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August 31, 2011 Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon Leading Trade Mission To China This October: Speaking of the China Hub, Missouri exporters are invited to join Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, the Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) and the Missouri Department of Agriculture on a trade mission to China, October 22nd – 29th. The trade mission will host stops in Beijing, Shijiazhuang (Hebei Province – Missouri’s Sister State), and Shanghai with an optional visit to Hangzhou. RCGA and the Midwest China Hub Commission are working with the Governor’s Office and the Missouri Departments of Economic Development and Agriculture, in presenting a national Agriculture Seminar in Beijing during the trip, led by the Gov. Nixon and the Honorable Changbin Han, China’s Minister of Agriculture.
China is currently the 3rd largest buyer of Missouri exports, behind only the markets of Canada and Mexico. With the world’s largest population -- 1.3 billion people -- and a rapidly emerging middle class buying everything from groceries to cars, it is also the fastest-growing export market in the world. In the past 20 years, U.S. exports to China have multiplied 12 times over, presenting Missouri businesses with extraordinary export opportunities. The participation fee of $1500 provides for one-on-one meetings; ground transportation; a variety of networking events and much more. Deadline to Register is Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011. Please click on this link for more information. Space is limited to the first 50 participants so please register early. To register today, please contact Ann Pardalos, International Trade and Investment Office, Missouri Department of Economic Development, at (573) 751-4855, or ann.pardalos@ded.mo.gov; or Mark Hitt, International Marketing Program, Missouri Department of Agriculture, at (573) 751-3970, or mark.hitt@mda.mo.gov. August 30, 2011 Union, Mo.: RCGA Participates In St. Louis Region’s First “Certified Site” Designation Ceremony At Union Corporate Center: Speaking of economic development, RCGA Directors for Business Recruitment Lori Becklenberg and Louis Copilevitz were on hand for the formal announcement this past Tuesday morning of the first Missouri “Certified Site” in the St. Louis region, on 30 acres in the Union Corporate Center business park in Union, Mo. Louis was among the speakers that also included: Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) Director David Kerr; Missouri Partnership CEO Chris Chung; Ameren Corp. Business Development Executive Michael Chell; Union Development Corporation President Robert Borgmann; and City of Union Director of Economic Development Joseph Graves.
David Kerr officially designated the site in Union as the State’s 8th Certified Site. DED’s Certified Sites Technical Review Committee approved the 30-acre parcel in the Union Corporate Center, Progress Parkway & Corporate Drive, which provides the City of Union and Franklin County with a competitive advantage in attracting 21st century jobs. The certified property is considered ‘development ready’ with road access, a full range of utility-supporting infrastructure available, geo-technical testing and environmental compliance inspections already completed and is one of the premier industrial parks in the St. Louis bi-state region. Union is already home to several world-class industries, including: Rexam Containers; Esselte Corporation; American Plastics; Pharma Tech Industries; and the Spartan Showcase division of Leggett & Platt®. “The Certified Site selection process, with its stringent technical review and validation of site resources and amenities, will ensure that these sites are competitively positioned to create hundreds of new jobs in their local areas which will positively impact our statewide economy,” Kerr noted. As the State’s 8th Certified Site, the Union Corporate Center site joins Missouri Certified Sites in Kansas City; Springfield; Kearney; Fulton; Moberly; and two sites in Columbia. August 29, 2011 Business & Labor Communities In Missouri Pushing For Passage Of Landmark Economic Development Legislation: We are pleased to join our colleagues at the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and the Missouri AFL-CIO, in conjunction with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and the Missouri Legislative Leadership, in calling for prompt and focused action to address comprehensive economic development legislation in the upcoming Special Session of the Missouri Legislature. Tomorrow afternoon there will be a joint online news conference among these key groups to talk with the news media about the historic opportunity facing the Missouri General Assembly, beginning on