Banking on KC – Emily McVey of KC Animal Health Corridor
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Emily McVey, the vice president of the KC Animal Health Corridor, which houses the largest concentration of animal health companies in the world. Welcome, Emily.
Emily McVey:
Thanks, Kelly. Thanks for having me.
Kelly Scanlon:
I think a lot of people know that we have a thriving bioscience and animal health industry here in the area, but I really don't think people truly grasp how vibrant it is. Like I just said, it has the largest concentration in the world of these companies. When you talk about the animal health corridor, what region does it encompass?
Emily McVey:
Kelly, you're so right. I think a lot of people think of the Midwest in general, as agriculture, they think of it as sometimes flyover states if they've never been here. I think they think of our large animal population because they think of rural environments. But you're right. I think there's this confusion on when you say animal health, one, what does that mean? And two, the service territory.
So I'm with the Animal Health Corridor, and we are a federally designated area. And so when you think corridor, I think automatically people go to some sort of geographical boundary, and we do have that. And we brand it all Kansas City, and you'll hear, I take a very liberal definition of what that means because our service territory extends from Manhattan Kansas in which you have the assets of Kansas State University, College of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine. You also have the National Bio Agro Defense Facility, which is a USDA facility in Manhattan, Kansas. And then on our eastern border, we extend to Columbia, Missouri. So again, another wonderful university in our region. College of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Human Medicine as well. So there's a lot of one health work that goes on there and that intersection between people and animals.
We go as far north to Maryville, Missouri, where you have Northwest, Missouri State University, and then as far south on the Kansas side to Emporia, Kansas. Emporia is a unique community. They have a lot of food manufacturing, and pet food is one of those key industries that are robustly there.
Kelly Scanlon:
So a huge swath, really.
Emily McVey:
I always say if you take Kansas City proper in the middle, two hours east to west, two hours north to south, and that's the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor.
Kelly Scanlon:
Give us an idea of the representation of industries included.
Emily McVey:
So when we talk about the Animal Health Corridor, we talk about 300 companies, 20,000 individuals working in this industry. About 100 of those companies are what we consider primary animal health companies. So those are the companies that are manufacturing the drugs, the nutrition, the devices, the diagnostics, the technologies that keep our food supply safe, and our beloved pets safe. And then the other 200 are what we call allied partners to the animal health industry. And those are organizations like Country Club Bank and marketing firms, law firms, accounting institutions, architecture, engineering and construction, regulatory consultants. Because when you have an industry concentration like the corridor where it's the single largest in the world, you will not find another concentration in animal health like this globally. There are a lot of support network companies that grow out of that, and so these service providers or allied affiliate organizations have full divisions that support animal health and agricultural companies. And so that's one of the key strengths of the corridor.
So we take it from both a primary animal health perspective, as well as that support network because a large or a small animal health company cannot function without key partners.
Kelly Scanlon:
Drilling down on that, what does that concentration and the mix of businesses mean for Kansas City and the global animal health industry?
Emily McVey:
Yeah. I think it creates really easy access for them. And so a key function of the corridor. We are about a 50% economic development organization where we are actually a subsidiary of the Kansas City Area Development Council. So we help companies that are wanting to relocate or grow their business in the Kansas City region, as well as running this robust, globally recognized industry association.
And so when I look at it from my economic development hat of companies looking to locate here or grow here, really the selling point is the ease of access. It's collaborative. There are certainly competitive companies that function and operate within our service territory, but it's also this greater good and collaboration that only the Midwest and Kansas City, I think, brings, that's also shared in our industry which helps companies really thrive here. They can do a lot of the work that they need to do from one place, and they can get really well-connected in the areas they need to be connected to grow their business, or to even partner. Many of our companies do partner.
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, and that would make perfect sense. And having the universities as anchors to be able to tap into all the research that's going on there.
Emily McVey:
Certainly. Yeah. And our university partners, I always call it the edge economy. And this was not a term that I certainly developed, but it's one I like to play off of, is how does that economy and education system work full circle? Because university partners can be key research partners for projects for companies, but they're also talent developers. And so how do we create that circular economy around each other that we're all thriving? The industry is giving them real time feedback to create programs, and those programs are quickly developing and outputting the scale of talent that they need for the future to make their business thrive.
