Columbia Business Times - August 2017

MONICA NAYLOR A LIFELONG

Real

IMPACT

CPS 'grows its

own' teachers.

PAGE 40

MIZZOU ATHLETICS MYTHS PAGE 52

LEADER IN EDUCATION

“

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I

’ve written 20-plus editor’s letters and haven’t mentioned my love of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings once, so indulge me while I talk about education and Wonder Woman. I promise, this is going somewhere.

It was a dream come true to sit down in a theater recently and see a (really good) movie about a female superhero who has a personality and saves the guy and is, in general, a badass. There haven’t been many movies in my life that IMPACT have impacted me the way “Wonder Woman” did this summer. Besides being a genuinely good action movie, with plot and character development and cool superhero moves, it was pure joy to watch a woman save the world.

I’ve loved superhero movies and sci-fi movies since I was a kid, and this was the first time I left the theater feeling like ON THE COVER I had saved the world myself. You go, Diana.

Monica Naylor is a legend in Columbia.

We all want to see ourselves reflected in the heroes, It’s clear she has been a mentor both super and regular, around us. And as exciting and to others in education, like Nicolle Adair, who is taking over the CPS rewarding as it was for a grown woman to watch a superEdX program. Even after “re-retiring” hero movie starring a woman, imagine how much more this summer, Naylor will continue to important — vital, really — it is for a young girl or boy to have an impact on Columbia youth. see teachers with the same color skin in the classroom.

Photography by Anthony Jinson Columbia Public Schools understands the necessity of those mentors and educators. That’s why they’ve reinstated the Grow Your Own program, in which CPS students with a desire to become teachers intern in CPS classrooms. Some are receiving scholarships for college and committing to coming back and teaching in Columbia.

You’ll get a chance to meet two of the interns on page 40. One, Nautica Varnum, has been an EdX intern for two years, and she had this to say about her interactions with the kindergarten and firstgrade classes she’s worked with: “Being in the program for four weeks made me realize how having a grown up in the classroom that looks similar to you can have such a big impact. I bonded with all the kids but felt a close bond with some of the African Americans because they always wanted to be around me and would always ask me for help.”

For those students, having teachers and even older students in the classroom to emulate will remind them they’re capable of the same success, of being someone’s hero themselves. It will be exciting to see the ripple effect of this program in a few years.

This is our education issue, so check out stories on the impact of state student activities on the local economy (page 66), the myths about Mizzou athletics’ finances (page 52), and local professionals who’ve made the commitment to go back to school (page 50).

In other news, nominations open August 1 for CBT’s 20 Under 40 awards, presented by Joe Machens Dealerships. Head over to ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com and take less than five minutes to nominate an outstanding young professional in the community. The class will be revealed in December!

MONICA NAYLOR A LIFELONG

Real

LEADER IN

EDUCATION

CPS 'Grows its own' teachers PAGE 40

EDITOR'S PICKS If you haven’t been to our website recently, we have some fantastic online-only bloggers who are writing about essential and engaging topics. Head over to ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com and check it out.

MIZZOU

ATHLETICS MYTHS PAGE 52

CARRIE GARTNER Gartner, executive director of the Loop CID, breaks down the trends and topics of city life and infrastructure, from the changing ways cities are using greenspaces to how signage is changing in downtowns.

The lady loves cities.

JAIME FREIDRICHS Freidrichs, executive director of the Women’s Business Center, shares her experiences running a one-year old nonprofit, the growth and excitement of her clients, and the tips and trends she’s seeing for women entrepreneurs.

Thanks for reading,

Brenna McDermott, Editor brenna@businesstimescompany.com

/Co l u m b i a B u s i n e ss Ti m e s

@ Co l u m b i a B i z

Co l u m b i a B u s i n e ss Ti m e s .co m

BRIANNA LENNON Lennon talks local government topics each month, like the importance of attending public meetings (and why it should be easier), voting technology, and more.

Ed i to r @ B u s i n e ss Ti m e s Co m p a ny.co m COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 13

14 AUGUST 2017

EDITORIAL Erica Pefferman, Publisher Erica@BusinessTimesCompany.com Fran Patrick, Associate Publisher Fran@BusinessTimesCompany.com Brenna McDermott, Editor Brenna@BusinessTimesCompany.com Matthew Patston, Managing Editor Matt@BusinessTimesCompany.com DESIGN/CREATIVE SERVICES Jordan Watts, Editorial Designer Jordan@BusinessTimesCompany.com Keith Borgmeyer, Art Director Keith@BusinessTimesCompany.com Kate Morrow, Graphic Designer Kate@BusinessTimesCompany.com Cassidy Shearrer, Graphic Designer Cassidy@BusinessTimesCompany.com

Inside the Issue Twitter Chatter

Around the Office

Mike Matthes @Matthes8 Congratulations Heather (and Latisha and Tami) on the well deserved recognition!

David Wilson @davidkinofist So, @truefalse won an award from @ColumbiaBiz and we made it a family affair.

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The Business Times Company was invited to participate in Access Arts' large-scale mural project that will celebrate both the 2017 solar eclipse and the diverse community we all live in. Once installed at the Montminy Gallery in the Boone County Historical Society, the 72 pieces of foam board will form a panoramic scene that spans an area 6 feet tall and 64 feet long!

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Write to CBT editor Brenna McDermott at Brenna@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 15

16 AUGUST 2017

AUGUST 2017 VO L . 24 / ISSUE 2

TA B LE OF CON T EN TS

The Education Issue 13 FROM THE EDITOR 15 INSIDE THE ISSUE 19 CLOSER LOOK 20 BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS 23 BUSINESS UPDATE

40

Stephens College

26 NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT Day Dreams Foundation

28 CELEBRATIONS

Midwest Computech

31 MOVERS & SHAKERS 33 P.Y.S.K. Ajay Vinzé

37 7 QUESTIONS Elizabeth Loboa

39 OPINION 71 ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH Nine Keys for a Leadership Development Culture

73 MARKETING

How Much Is Too Much?