September 6th, to pass what may well represent the most sweeping job creation initiative in recent history. After legislative leaders reached a bi-partisan consensus in late July on the essential measures to be addressed, the very next day the Governor indicated that he would call the Legislature into Special Session in September to enact them and last week issued the Call. So, it appears that the “planets are aligning” within the business and labor communities throughout the State, and with Legislative Leadership and the Governor, to push for passage of the these essential tools to expand the State’s jobs in plant and life sciences, data centers and the attraction of major sports facilities, as well as exporting our products to China and throughout the world. The keystone of the overall package is the Aerotropolis Trade Incentive Act. This legislation would directly stimulate and encourage development of international cargo and manufacturing facilities within a 50-mile radius of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. It is very important for the entire St. Louis region and the State overall that this jobs legislation pass. While the St. Louis region has fared relatively better than the rest of the nation during the recession, Missouri has not. The State now ranks just 33rd nationally in job creation over the past year, losing jobs in seven of the past 12 months, according to the July Bureau of Labor Statistics data. There are several other important job creation initiatives included in the statewide economic development package; namely:
RCGA Board and Staff worked hard on these issues in the regular session of the Missouri Legislature that concluded on May13th, and will redouble our efforts to pass this important legislation in the Special Session. We will keep you up-to-date on progress. Meanwhile, if you have any questions or thoughts regarding the Special Session, please feel free to contact me at dfleming@stlrcga.org or RCGA Senior Vice President for Public Policy Chip Casteel at ccasteel@stlrcga.org. August 24, 2011 RCGA Co-Sponsoring Saint Louis University’s “Why Asia? Why Singapore? Why Now?” Conference On Friday, Sept. 16th: RCGA continues its partnership with The Boeing Institute of International Business at Saint Louis University's John Cook School of Business, as it hosts the “Why Asia? Why Singapore? Why Now?” conference, featuring U.S. Ambassador to Singapore David Adelman, from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., on Friday, Sept. 16th, in the Busch Student Center, 20 N. Grand Blvd.
Ambassador Adelman’s presentation will be followed by brief presentations by 5 guests representing Singapore and U.S. business interests:
RCGA is pleased to partner with the U.S. Department of Commerce; the World Affairs Council; the World Agricultural Forum; and the World Trade Center Saint Louis on this program. To register for “Why Asia? Why Singapore? Why Now?,” please e-mail the Boeing Institute of International Business at biib@slu.edu or call 314.977.3898. August 23, 2011 Entrepreneur Steve Roberts Is Featured Speaker At RCGA Breakfast With The Gazelles On Thursday, September 8th: Speaking of the revitalization of downtown St. Louis, please plan to join us for the next RCGA Breakfast with the Gazelles featuring RCGA Board member Steve Roberts, president of The Roberts Companies, on Thursday morning, September 8th, beginning at 7:15 a.m., in The Roberts Tower, 411 N. 8th St., Floor 2, downtown. Steve and his brother Mike Roberts together founded St. Louis-based The Roberts Companies more than 30 years ago. Among their urban success stories are the Roberts Orpheum Theater at 416 N. 9th St., the Roberts Mayfair Hotel and the Roberts Lofts in the former Board of Education Building downtown. In 1989, they launched WRBU-TV Channel 46.
His topic is “Downtown Development – Recent History And Future.” Breakfast with the Gazelles is presented each month by the RCGA. Registration and continental breakfast open at 7:15 a.m., with the program itself running from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. For more information about this and other upcoming RCGA Breakfast with the Gazelles programs, please contact RCGA Vice President for Membership Services Colin Stahlhut today at (314) 444-1145, or e-mail him at cstahlhut@stlrcga.org. August 22, 2011 In Current Issue, Urban Land Magazine Features Citygarden As National Example Of Public Open Space Enriching Surrounding Community And Real Estate Values: The August issue of Urban Land magazine, the national magazine of the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute, which is distributed to more than 40,000 readers who are developers, institutional lenders, public officials, journalists and other ULI members nationally and internationally, spotlights Citygarden.
