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February 28, 2011 Drew Baur’s Wit And Wisdom: For those who attended Drew Baur’s standing room memorial at Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School’s (MICDS) field house on Friday, it was a fitting tribute to Drew’s remarkable wit and wisdom in his life. In addition to eulogies by his son and daughter, wonderful “Drew Baur stories” were also shared by Drew’s brother Edward "Tee" Baur, Cardinal’s Chairman and Vice Chairman and long time colleagues Bill DeWitt and Fred Hanser, and Michael McDonnell. The Rev. Andrew John Archie of the Church of St. Michael & St. George officiated a beautiful memorial service, which also included sharing Drew’s wit: namely, upon reaching the emergency room at the Florida hospital before he passed away, he was asked if he was allergic to anything, where upon he replied, “cheap whiskey.”
A quote from Drew was shared in the memorial booklet, “Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body. But rather, to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming …“‘Wow, what a ride.’” The great affection of the entire community was evidenced by the standing room attendance at the service, and the broad mix of the crowd. When I took my seat, I noted that on one side of me was Jack Buck’s widow, Carol, and on the other were State Auditor Tom Schweich and Bob Kolaski, a 36-year veteran beer vendor at Busch Stadium. Drew and his wonderful spirit will be missed. “Helping Business Work” Business Education Program Kicks Off Tomorrow Morning: The RCGA is introducing a new business education program starting tomorrow morning. This program, RCGA – Helping Business Work, is designed to provide RCGA members and guests with useful ideas and information about running their businesses. The inaugural Helping Business Work program, “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly – How to Protect Your Brand with a Social Media Policy”, will be presented tomorrow, March 1st, from 7:15 a.m. to 9 a.m., in the Regional Collaboration Center at the RCGA, One Metropolitan Square, 13th floor. Our presenters will be Craig Moore, Jeffrey Schultz and Melissa Glauber, attorneys with Armstrong Teasdale LLP.
Our speakers will focus on how Social Media can help businesses market themselves and do business, while showing how companies can protect themselves from potential legal issues, as well. There is no charge to attend, but we urge you to reserve your seat today by contacting RCGA Vice President for Membership Services Colin Stahlhut, at 314.444.1145, or e-mail him at cstahlhut@stlrcga.org. February 23, 2011 RCGA Member Companies & Organizations Invited To Participate In St. Louis Region’s 2011 “Green Business Challenge”: RCGA member companies and organizations are invited to participate in the next phase of the St. Louis Green Business Challenge to help move St. Louis to a “greener” economy. We encourage you to sign up today. 58 member companies, and some 15,000 of their employees, participated in the initial Green Business Challenge from February 2010 to this past December. Since the program benchmarks progress on a company-by-company basis, first round Green Business Challenge participants are encouraged to also participate in this round of the program. Over 250 members participated in the December 7th Awards Breakfast. Please click on this link for a list of the companies that participated in the initial Challenge in 2010: http://www.stlrcga.org/documents/RCGAdvocate/Award_Ad.pdf. For a description of success stories from our 2010 Challenge participants, please click here: http://www.stlouisgreenchallenge.com/images/Case_study_Book_for_Web.pdf
Now beginning its second year, the Green Business Challenge is organized by the RCGA to assist St. Louis area companies in adopting more sustainable business practices and generating substantial “green savings”. The Challenge assists companies in forming in-house green teams and helps them to achieve more sustainable practices and cost savings in energy, waste, water, indoor environmental quality and transportation activities. Companies work through a scorecard and earn points on implementing sustainability strategies throughout the year. The deadline to sign up for the Green Business Challenge is Tuesday, March 1st. To support participating teams, the RCGA has once again engaged the EarthWays Center – a division of the Missouri Botanical Garden - to serve as Resource Advisor, helping teams develop and implement their sustainability strategies and performing site visits. Seminars -- the first of which is this Wednesday, February 23rd at the RCGA offices from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. -- are devoted to topic areas in the scorecard and will provide direction and advice on how to implement the sustainability strategies.
The St. Louis Green Business Challenge is one program under the St. Louis Climate Prosperity Project, the RCGA’s strategic initiative whose mission is to create and sustain regional economic prosperity through the cultivation of green savings, green opportunities and green talent. The St. Louis region was selected by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to be one of 4 initial National Pilots, along with Silicon Valley, Denver, and Portland. For more information on the St. Louis Green Business Challenge, please go to www.stlouisgreenchallenge.com, or contact RCGA Senior Director of Energy and Environment Eric Schneider at 314.444.1148, or via e-mail at eschneider@stlrcga.org. February 22, 2011 Drew Baur - 1945 – 2011: We are very saddened by the sudden death of long-time St. Louis business and civic leader Drew Baur. Drew, RCGA Board Chairman in 1990 and 1991, died of an apparent heart attack at his home in Florida yesterday morning at the age of 66. He was former chairman of Southwest Bank and a co-owner, treasurer and a director of the St. Louis Cardinals.
