COLUMBIA’S PROMINENT BUSINESS FAMILIES
SAPP
The Sapps were among the early settlers of Boone County, and about 150 Sapps are now listed in the local telephone book.
But if you bring up the Sapp name among a group of businesspeople in Columbia, there’s little question of which family you’re talking about: the sons and grandchildren of Emery Sapp.
The modest business beginnings of the late family patriarch have grown exponentially, to the credit of his two sons, Billy and Elvin. The Sapp clan vertically integrated so its businesses are involved in just about every step in the development process.
The Sapps are behind two of the largest developments ever undertaken in Columbia: Old Hawthorne and Bristol Lake. But the family has had ownership or interests in Boone Quarries, Columbia Ready Mix, Emery Sapp & Sons Inc. construction company and Horizon Builders, as well as Subtera LLC underground warehousing and Con-Agg LLC.
The Sapps are able to use their own family businesses to move dirt; align and install streets, curbs and gutters; build homes; and even market the finished product. Elvin Sapp’s daughter, Valerie Sapp Barnes, is a Realtor, and her brother, Shannon Sapp, is a builder. Billy’s son, Shawn, works in the family business, and until last year, Billy’s son-in-law, Rollie Bartels, was also a key player.
Billy is one of the co-founders of the Central Missouri Development Council, a recently formed developer advocacy group. Bartels has served on the board of United Missouri Bank, and he and his wife are supporters of cancer research efforts.
WATERS
A close second to the influence and magnitude of the Sapps is the Waters family. While the Sapps cover many aspects of the development/construction industry, the Waterses have had a hand in shaping public opinion and delivering information to Columbians since 1937, when H.J. “Jack” Waters Jr. took over the Columbia Daily Tribune from his uncle.
Jack’s son, Hank Waters, became publisher and editor of the paper in 1966. Hank’s wife, Vicki Russell, is associate publisher and, like Hank’s three children, serves on the Tribune’s board of directors. Jack Waters is general manager of the business, while Andy is the city editor. Hank’s daughter, Mary Waters Twenter, is vice-president. Daniel Vollrath, circulation sales representative, is Mary’s son and Hank’s grandson. He represents the fifth generation to enter into the 105-year-old family business.
Hank’s viewpoints have earned both admirers and detractors; still, he has a daily editorial presence in the lives of thousands of Columbians.
The family owns millions of dollars worth of downtown real estate, and members serve in leadership positions on several boards and committees, including the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, the Boone County Fair board, the Stephens College Board of Trustees and the Meals on Wheels board of directors. Both Hank and Vicki are active in the Missouri Press Association.
ATKINS
Tom Atkins, patriarch of the Atkinses’ business holdings, tops the list for public service to the community. His involvement spans more than 50 years, culminating with his being named president of the University of Missouri Board of Curators, a position comparable to the head of the board of directors of a city’s largest employer.
Other organizations in which he’s held leadership positions include the Columbia College Board of Trustees, the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, the Columbia Area United Way and the Ellis Fischel advisory board. Notably, Atkins also donated 80 acres to Boone County, adjacent to the existing fairgrounds complex, earmarked for future public recreation use.
Sharing business duties with his son Scott, Tom has owned businesses including Atkins Turf and Tree, Atkins Building Services, Atkins Irrigation, Atkins Pest Control, Columbia Photo, CableCom, Inc. and Greenwing Development. The family owns or has interests in numerous buildings in central Columbia, including the Atkins City Centre on 9th Street and a recently renovated office building in a former warehouse on Wilkes Boulevard.
MENDENHALL
The family matriarch, the late Mary Jane Mendenhall, wife of E. Hirst Mendenhall, is best known as a successful Realtor and civic leader. Mary Jane joined forces with her father’s company, founded in 1894, and the Mendenhall real estate company eventually became RE/MAX Boone Realty, the largest real estate firm in Columbia.
Fifth-generation Mendenhalls include Mary Jane’s sons, Richard and Tom. Tom is a developer with interests that include Lake of the Woods South, Bonne Femme Estates and, most recently, a 178-acre development site along Old Plank Road. Like his brother, Richard, Tom is involved in numerous boards and committees and the Republican Party.
