Kirk Suther grew up in Britton, South Dakota. While attending Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. he participated in an exchange program at the University of Oslo, Norway where he studied Scandinavian Urban & Regional Planning in 1975.

Mr. Suther grew up in an entrepreneurial family. In response to his Dad’s heart attack, he took a break from college and went back to manage, build up, and sell the family business in Britton, South Dakota from 1976 through 1978.

He then went back to school and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree with an Accounting major from the University of South Dakota in 1980. In addition, he furthered his education with a Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Kansas in 1983.

Mr. Suther has been the executive director of 2 nonprofit organizations with over 19 years of leadership experiences in Kansas City, Kansas. These organizations targeted community development, economic development, and marketing, as well as cleanup, beautification, and environmental programming.

In 2005, the nonprofit organization of Operation Brightside Inc., of which Mr. Suther was the executive director of, was made a part of the local government of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas. As a Program Coordinator in the Public Works Department, he is implementing and managing a variety of cleanup, beautification, and environmental planning, education and programming.

Over the years, Mr. Suther has been in the unique position of working in the private sector, the nonprofit sector, as well as the public sector. He has experienced and learned that all three segments of the economy (private, nonprofit, and governmental sectors) all operate differently and that when properly designed can create a very unique synergy of effective and efficient programming.