75 POLICY

Time to Streamline Sales Tax

77 ASK ANNE

One-on-ones and Fun

79 BUSINESS SMARTS Avoiding Scams Takes Effort

Role Real Models Columbia Public Schools’ student internship program is developing minority teachers from inside the district’s own classrooms — and giving students a ready-made career.

46

52

81 NEW BUSINESS LICENSES 82 DEEDS OF TRUST 83 ECONOMIC INDEX 85 BY THE NUMBERS 89 THIS OR THAT Mun Y. Choi

90 FLASHBACK Williams Hall

58

66

Degree(s) Bound

First and Goal

Educational Options

MSHSAAville, MO

Everyone has their own reasons for going back to school — but what’s it really like to dust off the bookbag as a working professional?

In the midst of budget cuts and layoffs, MU thinks their athletics program can help rehabilitate the school’s brand. How will that work?

We hit the streets to break down what you need to know about Columbia’s private schools. There are more than you realize.

As the biggest city in MidMissouri, Columbia is a prime location for high school events. How much do they impact our economy?

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BUSINE SS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

C LOSER LOOK

Closer Look

Ukatsu

The Dance Academy

BEN BROOKS AND JOE CHEE are co-founders of Ukatsu, the youth development program for young gamers.

The name stems from the Japanese phrase “katsu” which means “to win.” Launched in February of this year, this program turns video games into a positive tool for growth through summer camps, rec leagues, and workshops. “We want to be the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, or Little League, but for the kids who play video games,” Brooks says.

Ukatsu encourages social interaction and positive problem solving as well as a balance with living a healthy lifestyle for young gamers. Ukatsu focuses on teaching gamers the importance of maintaining respect across all genders and races online.

They currently offer half- and full-day camps that give kids an opportunity to meet like-minded gamers and form friendships.

The camps include curriculum that gives the gamers time to reflect on what they’ve learned by journaling and meditating.

“Your kids’ love and passion for video games doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” Brooks says.

SAMMY BAKER HAS BEEN DANCING all her life. She started seriously pursuing dance at The Academy of the Fine Arts when she was 13; now, at 21 years old, Baker has launched her own dance studio, The Dance Academy.

“I think, with me being so young, I’m able to understand exactly what the girls are looking for, and I’m able to keep up with current dance events,” Baker says.

She started teaching tap dance at The Academy of the Fine Arts when she graduated high school. When the owner of The Academy of Fine Arts retired, it gave Baker the opportunity to start fresh and create her own school. The Dance Academy offers summer classes, competition tryouts, and will have a traveling competition team that will compete in three or four events throughout Missouri.

What makes the Dance Academy different from other dance studios in Columbia, Baker says, is the family aspect. “I want parents to feel when they’re dropping their kids off at dance that they’re getting more than just dance lessons,” Baker says.

“They’re getting taught life lessons.”

Address: 500 E. Broadway Website: ukatsu.org Contact: info@ukatsu.org

Address: 3211 S. Providence Rd. Website: thedanceacademycomo.com

Athletes Performance Institute AFTER PLAYING WIDE RECEIVER for MU from 2008 to 2011, Jerrell Jackson went on to play professionally in the NFL and the Canadian Football League. Jackson is now back in Columbia and is the co-owner of the Athletes Performance Institute.

The Athletes Performance Institute is a training facility that offers group, personal, and athletic training as well as yoga classes and boot camps. “I want to have that gym to where it’s affordable for any type of athlete to come and to get the tools they need to succeed,” Jackson says.

The Athletes Performance Institute has trained athletes that have ranked nationally in their sport, received athletic scholarships, and been drafted onto professional sports teams. Jackson hopes to build a community that works together, regardless of background. He hopes students from rival high schools can come in, work hard, compete, and influence each other to be better and to help build “the gold standard in the Midwest.”

Address: 128 E. Nifong Blvd.

Website: projectfitnessapi.com Contact: 573-397-8324

Contact: director@thedanceacademycomo.com

Are you an entrepreneur? Are you sprouting a new business? Tell us about it at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 19

BUSINE SS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

Briefly in the News AUGUST 2017

BUSINESS

CCC SWITCHES MANAGEMENT Columbia Country Club selected Troon, a golf course management company, as its new manager. The club will be operated by Troon Privé, the division dedicated to operated private clubs for the company. Troon operates more than 270 golf courses internationally.

Columbia Country Club was established in 1921 as the first private golf club in Columbia.

C OMMUNIT Y

BOONE COUNTY SELECTED FOR DISASTER TRAINING Boone County is one of 12 counties selected to attend the Federal Emergency Management Agencies’ Emergency Management Institute.

Seventy-five officials from Boone County’s emergency response team will attend the four-day training event in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

“Th is t rain in g w i l l cre a t e a n opportu n it y for co l l a b o r a t i o n ac ross ou r c om mu n i t y by brin gin g t oge t h e r re sp o n se agen c ies, ele c te d o ffi ci a l s, an d n on -govern me n t p a rt n e r s in a se t t in g t h a t cre a t e s a dialogu e , bu ilds re l a t i o n sh i p s, an d fost e rs l e a r n i n g.”