A childhood friend of Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., Drew was born in St. Louis and attended St. Louis Country Day School before graduating from Washington & Lee University, then earning an MBA at Georgia State University. Bill and Drew remained friends in high school and stayed in close contact with each other through the years, with Bill investing in Southwest Bank. Drew was a key member of the group that landed ownership of the Cardinals back in March 1996, purchasing the team from Anheuser-Busch. Drew is survived by three children and seven grandchildren. The St. Louis region has lost a true civic champion and an outstanding business leader. He will be greatly missed. February 21, 2011 George F. Will “Pinch Hitting” For Peggy Noonan At St. Louis Speakers Series Tomorrow Evening: We received word this past Friday that Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George F. Will will replace Peggy Noonan as the featured speaker tomorrow evening, February 22nd, for the St. Louis Speakers Series, presented by Maryville University, at Powell Symphony Hall. Noonan was called away to cover events taking place in the Middle East.
George Will has been called "perhaps the most powerful journalist in America" by The Wall Street Journal. In a career that has spanned more than 35 years, he is one of the most-read columnists in the nation. His newspaper column has been syndicated by The Washington Post since 1974. Today it appears twice weekly in approximately 400 newspapers in the U.S. and in Europe. In 1976, he became a regular contributing editor of Newsweek magazine, for which he provides a bi-monthly essay. In 1981, Will became a founding panel member on ABC television's This Week. In 1977, Will won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in his newspaper columns. Altogether, 8 collections of Will's Newsweek and Washington Post columns have been published, the most recent being One Man's America. In 1990, he published Men At Work: The Craft of Baseball, which topped The New York Times best-seller list for two months and was recently re-issued as a 20th anniversary special edition. For the past 13 years, as a Founding Sponsor, the RCGA has joined media sponsor KWMU 90.7 FM, and Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, LC, as a Founding Sponsor of the Speaker Series program. The Nine Network and PNC Bank joined the St. Louis Speakers Series as sponsors in 2010. The RCGA also will once again host a pre-lecture reception, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., sponsored by Emmis Communications' 97.1 FM-Talk, at the Powell Club for RCGA Leadership Circle members before tomorrow night’s program. For more information about the St. Louis Speakers Series and the Leadership Circle Reception, please call RCGA Vice President for Membership Services Colin Stahlhut at (314) 444-1145, e-mail him at cstahlhut@stlrcga.org, or visit www.stlouisspeakerseries.org. St. Louis American Foundation’s “Salute To Young Leaders” Awards Program This Thursday, February 24th: The new Regional Economic Development Strategy sets a priority to “Address Talent as a Strategic Imperative.” A key dimension of the Regional Talent Council’s efforts to fulfill this priority, led by Brown Shoe Senior Vice President and Chief Talent Officer Doug Koch, is to “advocate a workforce that is strong and diverse across many dimensions.”
In this regard, RCGA is pleased to be a promotional sponsor of the inaugural Salute to Young Leaders awards program this Thursday, February 24th, at the Chase Park Plaza, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Presented by Emerson, this inaugural St. Louis American Foundation program salutes excellence in performance and service by 20 outstanding African-American professionals age 40 and younger. For reservations and more information, please contact Kate Daniel at the St. Louis American, at 314.533.8000, or email her at kdaniel@stlamerican.com. February 17, 2011 “Gateway To Innovation” Conference To Showcase St. Louis IT Industry Successes On Tuesday, April 5th: Helping companies maintain their competitive edge with information technology (IT) is the focus of the 4th Annual Gateway To Innovation Conference on Tuesday, April 5th, at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel. Presented by IBM, this full day Gateway To Innovation Conference brings together exceptional IT industry leaders and thinkers from around the world, exploring how IT drives growth in industries such as Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Finance and Global Commerce, and more.
