Nov. 8, 2010 - Group 3: Aaron Andra, Casey Lytle, Erina McKinney and Alex Vezendan

 Michael Hagedorn, Chief Financial Officer of UMB Bank, visited the APM class on Nov. 8 and discussed UMB's position in the financial services market as well as the direction of the company. The class was given insights into the near-term market outlook, UMB's past performance, and UMB's future growth opportunities.

For the near term, Hagedorn expressed his opinion on the Fed's Quantitative Easing strategy. He believes the move will push near term rates lower and raise long-term rates, effectively normalizing the current very flat yield curve. He believes current treasury  markets aren't sustainable.

Hagedorn then described how UMB's "conservative" lending practices have helped insulate the company from the recent financial crisis. Because of UMB's strong balance sheet and the solid credit profile of its loan assets, UMB was able to resist accepting any of the TARP funds offered to banks. Hagedorn also explained how the crisis has provided UMB with strategic opportunities, "We're looking to acquire good assets at low prices. Companies don't want to give these assets up but when they're in a difficult position we are able to get good prices," he said.

Hagedorn also discussed UMB's opportunities for future growth. He noted that the industry, with UMB following suit, is shifting toward a revenue mix more heavily reliant on fee income and less reliant on the traditional income generated from the spread. He also noted how UMB's structure as a holding company has allowed it to expand into areas that will fuel the future growth of the company, such as fund services, HAS plans, private banking, and institutional investor services.

Nov. 22, 2010 - Group 4:

Donald Marchiony, Adam Grant and Yan Chen

On Monday, Nov. 22, Steve Kovzan, Chief Financial Officer of NIC, Inc. spoke to the class. He gave an updated investor presentation and described the inner workings of NIC. NIC was founded by a group of attorneys who wanted an easier way to access legislation and court records.  Before NIC started business, attorneys and other interested parties could access legislation and court record information in only two ways. They could physically go to the state capitol building and pay for a hard copy of the information themselves, or they could call and request the documents, which could take weeks to process. Instead, NIC created a Tel-net type service which could disseminate information electronically through a dial-up connection. This established the framework for the content management services that NIC provides today.

NIC now provides portal services and software solutions to 23 state governments, with their content management solutions in use by more than 3,000 federal, state and local agencies. Their unique self-funded business model allows states access to high-quality web and portal services at no cost. Instead, NIC collects a fee for storing the information from end-users such as insurance companies, and driver's license renewals. This approach allows NIC to benefit when state's budgets get tight, and provides barriers to switching to a competitor's offering.

If Kovzan looks familiar, he should.  He received his M.S. in business right here at KU, and his B.S. in business administration from the University of Tulsa. He is also a Certified Public Accountant, and prior to joining NIC, was a business assurance manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. In October 1999, Mr. Kovzan joined NIC, serving as the company's Controller until September 2000, when he became the company's Vice President of Financial Operations and Chief Accounting Officer. He held those positions until August 2007, when he began his current role as Chief Financial Officer.