— Terry Cassil, Director of Boone County Emergency Management 20 AUGUST 2017

BR I EFLY I N T H E N EWS

BUS INES S

COMMERCE WINS

E DUC AT ION

CULTURE AWARDS

MU PARTNERS

Commerce Bank recently was recently recognized by Korn Ferry, an international organizational consulting firm, and Forbes magazine for employee culture. Korn Ferry named Commerce a 2017 Employee Engagement Winner, and Forbes named Commerce one of America’s Best Midsize Employers.

FOR NATIONAL SECURITY The MU College of Engineering is partnering with Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, a division of Honeywell Aerospace that manages and operates the Kansas City National Security Campus for the U.S. Department of Energy. That center supports the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the partnership with Honeywell will allow MU students to work, both on campus and through internships and jobs, on national security projects.

B U S INES S

TRUE MEDIA ACQUISITION True Media, the advertising agency headquartered on Business Loop 70 in Columbia, recently acquired MB25, a media buying and planning agency based outside of Minneapolis. True Media has an office in Minneapolis as well as Canadian offices in Toronto and Calgary. MB25 is more than 25 years old.

EDUC AT ION

“The decision to acquire MB25 is driven by our plans for focused growth in both the United States and Canada.”

— Ja c k Mille r, CE O of True Me dia

E DUC AT ION

ENTREPRENEUR BOOTCAMP RETURNS The Trulaske College of Business at MU hosted its second Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans, a small business and startup education program for post-9/11 veterans. Nineteen veterans participated in a week of workshops, presentations, and experiential training at MU to familiarize them with the world of entrepreneurship. Other schools around the country have adopted the EBV program as a way to help reintegrate veterans into the workforce. Last year was MU’s first in the program.

COMO SUCCESS GRANTS The City of Columbia and the Shelter Insurance Foundation awarded the first of their Columbia Success Grants to Mekhia Thompson, a 2017 graduate of Battle High School. The tuition grants, which total $1,000 each, will be given to incoming college students from one of the three neighborhoods identified in the city's strategic plan as needing more resources. Thompson, who was also a CBT 20 Under 20 recipient, will start classes at the University of Central Missouri this fall.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 21

22 AUGUST 2017

BUSINE SS • P EO P L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

B U SI N ESS U PDAT E

Life Is Sweet at Stephens The school celebrates new programs while reflecting on progress made.

BY JODIE JACKS ON JR .

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 23

BUSINE SS • P EO P L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

AN ALWAYS-STOCKED BOWL OF chocolate in her office makes Dianne Lynch’s open-door policy even more appealing.

Lynch, the president of Stephens College since June 2009, laughs at her own reference to the chocolate bowl. It’s the same easy tone Lynch uses to deflect and share any credit for the liberal arts college’s strength and vitality, even as other private colleges — and certainly public institutions of higher education — struggle with dried-up funding, shrinking enrollment, and the constant need to compete for new students.

Stephens, a Columbia mainstay since 1833, added a physician assistant program to its health sciences department last summer and continues to receive accolades for fashion and design programs (they’re also the first women’s college to launch an eSports department). The new physician assistant program got a boost from a $1 million gift from 1954 alumna Phyllis Henigson, the result of Lynch’s pitch for seed money — “a lot of seeds,” Lynch said during a gift recognition event last summer.

And there’s more.

“Where do you want to start?” Lynch says about the latest news and developments at Stephens College. “How much time do you have?”

Her bullet point list of highlights reflect a small college — full-time enrollment exceeded 800 for the 2017-2018 academic year — that knows its identity, what it does well, and why it’s necessary to embrace, not avoid, change. The shifting landscape of higher education offers few certainties and abundant challenges.

“If you’re not comfortable with change, this is probably not the place for you,” Lynch says. “I always tell our community that if you feel the ground slipping out beneath your feet, you learn to tap dance.”

In any market, whether an organization is an “enormous player” or a “smaller, unique, specialized organization” – a comparison of Stephens to its larger higher-ed counterparts in Columbia and elsewhere — Lynch says the institutions that thrive are those “that know exactly what their strengths and their market are.”

“It’s much easier to be nimble and dynamic and responsive when you’re small,” Lynch adds. Stephens has embraced the sense of community that permeates the local campus and its satellite facilities. Those include 24 AUGUST 2017

a partnership with the Jim Henson Studios, in Los Angeles, as home to their degree in screenwriting, to a now 60-year-old theatre program and new artist village — the result of a major fundraising and building project — in Okoboji, Iowa.

“We’re a small, residential women’s college in the heart of a university town. We know the type of young woman that we are best situated to serve,” Lynch says. “We are not all things to all people. We have no interest in being that.”

STAYING ON TRACK The college just finished a five-year strategic plan, a “dynamic, living document” that looks to build on the creative arts and health sciences programs under the Stephens umbrella with the traditional performing arts and fashion design programs.

The Business of Fashion, a fashion industry group, has named the Stephens program second in the world, in competition with places like Manila, Tokyo, London, and Paris.

The School of Performing Arts was ranked sixth in the country by the Princeton Review.

Tuition and fees for 2017-2018 will average a little over $30,300. Based on room and board selections for a college that bills itself as the “No. 1 pet-friendly campus” in the country, the total annual cost for a Stephens College student will be between $38,600 and $42,900. The college has a 65 percent acceptance rate, is 96 percent female, and has a student-faculty ratio of 10-to-one.

“I think that’s among our greatest strengths,” Lynch says. “Stop any student and ask why they love Stephens — they would tell you that it’s about their relationships with our faculty. And, yes, they like that the president wears red shoes and there’s always chocolate in my office. But they don’t come to Stephens for that.”

Environmental law attorney Aimee Davenport earned her undergraduate degree from Stephens in 1998, well before Lynch came on the scene eight years ago.