The RCGA and St. Louis Commerce Magazine are pleased to once again be Innovation and Media Partners for this year’s Conference. The Conference is co-hosted by the IT Coalition, the Society for Information Management (SIM), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the Center for the Application of Information Technology (CAIT), and the CIO Board of St. Louis. The keynote speakers are: Julia King, Executive Editor and National Correspondent for Computerworld magazine; innovator Michael Hawley; filmmaker David Breashears; and Luis Von Ahn, an award-winning scientist and innovator. Other highlights include: 25 interactive sessions highlighted by industry leaders addressing the convergence of IT with other business imperatives; an awards program celebrating local leaders and the future of regional growth, plus a gala networking event. To register, please go to www.G2Iconference.com. February 16, 2011 St. Louis American Foundation’s “Salute To Young Leaders” Awards Program On Thursday, February 24th: RCGA is pleased to participate in the inaugural Salute to Young Leaders awards program on Thursday, February 24th, at the Chase Park Plaza, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Presented by Emerson, this inaugural St. Louis American Foundation program salutes excellence in performance and service by 20 outstanding African-American professionals age 40 and younger. For reservations and more information, please contact Kate Daniel at the St. Louis American, at 314.533.8000, or email her at kdaniel@stlamerican.com. February 15, 2011 The New York Times Features St. Louis, Following Media Outreach: New York Times writer Robert Sharoff penned an outstanding piece this past week spotlighting St. Louis’ unique information technology (IT) infrastructure. His article, “Data Centers Offer Hope for St. Louis Office Market,” was published this past Tuesday, February 8th. The RCGA had pitched Sharoff several months ago through our national media relations team at Fleishman-Hillard, inviting him to consider doing this story following the region’s successful recruitment of Unisys’ new Center of Excellence, beating out Minneapolis-St. Paul and Salt Lake City in this 2010 economic development competition. This “national media pitching” is part of the RCGA’s ongoing national media and branding effort to support the region’s economic development initiatives. Sharoff is very keen on St. Louis. This is the 3rd major New York Times piece on which we have worked with him. His first article about St. Louis, "Meet Me in Revitalized Downtown St. Louis, 20 Years Later, A Failed Urban Project Is Part of a Thriving Revival," was published in October 2006. His second piece, "Keeping the Fruits of Research Close to Home, St. Louis Sets Up a Biotech Corridor to Commercialize Local Science," was published in February 2007. Sharoff had spent 3 days in St. Louis in January 2007 with our F-H team to research St. Louis’ emergence as the BioBelt, with a particular focus on the CORTEX urban technology district west of downtown. In his latest piece on February 8th, Sharoff writes, “Several recent transactions are raising the possibility that this city’s downtown, a depressed office market with an overall vacancy rate of over 22%, may become a regional hub for computer software and data-center companies. The deals include a decision by Unisys to locate a new software center in a century-old building a block from the riverfront and the expansion of several large data-center operations by other companies. The Unisys project in particular is seen by city officials and developers as a coup because St. Louis edged out the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and Salt Lake City to win the project.”
Also, KMOX radio aired a piece and the St. Louis Business Journal published an online piece last Wednesday that combined The New York Times article with comments that Mayor Francis Slay and I presented at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon during which AT&T announced a series of network improvements planned for this year in St. Louis City and surrounding communities. AT&T Missouri President John Sondag, RCGA Public Policy Council Chair, noted that the company has set out to deliver the nation’s most-advanced mobile broadband experience. He said AT&T in 2010 made the following improvements to its network in the St. Louis area: installed 5 new cell sites; upgraded more than 40 cell sites to mobile broadband; and increased wireless capacity by an additional 50% on nearly 450 cell sites. Please click here for the KMOX piece by reporter Michael Calhoun. Also, please click here for the St. Louis Business Journal piece by Kelsey Volkmann. The New York Times and KMOX stories underscore our region’s strength as an IT market. The recent Market Street Services comprehensive "Regional Cluster Analysis for the St. Louis Region" indicates that Greater St. Louis has become increasingly attractive to companies that require IT talent. IT workers make up some 3.5% of the St. Louis region’s total workforce, accounting for 46,270 IT jobs in 2010. This compares to the U.S. average in this industry of 2.9%, giving St. Louis a 22% higher concentration of IT jobs than the U.S. overall. In fact, the St. Louis region has added nearly 12,000 net new jobs in the IT sector since 1999. February 14, 2011 RCGA Breakfast With The Gazelles This Wednesday, February 16th Features Nine Network President & CEO Jack Galmiche At Nine Network Of Public Media Studios: For a unique perspective on the St. Louis media by the leader of our region’s public television organization, please plan to join us this Wednesday, February 16th, for RCGA Breakfast with the Gazelles featuring Nine Network of Public Media President & CEO Jack Galmiche, at the Nine Network of Public Media studio, 3655 Olive St., beginning with registration at 7:15 a.m. Jack will speak on, "St. Louis: Shaping the Future of Public Media.” A tour of the studio will commence immediately following Jack’s presentation. For more information about this Wednesday program and other upcoming RCGA Breakfast with the Gazelles programs, sponsored by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, please contact Lori Meier at the RCGA today at (314) 444-1147, or register at gazelles@stlrcga.org. February 10, 2011 “Recent Developments In The Korean Peninsula” Is Subject Of John Cook School Of Business Program Friday, February 25th: The RCGA is once again partnering with The Boeing Institute of International Business at the John Cook School of Business at Saint Louis University to present the “Recent Developments In The Korean Peninsula In The Context Of The U.S.-South Korea Alliance” program on Friday, February 25th, beginning at 7 a.m., at the Anheuser-Busch Auditorium, 3674 Lindell Blvd. The keynote breakfast speaker is former Korean Ambassador to Hungary Ho-Jin Lee.
