Moresource's Kat Cunningham Brings A Country Soul To Big Business
By Hugh Curran - Columbia Business Times

Kat Cunningham remembers only too well her days as an overworked personnel director for J.H. Ware Trucking, Inc. in Fulton. One of her duties was to keep the company's 300 trucks filled with drivers.

"I was doing interviews over the phone as fast as I could," Cunningham said. "I was taking a call every 30 seconds. That's when I realized how difficult it was for one company to handle all of its own personnel needs."

Cunningham saw an opportunity to help companies face that challenge a few years later when she launched Moresource, Inc., a professional employer organization. PEO's hire an employer's existing staff and leases them back to the company, allowing even small employers the ability to offer retirement and medical benefits thanks to volume purchasing. Moresource also manages employee payroll, human resources and safety. Client-companies range in size from one employee to more then 100.

"What we tell owners is, 'Let us save you time and money,' " Cunningham said. "We assess the needs of the prospective client, perform a risk analysis, introduce them to our services, and compare costs (of) our fee to what it currently costs them to handle their own personnel administration. Our fee is usually less or may cost them one to two percent of gross payroll. We sign them up, they transfer their current staff to us and we lease them back. The business owner is able to focus his or her attention on the core business and retain and recruit quality employees due to availability of Fortune 500 style benefits.

"There's no loss of personnel control to the business owner. That's a common misconception. They're just employing them through us. Even the company owners will often lease themselves back to their corporation."

With competition for workers forcing even small companies to offer employee benefits , as well as the headaches and cost of providing healthcare insurance, PEO's such as Moresource are increasingly popular. The industry as a whole, which dates back to the early 1970's, has been growing at a rate of about 30 percent annually for the last few years.

Moresource itself is a good example of the increasing popularity of outsourcing areas of personnel administration. Launched in Columbia by Cunningham in 1994 with the aid of a Small Business Administration loan, the company now averages about $29 million in revenues annually. "For 1997 we cut over 3000 W-2’s." "We now have over 150 client companies and operate in 13 states."

Despite the impressive numbers, Moresource’s own staff, located at its headquarters at 2101 B Vandiver Drive, numbers only 13.

Cunningham said Moresource has seen an average of 100 employees added to their rolls each quarter, easily meeting the company’s growth goal. "We definitely anticipate serious growth," Cunningham said. "We don’t want so much growth that we have holes in our fences, but we do want growth to come and be able to manage and service that growth."

As with other emerging industries, the professional employer field is coming under scrutiny of elected officials examining whether industry regulation and standardization needs to be established. Cunningham said she and others within the industry welcome such standardization as outlined in Congressional House Bill 1891.

"So many states have different licensing requirements when it comes to PEO’s" Cunningham said. "Missouri has no licensing, so it would be nice to see some national standards and some definitions as to what is and isn’t a PEO."

Moresource faces little direct competition both locally and in many of the areas it operates. PEO’s are more often found in larger cities. Cunningham said Columbia was big enough for her when she formed Moresource four years ago.

"I grew up in Fulton – this is a big city," said Cunningham with a laugh.

Although the business of Moresource is serious business, Cunningham herself is quick to laugh and pleased to poke fun at herself. Her office has the feel of a home workspace with such warm and personal touches as a lava lamp, candles, and a collection of KC Chiefs memorabilia (to match the Chiefs tattoo on her ankle). There are photos of friends and family and a multitude of cat calendars, cat statues and even the live cats themselves – Smokey and MoMo. "Her office is a real reflection of her personality," said Don Laird, executive vice president of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce. Laird has begun working with Cunningham along with Steve Alexander in her position as co-chair of the March 1999 Columbia Chamber of Commerce Business Expo. "She’s very energetic and a good ideas person," Laird said. "She’s a business person who is very interested in her community."

Cunningham is a graduate of the Leadership Columbia, Leadership Missouri and Leadership Jefferson City. She volunteers her time to help with the Alzheimer’s Association and the Columbia Chamber’s Ambassador program.

Cunningham said her personality and values come from her small-town roots, but she didn’t really begin to set those roots until she was 11 years old. "I was an army brat," Cunningham said. "We traveled a great deal. I went to grade school in Germany, Texas and finally Missouri." "We moved so many times that you had to know how to get along with people and make new friends."

Cunningham is the middle child of three sisters. In 1971, when she was 11, Cunningham’s father died in Vietnam. She, her sisters and mother, Louise, moved to Fulton to live near her maternal grandmother, Lucile Powell. Cunningham’s mother later remarried which brought her another sister and a brother.

"I loved everything about growing up there," Cunningham said. "In school I was the president of everything. I was also the class clown and a little bit of a wild child." She went on to attend SMSU in Springfield where she graduated in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in Recreation and Leisure. "I think business is pleasure and too much fun, so that has worked into what I do just fine." Cunningham said.

After returning to Fulton to work for a number of years at the trucking company, Cunningham became agent for an Illinois based PEO. She left and decided to start a PEO with two investor partners, but after a time felt her partners’ other business interests took away from the new business, and she parted ways with them.

When she’s not working, family takes up the majority of Cunningham’s time. Although she attended high school in Fulton at the same time as her then future husband Kent. Cunningham didn’t meet him until 1985. "I don’t want to say I met him in a bar, but I met him in a bar," Cunningham said with a laugh. "We went for coffee afterwards. Kent is a fox, of course, and one of those guys that would give you the shirt off of his back if you needed it. That’s what I love about him."

The couple married in 1986. Kent Cunningham is a driver for a contractor hauling mail for the U.S. Postal Service. A year after they were married, the couple had their first child, Brian, now 11. Their second child, Ryan, is a 10-year-old Denver Broncos fan. When she’s not watching football with her sons, Cunningham tries to work in a rare game of golf.

In addition to Moresource’s continued growth, Cunningham would like to see her company expand its offerings. "Why not offer everything under one umbrella, including accounting services, insurance services, and professional services." "Why outsource to several companies, sort of a one stop shopping theory," Cunningham said.

Despite Moresource’s success and Cunningham’s respect in the business community, she often finds herself amazed by how far she has come. "I still feel like I’m a business world wanna-be," Cunningham said. "I worry that I should be more savvy, more polished, more successful. I’m still kind of a country girl at heart."

Published by the Columbia Business Times, October 31 - November 13, 1998.

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