Junior Achievement to Honor Outstanding Local Business Leaders.
| 2019 Q3 | story by Bob Luder | photos by Steven Hertzog
For a concept like Junior Achievement (JA) of Kansas to succeed in its mission, it must have strong volunteer mentors to guide the young minds and talents it seeks to cultivate and inspire.
JA takes young, aspiring business students and entrepreneurs and imparts the knowledge and skills they’ll need to forge successful careers. And, what better way to convey that know-how than by providing real, living examples of entrepreneurial achievement and economic success? It’s why JA recognizes annually some of its most influential volunteer mentors as Lawrence Business Hall of Fame Laureates.
For 2019, four Lawrence-area entrepreneurs will be so recognized – Sandy Praeger, Steve Edmonds, Alan “Al” Hack, Jr. and Deanna Bisel. This 10th class of Lawrence Business Hall of Fame Laureates will be honored at a black-tie tribute dinner Tuesday, Oct. 8 at the DoubleTree by Hilton (Regency Ballroom).
Praeger spent much of her adult life serving in local and state politics, first as a Lawrence city commissioner and mayor and later in the Kansas House of Representatives and Senate. She served 13 years as the state’s Commissioner of Insurance, overseeing approximately 1,600 insurance companies and more than 108,000 licensed agents. Edmonds grew up working in his family’s grocery business before forging a highly successful, 47-year career in finance and investment advising. Hack, who is being honored posthumously, moved to Lawrence in 1951 and co-owned a men’s clothing store before transitioning into, first, banking, and later, the hotel business and real estate. Bisel spent her entire professional career in the printing industry and grew Minuteman Press from a start-up to a company that oversees more than 1,000 client accounts.
All four honorees are shining examples of what hard work and an unrelenting entrepreneurial spirit can accomplish, and all four individuals volunteered their time, knowledge and business acumen to the classrooms and in the field with JA. They were selected as Lawrence Business Hall of Fame Laureates based on sterling records of business achievement and demonstrated excellence, both in their respective businesses and volunteer endeavors. They join a list of notables that include publisher Dolph Simons, Sr. (inaugural class of 2010), real estate developer Bob Billings (2011), Bob Stephens (2012) and, just last year, real estate developer John McGrew and advertising executive and designer Cindy Maude as prominent business leaders who have made extraordinary contributions to Lawrence.
Each honoree has a different background but probably more in common, devoting hours of their time and resources for the betterment of Lawrence’s youth and the community at large.
Here is a little more about each honoree.
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Deanna Bisel
Bisel’s career in the printing industry began soon after receiving her business degree from Washburn University in 1970. She began working at General Printing and Paper in Topeka as sales manager, but after six years, moved to Hallmark as its first female production manager, overseeing 800 employees and achieving ambitious corporate objectives for large manufacturing plants in Kansas, Missouri and Mexico.
She founded Minuteman Press in 1993. The company was the first printer in Kansas to earn the coveted Sustainable Green Printer certification.
This year, Bisel was awarded the Washburn University Alumni Distinguished Service Award. She was the Printing and Imaging Association of Mid-America Executive of the Year in 2012, and Minuteman Press was the 2009 Lawrence Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year. Other honors included the 2007 Society of Financial Service Professionals Northeast Kansas Business Ethics Award, 2004 American Business Woman’s Association Woman of the Year, 2002 Small Business Magazine 25 Best Companies Under 25 Employees, 2001 SERTOMAN of the Year, 1999 Sam Walton Business Leadership Award, 1998 ATHENA Award for Excellence in Mentoring Women and is a Leadership Greater Topeka graduate.
Bisel serves on the Washburn Foundation board, Central National Bank board, Printing Industries of Mid-America Executive board, SERTOMA board and is a Lawrence Heights Christian Church trustee. She was a past board member of Junior Achievement of Kansas – Douglas County District, United Way, Crime Stoppers, Meals-on-Wheels and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.
Bisel enjoys spending time with her children Ryan and Kristi and her four grandchildren.
“I have been involved with Junior Achievement in one capacity or another for more than 35 years,” Bisel says. “I’m passionate about JA because it is an organization based on connecting school children with business leaders. We have the privilege of helping prepare them as future employees or employers.
“As I reviewed the names of past Laureates, I was humbled. To be inducted into the Lawrence Business Hall of Fame is truly an honor and one of my career highlights.”
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Steve Edmonds
Born and raised in Lawrence, Edmonds graduated from KU with a degree from the School of Business in 1965. He worked for his father and grandfather in the family grocery business stocking shelves and cashiering, all while learning the value of hard work, integrity and developing genuine personal relationships with customers.
After graduation he went to work for Proctor and Gamble in Kansas City and soon was transferred to the company’s office in Sacramento, Calif. where he became a manager. It was while working in California that Edmonds developed an interest in the financial markets and began investing in his own account.
