American Royal boss calls it quits; KC icon continues plan for move across state line

Lynn Parman, who took over as president and chief executive of the American Royal in 2015, left the livestock and agriculture organization last week to take a new job.

Parman is now vice president of business development at McCownGordon Construction. She came to the American Royal after working at Boehringer Ingelheim and the Kansas City Area Development Council before that.

“We’re sure happy for her,” said Charlie Tetrick, chairman of the American Royal board of directors. “She did great things for the organization and she’s ready to get on with a different career path.”

Tetrick said the American Royal would conduct a nationwide search to find a successor.

Parman’s departure comes as the American Royal is working to raise $80 million to pay for its half of a new $160 million complex in Wyandotte County near the Kansas Speedway. The American Royal got its start in 1899 in the West Bottoms but announced in 2016 its plan to relocate after it couldn’t come to an agreement with Kansas City officials on a new complex at its current location.

“Royal investors are raising private equity for investment in the project and we have full confidence the project will move ahead and be a significant economic project for Wyandotte County and the State of Kansas,” said Mike Taylor, spokesman for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan.

Then-Gov. Sam Brownback lured the American Royal to Kansas and the state kicked in $80 million in sales tax revenue (STAR) bonds as an inducement.

Tetrick said he couldn’t discuss specifics about the fundraising effort.

“Our goal with the project is, fingers crossed, to have our shovel in the ground by the end of the year,” Tetrick said.