“The chocolate bowl is huge. Of course I’ve eaten from it,” Davenport says. She has forged a strong relationship with Lynch while nurturing a seemingly lifelong connection with Stephens. She sported a Stephens T-shirt as a 4-year-old in the ’70s, when her dad was taking a correspondence course there. More recently, Davenport is the imme-

“If you’re not comfortable with change, this is probably not the best place for you.”

- Dianne Lynch, President of Stephens College

diate past president of the Stephens College Alumni Association board.

As a student, Davenport found Stephens to be the perfect place to be both an athlete and musician. “Stephens offered enough of everything,” she says. Davenport fell in love with the college and with Columbia.

And she’s a vocal, ready supporter of the college president.

When Lynch demurs, reluctant to take credit for Stephens’ progress and prestige — “credit belongs to everyone here,” she says — the deflection is genuine and sincere, Davenport says. But she has no hesitation in where to direct those kudos. Lynch built on progress that was under way via previous president Wendy Libby, Davenport says, taking the next steps in giving the college “a name and an identity beyond Stephens’ walls.”

“She engaged the alumni and the students and worked to give Stephens a spot in the larger community,” she says. “All that credit needs to go to Dianne.”

B U SI N ESS U PDAT E

A HUMBLE LOOK FORWARD Perhaps the one award ceremony that illustrated Lynch’s credit-deflection was the Athena Leadership Award event in April 2016 in Lela Raney Wood Hall on the Stephens campus. After Lynch accepted the award to a lengthy standing ovation, she took the microphone and asked for a second standing ovation for the other two award finalists. Lynch went on to extol the contributions of the other finalists and added that the Athena Award – a high honor for career success and supporting women in business – was “without a doubt, the most affirming … and cherished award I could receive.”

Now, asked another question about the role she has played in Stephens’ growth over the last few years, Lynch says: “I think Dianne Lynch has had something to do with being part of an extraordinary team. Perhaps more than at other institutions, this is a team effort, and we are entirely a community. There isn’t anybody on this campus who doesn’t deserve recognition of the fact that they, too, have contributed.”

Lynch and Stephens also take pride in the college’s visibility at the intersections of College Avenue and Broadway — one of the gateways into downtown Columbia.

At the beginning of the summer, the campus hosted 1,200 visitors to the Unbound Book Festival.

Davenport likes the forecast for her alma mater. “I think Stephens is going to continue to produce forward-thinking leaders,” she says. “[It] was a really transformative experience for me. . . . Stephens will only become stronger. I don’t see the momentum stopping.”

Lynch recently headed to Okoboji, eager to see the culmination of summer theatre work and hopeful that her cargo was safe from the elements during the 7½ hour drive. She knew there was an expectation for her visit.

“I take great, big tubs of chocolate,” she says. CBT

Stephens College 1200 E. Broadway 573-442-2211 stephens.edu COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 25

BUSINE SS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

Giving More Than Scholarships Day Dreams Foundation provides students funds to make memories that will last a lifetime.

BY N INA HEBRA N K

MOST OF US REMEMBER WHAT IS WAS like to play soccer after school with friends or be a part of a team or club after school — it’s routine for some kids, something that comes without a second thought. But often we don’t realize how important extracurricular activities can be for our youth. After-school programs can be a vital help for students on the way to becoming well-rounded adults.

Not everyone can afford the cost of a soccer uniform or activity fees. That’s what the Day Dreams Foundation focuses on — eliminating the financial barriers for students to participate in extracurricular activities.

Since its founding in 2014, Day Dreams has helped nearly 150 kids participate in extra26 AUGUST 2017

curricular activities, providing over $27,830 in activity fees, $3,184 in equipment costs, and $1,500 in college scholarships.

Kids 18 and under who are Columbia or Boone County residents and receive a free or reduced lunch are eligible for these scholarships. Day Dreams Foundation has also extended eligibility to students who are homeschooled if they fit the financial income requirements.

“I think it’s so important for kids growing up to have additional people in their life trying to put them on the right track,” founder and president Joe Bradley says. “Oftentimes, that person is a coach or an instructor in those extracurriculars.”

WHY IT MATTERS Day Dreams Foundation doesn’t just give these scholarships away. One requirement for participants is to become active in the community by completing a designated am0unt of community service, depending on the age group. Day Dreams wants to be sure the kids they help are going to get as much out of the program as possible.

The experiences students have, whether it be playing sports on a team, learning to play an instrument, or taking art classes, can translate to behaviors and skills practiced in the classroom and beyond, and extracurriculars can help students excel in other important areas of development. They give students

N ON PR OFI T

Day Dreams Foundation FUNCTION Fills affordability gap for families wanting to send their children to after school activities and extracurriculars.

FOUNDED IN 2014

BOARD MEMBERS • Joe Bradley • Mark Kirchoff • Kelsey Louder • Ellen Bradley • Claire Custer • Josh Giliberto • Elly Lang • Sara Maslar-Donar • Taira Meadowcroft • Eugenia Nathan • Katelyn Sanders • Marcus Williams

NEEDS • Donations • Sponsors • Volunteers to serve on committees

Mark Kirchhoff

real-world experiences where they must make quick decisions. These decisions aren’t like the ones they make in the classroom, which may have a later effect on something like a grade on a paper; rather, the decisions they make directly affect their teammates, their coaches, and their friends, oftentimes immediately. They learn the importance of honesty, respect, and confidence. These experiences help form the kind of person they will become.

“Sometimes,” Bradley says, “I think that confidence on the basketball court or on the field can also translate to confidence in the classroom and confidence in the community, being willing to raise your hand in class or go out and help a neighbor.”

Being a scholarship-focused nonprofit, fundraising is a constant background focus for Day Dreams. They need capital to fund their scholarships, and to do this they need to raise awareness of their cause and fundraise accordingly.

