Stockton mayor among annual Huck Boyd Institute award winners

Award winners will be honored March 9 in Manhattan

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd Institute Director

MANHATTAN – Leaders in agribusiness, the arts, diversity, entrepreneurship, manufacturing, local foods and tourism are being recognized by Kansas State University’s Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development as Leaders of the Year for 2017.

“These leading Kansans should be commended for their innovative ideas and service to rural communities,” said Mike James of Phillipsburg, chair of the board of directors of the Huck Boyd Institute.

This year’s award categories and winners are:

• Agribusiness – Alan VanNahmen, Farm Buddy, Kansas/Indiana
• Community Service – Tracy Teeter, The Main ARTery, Ulysses
• Diversity and Service – Cameron Bradshaw, Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences, Jetmore – Collegiate; Kim Thomas, Mayor, Stockton – Professional
• Entrepreneurship and Business Development – Jill Mason, Confetti & Cashmere Party Boutique, Manhattan
• Rural Grocery and Retail Foods – Terry Olsen, Eastside/Westside Markets, Manhattan
• Rural Manufacturing – Mike Kilkenny, Taylor Forge, Paola
• Tourism – Dan and Brenda Pace and Amanda Kaufman, Collingwood Barn, Pretty Prairie.

The winners will receive their awards at a luncheon in Manhattan on March 9.

Kim Thomas grew up at Plainville and spent time with her grandparents at Nicodemus. She studied at Emporia State and then worked for Southwestern Bell in northwest Kansas as a communications technician. After she moved to Stockton, her friends encouraged her to run for city council and she was elected in 1999. In 2002, she became mayor – a position she has held ever since. She got involved in the League of Kansas Municipalities and in October 2016, became the president of that organization. Kim is the first female African American mayor in the state of Kansas and the first female African American president of the League of Kansas Municipalities.

The 2017 Huck Boyd Leaders of the Year winners were selected by entrepreneurship students in K-State’s College of Business.