Huck Boyd Institute names Leaders of the Year
Top Kansas entrepreneurs celebrated for innovation, customer service
Oct. 31, 2023
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Officials with Kansas State University’s Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development say that innovative customer service in various fields is a hallmark of the entrepreneurs to be recognized as the 2023 Huck Boyd Leaders of the Year.
The Institute will honor the following winners and categories at an awards presentation on Thursday, Nov. 2 at the K-State Student Union in Manhattan:
- Diversity - Rebeca Herrera and Patricia Saenz-Reyes, Hispanics of Today and Tomorrow, Emporia.
- Community Service - Brett Schmidt, Learning Cross Child Care Center, Hays.
- Food Retail/Restaurant/Lodging - Kirk and Treva Johnston, Shiloh Vineyard, WaKeeney/Collyer.
- Entrepreneurship & Business Development - Jennifer Kassebaum, Flint Hills Books, Council Grove.
- Rural Manufacturing - Nancy and Chip Crum, C Cross Custom Welding, Howard.
- Agribusiness - Joann Knight, Dodge City/Ford County Development and the Hilmar Cheese project, Dodge City.
- Ag Entrepreneurship - Renata Goossen, Renata’s Garden, Potwin.
“Each of these entrepreneurs has demonstrated outstanding customer service and innovation in responding to needs in their communities in various ways,” said Julie Hower of Farmers & Drovers Bank in Council Grove. Hower is chair of the Huck Boyd Institute Board of Directors.
Herrera and Saenz-Reyes are very active in the Emporia community, working at the Chamber of Commerce and the USD 253 school district migrant education program, respectively. Both are active in an organization called Hispanics Of Today and Tomorrow or HOTT, which has raised more than $107,000 in scholarships to help Hispanic students pursue higher education.
When Schmidt and his wife moved back to his hometown of Hays after graduating from college and he was working as a teacher, they saw a need for childcare and wanted to apply the inter-generational concepts that he had studied earlier. That led to the creation of Learning Cross Day Care Center, which operates inside Ascension Living Via Christi Village retirement facility at Hays.
The Johnstons moved to Kirk’s grandfather’s farm near WaKeeney and decided to try diversifying the farm into grape and wine production. Today, Shiloh Vineyard and Winery offers various premium wines made from the farm’s own fruit and hosts visitors from across the nation and beyond.
Kassebaum took early retirement from her career as an attorney and chose to open an independent bookstore in Council Grove. She is working on innovative ways with other local businesses, such as co-sponsoring Books & Brews with a local brewer and co-branding an espresso-flavored gourmet chocolate bar with a local coffee shop.
Crum found he had a knack for welding early in his career. He started building gates and panels in his shop at home in his spare time. This in turn led him to leave the corporate world and pursue his passion. With help from his wife, Nancy, they turned his passion into a business called C Cross Custom Welding, owned and operated by his wife. As a team they specialize in creating all types of custom-built metal products.
As director of Dodge City/Ford County Development, Knight wanted to add value to the growing number of dairies that have come recently to western Kansas. In 2021, she and her team attracted Hilmar Cheese of California to commit to construction of a $630 million, state-of-the-art milk processing facility in Dodge City.
Goossen tried horticulture as a project while in 4-H and found she enjoyed it. After earning a horticulture degree in college, she converted a school bus into a mobile horticultural resource facility called Renata’s Garden that provides plants and horticultural information to the public.
The 2023 Huck Boyd Leaders of the Year winners were selected by entrepreneurship students in K-State’s College of Business and by agricultural communications students in K-State’s College of Agriculture.
Each year the Huck Boyd Institute selects its leaders of the year from among those featured previously on its weekly Kansas Profile radio program and column. Kansas Profile is distributed by the K-State Radio Network and the K-State Research and Extension news media services to radio stations and newspapers statewide.
The Huck Boyd Institute is a public/private partnership between K-State Research and Extension and the Huck Boyd Foundation. The Foundation office is at the Huck Boyd Community Center in Phillipsburg. The Institute office is located on K-State’s main campus in Manhattan.