Day Dreams Foundation has three main fundraisers. The big one is their annual gala — the main push for large donors. The gala is a formal dinner that features speakers and a silent auction. At the gala, the board awards a college scholarship and the Star-Kid award, given to a child nominated by the board who has previously been awarded a scholarship by the Day Dreams Foundation and who has excelled in their community activity.

“We’re really excited,” Vice President Mark Kirchhoff says. “This is our chance to

Joe Bradley

hit people that will be year-long donors and to find some ways to get some more sustainable funding streams. That’s the biggest thing for an all-volunteer group such as ourselves.”

They also hold a trivia night and a “bubble soccer” tournament. (“Bubble soccer” is soccer, but played with every player encased in a giant inflatable ball.) During the fundraising lull between events, Day Dreams Foundation also does profit-shares with local Columbia restaurants and businesses.

WHAT’S NEXT? Day Dreams Foundation is always growing and looking for new, creative ways to fundraise and increase the opportunities they can offer. The board is expanding as they try to find a variety of people that can represent all of Columbia. In the future, Day Dreams Foundation would like to have a full-time staff.

Right now, it’s about a search for sustainability for the organization — finding ways to keep helping as many kids as possible.

“We all believe in the mission,” Kirchhoff says. “It’s exciting to see how much community support there is for this concept.”

CBT

Day Dreams Foundation 200 E. Walnut St., Ste. #4 573-214-2600 daydreamsfoundation.org COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 27

From left: Greg Miller, Bruce Barbour (back), Corey Bruce, Brant Uptergrove (back), Sara Nivens, Clint Miller, David Nivens

1982

1987

1999

Young’s Typewriters starts out by selling typewriters in Sedalia, mostly to the school district.

Jeff Leeman buys the company and adds computer assembly and sales to their product line.

Greg Miller joins the company; he’s followed two years later

by David Nivens.

28 AUGUST 2017

BUSINE SS • P EO P L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

C ELEBRAT I ON S

How to Compute Success 35 years in, Midwest Computech keeps upgrading.

BY ELI MARCHBA N KS | P HOTOG R A P HY BY K E I TH B O R G M E Y E R

HOME COMPUTERS HAVE COME A long way since the old green screens that allowed you to do little more than type a few words and play Pong. Eventually, you could also play Wheel of Fortune, but only until you memorized all nine of the word puzzles that your eight-inch floppy disk could hold.

Midwest Computech has been around since those days, before they were even in the computer business. The company, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year, got its start in 1982 selling typewriters in Sedalia, mostly to the Sedalia 200 School District.

Back then, the company was known as Young’s Typewriters. The company would experience its first name change when it was bought out by Jeff Leeman in 1987 and became JL Computer Technologies. It was around this time the company began assembling and selling their own computers to school districts and offering on-site IT support. Greg Miller, who had previously worked as the technology coordinator for one of the school districts supported by JL Computer Technologies, joined in 1999. And just a couple of years later, in 2001, David Nivens joined the company.

THE DIGITAL AGE Nivens had been the technology coordinator for Concordia and Higginsville school districts. Nivens and Miller went on to buy the company in 2004 and changed the name to Midwest Computech. By this time, as you might guess, they were out of the typewriter business. Although, Nivens says with a laugh, even as late as the early 2000s they would get the occasional request from a previous cus-

tomer from years prior asking for help fixing a typewriter.

At this time, Midwest Computech was building their own computers, but they wouldn’t be doing that for much longer. They were starting to specialize more and more in IT support for their customers and learned to do everything from maintenance work on servers to getting into the walls and running connection fiber. In addition to their Sedalia office, which Miller runs, they also opened an office in Columbia, which would move around a couple of times before settling at their current location on Bernadette Drive, close to Columbia Mall. And they weren’t just offering their services to schools any more, although they still do service approximately 50 districts, but to businesses as well.

In 2008, the company started a data center for their customers to store information.

Nivens says this was a great step forward for Midwest Computech, eventually allowing them to top 50 employees. Nivens is also proud that, starting seven or eight years ago, this growth has also allowed the company to do some charitable things for the community, such as offer free laptops to kids going to college who might not be able to afford their own computers.

BEST PRACTICES As Midwest Computech celebrates their 35th year in business, the company seems to be settling into a practiced method of success.

Midwest Computech intentionally works to maintain partnerships in their industry.

Employees from engineers to service representatives work to maintain as many cer-

tifications with Apple and Microsoft programs as they can. When someone from Midwest Computech calls someone from Microsoft or Apple, they are speaking directly to higher level representatives at main company offices (not the lower-level 1-800-operators with whom the rest of us end up speaking). They’ve also sought to distinguish themselves through an emphasis on security, developing a closely monitored relationship with a firewall partner to ensure that customers can keep their data safe.

A MOVING TARGET Nivens says that one of the many things that makes him proud of his company is being recognized with local, community-focused accolades. That being said, it’s also nice to be recognized with a Blue Ribbon Small Business Award by the United States Chamber of Commerce — three times. Nivens is quick to point out that it isn’t having accolades to mount on your wall that matters, but what those awards mean.

The United States Chamber of Commerce, for example, looks at a number of things when selecting the award recipient. While business growth is one of them, they also look at things like community involvement and various other factors that Nivens finds meaningful and reflective of a business being led by individuals who don’t define success strictly in dollars. CBT

Midwest Computech 311 Bernadette Dr. 573- 499-6928 midwestcomputech.com

2004

2008

2014

Miller and Nivens buy the company and rename it Midwest Computech.

Midwest Computech adds a data center to store customers’ information.

