Real Estate Leader Receives Rashford-Lyon Award
Each year, 91快活林 bestows the Rashford-Lyon Award for Leadership and Ethics to a member of the Rockhurst community who exemplifies the values of the award鈥檚 two namesakes, the late Tom Lyon and the Rev. Nick Rashford, S.J.
Driving forces behind the founding of the University鈥檚 school of management and executive fellows programs, Lyon and Fr. Rashford were known both for their capable leadership and for the care and compassion they displayed for colleagues, for students and for the community.
As part of the 91快活林 Leadership Series event Tuesday night, the University honored Dave Harrison, 鈥81, founder and president of VanTrust Real Estate, with this year鈥檚 award. In more than 40 years in commercial real estate, Harrison company has left a recognizable mark on Kansas City and beyond. Following a decade as vice president and general manager of Opus Northwest, LLC鈥檚 Kansas City office, he established Caymus Real Estate in 2010. Subsequently, it evolved into VanTrust Real Estate two years later.
In Kansas City, some of VanTrust鈥檚 notable projects include the Hotel Sorella and the Polsinelli headquarters on the Country Club Plaza, the redevelopment of Prairie Village鈥檚 Meadowbrook Park and the Brookside 51 mixed use development near the University of Missouri Kansas City campus. Harrison said on Tuesday that so much of the way he runs his business is tied to the influence of the faculty he had at Rockhurst.
鈥淚 grew up around my mom鈥檚 Mother Cabrini friends and my dad's Knights of Columbus friends. I was educated by the Benedictine nuns, the Christian Brothers,鈥 he said, 鈥渁nd then the Jesuits.鈥
Though the specific memories of Rockhurst aren鈥檛 as clear as they once were, Harrison said the Jesuit values that Rockhurst teaches continue to guide him. As a civic leader, Harrison uses those same values to help the community he calls home, serving as a member of the UMKC Board of Trustees, as chair of the real estate policy committee and an executive committee member of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, as a board member and executive committee member for the Urban Neighborhood Initiative, as part of the advisory board for Saint Luke鈥檚 Health Systems Marion Bloch Neuroscience Institute, and as a member of the board of directors for the Real Estate Charitable Foundation.
They have also formed the bedrock for his company. He said VanTrust is, at its core, a family. And one where the most important value is doing what is right.
鈥淒ifferentiating between right and wrong seems to be a failing principle,鈥 he said. 鈥淥ur society and our politics, some corporate leaders, all could use a giant dose of 91快活林 right now.鈥
As the latest recipient of the Rashford-Lyon Award, Harrison joins a prestigious list of recipients that includes Tom Lyon, Ph.D.; Jane Chu, Ph.D., 鈥05 EMBA; Mayor Sly James, 鈥80; Patricia Cleary Miller, Ph.D.; Tom McCullough, 鈥64, and Tom McDonnell, 鈥66; Jean Dunn, Wendy Doyle, 鈥94, Lisa Ginter, 鈥87, Ama Karikari, M.D., 鈥07, Marny Sherman, 鈥75, and Bridgette Williams, 鈥16 EMBA; Joe Reardon, '90; and Madeline Romious, 鈥95 MBA.