Kelly Scanlon:
Obviously, there is a strong emphasis on innovation and research. What are some of the groundbreaking advancements or projects that are currently emerging from the corridor?
Emily McVey:
Great question. So innovation is a key pillar of our strategic priorities in our business plan. We feel that innovation is the future of our industry, and all industries is dependent on innovation, both internally, as well as what we call external innovation. So how do we foster that startup community, that middle market community, to get products and technologies to a point that a large commercial partner could take them and bring them to market?
And so at the end of August every year, we actually the Shark Tank, if you will, for animal health. It's at the Animal Health Summit, which takes place at the end of August every year, and we have allowed time in our program for the past almost 20 years for startups located globally. So we accept these applications every year regardless of where a company is located, to come and pitch their technology on the stage at the Midland Theater in downtown Kansas City, to an audience of investors. So individuals from the financial community. And that can really range from family office, angel investment, all the way up to private equity, and strategic business partners.
So we're seeing a lot of what are kind of the groundbreaking technologies. We're seeing a lot of trends. How do we do more with the same natural resources that we have? So we have a growing global population, and we feel that protein is part of a sound diet. How are we going to feed an additional two billion neighbors by 2050? We've got companies like Viteli and many others with the same amount of natural resources, and we feel that animal protein is the key protein to help feed that growing global population. So how do we do more with the same natural resources? In the pet market, how do we keep our animals safe and healthy and comfortable longer? They are now viewed more as part of the family unit than ever before. And so we're seeing a lot of advancements in technology. And then I can't leave out how do we prevent the next global pandemic, or zoonotic disease, which just simply means diseases that begin in animals in our passed to humans.
Kelly Scanlon:
Glad you brought that up, because again, I don't think, myself included, I don't think a lot of people would put that in the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, because like you said, they're thinking about large animal health and things like that. The cows and the horses, our cattle, we're known for cattle. But yes, the implications for future pandemics. Absolutely.
Emily McVey:
Yeah. And one of the strengths of the corridor, and I think I'm a little biased because I work in animal health and I love this industry, is we are unique in the fact that around our board table at the corridors board, are competitors. And so we bring competitors into the same room and we ask them as much as they can to take their individual corporation hat off and put on the global industry hat, and say, "How by working together, are we all stronger and better?" It's real issues like that, of ensuring that we're not going to have another global pandemic or something that would decimate our food supply or something like that. How can we work together on those shared visions and priorities? Because it's bigger than oneself, if you will. It's bigger than one company. It's for the greater good. We have a higher purpose in this industry.
Kelly Scanlon:
Absolutely. Right now you're hearing a lot about artificial intelligence. About AI. Is that playing a role in some of the innovation that you're speaking about?
Emily McVey:
It is, yeah. We're seeing AI ... I think we're going to see AI in all facets of life. It's here to stay. And AI has been around for a long time. We had a company that presented on the stage as an emerging company last year that utilized artificial intelligence in triaging veterinary care. And so the ability for a pet parent to go on and start to begin to describe their symptoms to an AI bot who has been fed by millions of data sets. So this isn't just plugging in your question to Chat GPT that has no intelligence on the industry. And helping that pet parent navigate what to do next and what is actually something that would call for an emergent visit or a scheduled veterinary visit, or perhaps just a call to your practitioner. So it's not taking that pet parent out of the veterinary clinic, because it's important that our animals are getting veterinary care, but it's a way to help with access to care. And so you're starting to see those sorts of things, and I think we are just really scratching the surface. I think if you ask that question, Kelly, in 10 years, we'd have many examples of how AI is transforming the industry.
Kelly Scanlon:
One of the critical parts of your role, personally, is workforce development. So how does the corridor work with the local universities that you've mentioned and other educational institutions to prepare that next generation of professionals in animal health?
Emily McVey:
It's a lot of work. We're doing a lot of groundwork right here in Kansas City, but we're also partnering nationally with organizations like National FFA, which has over 650,000 high school students interested in agriculture. That's very low-hanging fruit, if you will, for us of an interested audience, or organizations like the Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences. That organization is called MANRRS, and it's for minority individuals interested in agriculture, both at the collegiate level and high school level, or even our local AFA, which is headquartered here, Agriculture Futures of America, which is a collegiate organization in doing what we call closing the interest gap.
