Longtime members Evan and Shannon Kaufman were recently featured in a Wichita Business Journal article about veteran-owned businesses. Evan is a USAF veteran and service academy graduate.

We highlight our members whenever they make headlines, but we understand the Wichita Business Journal locks its content behind a paywall. Thus, if you don’t subscribe, you cannot read the article. We apologize for the inconvenience. We keep a copy of the Wichita Business Journal in the kitchenette for anyone who wants to read the print edition. The digital edition is available here.

Veterans in business: 3 Wichita veterans navigate small business ownership

Tell me about your time in the service.

Growing up in Wichita, it is hard to deny the early influences that aviation and entrepreneurship had on me. I became an entrepreneur at the age of 16 and successfully sold my landscaping business shortly before leaving home to go into the military. I always knew serving would happen at some point in my life. An opportunity presented itself right after high school when the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs let me in to play football. Four years and four bowl games later, they gave me my degree in economics and sent me to Dayton, Ohio to negotiate government contracts.

While I had the opportunity to work on some wonderful programs, my time serving was unremarkable relative to some of the men and women I was fortunate to serve next to. It is absolutely incredible what some service members collectively give to protect our country. Now, being out of the Air Force, I can look back and say that was one of the major highlights of being in the military — a connected purpose and experience.

A Kansas native, my wife and I decided to relocate our companies and moved back to Wichita in 2020. Wichita has proved to be full of surprises, and we have been pleased to “rediscover” the city as adults.