Developer

A successful entrepreneur and visionary, Flip Short is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer for Legacy Touch LLC, a biometrics technology company and memorial keepsakes studio founded in 2013 that partners with funeral homes, mortuary services, and crematories. The firm is based in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and currently employs 55 associates. 

Short is also President of Star Excavating and Paragon Star LLC. Both ventures are based in Lee’s Summit and in addition to Legacy Touch represent Short’s varied interests. Star Excavating is responsible for undertaking a major land reclamation project that involves the conversion of an abandoned underground limestone mine within the I 470 corridor in Lee’s Summit and converting the site to a 200+ acre new development site while Paragon Star LLC is developing a 200 acre destination location development that will feature a new 20 acre multi-use commercial village, 16 synthetic turfed playing fields and clubhouse along with new trails and trail head to serve the Little Blue Trace and Rock Island trail systems.

Short previously founded Viracor-Eurofins, currently a 300+ associate clinical diagnostic and research laboratory specializing in allergy, immunology, and infectious disease testing for physicals and hospitals based in Lee’ Summit. Short served as CEO from the company's inception in 2000 growing the company from a start-up of four associates to a business with over 100 associates before merging with IBT laboratories in 2009. During his tenure, the company received the “Mr. K Award” as Small Business of the Year from the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce in 2007 and in 2008 Short was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Central Midwest. Flip continues to serve on the board of directors of Viracor-Eurofins. 

Prior to Viracor, he was Founder and President of StatScript, Inc., which specialized in pharmaceuticals and related specialty services for patients with AIDS and other chronic illnesses. StatScript was acquired by Chronimed in 1996 and is now part of the Walgreens network. 

Flip is a graduate of Sam Houston State University and is active in numerous charitable organizations and serves on numerous boards of both profit and non-profit companies and businesses.

Project Coordinator

William H. Brown is the President of Spectrum Strategies LLC, an economic development consulting firm with a focus on the creation of public-private partnerships to address development issues and engagement in the public policy-setting process. 

Prior to establishing Spectrum, Brown was employed with Fannie Mae for more than a decade and served in various capacities at the local, regional and national levels. Brown’s career includes service as the Executive Director of the Columbia Missouri Housing Authority; Regional Administrator, Region VII, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and as State Director for United States Senator Christopher S. Bond. Brown also served in administrations of Missouri Governors Kit Bond and John Ashcroft and as the Deputy Campaign Manager for Kit Bond in the 1986 Missouri U.S. Senate race.

Brown currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Lee’s Summit R-7 Business Community Roundtable, the Lee’s Summit Civic Roundtable, and the St. Luke’s East Hospital Executive Advisory Council. He is a member of the Lee’s Summit Economic Development Council and the Lee’s Summit Chamber of Commerce.

Brown's previous service has included the Lee’s Summit Economic Development Council where he served as Immediate Past Chair, Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary & Treasurer, as Vice-Chair of the Lee’s Summit Land Clearance & Redevelopment Authority (LCRA), the Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC) Board of Directors, as well as serving on the 2011 Lee’s Summit City Council Redistricting Committee and the Lee’s Summit Sustainability Advisory Committee.

He has been involved in the Lee’s Summit 360 Strategic Plan efforts and served on the steering committees for the advocacy campaigns on the successful City of Lee’s Summit’s 2013 and 2014 capital improvements bond issues and as co-chair of the Smarter Tomorrows campaign in support of the winning Lee’s Summit R-7 School District April 2015 bond issue.

Brown was a member of the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City’s Kansas City Tomorrow Leadership Program and prior affiliations have included the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, the Mortgage Bankers Association of Greater Kansas City, the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City and the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC).

Brown received a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia.