2023 Business Transitions Conference

Our Keynote Speaker, Tim Penner grew up on a farm near Beatrice, Nebraska. After receiving his B.A. in biology and tropical agriculture from Goshen College in Indiana, he worked in agricultural and community development in Bolivia, South America for seven years with Mennonite Central Committee. He returned to the U.S. and received his MBA in economic development from Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania.

In 1991, Tim and his wife Faith moved to Kansas where he began work at DewEze Manufacturing. After the acquisition of DewEze by the private equity group Owosso in December 1991, Penner became president of their Iowa division, Parker Industries, a manufacturer of grain handling equipment. In 1996 he returned to Kansas as president of DewEze. Two years later he founded Harper Industries to acquire the assets of DewEze. Harper has seen excellent growth over its 25-year history as Penner continues as its CEO and Chairman. Harper is now a diversified manufacturer of agricultural equipment, hydraulic power systems and turf care equipment and currently employs 165 at its location in Harper, Kansas.

Additionally, Penner has served on the board of directors of Mennonite Economic Development Associates and Mennonite Central Committee. He currently serves on the boards of Horsch US, Horsch Canada, Vidir Machine, Hesston College and MEDA Kansas. Penner and his wife, Faith, are parents of two children and will become grandparents of a boy and a girl in months following the conference. 

Doug Coe is a third generation Wichitan with a passion for helping clients achieve the peace of mind and knowledge that all of their ducks are in a row. Coe attended Wichita Collegiate School, then Trinity University as a Baker Duncan Scholar, and finally the University of Kansas School of Law where he served as the Managing Editor of the Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy.

​Early in his career, Coe worked at a leading regional firm where he saw a very broad range of cases. Later he worked at a national firm as a local specialist in their Tax, Trusts, and Estates department. As the founder of Legacy Legal, LLC, Coe focuses his practice on estate planning, probate, trust work, and the related fields.

Outside of the office, Coe is dedicated to his beautiful bride, Caitlin, with whom he has two daughters, and actively supports: Hope Community Church, Young Life Wichita and Wichita Collegiate School.

Sam Foreman
Attorney at Foreman Law

Sam Foreman works with business owners, entrepreneurs, scaleable businesses and technology companies, through a variety of transactions ranging from simple to complex. The majority of Foreman’s practice is focused on helping business owners through the complexities of buying or selling businesses, or scaling up early stage or maturing businesses. He works with clients in a variety of industries where creativity and practicality are an asset – ranging from technology and professional services, to manufacturing and medical.

Foreman focuses on building personal relationships with his clients and developing a deep understanding of their priorities in order to deliver excellent client service. He brings a practical, business-minded approach to solving problems, and scaling the solution to obstacles and opportunities around the corner and around the globe. He also serves his clients in a full lifecycle of legal needs from forming a business, protecting key intellectual property and structuring ownership relationships, to family succession planning, acquisition, sale and everything in between. 

Together with his wife Meg and their sons, Foreman is active in the Wichita community, frequently enjoying the numerous parks and activities that Wichita has to offer, as well as the great local restaurants and craft breweries, and Life.Church. He loves nerding out about anything involving technology, entrepreneurship or community development.

Cathy Mitchell
Senior Vice President of Business Valuation Services at AGH

Cathy Mitchell primarily provides valuation and tax services to closely held and family-owned businesses. She has completed extensive training in the specialized field of business valuation and earned the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) accreditation in business valuation (ABV) credential. In addition to providing valuations for many purposes, Mitchell provides litigation support services for those integral to divorces and other contested matters. She is a member of the AICPA and the Kansas Society of Certified Public Accountants, for which she serves on the steering committee for its annual business valuation conference.

Eric Thummel, CPA
Senior Vice President of Tax Services at AGH

Eric Thummel has over 20 years of public accounting experience, and his knowledge goes beyond providing compliance services. Thummel assists closely held, family-owned, and private equity clients with tax-saving strategies, multi-state taxation, complex income allocations, succession planning, and mergers and acquisitions. He is a certified public accountant who serves as a director of the Greater Wichita Area Construction Financial Management Association chapter. Thummel is also a member of the Agribusiness Council of Wichita, the Kansas Livestock Association, the KSCPA, and the AICPA.