Midwest Computech earns the first of its three — so far — consecutive Blue Ribbon Awards from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 29

30 AUGUST 2017

B U SINESS • PEOP LE • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

M OVER S & SH AKER S

Movers & Shakers AUGUST 2017 CURTRIGHT

The Bank of Missouri The Bank of Missouri announced several employee promotions.

Donna Duncan is now assistant vice president and branch operations officer. Susan Daly is now senior vice president and senior trust and compliance officer.

Tony Sublett is now senior vice president and senior investment officer. Angie Cantin is now senior administrative officer.

Betty Pentola is now business development coordinator.

Joyce Bohm is now senior relationship specialist.

The University of Missouri MU made a number of leadership appointments, including appointments to joint positions held by existing officials. Jonathan Curtright will serve as both chief executive officer and chief operating officer for MU Health Care.

Ryan Rapp is now vice president for finance for the UM System, having previously held the position on an interim basis. Kevin McDonald, the UM System’s chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer, will also take over as vice chancellor for diversity, equity, and inclusion on MU’s campus after holding the position on an interim basis. Also, Mark McIntosh is now vice president for research and economic development as well as the vice chancellor of research, graduate studies, and economic development, a joint appointment between MU and the UM System.

Columbia Police Department After securing a federal Department of Justince grant to help expand the Community Outreach Unit, the Columbia Police Department has added Officer Maria Phelps and Officer Justin Thomas to the unit. They will begin work in the area around Sylvan Lane and Whitegate Drive.

Janette Roberts Nichols The Columbia College Alumni Association awarded Nichols the Community Service Award. Apart from her jobs as a regional recruiter and adjunct professor at the college, Nichols volunteers with Missouri Patriot Paws, a group that trains and provides service dogs to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Michael Mouser Mouser was named the managing director of the Columbia office of Northwestern Mutual. The office had an official welcoming party at the end of June at the Reynolds Alumni Center.

REDI Bernie Andrews, the executive vice president of REDI, was named Professional Economic Developer of the year by the Missouri Economic Development Council.

Also, Stacey Button, REDI’s executive director, was appointed to the steering committee of Governor Eric Greitens’ Governor’s Innovation Task Force, a group created to study Missouri’s innovation practice and foster new businesses.

Jack Kelly Kelly accepted the position of chief executive officer at the Family Health Center, where he had been the chief operating officer for more than six years. Kelly’s professional background includes executive positions with other health care and long-term care organizations in Missouri.

He has an MBA from William Woods University.

R. RAPP

McDONALD

Heart of Missouri United Way The Heart of Missouri United Way announced its board officers for 2017-2018: Teresa Magruder, of Shelter Insurance, will be president; David Putnam, of First State Community Bank, will be vice president; Lee Hendrickson, of Providence Bank, will be treasurer; and Erica Pefferman, of The Business Times Company, will be secretary.

McINTOSH

PHELPS

Central Bank of Boone County Central Bank of Boone County announced several promotions.

Austin Rapp is now Central Investment Advisors sale assistant. Saira Farooqui is now customer service representative II. Tahliya Richardson is now a loan assistant at the downtown location. Amanda Banker, at the West Broadway bank, is now financial associate. Seth Pirtle is now a loan processor at the downtown location. And Hanna Rustemeyer, of the Hallsville bank, is now loan officer III. CBT

THOMAS

NICHOLS

KELLY

Are you or your employees making waves in the Columbia business community? Send us your news at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 31

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P E R S ON YO U SH OU LD KN OW

AJAY VINZÉ

D E A N A N D P R O F E S S O R | T R U L A S K E C O L L E G E O F B U S I N E S S AT M U | AG E : 5 7

Job description: As dean of the Trulaske College of Business, I have the honor of leading one of the highest-ranked schools of business in the country. We offer AACSB-accredited programs at all levels: undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral. Our undergraduate program is ranked No. 46 by Poets & Quants, a leading resource for news and business education coverage, and our School of Accountancy is nationally-recognized among the top 20 in the U.S. The faculty is comprised of accomplished researchers and thought leaders representing areas of sales and marketing, accounting, finance, and management.

Years lived in Columbia/Mid-Missouri: I joined the Trulaske College of Business on January 2, 2017 and have just completed my first six months as part of the Mizzou family. My wife, Amita, and I drove in on the heels of the dramatic ice-storm Columbia experienced in midDecember. Interestingly, this is my first summer in Missouri and, after living in Arizona, I’m finally understanding what people mean when they talk about humidity and the difference “dry heat” makes. With that said, I will take the Missouri summer over 120-degree “dry heat”!

Original hometown: It’s difficult to identify a hometown. If we go by the number of years lived in one location, Phoenix would be my hometown.

I was born in New Delhi and completed my early education and undergraduate studies there; my high school years and my first job after getting my MBA were in Manila — either of these two cities could qualify as my hometown. Of course, 10 years in Texas makes College Station home as well. No clear answer for this one.

Education: Completed my Bachelor of Commerce, honors, with a major in accounting from the Shri Ram College of Commerce at the University of Delhi in 1980; subsequently, I completed an MBA with a concentration in finance from the University of Connecticut in

Photography by Anthony Jinson

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 33

B U SINESS • PEOP LE • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

P E R S ON YO U SH OU LD KN OW

Storrs. I worked for two years after my MBA as an IT consultant in Manila before returning to the University of Arizona in 1984 for my Ph.D. studies, and I completed my doctoral work in business administration with a concentration in management information systems in 1988.

Professional background: I arrived at Mizzou after nearly 20 years in elevating academic and administrative roles at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Most recently, I served as the Earl and Gladys Davis distinguished professor and associate dean of international programs, as well as the associate vice provost for graduate education at ASU. In these administrative roles, I represented senior leadership for international initiatives and partnerships for the institution.