So at the start of the show we were talking about how most people don't understand when you say animal health, what does that mean? I think a lot of times people have words that pop in their mind like veterinarian, or shelter worker, or zookeeper, but they don't understand the full commercial job market that is available to them. So the diversity of careers, the companies that create products and innovations that keep our food supply efficient and healthy.
Kelly Scanlon:
Can you give us some examples of some of these other maybe not so well-known jobs that are available in the industry?
Emily McVey:
So this is a global commercial industry, so like any global commercial industry, there's R&D folks, and there are commercial individuals. So sales and marketing, legal, accounting, supply chain, how do we get stable and unstable products to where they need to go? And then you have the full service provider network too. So I always say that if you're a high school student or a high school student that's interested in making a real impact in the world, animal health is a great place to come, and no matter their interest, they can find a place here because we need individuals from diversity of backgrounds and with diversity of skill sets to make industry thrive. And so as you look, and as society we are getting further and further removed from agrarian lifestyles, these are people who maybe have never been around farm animals, and so this is still a place for them.
We have a wonderful website that's been powered and created by our board companies because we feel it's important that we take the authority on telling the animal health industry's story. And so we're those experts that can tell the story on the companies that comprise the animal health industry as well as the careers and the people. Most importantly the people. Because when you choose a career or job, you're choosing a community in which you want to work. And so the website is called ExploreAH, for Animal Health, exploreahcareers.com, and it's a wonderful resource to investigate and learn more about the diversity of careers available in animal health.
Kelly Scanlon:
So exploreahcareers.com. Which leads me to how did you get involved in animal health yourself, Emily?
Emily McVey:
By fate, and I like to say by luck because I love the industry so much. But I grew up in the Raymore-Peculiar area. Really did not participate in agriculture as youth. Went to college at Rockhurst University and got my undergraduate degree in exercise science with the intent of what I thought was going to physical therapy school. And I kind of had this glamorized idea of what physical therapy was going to be in my mind. I really had done no career exploration prior to that. And that's why I'm so passionate about career exploration for youth and telling the story of animal health, because I feel like today's academic environment with all of the CAPS programs, and career pathway programs in high schools allow students a lot more opportunity for career exploration than when I was in high school. And so I graduated, and luckily when I was in my undergraduate program, I had a professor that said, if you're going to be a physical therapist, you likely will "If your own business. So take some business courses so you can have some business acumen."
Kelly Scanlon:
Good advice. Yeah.
Emily McVey:
Yes. Which set me up after I realized physical therapy was not going to be for me, to go on and get my master's in business. And at the end of that, I actually got an internship at the Kansas City Area Development Council, which I had never heard of. And so that was my entry point into economic development. Within a few weeks was offered a job on our research team. Was on that team for about nine months, and my friend and colleague, Kimberly Young, is the president of the Animal health corridor, and I called her one Saturday and I said, "There's a lot of interesting stuff going on the animal health corridor. Do you think you need a team member to help you with this?" And she said, "Sure, I don't know what that looks like, but let's create it." So we've worked alongside each other now for 13 years, and have really had the opportunity to roll up our sleeves together and build a corridor of what it is today and work alongside some amazing individuals in the animal health industry.
Kelly Scanlon:
Well, you mentioned earlier that you have the investors come in and you have people from all over the world come to pitch, and Kansas City is hosting that. How cool is that?
Emily McVey:
Yeah, and a lot of times people say, "You work internationally." We work with companies all over the world. In Asia, in Australia and New Zealand, and South America, in Africa, in Europe of course. And people say, "Well, do you get to travel a lot?" And while I wish I could say yes, those places sound really cool to visit, what's really cool and unique, I think even cooler and more unique, is that they want to come to us.
Kelly Scanlon:
Absolutely.
Emily McVey:
And so we get to host those individuals here in Kansas City. And we always say that they kind of have the epiphany of the visit when they come. They don't really know what to expect. A lot of our international colleagues have been to New York or Boston. They've been to Texas or California. Really where they could get direct flights, and so they've never taken that additional hop to Kansas City. And when they get here and they see our beautiful new airport, and then they just really see a thriving city of culture, it really makes their eyes open and them say, "Okay, when I'm ready or when I'm going to enter the North American market, I want to go there. Because not only do they have the industry experts that I need to grow my business, they have a thriving place that I'd actually want to live."