In the article entitled, “Citygarden: Open Space As Catalyst,” Urban Land writer Theodore Thoerig, notes, “Public art and open space are increasingly recognized as positive forces in urban economics. When the two are combined – like the Citygarden 2011 ULI Amanda Burden Urban Open Space Award winner – a powerful value generator for real estate emerges. Part municipal park, part sculpture garden, the 2.9-acre Citygarden in St. Louis, Missouri, stands as a powerful example of the regenerative power of art-infused urban open space.” This past May, Citygarden emerged as the winner in the final round of a national competition for the prestigious Urban Land Institute Amanda Burden Urban Open Space Award for 2011. Citygarden competed with two projects from Portland, Ore. and two others from Houston. The Amanda Burden award "recognizes an outstanding example of a public open space that has enriched and revitalized its surrounding community," award officials noted. Citygarden is a national example of a well-used public open space that has helped to enrich and revitalize the surrounding area. In early May, Amanda Burden, New York City’s planning commissioner, who endowed the award, and Mark Johnson, founder of Civitas, a Denver-based planning firm, took a tour of Citygarden led by representatives of the Gateway Foundation, which conceived and financed the garden, and from Warren Byrd, a principal in Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, which designed it. Rodney Crim, executive director of the St. Louis Development Corp., accepted the award on behalf of the foundation and the City at the national Spring Meeting of the ULI in Phoenix. Please click here to access the full Urban Land magazine piece about Citygarden: http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2011/August/ThoerigCitygarden August 17, 2011 Nominations Now Open For 2011 "Greater St. Louis Top 50” Awardees: Nominations are now being accepted for the 2011 Greater St. Louis Top 50. The Gala Awards Dinner will be held on Monday evening, November 14th at the Chase Park Plaza.
Nominees will be judged on their firm’s or organization’s impact on the region, which will be measured in several ways, based on such factors as: growth in number of employees; enhancement of the community; revenue growth; acquisitions; green/sustainable efforts; expansion/development of facilities; and their overall contributions to the St. Louis regional economy and civic community. All St. Louis area companies, from small entrepreneurial firms to large publicly-held companies, may enter the awards program, as well as nonprofit organizations. RubinBrown and the RCGA are once again partnering in presenting this 16th annual awards program, which salutes outstanding business entrepreneurs and organizations in a full spectrum of sectors. In addition to RCGA and RubinBrown, corporate and media sponsors of the Top 50 Awards program are: Ameren; Edward Jones; M&I, a part of BMO Financial Group; Thompson Coburn LLP; KMOX NewsRadio 1120; the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; STLtoday.com; and St. Louis Commerce Magazine. The 2011 Ameren Corporate Citizenship Award and the 2011 Spirit of St. Louis Technology Award will also be presented once again this year. The 2010 Ameren Corporate Citizenship Award was presented to Peabody Energy. Express Scripts was honored with the 2010 Spirit of St. Louis Technology Award. The Greater St. Louis Top 50 Award winners will be announced and featured in the November/December issue of St. Louis Commerce Magazine and will be honored at the November 14th Gala Awards dinner at the Chase Park Plaza. Both self-nominations and 3rd party nominations are welcomed and encouraged; and may be completed on-line, at http://www.stlrcga.org/documents/top50.asp, or by visiting the RCGA website at www.stlrcga.org under "Events." Nomination forms also have been mailed to all RCGA member companies. The deadline for receipt of completed nomination forms is Friday, September 2nd. For further information on the Greater St. Louis Top 50, please contact RCGA Vice President for Membership Services Colin Stahlhut at (314) 444-1145, or e-mail at cstahlhut@stlrcga.org. August 16, 2011 St. Louis BioBelt Beats Out Virginia For SyMyco: The RCGA was pleased to join Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and other BioBelt civic partners in welcoming SyMyco, an international bioscience company, as the company announced this past week that it will be locating in the Bio-Research and Development Growth Park (BRDG) in Creve Coeur. The company plans to initially hire 80 employees. SyMyco is a joint venture between New Delhi, India-based Symbiotic Sciences and Mycorrhizal Applications Inc. of Oregon. The company’s products reduce the need for chemical fertilizers, while increasing crop yield and resistance to weeds and disease. Joining in welcoming the company to St. Louis at the news conference this week at BRDG were Gov. Jay Nixon, SyMyco President Aditya Malhotra, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, BRDG Park President Sam Fiorello, and RCGA Vice President for Business Recruitment Jim Alexander.