Prior to joining ASU, I served on the faculty at the Mays Graduate School of Business at Texas A&M University from ’88 to ’98.

A Columbia businessperson I admire and why: As I scan the Columbia business horizon, an organization that stands out for me is Veterans United Home Loans. I am very impressed with and admire what Brant Bukowsky and Brock Bukowsky have developed and positioned here in Columbia. It’s an impressive vision, purpose, and execution!

Why I’m passionate about my job: I’m passionate about every aspect of education, from the administration framework and hierarchy to mentoring scholars and students. Universities and K-12 education need to re-engineer ourselves to deal with new realities. We are on the cusp of a major change in education (not just higher education) that is being defined by a trifecta of forces — technology, globalization, and the centennials, or Generation Z. We must be ready for this next generation of students, the digital natives!

Why I’m passionate about my company: Experiential learning and innovation in education delivery should be reconsidered and re-engineered. At MU and the Trulaske College of Business, we have an opportunity (and the responsibility) to be at the forefront of this change. These challenging times are a catalyst causing us to think outside the box.

I’m surrounded by very talented and passionate individuals in the faculty and staff at Trulaske, and they fuel my passion and give me great hope that we are up to this challenge.

34 AUGUST 2017

If I weren’t doing this for a living, I would: I’d like to be a park ranger at one of our national parks; a close second would be to start a company or organization to train skilled assistance dogs to help people with disabilities.

How would you like to impact the Columbia community: I would like to contribute, as best I can, to the vibrancy of the local business community through proactive engagements with the university. A strong public-private academic partnership will make Columbia an even more an attractive destination for future investments.

Greatest strength: Work ethic, integrity, and passion.

Greatest weakness: Impatience — when something has been identified as important to do, I want to work on it now.

What I do for fun: I love to hike and enjoy the outdoors, as well as spend time with my dog playing goofy games.

Family: I have been married to my wife, Amita, for 33 years, and we have two children.

Our daughter, Anika, is 30 years old, and she is an epidemiologist by training — after doing her undergraduate and grad work at Rice and Johns Hopkins universities, she most recently completed her MBA this summer at the Olin School at Washington University. Amita and I were excited with the possibility of having her close by, but she accepted a job with Accenture and has relocated to Boston. Our son, Arjun, is 27

years old. He completed his education at Cornell in applied physics and electrical engineering. He’s been working with Lockheed Martin as an optical engineer for the last three years. I must confess that I don’t fully understand the complex issues my kids are working on. In many ways I’m now their student, which is a wonderful feeling. We also have a dog, a white German Shepherd rescue named Dizney. Since Amita and I are emptynesters, Dizney bears the brunt of full attention.

Favorite place in Columbia: Twin Lakes Recreation Area and Dog Park.

Accomplishment I’m most proud of: ASU Faculty Excellence Award in 2012. The award cited the social value of my research work conducted over a 10-year period, which was business research focused on dealing with public health crises. The award made a specific note of a model and associated decision support system my team developed. I would like to recognize my collaborators, Professor T. S. Raghu and Ph.D. students Trent Spaulding and Aaron Baird. Our system allowed researchers and state and county policymakers to simulate strategies and make informed decisions in real-time and anticipate crises to promote public health and make efficient use of resources. The software deployed was used for flu vaccine distribution strategies in Maricopa County, Arizona, saving the state over $50 million while preventing flu transmission and saving lives.

Most people don’t know that I: have traveled through and lived or worked in over 60 countries. I’ve been on every continent except Antarctica. CBT

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Q&A ELIZABETH LOBOA

Dean and Professor of Bioengineering, MU School of Engineering

1. Did you know you would be the first female dean of the School of Engineering? Does that influence how you view your job? Yes, I was honored to be Mizzou’s first female dean of engineering. I am a firm believer in mentoring the next generation and have worked to increase the number of women in engineering for many years. I’ve worked with middle school girls in challenged socioeconomic areas, presented to girls in high schools across the country (most recently at St. Teresa’s Academy in Kansas City), and tutored undergraduate women in engineering.

A critical component of growing the number of women engineers is to encourage younger women and underrepresented ethnic minorities to look to the front of the classroom. For example, throughout my academic journey, I had only one female professor. I often was the only woman in the classroom. I encourage women rising through the ranks to continue their great work in engineering, and I remind them of their status as role models to the generation after them.

2. Having recently completed work as the co-chair of the MU Chancellor Search Committee, can you tell us a bit about what that experience was like? It was a great experience. We had a number of exceptional candidates apply, a testament to MU’s reputation as Missouri’s flagship, AAU, Research 1, land-grant university. The search committee members and co-chair UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton worked hard and were extremely dedicated to finding the best person to serve as MU’s permanent chancellor. And all of our hard work paid off; I think Mizzou has found a great leader (and engineer!) in Chancellor-designate Alex Cartwright. I look forward to working with him when he starts August 1!

3. What changes has the School of Engineering had to make in light of the budget problems at MU? When campus announced budget cuts last year, we were able to use data-driven metrics and plan for the future. As a result, we made over $2 million in cuts in fiscal year 2017 and approximately $350,000 for 2018. Most of the budget shortfalls will be recognized with revenue growth and retirements. For now, we’re able to withstand the budget cut with no layoffs.

4. Obviously, you came on board at quite an eventful time in MU’s history.

What has the biggest challenge been? Communication. We have our challenges at Mizzou, as does every university, but we also have stellar achievements. Our faculty are performing cutting-edge, globally renowned research that is changing the world.

