sprint along with all industry analyst and human resources communications. The role requires an astute knowledge of all aspects of this Fortune 50 company and the ability to develop/ articulate messaging to internal and external audiences. Joe has considerable proficiency in understanding the right message for the right audience at the right time. Joe is married with two beautiful children. He is an avid golfer, loves to play tennis and begins every work day with a five-mile run. He served a two-year term as the Chairman of the Touched by Cancer Foundation; a current member of the American Royal Board of Directors; and a member of the Forrester Research (Nasdaq: FORR) advisory board.
T. Nelson Mann -
Ellen Merriman
Laura McKnight is president and CEO of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. With more than 3,000 individual funds under its umbrella—ranging in size from a few thousand dollars to tens of millions of dollars—the Foundation helps its donors organize their generosity, offering tools and services for a better way to give. The Foundation values integrity, respect, passion for serving its donors, and innovation, recognizing that every gift, whether $25 or $25 million, makes a difference in the lives of others. The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation serves donors throughout the entire Kansas City area and beyond. The Foundation ranks in the top ten among the more than 650 community foundations in the country, a position it has held since 1999. In 2009 alone, the Foundation’s donors granted over $175 million to the charitable causes that meant the most to them. The Foundation is fortunate to serve a region that is one of the most generous in the nation. Indeed, Kansas City’s high income households give nearly twice as much to charity as the national average. Laura is a lifelong resident of the Kansas City region but for her time spent earning a degree in philosophy from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, where she graduated a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Laura earned her law degree with honors from the University of Kansas, following in the footsteps of a long line of family Jayhawks. In 2001, after spending more than six years as a tax and estate planning attorney at the Kansas City law firm of Spencer Fane Britt & Browne, Laura joined the staff of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. Laura served in a variety of roles at the Foundation, including senior vice president of development and executive director of the Community Foundation of Johnson County, one of the Foundation’s regional affiliates, before assuming the role of president and CEO in 2006. Laura enjoys contributing to Kansas City’s quality of life beyond her role at the Foundation, including serving on the boards of directors of the Heartland Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors and the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute. Laura is the grateful recipient of several local honors, including the Kansas City Tomorrow Distinguished Alumni Award. Laura and her husband organize their giving through the Laura McKnight and Clay Barker Fund at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. Most of all, Laura enjoys every minute with Clay and their five daughters, ranging from preschooler to college student. It is never dull!
John Mitchell, Jr. -
Richard G. Norden is a native of Kansas City. He and his wife Britton Franke Norden have three children, Taylor (11), Meredith (9) and Medill (4). Rick is president and chief operating officer of Fairbanks Scales Inc., a 180 year old company engaged in the manufacturing, service and sales of industrial weighing equipment. Prior to joining Fairbanks in 1994, Rick was a corporate mergers and acquisitions attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom in New York and London. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, law degree from the University of Kansas and masters of business from Northwestern University. Rick is also a member of the board of directors and various committees of St. Luke’s Hospital. He is past president and current director of the Scale Manufacturers Association.
H. Tyler Nottberg is Chairman & CEO of U.S. Engineering Company, one of the nation’s largest and most successful mechanical construction firms. He is the fifth generation of the Nott berg family to lead U.S. Engineering, where he previously served as a Project Manager and as a Vice President. Prior to joining U.S. Engineering, Mr. Nott berg was Vice President of Legal, Economic and Regulatory Affairs for Garson Lehman Group, a financial research firm based in New York. Before that, he worked as a Policy Analyst at The Eisenhower Institute and for Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), both in Washington, DC and on the Senator’s 1996 Presidential Campaign. He serves on the Boards of Hope Street Group, UMB Bank, nab. Board of Colorado Succeeds, the American Heart Association, and the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program. Mr. Nott berg is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Middlebury College and Oxford University, where he was awarded a Kasey Scholarship and earned an M.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He is also a LEED® Accredited Professional. He and his wife, Leigh, live in Kansas City with their two children, Maggie and Andrew.
Ernie Rodina has been employed by Land O'Lakes/Purina Feed for 32 years as a Retail Business Manager. His wife, Connie, and has four sons, Nick, Luke, Brent, and Matthew. He is also the Founder and Owner of Better Horses Network which is an equine media networking program. Included in Better Horses Network is the Better Horses Radio Show that he hosts weekly on 11 stations across the Midwest and in Texas. The American Royal has been a part of his life ever since he was a child when his dad would take him every year to the parade. "I am real honored to be able to serve the American Royal."
J. Larry Sanders is President & CEO of SFP (Specialty Fertilizer Products LLC) of Leawood, Kansas. As head of SFP, Larry Sanders developed and patented technologies in the use of biopolymers for increasing agricultural potential. In addition to continuing new product development, his present responsibilities include management, research, sales and marketing.. Sanders’ previous experience includes positions at American Plant Food and the Potash & Phosphate Institute. He also worked for the Rockefeller Foundation as a consultant in Bangladesh and Indonesia and served as an international educator throughout Asia including India, Sri Lanka, China, and Canada.. Sanders is a member of the American Society of Agronomy and the International Society of Soil Science. He has served as past president and research committee chairman for the Texas Forage and Grassland Council. In 1996, Sanders received the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award from Vice President Al Gore. He graduated cum laude from Northeast Louisiana University with a bachelor’s degree in agronomy and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in soil chemistry and soil fertility–plant nutrition, respectively, from the University of Arkansas.