As the Edmonds and his wife, Chris, were expecting their first child, they decided to return to Lawrence. He was hired by Paine Webber, beginning a successful 47-year career in finance. He became the branch office manager for Robert W. Baird, Piper Jaffray & Co. and was a senior vice president with Morgan Stanley before partnering with his son, Jason Edmonds, and Don Duncan, founding Edmonds Duncan Registered Investment Advisors.
Edmonds was involved with many philanthropic and service organizations, including Kiwanis, Jaycees and Optimists. He has led and served on the boards of the KU Biodiversity Institute, Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, Lawrence Arts Center and Outside for a Better Inside. He was president of the KU Round Ball Club and chaired the KU Relays marathon for several years. Since retirement, he has served as treasurer of Audubon of Kansas, President of the Friends of the Lied Board and has sponsored the Jazz at the Lied Center series since 2015.
Edmonds and his wife also have been active in the community in growing Christmas trees and planting flowers and trees throughout the city, as well as showing horses.
“I thoroughly enjoyed teaching students about money, financial markets and investing,” Edmonds says. “It is vital that these kids learn about free enterprise and capitalism and have the skills to compete. It is also important that the kids know you care about them.
“I am very honored and humbled to be selected as a Laureate for the Lawrence Business Hall of Fame. It is my goal to leave a legacy that I made things better than they were before.”
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Sandy Praeger
Sandy Praeger was born in nearby Paola, Kan. and graduated from Kansas University (KU) with a degree in education. After spending some time in Colorado, she and her husband Mark moved to Lawrence in 1977 where she began a career as an educator, teaching in the Kansas City area. She worked in the arts industry before assuming the role of vice president of community affairs for Douglas County Bank. She later became director of marketing for the Brandon Woods Retirement Community in Lawrence.
Praeger served on the Lawrence City Commission from 1985-89 and was the city’s mayor from 1986-87. During that time, she was a strong advocate for small business and keeping downtown Lawrence as the main focus for Lawrence business in the community.
She served one term in the Kansas House of Representatives and then was elected to the Kansas Senate in 1992, 1996 and 2000. While in the legislature, her focus was on health insurance and care and successfully led the 2001 campaign for mental health parity.
She became the state’s 24th commissioner of insurance in 2002 and, in 2008, was president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), where she advocated for health care and small business insurance reforms. She has been recognized by the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved and The Center for Populations Options for her leadership.
After three terms, Praeger retired as insurance commissioner in 2015. She is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Dr. Nathan B. Davis Award, bestowed annually by the American Medical Association to individuals who have made significant contributions to public health through elected and career government service. She was recognized by AARP and Kansas Wildlife Federation as Legislator of the Year and, in 2014, received the President’s Award, given at the discretion of the President, for distinguished service as a commissioner-member of the NAIC.
Praeger is a founding member of three Lawrence-based boards – CASA, Haskell Indian Nations University Foundation and Health Care Access. She lives with her husband, Dr. Mark Praeger. They have two children – Gretchen and J.D. – and three grandchildren.
“I’m very familiar with the good work Junior Achievement of Kansas does,” Praeger says. “I come at this not so much from involvement with business, but from my involvement in social service and serving community needs to make Lawrence a better community for all its citizens.
“It’s such an honor to be able to participate in this program. I hope my involvement has had some positive impact.”
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Alan “Al” Hack, Jr. (Posthumous)
Hack was born and raised in Pennsylvania, but after serving in the U.S. Army and graduating from Penn State with a degree in commerce and finance administration, he and his family moved to Lawrence in 1951 to pursue a business opportunity with his brother-in-law. He was co-owner and manager of The University Shop, a men’s clothing store located west of the KU campus for 21 years.
Hack became a bank officer with Lawrence National Bank and Trust Company in 1971 and soon became its vice president. He was promoted to senior vice president four years later and, in 1978, was named the bank’s president. From 1981-87, he served as executive vice president and corporate treasurer for the Brock Hotel Corporation. While semi-retired, Hack worked in real estate with Calvin, Eddy & Kappelman Real Estate and capital management industries with Campbell-Becker, Inc.
Hack’s community involvement included being the founding director of Achievement Place for Girls in Lawrence. He was moderator, trustee and senior deacon at Plymouth Congregational Church. He also served as chapter advisor of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, president of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and president of Warm Hearts. His family was the 1972 Kiwanis Family of the Year. Awards bestowed upon him included the 1995 Baker University Achievement in Business Award, 1999 Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year and 2005 CornerBank Community Cornerstone Award.
An avid golfer, Hack was a member of the 1948 NCAA golf championship team at Penn State, was club champion at Lawrence Country Club and a former Lawrence city golf champion. He enjoyed spending time with his wife, Julie, four children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren until his passing in 2009.
Hack’s wife, Julie, says an inscription on a bench at Lawrence Country Club perfectly sums up her husband’s life, saying Al loved his family, friends and the game of golf.
“Al was very instrumental in working with young men, especially when he owned The University Shop,” Julie says. “It’s estimated 92-100 young men went through there, and they certainly came out better for it. He was a good business person working with a lot of people. And he was such a good person, husband and father, but was also so dedicated to his community.”
