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KC SmartPort Board Elects New 2020 Leadership

by Mary Rooney | Jan 15, 2020

KC SmartPort officially elected Jim Roy, Vice President of Business Development for QPS Employment Group, as chairman of the KC SmartPort Board of Directors. Roy is joined by 30 additional members of the 2020 board of directors.

“I am honored to hold a leadership role on the KC SmartPort board,” said Roy, “KC SmartPort is an excellent organization that is focused on attracting freight-based businesses to the Kansas City region. In 2020, we will continue to focus on workforce development and how we can leverage best practices across the industrial sector.”

Roy succeeds Erik Hansen, vice president of The Kansas City Southern Railway Company, who served as KC SmartPort’s chairman of the board for the past two years.

During Hansen’s two-year term as chairman, KC SmartPort was involved in the attraction of 20 freight-based projects resulting in $405.92 million in capital investment, 1,921 new jobs, and $84.38 million in payroll for the region. Notable announcements included more than 1.8 million sq. ft. for the location of a Walmart distribution center in the region; and strategic locations for Overstock.com, Hostess, Niagara Water, Faurecia Interiors and more.

Chris Gutierrez, President of KC SmartPort, expects 2020 to continue on the positive trajectory.

“Kansas City is in a unique position with continued speculative development throughout the region and new entrants to the development market looking at the cold storage space and building designs ready to accommodate the increased spend for automation systems," said Gutierrez. “Active projects on the books today equal close to six million-sq.-ft. of new space. 2020 looks promising and the KC region will be on top of the industrial real estate market.”

KC SmartPort also elected officers for the Executive Committee, including: Erik Hansen, Kansas City Southern; Joseph Caldwell, Bartlett & West; Al Figuly, The Greater Kansas City Foreign Trade Zone; Mike Mitchelson,CBRE; Tim Cowden, Kansas City Area Development Council; Chris Gutierrez, KC SmartPort.

About Kansas City SmartPort:
KC SmartPort is a non-profit economic development organization that works to attract freight-based companies, such as manufacturing, distribution and warehouses, to the 18 county, bi-state Kansas City region.

View the full KC SmartPort Board of Directors.

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