Cynthia Savage is partner and vice president of The Raphael Hotel Group and serves as marketing director of the Kansas City Marriott Downtown. In her professional life, she has held top leadership positions at the local, state and national levels of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. In the civic arena, American Royal activities have been a key focus since becoming a member of B.O.T.A.R. (Belles of the American Royal). She has served the organization in numerous capacities including being the 2010 B.O.T.A.R President. She is a member of the American Royal Board of Governors and serves on the American Royal Executive Committee. Husband is David and two children, Caroline, 16 and Lindley, 13.
Thomas J. Turner, III -Thomas J. Turner, III, a native of Kansas City, graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia where he received both his Bachelors and Masters Degrees. Following graduate school, Mr. Turner spent two years as an officer in the United States Army, including one year in South Vietnam. Tom and his wife, Jill, have been married 39 years and have three daughters and three granddaughters. Mr. Turner started Charter American Mortgage Company in early 1977 and served as its President until the formation of Collateral Real Estate Capital in 2001, where he served as Chairman. Collateral then merged with Grandbridge Real Estate Capital in 2007. Grandbridge is a national commercial mortgage business with offices in 27 cities, originating over $3 billion in commercial mortgage loans per year and servicing more than $25 billion. Mr. Turner is a member and former Chairman of the UMKC Board of Trustees, the Ina Calkins Foundation, and the University of Missouri Beta Theta Pi House Corporation, among others. He has been a Director of the Country Club Bank of Kansas City, the J.C. Nichols Company, Children’s TLC, and Bank IV Kansas City. He is currently Chairman of the Board of RBI (Reviving Baseball in the Inner City) and is on the Board of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City. He is a member of the Kansas City Country Club, Mercury Club, Plaza Club and several other organizations. Mr. Turner enjoys his farm in the country of mid-Missouri, golf, tennis and baseball and is an avid MU fan
Tom Scott After graduation from the University of Missouri-Columbia on a football scholarship, Tom Scott became a leader for more than 40 years in the commercial insurance industry and grew his company to a nationally respected top-150 insurance and risk management firm. In 1995, Tom led his company and its subsidiaries through its merger with Arthur J. Gallagher & Company, the sixth largest insurance broker in the world. Since his retirement in 1997, Tom has spearheaded numerous community and philanthropic activities. Not only are he and his wife, Betty, avid supporters of The University of Missouri at Columbia, Tom is also very active in the Kansas City community, where he has served in leadership positions for the American Royal Association, United Way, Saint Luke’s Hospital Foundation, Midwest Diabetes Coalition, Kansas City Symphony, and Ozanam Home for Boys. Tom is also an Ellis Foundation board member and past president of Saddle & Sirloin. He and Betty are benefactors of the Scott Pavilion at the American Royal fairgrounds, and a new outpatient dialysis center at Saint. Luke's Hospital, an endowed Oncology Program and the Scott CEO Forum at the University of Missouri-Columbia, as well as making several planned gifts to the University. They also have a strong commitment to Wayside Waifs-Kansas City, one of the largest humane societies in the United States. In 2006, Tom received a Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Peter Lemke is a past Chairman of the American Royal having served from 2006-2008 in this capacity. He has been employed with EFL Associates as Chairman, President and CEO over a period of the past 31 years. He sold this firm to CBIZ in 2008, relinquishing all titles except for Chairman. In his executive search business, he has been directly involved in recruiting the past three professional leaders of the American Royal in Jim Taylor, George Guastello and Jim McNair. He has served, civically, in the roles of Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City, Chairman of the Enterprise Center of Johnson County, and in Board positions at John Knox Village, The Kansas City Area Development Council, Johnson County Community College Foundation, and the Civic Council, as well as Treasurer for the City of Mission Hills. He and his wife Mary have two daughters, four granddaughters and a summer getaway in Montana. He holds a BA in Business Administration from Coe College and an MS in Human Resources Management from George Washington University. Though he has had many professional activities over the years, he is the most proud of his 25 year affiliation with the American Royal.
Bryan J. Beaver (52) is a lifelong resident of Kansas City. Married to Nancy for 28 years; they have two children, Amanda an auditor/CPA with KPMG and Blake who is a Senior at Barstow and will be attending Brown University in the Fall. Bryan’s career at Carter began in 1983 when he worked for a customer of Carter Petroleum and developed a mutual admiration with Sam K. Carter, the company's Founder. Bryan began as the company’s first Marketing Representative in the summer of 1983; he assumed the role of Sales Manager in 1987, Vice President of Marketing in 1992, and then President in 1997. In 1990, Sam Carter and Bryan Beaver entered into an agreement for Bryan to succeed Sam in the ownership of the company at the turn of the century. Today Bryan serves as the company’s owner, CEO and President.
Bryan has contributed to and volunteered to support the mission of the American Royal since 1990 by the urging of his late friend Stanley Stout. Bryan and Nancy reside on a small ranch south of town where they have a small cow/cattle operation and quarter horses.
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