Choosing where to put your headquarters is one of the biggest decisions a company can make. It shapes who you can hire, how far your team commutes and how customers see you.
So what makes a company choose Overland Park?
That was the question at the Overland Park Chamber’s October EDC Investors Luncheon. Chamber President & CEO Tracey Osborne Oltjen moderated a candid conversation with four leaders whose companies recently moved to or expanded in OP:
- Brad Bacon, SVP, Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel, Morton Salt
- Melissa Chesnut, Director, Global Corporate Communications, Hill’s Pet Nutrition
- Jana Merfen, Chief Operations Officer & Executive Vice President, nbkc Bank
- David Steffens, Vice President, HR Centers of Excellence, Security Benefit
Four Companies, Four Paths to OP
Morton Salt moved its headquarters from Chicago to Corporate Woods after looking at options in other states. Some of its leadership team already worked in Overland Park, and the more the company researched, the more everything pointed back here.
“The quality of life, the ability to draw people with the same work ethic. All of those things were here,” Brad shared.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition moved its global and U.S. headquarters to the Aspiria campus in 2023 and kept its research and manufacturing hubs in Topeka. For a global company asking people to relocate their families, livability mattered.
“Overland Park offered so many pluses when it came to livability,” Melissa said. “Things that people are truly looking for: that family life, not just their job.”
Security Benefit is headquartered in Topeka. It outgrew its Corporate Woods office and expanded to Aspiria, where its OP location is now growing faster than any other.
nbkc Bank bought a roughly 127,000-square-foot building near 435 and Metcalf this spring and plans to move staff there in 2027. When the bank mapped where its employees live, it found the new location would improve the commute for 84% of its team.
“Overland Park just kept coming back to us as the predominant answer,” Jana said.
Talent Tipped the Scales
For every panelist, people were the deciding factor.
Melissa pointed to OP’s place in the middle of the animal health corridor and the universities across the region that feed it. David said the larger talent pool helps Security Benefit recruit, and that the pitch often has to reach the whole household.
“You have to recruit more than just the candidates. Sometimes it’s the family that goes with it,” David said.
Once candidates actually visit, Overland Park tends to win them over. Brad said Morton Salt has a very high success rate when they can get people here to look around. Melissa put Hill’s success rate at about 80% and gave a shout-out to the Chamber’s Concierge Program, which helps companies show recruits what life here looks like.
“When you actually come and look at Overland Park, it is very metropolitan,” she said.
Schools came up again and again. David, whose son just graduated, put it simply:
“It’s like you’re getting private education from a public school.”
Developing that talent matters, too. The Chamber connected Security Benefit with Johnson County Community College, which now runs two leadership development cohorts for the company’s high-potential employees and emerging leaders.
The Things You Can’t Put on a Spreadsheet
Some of the biggest advantages don’t show up in a cost analysis.
The panelists named a long list of them:
- People with a strong work ethic who fit the culture companies want to build
- Prominent, high-quality office space that gives companies strong brand visibility across the metro through their building and signage
- Investment along the Metcalf and College Boulevard corridors
- Trails where employees can take an afternoon walk
- Workforce programs that start in K-12, like Blue Valley CAPS
- Continuing education and leadership programs at JCCC, the KU Edwards Campus and K-State Olathe
And then there’s the city itself. When nbkc asked contractors and architects which cities were good to work with, Overland Park’s name kept coming up.
“All of us want to work with good, strong partners that want to do the right thing,” Jana said. “And Overland Park just kept coming up as that great partner.”
Building What’s Next
Brad summed it up: “I think Overland Park is doing a great job of building for the future.”
Whether you’re an employer weighing your next location or a professional thinking about your next move, these four companies are good proof of what’s possible here.
Learn how the Chamber’s Economic Development Council supports growing companies, or explore career opportunities in Overland Park.
Come for the opportunity. Stay for the community.
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