The RCGA has been working with our partners at the BRDG Park, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis County, the State of Missouri, the Missouri Partnership and the Missouri Technology Corporation for the past two years to attract SyMyco to locate adjacent to the Danforth Plant Science Center, beating out the State of Virginia’s proposal. SyMyco initially will occupy 1,800-square feet of lab space on the top floor of BRDG Park. Company executives first met BRDG Park and Danforth executives and researchers in 2009 at the inaugural Ag Innovation Showcase. This event has become the premier networking event for agriculturally focused biotechnology and research. The Ag Innovation Showcase is a joint effort of BRDG Park at Danforth Plant Science Center, Larta Institute, RCGA, St. Louis County Economic Council, Missouri Biotechnology Association (MOBIO), and Missouri Technology Corporation. August 15, 2011 StartUp St. Louis & T-REX Is Big Boost For IT Entrepreneurs, Selecting Initial Entrepreneurs In Whom To Invest: The entrepreneurial buzz is turning into investment reality for several startups locally as the IT-focused seed fund and accelerator “Startup St. Louis”, and T-REX “shared space” both began activity in earnest this past Wednesday.
The physical shared space in the Railway Exchange Building downtown (T-REX) had its preview night on Wednesday, the same day that the Capital Innovators and their civic partners held their Selection Day to choose its top five investment candidates from a pool of 15 semi-finalists. The 15 semi-finalists for the accelerator, called Startup St. Louis, had been winnowed down from a surprisingly large pool of over 160 entrepreneurs who applied last month. And while there was one finalist from Indiana presenting, most of the semi-finalists came from within the St. Louis region. Over the next two weeks, the seed fund will negotiate the terms of $50,000 investments per firm with the individual entrepreneurs and announce the inaugural class in time for a September 12th launch. StartUp St. Louis mentors and service providers will then help entrepreneurs refine their business proposition for an intense 90 days, and conclude with a Demo Day, only to start screening the next batch of $50k investments into five more new companies, and repeat it again every six months. The Accelerator activity will be housed at a new downtown facility called TEC @ Railroad Exchange Building (T-REX) which is opening as a low-cost, flexible-lease space with 10MB internet connection oriented to the nascent IT startup entrepreneur, with or without the Capital Innovator’s funding. T-REX, where you go “to build something gigantic”, is underwritten by the three not-for-profit economic development organizations: Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, the St. Louis Development Corporation and the RCGA. StartUp St. Louis is modeled after the TechStars program in Boulder, Colorado, where awardees receive seed funding, and at the end of three months of mentorship, receive the opportunity to pitch to investors on Demo Day for further funding. The ultimate goal of StartUp St. Louis is to develop a long-term start-up accelerator program that keeps up-and-coming tech companies funded and growing in the St. Louis area. StartUp St. Louis dovetails perfectly with our regional economic development strategy of attracting, developing and retaining top talent in the region. August 10, 2011 “FX Market Prospects In A Post Fed-Easing World” Is Subject Of John Cook School Of Business Program Thursday, August 18th: The RCGA is once again partnering with The Boeing Institute of International Business at the John Cook School of Business at Saint Louis University, in partnership with Wells Fargo, to present the “FX Market Prospects In A Post Fed-Easing World” program on Thursday, August 18th, beginning at 7:30 a.m., at the Anheuser-Busch Auditorium, 3674 Lindell Blvd. The keynote breakfast speaker is Nick Bennenbroek, Senior Vice President and Head of Currency Strategy for Wells Fargo Foreign Exchange. In this role, his primary focus is to offer analyses of the foreign exchange markets to help customers manage the risks and opportunities of operating and investing in these markets.
