Kauffman Foundation names Wendy Guillies its new CEO

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation said Tuesday that Wendy Guillies is its new president and chief executive officer, removing the “acting” titles she has held since July 2014.

At the helm of the $2 billion foundation, Guillies is in a powerful position to influence an array of Kansas City area civic projects by contributing Kauffman research, manpower and philanthropy.

The foundation focuses on educational and entrepreneurship research and initiatives, pursuing Ewing Kauffman’s intent to encourage economic self sufficiency. It funds a charter public school to test educational theory, engages in deep entrepreneurial research, and sponsors hundreds of meetings, meals and events at its 37-acre office and conference center east of the Country Club Plaza.

As a foundation, Kauffman’s wealth is rivaled locally only by the Stowers Medical Research Organization. In all, the Kauffman Foundation spent $74.8 million last year in Kansas City, including on the school and its own operations, and $15.5 million nationally.

“We’re a Kansas City organization with a national reach,” Guillies said Tuesday afternoon, quieting an incessantly ringing phone to talk about her respect for Kauffman, the late founder of Marion Laboratories and former owner of the Kansas City Royals, who endowed the foundation.

She said she considered it an honor to lead the foundation created from his legacy. The organization is on year two of a long-range strategy to be “more transparent,” she said.

“One of the most important principles I’ve learned, something that Mr. Kauffman showed, is that how you accomplish something is just as important as what you accomplish,” Guillies said. “We want great results, but we want to show our humility and be collaborative.”

For example, the foundation has teamed with the Walton and Hall family foundations to fund the opening of four schools in Kansas City’s midtown area.

“This is a change. We weren’t making large, collaborative investments in education before,” she said.

On the entrepreneurship side, Guillies said, “we will maintain our programs but also put more investments in a framework across the country to find out what entrepreneurs need and how we can help spread the insights, no matter where they come from.”

In the foundation’s top administrative job, Guillies oversees about 200 associates at the foundation, the school and the Kauffman Scholars program, which funds scholarships. The foundation has multiple programs or initiatives including 1 Million Cups, Pipeline, KCSourceLink, UMKC’s Free Enterprise Center, the Greater Kansas City Chamber’s Big 5 Entrepreneurship initiative and the 1WeekKC celebration. She serves on the board of KCSourceLink and Kauffman FastTrac, the foundation’s longest-running entrepreneurship education program.

Foundation trustee John Sherman, who led the search committee, said her appointment came after a “robust national search” that included help from the Spencer Stuart executive search firm. But, Sherman said, “it was clear that the best candidate to lead us into the future was already here.”

Bob Regnier, an area banker and community leader involved in both entrepreneurship and education initiatives, said he celebrated Guillies’ selection.

“She’s done a great job as the interim and did a great job on the communications side, and a lot of success comes down to communications,” Regnier said. “There’s strong momentum at the foundation, and I don’t expect a lot different. They’re looking for high-impact social investments with good returns.”

Debbie Wilkerson, CEO of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, also sounded the collaboration theme.

“She’s so genuine, thoughtful and able to get things done in a very collaborative way,” Wilkerson said. “I’m happy for the staff. She brings out the best in all of them.”

Guillies, 51, who previously was the foundation’s top communications officer, has been with the foundation since 2000. She was appointed to the interim position after former CEO Tom McDonnell departed in June 2014, saying his plans didn’t fit the board’s long-term strategic plan.

Jan Kreamer, chairman of the board of trustees, said Guillies earned the title because of her “tireless commitment to Mr. Kauffman’s vision and to the foundation’s mission” and the respect she’s gained among foundation associates, trustees and community leaders.”

Under Guillies’ interim leadership the foundation has strengthened its visibility in Kansas City. Jim Heeter, president of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, last year added Guillies to the chamber’s top advisory cabinet, creating a tie between the foundation and chamber.

Kansas City Mayor Sly James said Guillies had done much over the last year to help the foundation be an “active and involved partner” with the city on many quality of life initiatives.

McDonnell, who also steered the foundation toward a more visible community presence, was — also like Guillies — chosen CEO after a protracted national search. But McDonnell, who had been the foundation’s longest-running trustee and board chairman, left the job after a relatively brief 18-month tenure. Kreamer succeeded him as board chairman.

McDonnell, who formerly led Kansas City-based DST Systems Inc. and was a civic powerhouse, aimed for a partial shift from the 10-year tenure of previous CEO Carl Schramm. Schramm had worked to make the foundation’s name better known nationally as a leader in entrepreneurship research and advocacy.

But many Kansas Citians wanted a stronger local focus from the “home-grown” foundation. Trustees, then led by McDonnell, sought Schramm’s resignation in December 2011. It was a messy transition, though. Two trustees preferred the national focus, thought Schramm was treated poorly, and left the board.

By all accounts, Guillies did a good job managing foundation communications about the Schramm-to-McDonnell transition. She declined Tuesday to comment on the past.

“I’m looking forward,” Guillies said. “A lot of what we’re doing now is communication. We’re working hard to sit down with community groups and talk about what we’re doing.”

One plaudit for Guillies was provided by Marcelo Claure, Sprint’s president and CEO, who said he’s impressed by “her tenacity, intellect and commitment to the foundation and to Kansas City.”

Before joining the foundation Guillies worked in marketing communications at GeoAccess, an Overland Park entrepreneurial firm, and at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. Her first jobs out of college were with the health care and insurance industries in California.

She is a Kansas City, Kan., native and a graduate of the University of Nebraska. She lives in Overland Park with her husband and two daughters.

This story was originally published June 9, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Kauffman Foundation names Wendy Guillies its new CEO."