News Releases

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

In 1928, George K. Baum started a bond investment company in downtown Kansas City with a handful of employees, eight steel desks, two typewriters, an adding machine and a cuspidor. Expanding upon his father's vision, Kenneth Baum subsequently built a client base of corporate stalwarts like H&R Block and Interstate Bakeries. Today George K. Baum & Co. and George K. Baum Advisors L.L.C. are led by the founder's grandson, Jon Baum.

George K. Baum & Co. has played an integral role in developing the nation's infrastructure by structuring, underwriting and marketing taxable and tax-exempt municipal securities. George K. Baum Advisors L.L.C. provides creative business solutions for middle-market businesses. Together the two entities employ 235 people and operate in 16 states as a registered broker/dealer and registered investment advisor.

"My grandfather would be surprised by how much the day-to-day aspects of the business have changed through the years, but not the clients or our commitment to them," said Baum, the firm's chairman and chief executive officer since 1994. "Our business has always been about treating the customer honestly and providing high-quality customer service."

Steadfast adherence to these guiding principles has led to the firm's position as one of the country's top 12 senior managers of negotiated municipal bonds with rankings in the top five in certain specialties. While most successful investment firms are located in major metropolitan cities on both coasts, George K. Baum & Co. and George K. Baum Advisors LLC have cultivated expertise in the heartland by attracting talented individuals striving to pursue invigorating investment banking careers and raise families in a less-congested area that offers infrastructure and amenities conducive to a more balanced lifestyle.

To that end, Baum has hired numerous University of Kansas and Kansas State University graduates who want to "work hard as investment bankers but still attend their children's school and athletic events or do volunteer work," said Baum, who has four children with his wife, Sarah. "We're providing opportunities that keep bright kids close to home."

Baum is especially complimentary about the double major in finance and accounting that KU offers. "It's proven to be a hand in glove fit," he says. "When we can identify candidates out of that curriculum who have a desire to excel and make a difference, we can move people much more quickly through their careers. It's a huge benefit when they can go to a customer and know the accounting language that drives everything we do as well as have keen finance understanding on top of that."

Baum, who earned his undergraduate degree from Kansas State University with a major in finance and a minor in animal husbandry stemming from an early career interest in becoming an equine veterinarian, earned a master's degree in finance at the University of Chicago and spent seven years with Salomon Brothers as vice president of mergers and acquisitions before returning home to Kansas City.

Both personally and professionally, Baum is a quality of life advocate, whether it's proper exercise and nutrition to keep up with the day's demands or board commitments to enhance the community's education, health care and philanthropic initiatives.

"As someone who is running a business and raising a family in this community, I believe it's important to make the quality of life in Kansas City as high as it can be," said Baum, who serves on the board of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and its executive committee; as a trustee and executive committee member of Pembroke Hill; and as co-chairman with Sarah of Children's Mercy Hospital's $200 million capital campaign to enhance its main campus and other metropolitan locations.

"The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation has more than $1 billion of donor funds to be directed by donors to those with the greatest need, and Children's Mercy is a very valuable, vitally important resource for families and employers so people can get high-quality care without leaving the community.”

Corporate, civic and personal responsibility are key drivers for Baum, who served on the board of directors of American Italian Pasta for 16 years, including a difficult three-year juncture that ended in Ralcorp Holdings Inc.'s acquisition of all the company's outstanding shares of Class A common stock in July 2010.

In 1991, Baum met Richard Thompson, American Italian Pasta's founder, and provided professional advice regarding capital structure just after the Federal Trade Commission blocked a sale to Hershey Foods. Soon after, Baum was asked to join the board. The company went public in 1996.

"The company continued to grow very fast," recalls Baum, "but the company was engaged in some inappropriate accounting and undergoing regulatory scrutiny. A great number of board members, led by Chairman Bill Patterson, a KU alum, did what needed to be done to put the company back on a safe, sound trajectory, a three-year process involving hard work and difficult situations. When you sign up as a board member, you sign up for the good times and the bad times, and we were determined not to look the other way. Bill's guidance was very valuable to us."

Integrity, service and innovation are the qualities George Baum instilled in his family and emphasized with colleagues, and those same attributes contribute to its abiding appeal to a diverse array of clients seeking solid financial guidance delivered with a Midwest sensibility.

"We don't have a big, thick policy and rule book," said Baum. "We lead by example."

More stories like Baum's can be found in this year's Annual Report of KU Finance.