From his base in New York, he provides daily and monthly commentary on foreign exchange markets through several Wells Fargo publications. He began his career as an analyst with the New Zealand Treasury in 1994. Bennenbroek spent 6 years as an international economist for Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank in Auckland, N.Z., London, and New York. He has broad market experience, having analyzed most of the Asian-Pacific, European, and North American economies. Prior to his current position, he was a senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. A native of New Zealand, he appears frequently on business television and in media such as Bloomberg and CNBC, and his research is often quoted in financial publications such as The Wall Street Journal. This event is complimentary, but all guests must have a reservation. SLU Marketplace is being utilized to make reservations. When you click on the link below, you will go to the GLOBAL EVENTS detail page. Select this event and begin towards checkout. Note that the limit per order is 4 guests. If you have more than 4 guests, please place multiple orders. Please CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. For more information, please call 314.977.3630. August 9, 2011 Pittsburgh Preparing To Welcome RCGA Leadership Exchange Delegates: A delegation of St. Louis area CEOs, civic and elected leaders, led by RCGA Board Chairman Tom Voss, Chairman, President & CEO of Ameren, and Ward Klein, CEO of Energizer Holdings, will be in Pittsburgh for 3 days of meetings with many of their Indy counterparts, as part of the 13th Annual RCGA Leadership Exchange on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, October 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
Please join us to see and hear firsthand the remarkable transformation that has taken place in this Rustbelt city and region. Over the past dozen years, our community has annually taken a delegation of our region’s business, civic and elected leaders to another region for a 3-day best practices examination of current St. Louis issues and opportunities through the lens of another region. Through these Annual Leadership Exchanges, we have advanced issues here in St. Louis as diverse as center city revitalization, the proactive pursuit of St. Louis BioBelt Plant and Life Sciences strategy, the development of CORTEX and various St. Louis venture capital initiatives, and many best practices examples of regional economic development – to name a few. As international leaders in G-20 Summit observed in 2009, Pittsburgh is increasingly accomplished in a number of areas and issues of importance to our own metropolitan area. Issues we would explore include, among others:
Pittsburgh is a good region for us to visit. A study released in February, 2011 from the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit, listed Pittsburgh as the "most livable city" in the U.S. In addition, its corporate community is growing. For example, the PNC Financial Services Group just announced it will start construction on a 40-story tower costing $400 million that will be the world’s most environmentally friendly skyscraper. A registration fee of $2,999 will cover each delegate’s participation in the Leadership Exchange. The fee covers roundtrip flights, single hotel occupancy accommodations, and all meals (starting Sunday with lunch and ending Tuesday with lunch), as well as local transportation. We invite you to join us on our October 2 - 4 Leadership Exchange Trip. Please complete and return the Registration Form, or contact Colin Stahlhut, RCGA Vice President for Membership Services, at (314) 444-1145 or cstahlhut@sltrcga.org with questions. August 8, 2011 St. Louis Commerce Magazine Receives Top National Awards By American Chamber Of Commerce Executives: St. Louis Commerce magazine, the region’s business magazine published since 1918 by the RCGA, has won both the Gold Award for Communications Excellence, and the national Best In Show Marketing Collateralby the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE). These two prestigious national awards were presented this past Thursday evening during the Awards Show, headlined by former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the ACCE Annual Convention at the JW Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles. The issues of St. Louis Commerce magazine that were nominated for consideration in this year’s annual awards were the July/August and September/October 2010 issues. Also, the 2010 Roster issue of St. Louis Commerce was awarded a Bronze Award, in the category “Special Publications.”
Our organization has been proud to publish St. Louis Commerce magazine for 93 years as the region’s business magazine and we appreciate this national recognition for the quality of the publication as a marketing tool for St. Louis. We thank everyone who contributes to make St. Louis Commerce a quality publication – Stan Gellman Graphic Design, the RCGA staff and, of course, our advertisers and RCGA members. The current issue of St. Louis Commerce magazine, pictured below, is the annual Green Issue, and also features George Paz and the executive team of Express Scripts.
The other finalists in the national Best in Show Award for regional marketing were: the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce for its image campaign; the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce for its marketing campaign; the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; and the Kansas City Area Development Council for its “Next American Dream: The Story of American Downtowns” national documentary for PBS. Founded nearly a century ago, the American Chamber of Commerce Executives began as the National Association of Commercial Organization Secretaries back in 1914. Today, ACCE is headquartered in Alexandria, Va. and is comprised of over 1,300 chambers of commerce from throughout the nation, and is the national association serving individuals involved in the management of chambers of commerce of all sizes in every state in the country. The organization’s mission is to enhance the professional effectiveness and personal well being of chamber executives.
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