Members of the 2016 Kansas Junior Achievement Lawrence Business Hall of Fame prepare for their induction ceremonies Tuesday at the University of Kansas Union Ballroom. From left they are Mark Buhler, managing partner in Calvin, Eddy and Kappelman Insurance; Sharon Spratt, CEO of Cottonwood Inc.; Terry Edwards, daughter of posthumous inductees Ross and Marianna Beach; and Smitty Belcher, CEO of P1 Group Inc.

Kansas Junior Achievement honored a Lawrence businessman, a community service agency head and former county commissioner and state senator Tuesday with induction into the Kansas Junior Achievement’s 2016 Lawrence Business Hall of Fame.

Inducted into hall of fame at ceremonies at the University of Kanas Union Ballroom were Smitty Belcher, CEO of P1 Group Inc.; Mark Buhler, the managing partner in Calvin, Eddy and Kappelman Insurance; and Sharon Spratt, CEO of Cottonwood Inc.

Ross and Marianna Beach, who touched the community and the state through business and philanthropy, were inducted posthumously. ?”It’s an excellent class of laureates,” said Charles Derby, chairman of the board of Kansas Junior Achievement. “They represent outstanding examples to Lawrence and the state of what Junior Achievement is all about.”

The inductees:

Smitty Belcher: Belcher is a self-made man who went from a pipe fitter apprenticeship in Ohio to becoming owner and CEO of P1 Group Inc. Along the way, he earned a bachelor’s and master’s in business administration from the University of Toledo. Belcher was introduced in the 1980s to Lawrence through his association with Mel Huxtable, owner of Lawrence’s Huxtable and Associates. The two men eventually agreed to an arrangement that had Belcher buy the company, which then merged with A.D. Jacobson to form P1 Group with Belcher as its CEO. His many professional and community activities include serving as national president of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America and serving on the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He is active with the Kansas City Civic Council and Heartland Works Inc. Belcher received the 2014 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Central Midwest Region.

“It’s a very humbling event,” Belcher said of his induction. “It’s great for Lawrence and the state what Junior Achievement does to educate third-graders through fifth-graders on business and entrepreneurship.”

Mark Buhler: Buhler has been a resident of Lawrence since he moved to the community with his family at the age of 4. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School and KU. After graduating in 1977, he worked for nine years at Lawrence Savings Association before moving to Stephens Real Estate as sales manager and eventual partner. In 2011, he became a sales agent at CEK Insurance and is now the firm’s managing partner. Buhler has served on the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission, served four years on the Douglas County Commission and served two years in the Kansas Senate. He has been active in the community with the Boys and Girls Club, Lawrence Board of Realtors, Plymouth Congregational Church, the Cottonwood Foundation, Rotary Club and Lawrence Schools Foundation. He and his wife, Marsha, were co-chairs of the 2014 Lawrence-Douglas United Way Drive.

Sharon Spratt: Spratt has been the CEO of Cottonwood Inc. since 1994. A resident of Lawrence since 1988, she served as a director of Douglas County Bank and on the Kansas Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Her lengthy list of community service activities includes stints as a board member of Douglas County Visiting Nurses, Rehabilitation and Hospice, the Douglas County Dental Clinic, Leadership Lawrence, and as chair of the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. She has served on the executive committee of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce Board. Spratt serves on the boards of InterHab, a state association of community-based service providers to those with developmental disabilities, and the American Congress for Community Support and Employment Services.

“It’s just a wonderful evening,” she said. “It’s an honor to be selected as a Hall of Fame Laureate,”

Ross and Marianna Beach: The couple met while both were students at Kansas State University, where Ross Beach studied engineering and his future wife studied industrial journalism. After graduation, Ross Beach worked in the oil and gas industry, eventually owning Kansas Natural Gas. Other business ventures included ownership of television and radio stations and purchase in 1964 of Douglas County Bank. Their contributions to the state include the Beach-Schmidt Center for the Performing Arts and the Steinberg Natural History Museum at Fort Hays State University, as well as the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art at K-State. The couple moved to Lawrence from Hays in 1994, supporting the Beach Center on Families and Disabilities, the Lied Center, Hall Center for the Humanities, University Theatre at KU, Lawrence Community Shelter, Theatre Lawrence, Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence Public Library and Lawrence Memorial Hospital. They were honored separately with KU’s Distinguished Award, the Native Sons and Daughters’ Kansas of the Year Award, and the K-State Distinguished Alumni Award. Marianna Beach received People to People’s Volunteer of the Year award for her work with children in Latin America.