Richard is more widely known for leading the recent effort to create the Mizzou Flagship Council, a group of heavy-hitters advocating on behalf of the Columbia campus.
Richard is owner and president of RE/MAX Boone Realty, where his daughter, Elizabeth, and his son, Ford, also work. Richard has served as president of the National Association of Realtors, a professional organization with more than 1.2 million members. Locally he has held leadership roles in banking, economic development, alumni and chamber activities and has won the ATHENA award from the Women’s Network. Elizabeth is CEO of RE/MAX Boone Realty and has won industry awards for her performance. Last year she became founder and board president of a Columbia affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
LINDNER
Unlike the long-established families on this list, the Lindner family came to Columbia only four decades ago.
Jose Lindner was 12 when his family emigrated from Cuba in 1960. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and moved to Houston, Texas, to join the corporate world. However, after only two years, he returned to Columbia and has grown a multi-faceted family business.
Jose is president of Forum Development Group, while sons Scott and Jay are vice-presidents. All three are also principal partners in Providence Farms, LLC, which has purchased more than 1,000 acres for potential development in southern Boone County. Other holdings include the Forum Shopping Center, the Broadway Shops and Nifong Shopping Center. The family also plans to locate a commercial development near the soon-to-be constructed Gans Road interchange of U.S. 63, on 226 acres purchased from Elvin Sapp.
Jose’s wife, Barbie, is a banker and serves on the Columbia Chamber of Commerce board of directors, and Jose is a former president of the chamber.
Jose has served on bank boards, chamber committees and numerous civic and charitable organizations and is a founding member of the Central Missouri Development Council.
DIGGES
Recently honored for his contributions to the Missouri Theatre and the Missouri Symphony Society, Charlie Digges Sr. was also a pioneer of Columbia’s insurance business, an active member of the local Democratic Central Committee, president of the Chamber of Commerce and one of the founders of the University Development Corporation.
In addition to his numerous civic affiliations, Digges Sr. was an owner of Rollins-Vandiver-Digges Insurance Agency, formed in 1922, which eventually merged with two other area agencies to form The Insurance Group in the early 1980s. Digges Sr. is now semi-retired, and Charlie Digges Jr. and Gary “Skip” Grossnickle are partners in the business. The Insurance Group, housed in the Guitar Building on 8th Street for more than 20 years, recently moved to a new facility at Corporate Lake.
Charlie Digges Jr. is often tapped by Mayor Darwin Hindman to serve on citizen advisory committees. He has also served on the board of directors of Boone County National Bank and is a founding member of the Mizzou Flagship Council.
BURNAM
First-generation business owner Gordan Burnam struck pay dirt when he invested in mini-storage units in the mid-1970s, partnering with Al Price of Boone County National Bank to build the business. After a successful run in the industry, which culminated in Storage Trust going public in 1994 and eventually being sold to Public Storage in 1999 for $600 million, Gordon and his four children re-invented their storage business as StorageMart Partners. StorageMart now has 56 locations and plans to open No. 57 in Canada.
Gordon’s sons, Mike, Chris and Tim, and his daughter, Kim, hold leadership positions with StorageMart. In addition, the siblings formed B-Sib, LLC, which purchased and refurbished Parkade Plaza in 2004. Weyan Burnam runs Parkade and is rejoining the company’s storage business.
Gordon, a race fan, was an original investor in Moberly Speedway and previous owner of Global Travel, as well as a developer for numerous county subdivisions, including Bon-Gor Lake Estates and Haystack Acres. Mike and Chris Burnam serve on several national industry boards. Burnam was selected as one of the seven original members of the Self Storage Hall of Fame by the Self Storage Association.
EIFFERT
While the Burnams are making a name for themselves nationally in the self-storage industry, the Eifferts, owners of Boone County Lumber and Boone County Millworks, are well known nationally in the building materials industry. Also, two generations of Eifferts—Howard and two sons, Greg and Brad—have waged a battle to get rid of the estate tax, taking their crusade to officeholders in Missouri and Washington, D.C.