Kelly Scanlon:
When you talk about the summit that you've got coming up, it's such a significant event for the industry, as you mentioned. What are the primary goals? You just talked about the pitch competition. What other opportunities does it create for the startups besides being able to pitch to investors?
Emily McVey:
I would say the primary goal of that event is collaboration. That would be the word I would kind of package it. We have a really cool platform that we utilize that allows companies or contacts to pre-schedule 20 minute business development meetings with other attendees in a speed dating format. And so we have over seven hours of our programming dedicated to that. We'll have 600 attendees. Last year we had over 2000 meetings scheduled through that platform. And so it's that quick contact of, "Hey Kelly, it's great to meet you. Here's a little bit about each of us. Let's take this offline and visit more." And then education. We'll have over 30 speakers that are really hitting on key topics that are affecting our industry today, but also on the horizon. And so it's a way for individuals to come to Kansas, City quickly, see old friends, meet new friends, and collaborate.
Kelly Scanlon:
And that's going to be held when this year?
Emily McVey:
August 26th and 27th at the Midland Theater.
Kelly Scanlon:
Okay. So coming up here really soon, as the industry continues to evolve, we've talked a lot about innovation today. What are some of the new challenges that the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor is preparing to tackle?
Emily McVey:
Yeah, I would say it goes back to talent. And you see ... And one specific area that we are working diligently on is around manufacturing. Manufacturing of biologics, manufacturing of products, and getting good robust talent into those careers. And so a big part of our awareness and skills gap closing here specifically in Kansas City, is how do we feed that pipeline of talent for that segment? And also educating parents, educators, the community and students that a career in manufacturing really is a thriving career, and our perceptions of what that career looks like are quite dated. So we're working diligently on that and ensuring that our companies have the pipeline of talent that they need to manufacture their products.
Kelly Scanlon:
For anyone who might be listening, a business thinking about relocating here, or even starting up here within the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, what would you tell them? Especially if they're still on the fence post, maybe wavering a little bit, but what would you say to them?
Emily McVey:
Well, the first thing I'd tell them is to contact me or Kimberly Young on our team, because we can really make it an easy access point for them to navigate whatever their needs are. For example, a lot of times projects and economic development generally come through a site location consultant. So if you're just looking at general economic development projects, the Animal Health Corridor is a bit different that we generally work company direct. So we can almost serve as that site location consultant for you as you're exploring the Kansas City area, and we can meet you wherever you're at in your business growth journey to help walk alongside you. So that could be an international company that needs to establish a US business entity that's never done that before, or they need to understand competitive offer packages for employment. They need to understand our healthcare system and what benefits they should and should not offer. They might need to find a flexible lease term space as they get our product through the regulatory approval process. Or it could be a large company that's looking to create a new manufacturing facility or an existing company that's looking to just grow.
We can serve as that trusted advisor to help them, because establishing a business in a new area, whether you're a large company or a small company, is not easy, and you don't get a lot of shots at it, and so you need to make a well-educated decision. And while Kimberly and I have great connections within animal health, if we don't have the right connection, we likely know someone within our network that can get us there.
Kelly Scanlon:
Exactly. Right.
Emily McVey:
And we can leverage the power of the network of the corridor to assist with that.
Kelly Scanlon:
People are interested in more information about the work that you do. What's your website?
Emily McVey:
You can go to KCanimalhealth.com, which is our website, and then certainly find me on LinkedIn. Send me a message, always looking to connect with others in the community or in the ecosystem, or tell others more about our organization.
Kelly Scanlon:
Emily McVey, vice president at KC Animal Health Corridor, thank you so much for being on the show today and sharing your information with us, and for all the great work that you and Kimberly and your team do.
Emily McVey:
Oh, thank you.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, president of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Emily McVey for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC.
The KC Animal Health Corridor serves as a hub for innovation, supporting a wide array of industries from bioscience to agricultural technology. The corridor's efforts drive technological advancement and strengthen our region as a global leader in animal health and agribusiness. At Country Club Bank, we recognize the importance of such ecosystems in fostering economic growth and innovation. The KC Animal Health Corridor exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit. We strive to support and nurture one that improves quality of life and helps area businesses and local economies thrive. Thanks for tuning in this week. We're banking on you, Kansas City. Country Club Bank, member FDIC.