Brian Gensch
Senior Vice President of Wealth Management Services at AGH

Brian Gensch has over a decade of experience working with families and businesses to manage the complexities of their wealth. He runs the comprehensive wealth planning service and leads the investment team in managing private wealth with both traditional and non-traditional investments. Gensch's experience includes helping clients project cash flows from the sale or purchase of businesses, managing the tax impact of wealth accumulation and distribution for his client portfolios, and building and leading the in-house portfolios management process.

John Trowbridge
Senior Vice President of Business Development at AGH

With over 30 years of experience in public accounting and an intensive tax background in tax planning and return preparation, John Throwbridge manages AGH client relationships, focuses on the firm's prospective clients, assists industry teams in developing new prospects, and meets with clients. His expertise includes federal and international tax strategies, growth incentives, wealth transfer, and estate planning. Throwbridge has worked closely with manufacturers and mid-size companies and their owners/leadership providing a variety of profit-building tax strategies.

Todd Bailey
Business Broker at Transworld

Todd Bailey established Transworld Business Advisors of Wichita in 2013 to help facilitate the buying and selling of businesses by consulting with both sides to evaluate opportunities, perform due diligence, coordinate financing, and assist in negotiating and structuring purchase agreements. Bailey has brokered numerous deals including sales of existing independent businesses, sales and transfers of existing franchises, and sales of new franchises.  He is a lifelong resident of Wichita having graduated from Bishop Carroll High School and received both a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Wichita State University. Bailey is married with two teenage sons.

Jose Gutierrez
Agency Owner/District Manager, District 20 at Farmers Insurance

Jose Gutierrez has been a Farmers Insurance Agency Owner since October 2021, and District Manager since 2007. He is licensed in eight states and specializes in helping entrepreneurs in the retail, service and restaurant industries as well as artisan contractors. Gutierrez's professional experience includes training, hiring and mentoring other agency owners, customer service representatives, and a variety of business professionals. He and his wife, Andrea Gutierrez, also own and operate the UPS Store #7466 on West Douglas offering expert packing, shipping, printing, document finishing, mailboxes for all needs, notary services, shredding and even faxing. 

A Friends University Alumni two times over, Gutierrez earned both his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Business Managment. He is a current Board Member of the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce and a Wichita Busines Journal 40 Under 40 Honoree. 

Jon Schlatter
Attorney, Morris Laing Law Firm

With his unique skill set and years of experience, Jon Schlatter helps his clients navigate the complex worlds of oil and gas law, bank regulation, and real estate law.

Schlatter has been involved in many acquisitions ranging in size from partial leasehold interests to million plus dollar transaction involving entire companies and multi-thousand acre prospects. He is proficient in preparing and negotiating unit agreements, joint operating agreements, oil and gas leases, saltwater disposal leases and surface use agreements and has assisted with multiple lease termination cases, terms mineral and royalty interest cases, lien rights cases, as well as oil and gas litigation. Schlatter handles a wide range of general corporate and business work for clients, entity formation and governance. He has negotiated commercial lease and real estate purchase/sale transactions, and has a great deal of expertise in negotiating fine and lien reduction of code and zoning ordinances.

When he’s not practicing law, Schlatter enjoys spending time with his wife, Ashley, and their two daughters. He also enjoys playing golf, attending K-State sporting events, and is an avid Royals fan.

Chris McGill
Financial Advisor, CoreNorth

Chris is dedicated to helping families and small businesses define, achieve, and maintain financial independence through careful stewardship of their blessings. Chris is a veteran of the US Army having been stationed in Schofield Barracks Hawaii as part of the 25th Infantry division. After serving, he attended Kansas State University majoring in Industrial Engineering and working with Cargill as the Engineering Manager of their Further Processing business unit. Chris transitioned into financial services in 2005 and has been serving the needs of clients in that capacity ever since.

Understanding that an investors behavior has significant influence on long term financial success, Chris believes in the virtues of faith, patience, and discipline for his clients to reach their most cherished financial goals. The cornerstone of these virtues is a multigenerational financial plan that adopts itself to life and its varied obstacles and rewards. With such a plan in place, focus moves to designing a portfolio perfectly aligned with that plan over the coming years and decades.