For family businesses, succession from one generation to the next often destroys a business. National statistics show that only 10 percent of family businesses survive to the third generation, and less than 10 percent of family business owners are financially independent from their businesses when they retire.
Howard Eiffert started Boone County Lumber in 1965 and retired in 1998. Greg took over as president and Brad as vice-president. Brad has served on the Callaway Bank’s board of directors and was elected board chairman for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a 600,000-member organization with a strong lobbying effort for small business issues. Greg serves on the Railroad Advisory Board.
BOYCE
Having a quiet presence but enjoying a long history in the community is the Boyce family. Billy Boyce Sr., often quoted in Ray Beck’s articles on the history of Columbia, literally paved the way for future economic development in and around Columbia. Owner of Columbia Curb and Gutter (CCG), Boyce had a hand in paving roads and building bridges in the area for nearly 40 years, including paving parts of the Columbia Regional Airport.
Now semi-retired, Billy Sr. has turned the bulk of the business over to his son, Billy Jr., who acquired part ownership in 1982. Grandson Daniel Boyce represents the third generation of Boyces to work their way into management positions in the firm. Starting as a laborer in 1998, Daniel is now a project manager.
While CCG has earned numerous awards and citations for construction projects throughout mid-Missouri and beyond, Billy Sr. is also known for his long-term commitment to area children at Christmastime. For more than 25 years, Billy has worked with the Voluntary Action Center to raise money for Christmas gifts for the area’s most needy children.
ODLE
The final family to make the top -10 list is the Odle family. Bruce Odle relocated to rural Boone County from Utah more than 25 years ago, when he and his two brothers were expanding their national sporting goods business, Odle & Associates.
Primarily selling Browning guns and hunting equipment to national chains, Bruce began amassing rental properties, the bulk of which he has turned over to his sons, Nathan and Jon. The brothers formed Trittenbach Development, which specializes in building medical facilities in Columbia. The firm has built medical buildings on Keene Street near Columbia Regional Hospital and recently broke ground at a facility for University Physicians on Smiley Lane in North Columbia.
Nathan is president of Trittenbach, and Jon serves as project manager. Jon’s wife manages their vast rental properties. Following in the family’s entrepreneurial footsteps, Jon’s sister, Elissa, owns and operates Studio E Hair Salon and Day Spa in Columbia.
Bruce and Betsy Odle have served on numerous youth associations, as well as supporting wildlife conservation organizations. Nathan, the father of twins, is a strong supporter of the local Ronald McDonald House. v
SELECTING COLUMBIA’S POWER FAMILIES
In the United States, there are 3 million family-owned businesses, accounting for 29 percent of our gross domestic product and 27 percent of the workforce. Expand that to include sole proprietorships and family farms, and those figures triple; such businesses contribute more than $5.9 trillion to the national economy annually.
Many mega-chain, big-box stores such as Wal-Mart, The Gap, Dillards and Walgreens began as family enterprises. In fact, one-third of the businesses in the S&P 500 still have family members from the original founding families involved in the businesses.
Here in Columbia, “power families” wield economic and civic influence on the public policy, direction and benevolence of Columbia. The Columbia Business Times has compiled a list of 10 of those prominent families.
The standards used to compile CBT’s list come from a combination of criteria used by the professional association Family Business Network International and the e-publication Familybizz.net. For this list, it was determined that a power family should own a business that has:
• a single family controlling the company’s ownership
• family members currently active in top management
• at least two generations involved in the company.
To those criteria, CBT added a measure based on civic participation or community influence. We evaluated the breadth and scope of a family’s business operations, coupled with community and civic endeavors rather than net worth, to choose Columbia’s power families.
What these families all have in common is that their family members’ names consistently show up on lists of citizen groups, boards of directors, building permits and civic organizations. They are committed to the futures of their families, their businesses and their communities.
The names of other prominent multi-generational business families include, alphabetically, Bass, Cleek, Douglas, Dunafon, Grossnickle, Herigon, Landrum, McElroy, Menser, Potterfield, Price and Stephenson.