Junior Achievement of Greater Kansas City Announces 2023 Inductees to Business Hall of Fame | Junior Achievement of Greater Kansas City

Kansas City, KS – Junior Achievement (JA) of Greater Kansas City is honored to announce the 2023 Junior Achievement Business of Hall of Fame inductees:  

Chris and Angie Long, Palmer Square Capital Management and Kansas City Current 

Chase McAnulty, Charlie Hustle 

Oscar Monterroso and CiCi Rojas, Tico Productions and Tico Sports, LLC

The laureates will be recognized at the annual Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame event on Thursday, November 9, 2023, from 11:00am to 1:00pm, at the JA Youth Learning Lab, presented by the Mallouk Family Foundation (2842 W 47^th Ave; Kansas City, KS 66103).  

Kansas City has been recognized by the nation and the world as a place synonymous with sports and athletic greatness, with events like the 2023 NFL Draft and the 2026 World Cup selecting Kansas City as host cities as well as two Super Bowl wins in three years. These laureates represent how a passion for sports and our hometown can translate into business and entrepreneurial success. 

“Youth served by Junior Achievement often have aspirations of playing professional sports, but we know the percentage who turn that dream into reality, on the field, is limited,” states Megan Sturges Stanfield, President and CEO of JA of Greater Kansas City. “These laureates illustrate how many opportunities exist for youth to achieve beyond the field while fulfilling their passion, and how key leadership skills like perseverance, dedication and innovation are vital for career and entrepreneurial success.” 

2023 marks the 23^rd year of the JA Business Hall of Fame, a signature event in recognizing the efforts and accomplishments of those leaders and changemakers that are vital in building the past, present and future of the Kansas City economic and entrepreneurial ecosystem. The 2023 inductees join familiar names of the Kansas City business landscape, including Peter Mallouk, Fred Pryor, Jeanette Prenger, Joyce Hall, and more.  

“When youth see the additions of Chris, Angie, Chase, CiCi and Oscar on the Hall of Fame wall in the JA Youth Learning Lab, they realize that they, too, possess the capability to harness their entrepreneurial spirit and turn their dreams into reality,” notes Sturges Stanfield.  

To celebrate these storied careers at the Hall of Fame event, you can contact Allison Chael (achael@jagkc.org) to sponsor or purchase tickets.  

About the 2023 Laureates  

(For full laureates bios and headshots, contact JA of Greater Kansas City) 

Chris and Angie Long 

Chris Long founded Palmer Square Capital Management, an approximately $26 billion AUM asset manager focused on corporate and structured credit with offices in Kansas City and London, England, in June 2009. Currently, he serves as Chairman, CEO and Portfolio Manager, and been successful in building one of the premier credit investment firms in the world.  

Angie Long serves as the Chief Investment Officer and one of two Principal Owners at Palmer Square Capital Management, where she has key responsibilities for all investment-related activities. She is widely regarded as a pioneer in credit and fixed income, with a history of innovation including pioneering aspects of the credit derivatives industry and creating the HYDI, the first liquid trading index and predecessor to all of today’s indices. 

The Longs are also Co-Owners of the Kansas City Current, the city’s National Women’s Soccer league franchise. With co-owners Brittany Mahomes and Patrick Mahomes, they have had a clear vision of establishing the best women’s soccer club in the world, but also having the Kansas City Current serve as a model for all of women’s sports. The team will soon complete a $120mm privately-financed stadium on the Riverfront, the first in the world to be built for a women’s professional sports team.  

Chase McAnulty 

Chase McAnulty believes that every shirt has a story; this belief was the driving motivator in creating Charlie Hustle Clothing Company. While at the Kansas City Art Institute, studying graphic design, Chase became enamored with the underground culture of those who value vintage t-shirts. These two passions soon joined to create Charlie Hustle.  

Starting with only 16 shirt designs in 2012, McAnulty has led the company to have more than 200 licenses, over 1,000 SKUs in inventory. The iconic ‘KC Heart’ design has become a beloved icon portraying Kansas City pride.  

McAnulty also created the Heart of KC Foundation, Charlie Hustle’s 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, of which has spearheaded the Parade of Hearts project in Kansas City.  

Oscar Monterroso and CiCi Rojas, Tico Productions and Tico Sports  

Oscar “El Tico” Monterroso is the Co-Owner and Founder of Tico Productions, LLC, a full-service, multi-cultural, multi-media production company located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Tico Productions, LLC, has produced a wide array of external messaging marketing videos, radio broadcasts, short films, graphic design, logo animation and photography for a diversity of clients locally, nationally and internationally.

CiCi Rojas is an accomplished C-suite executive turned entrepreneur, having built enterprises both in for-profit environments, and for economic, political and social change. She joined Tico Productions and Tico Sports, LLC, to co-lead the company that she co-founded with her husband three years prior.

Under Monterroso and Rojas’ leadership, Tico Sports developed a Spanish-language broadcast and community engagement platform for sports teams, establishing a third-party solution for sports teams seeking to build their Latino audiences. Tico has served as the official Spanish broadcaster for professional teams Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Jose Sharks, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, and at the collegiate level, for the University of Kansas basketball and football, the University of Nebraska, and Kansas State University.