Through a community effort involving Russell County organizations and services provided by the RedTire (Redefine your Retirement) program at the University of Kansas, Russell County residents are still receiving local dental services and Jones is enjoying his retirement. 

RedTire provides valuation services and helps match qualified young professionals with business owners looking to retire at no cost to participants. It’s designed to help prevent the closure of viable small and medium-sized businesses throughout the Midwest and beyond.

To address shuttering dental practices, RedTire began a partnership with the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Dentistry in 2015 to connect its graduates to retiring dentists in the region.  

“This program serves as an economic development mechanism for sustaining family-owned business opportunities in our region. By matching qualified entrepreneurs with business owners looking to retire, the program helps retain essential services in their communities and keeps jobs local,” said Denton Zeeman, RedTire program director. “For more than 10 years, we’ve been proud to support businesses through their ownership transitions in both in rural Midwest communities and in metropolitan areas across the region.”

As a KU School of Business entrepreneurship co-curricular program, RedTire also offers experiential, hands-on learning opportunities to KU students who are hired to help with the assessment and valuation processes.

Jones reached out to RedTire in November 2022 after learning about the program from mailing a few years prior. By spring 2023, Zeeman and his team of student analysts had completed a draft assessment, publishing the final valuation to the RedTire website at the end of June.

Jones appreciated the financial confidence that RedTire’s assessment services provide for both potential buyers and sellers.

“For someone looking to buy a practice, when you have an outside valuation that does as deep of a dive as RedTire, you feel comfortable with your decision,” he said. “You get a clear picture of what’s going on financially.” 

Two potential buyers for Jones’ practice fell through in the coming months, one in late 2023 and another in March 2024. As word spread in the community about the potential shuttering of Russell Dental Care, a local banker and one of Jones’ patients suggested that the Russell Regional Hospital might be interested in merging the practice into its corporation. A week later, leaders with the hospital and with the Russell County Area Community Foundation (RCACF) met to discuss possible solutions to retain their local dental services.

The two organizations reached an agreement after a month of collaboration and planning to allow the hospital to manage Jones’ practice with support from a $100,000 grant from the foundation. 

Angela Muller, RCACF executive director, said the foundation was delighted to play a role in maintaining the local dental services, aligning with its mission to foster a vibrant and thriving Russell County. 

She said she hopes the solution inspires other community foundations in Kansas, particularly in rural communities, to think creatively about solutions to retain essential services. 

“We could not have reached this outcome without the collaboration between Dr. Jones, RedTire and Russell Regional Hospital,” she said. “Really this is about people coming together to do good. That’s one of the strengths of rural communities.”

Jones’ practice marks the 100th business that RedTire has assisted through an ownership transition, coincidentally during the School of Business’ 100th academic year. The Russell business is the program’s 34th dentistry practice that has received RedTire support. Within the next six months, the 35th, 36th and 37th dentistry practice transitions are expected to be finalized, with one under contract and the two others in negotiations.

RedTire currently is providing support to 69 business owners to preserve businesses in Kansas and the region, many of which can be found at the RedTire website.

Strengthening communities at KU and beyond is one of the School of Businesses’ priorities in the current campus fundraising campaign with KU Endowment. For information on how you can help support the School of Business, please contact David Byrd-Stadler, Team Lead Business Development, at KU Endowment (785 832-7308).