SPRINGFIELD BUSINESS JOURNAL 3 BOOK OF LISTS 2024 The Art of Data Collection Art is subjective. When I look at the cover of this year’s Book of Lists while thinking about data, what comes to mind is how business ties into our lives in so many ways. The different colors and shapes are all intertwined to create something fascinating, beautiful and new. Data we research throughout the year is no different. Company executives considering Springfield as a new locale might look at our collected data to help with industry research. City councils may look at our newest list in this book, Fastest-Growing Municipalities, as a way of comparing their neighboring cities. Company employees might see the fact that their company is among the largest locally in its industry as a way to find pride in the daily work or to consider their job more secure. Data, while factual, can also be subjective, depending on how it applies to you as an individual or as a part of our business community. This Book of Lists marks a big change in direction for the future of lists in the Springfield Business Journal. This book is a compilation of mostly data collected throughout 2023. Looking ahead at 2024, we have decided to improve our research even more, and reallocate resources to lists that will add to the value of what we do. This means saying goodbye to several lists we’ve published in the past, but also hello to lists that reflect our adapting business community. For instance, later in the year, we will start our first-ever list of solar companies, a fastgrowing industry in the area and across the country. We’ve also combined our listing of information technology companies and web development firms to form a technology company listing, as most of these companies tend to be on both lists anyway. This makes our time better utilized to help research more, follow up more, and continue to improve as your business authority. I am proud to say I am going into my fourth year as Springfield Business Journal’s list researcher, and it has been such a learning experience for me as an individual who cares about change in our community. I hope when you, as a reader, look at this data our team works hard to compile, edit and format, throughout the year, that you find a way for it to help you understand our business community better. —Karen Bliss, List Researcher Cover Art Title: Confluent Fever Dream Location: Efactory’s Coworking@Brick ARTIST BIOGrowing up in a photography household marked the beginning of Brad Davidson’s artistic journey, accompanying his father on shoots and helping with the retouching process as photography started to go digital. He was immersed in the world of visual arts from a young age with countless museum and gallery visits on family road trips. He later gravitated toward more traditional media while taking drawing classes as a computer information systems and business student Missouri State University, where a dissatisfaction with monochromatic nature of charcoal and pencil lead to exploration in painting with heavy pigments. This background instilled a deep appreciation for rich hues and contrasts, elements that now define his work. Davidson’s style is a half-harmonious, half-chaotic blend of abstract and representative imagery, characterized by vivid colors and sharp contrasts with a preference for large canvases. His work often features enlarged depictions of everyday objects. Balancing a career in technology, Davidson finds painting to be a liberating escape from the digital world. He aims to merge life’s digital demands with the expressive freedom of traditional art and create works that resonate with both the heart and the eye. Brad Davidson Karen Bliss
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