The Ambassador has a distinguished 30-plus year career as a Foreign Service officer of the Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea). His responsibilities have been in many parts of the world, including the U.S., Europe, and East Asia. He specializes in the ROK -U.S. alliance, East Asian security, Korean national security, foreign policy and trade, Inter-Korean relations, arms control and non-proliferation, as well as nuclear energy. Currently, he is Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution (Foreign Policy, Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies) and a member of the International Board, International Center for Democratic Transition (ICDT), Budapest, Hungary; and a member of the Korean Council on Foreign Relations. In addition to the RCGA, the other program sponsors are: U.S. Department of Commerce; World Affairs Council of St. Louis; the World Trade Center Saint Louis; the Missouri Department of Economic Development; and the Korean-American Association of St. Louis. For reservations and more information, please call 314.977.3898, or e-mail: biib@slu.edu. February 9, 2011 Special Edition Of RCGA Breakfast With The Gazelles On February 16th Features Nine Network President & CEO Jack Galmiche At Nine Network of Public Media Studios: For a unique perspective on the St. Louis media by the leader of our region’s public television organization, please plan to join us on Wednesday, February 16th, for RCGA Breakfast with the Gazelles featuring Nine Network of Public Media President & CEO Jack Galmiche, at the Nine Network of Public Media studio, 3655 Olive St., beginning with registration at 7:15 a.m. Jack will speak on, "St. Louis: Shaping the Future of Public Media.” A tour of the studio will commence immediately following Jack’s presentation.
For more information about this February 16th program and other upcoming RCGA Breakfast with the Gazelles programs, sponsored by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, please contact Lori Meier at the RCGA today at (314) 444-1147, or register at gazelles@stlrcga.org. February 8, 2011 New Regional Economic Development Campaign Targets Continued Support Of High Growth Start-Ups: Speaking about supporting high-growth potential start-up ventures as a centerpiece of the recently-adopted 2011-2015 Regional Economic Development Strategy, RCGA Board Chairman for Economic Development Danny Ludeman, president & CEO of Wells Fargo Advisors, recently noted: “The RCGA and our many partners must continue the work begun more than 10 years ago to: (1) capitalize on our universities’ world-class research; (2) provide greater access to start-up capital; and (3) foster a more entrepreneurial climate throughout the region.” These efforts require intense collaboration and strong partnerships. These decade-long set of previous and continuing efforts include:
February 7, 2011 Entrepreneurs Awarded $75,000 In Annual Olin Cup Competition: NanoMed LLC, a company developing a nanofiber material that can replace the protective covering of the human brain; PulmoCad LLC, which has developed diagnostic software to help radiologists diagnose early stage lung cancer; and Human Canvas, a company developing a semi-permanent tattoo ink that fades away within weeks, have emerged from an original field of 49 entrants to win the Washington University Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies’ 2010 Olin Cup. A total of $75,000 in seed funding and cash prizes were awarded to these winners for their business ventures at the Olin Cup Awards Ceremony this past Thursday evening. The RCGA and St. Louis Commerce Magazine were pleased – now for the 8th year – to serve as marketing sponsors of the Olin Cup Competition, in conjunction with the RCGA's and the region's overall efforts to increase entrepreneurial activity and retain young talent in the bi-state metro area.
The goal of the Skandalaris Center and the Olin Cup Competition is to harness the entrepreneurial potential of the University and the St. Louis region by utilizing the following tools:
In addition to the Olin Cup, RCGA is proud of its collaboration with the Skandalaris Center to support IdeaBounce, the YouthBridge Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition, and its tech transfer effort funded by the National Science Foundation: the Innovation Acceleration Partnership (IAP). University programs to teach entrepreneurial leadership and business acumen are important to our region for many reasons, but one critical outcome is to ensure promising graduates that there are career opportunities here in St. Louis in technology entrepreneurship. The annual hosting by Saint Louis University’s Center for Entrepreneurship and the Entrepreneurship Academic Program of the multi-state “Idea to Product®” (I2P) Competition is another great example. RCGA is pleased to be partnering with the John Cook School of Business in our 5th year of encouraging students in Missouri and Illinois to examine the feasibility of more complex, broad sweeping, high impact or technology innovations in the post ideation, yet pre-business plan, phase.
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