Benedictine College, Country Club Bank Present 2023 Thompson Medal

Michael Haverty was this year’s recipient.

Country Club Bank and Benedictine College’s Thompson Center for Integrity in Finance and Economics presented Michael Haverty, retired CEO and executive chairman of Kansas City Southern Railway, with the 2023 Thompson Medal, on Thursday, April 13, at a reception and ceremony at 1 Ward Parkway. Esther George, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, shared current economic trends, insights and other remarks related to our local, state and national economy.

The Thompson Medal, which honors late Country Club Bank Chairman Byron Thompson is cast with a likeness of Byron. It is presented annually to a leader in finance, economics, banking, or entrepreneurship who displays a high level of leadership and integrity and exemplifies Byron’s ideals while making a positive difference in the community. The medal recipient also receives an endowed scholarship in their name that is awarded each year to a Thompson Fellow attending Benedictine.

The Byron G. Thompson Medal was first announced on Byron Thompson’s birthday—July 22, 2018—along with Benedictine College’s Byron G. Thompson Center for Integrity in Finance and Economics. The Center was established at Benedictine, Byron’s alma mater, to carry out the legacy of his lifelong commitment to integrity in finance and economics. The mission of the Center is to support the next generation of ethical leaders in financial professions.

Haverty grew up in the railroad business, a fourth-generation railroad man. His great grandparents emigrated from Ireland and settled in Atchison, Kansas, in 1865 to help build the railroad leading to the West. Both his grandfather and father worked as freight conductors with the Missouri Pacific Railroad (later known as the Union Pacific Railroad). Raised in a house just a few blocks from the switchyard, Haverty grew up listening to the sounds of freight engines and banging railroad cars.

Haverty’s father was determined that his son would be the first in the family to receive a college education and someday hold a management job. On the way to fulfilling his father’s dream, Haverty attended St. Benedict’s College (now Benedictine College) on a football scholarship. When Benedictine dropped the football program, Haverty transferred first to Kansas State University and then to the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, where he played football and also earned a degree in business administration. He went on to earn an MBA from the University of Chicago.

After serving for several decades in various roles in the railroad industry, he joined Kansas City Southern in the mid-1990s. He reinvigorated the company by building railroad lines to the north and south and negotiating agreements with Mexican railways.

Haverty’s philanthropic generosity has benefited the Boy Scouts, Kansas City Ballet, MOCSA, Happy Bottoms, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Truman Library Institute and many other organizations. Haverty has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including Union Station Kansas City, Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, The Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, the Smithsonian Institution, the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, University of Denver’s Intermodal Transportation Institute, and Midwest Research Institute. He also helped establish the Irish Center of Kansas City at Union Station.

Top left: Benedictine College President Stephen Minnis, Michael Haverty and Paul Thompson. Top right: Michael Haverty.

Bottom left: Esther George, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, addresses the crowd. Bottom right: Byron Thompson's St. Benedict's College memorabilia.