Our students are exceptional. We are the flagship, land-grant campus for the state, with a strong 178-year history that has allowed us to become the only public AAU university in the state and to achieve Research 1 status, the highest Carnegie research classification for a university. We attract phenomenal faculty, staff, and students from around the world. Mizzou is great, and it’s time we bragged about it.

5. What’s the School of Engineering doing to recruit new students? As part of our strategic plan, we have incorporated an enhanced recruitment and enrollment plan.

For our graduate school efforts, we established

7 QU EST I ON S

a new Diversity in Engineering Fellowship and encourage potential candidates to get to know Mizzou through Tiger View and “Grad101: The How-tos of Grad School” sessions for our own undergrads and potential candidates.

We’ve also partnered with national programs, and we’re working close to home with local schools in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Columbia to increase our interaction with local students.

Recently, we hosted Columbia Public Schools and the Academy of Early Childhood Learning.

Additionally, we’ve increased our presence at national conferences.

6. Did the adoption of academic leadership positions come naturally to you? This is an interesting question and one I have never considered before. On paper, I guess the short answer would be yes. When I look back at my career and my training, I’ve always gravitated toward positions that allowed me to help play a significant role in shaping the future of the organization I was with. As far back as my undergraduate and graduate school days, I held leadership positions in various student organizations. I greatly enjoy forward-thinking strategic planning to build an organization and its people, and I naturally tend to think and plan for the future using data-driven metrics and best-practice approaches. But what I find the most fulfilling about academic leadership is being able to work with and mentor exceptional people and provide them the opportunities to succeed — faculty, students, and staff. It’s incredibly gratifying.

7. What will the School of Engineering have to do moving forward to be successful? I’m excited to further advance Mizzou’s College of Engineering by recruiting and retaining the best and the brightest. With the recent improvements to Lafferre Hall and the world-class laboratory and teaching facilities it now offers, Mizzou has a distinct advantage over any other university in the country for training engineering students and for providing the tools necessary for our faculty to conduct globally renowned research. Mizzou is one of just 10 universities with engineering, medical, and veterinary medical schools on the same campus nationwide and one of only six public universities nationwide that have law, business, and medicine on one campus. There is no other place that can offer what we do at Mizzou. CBT

Check out the rest of Elizabeth Loboa's answers to our questions online at ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 37

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Getting Creative at COU

BY A L GERMON D

AS COLUMBIA REGIONAL AIRPORT continues to be one of the bright spots of the local economy, the rush is on to prepare the nearly 50-year-old terminal for additional flights, including the first-ever nonstop service to Denver. Tales are told of accommodations underway to handle the additional flights and passenger loads within the confines of the building as it sits today. This is with the expectation that within a year or so, COU will be on track to tally up to a quarter of a million enplanements per year.

On target are the two runway upgrade projects. The main runway, designated 2/20, will be extended about a thousand feet, while the crosswind runway, designated 13/31, will be lengthened and the existing asphalt surface will be replaced with concrete.

Still, it’s the terminal improvements that seem so daunting. With plans to build a new

terminal close to the north edge of the airport that will be equipped with six jetways, time just seems to spin on . . . and on . . . and on. The latest estimates for completion and deployment of the new terminal is six years from now. That’s 2023.

If we’re lucky.

This reminds me of the four years that dragged on . . . and on . . . between 1963, when the FAA first mandated the regional airport concept (a federal funding issue: one major airport for Columbia and Jefferson City based on the Dallas-Ft. Worth paradigm) and the first flights in and out of COU in 1967. The first “terminal” was a double-wide trailer. It took two more years before the current terminal building was completed.

Architects, hearings, government inertia, funding, bidding, contractor delays, strikes, material shortages, and other intervening factors invariably come into play.

OPI N I ON

Driving by construction projects every day, we’re reminded of the ingenuity and rapidity undertaken by contractors to build all-weather structures everywhere. An example of this is the River Region Credit Union Building now going up in south Columbia.

Looks like a 60-day start-to-finish construction project.

Of course we want the best airport terminal facility we can afford, but to wait six years for it? That’s absurd. How about a temporary expansion to what’s already out there?

Airports have always been "under construction" and travelers can recall passing through temporary, often crudely constructed buildings as they came and went through airports worldwide.

At COU, it would seem to be such a simple project. Much of the concrete surrounding the terminal building is already there. Let’s get creative about this. The confines of the vintage terminal could be pushed eastward, say up to 30 or 40 feet. Prefabricated walls are built and set in place with a crane. Walls are moved and the internal ganglia of pipes, cables and ducts set in place.

Voilà, plenty of space for more seats, TSA operations, airline ticketing, and rental car facilities, maybe even a restaurant. How about that?

From the bleachers, this would seem to be so doable. Of course, there would be a million and one reasons why this temporary fix to enhance the present terminal facility could never be pulled off.

Just like all the political wrangling and municipal obstinacy that kept COU from going into service and on schedule 50 years ago. In 1967, Columbia just made it under the wire with Ozark Airlines, COU’s principal passenger carrier. Waiting for COU to open and threatening to discontinue service altogether, Ozark kept a couple of its elderly DC-3 piston planes in service because, by then, the carrier’s main fleet of DC-9 jets and FH-227 turboprops couldn’t land on the shorter (4,000 feet) runway at the old municipal airport, where Cosmo Park is today. CBT Al Germond is the host of the Columbia Business Times Sunday Morning Roundtable at 8:15 a.m.

Sundays on KFRU. COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 39

40 AUGUST 2017

ROLE MODELS Columbia Public Schools grows their own teachers.

BY SA R A H E V E R E T T P H OTOG R A P H Y BY A N T H ON Y J I N S ON

Monica Naylor, left, and Nicolle Adair are mentors for aspiring educators.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 41

EDX INTERN AND RECENT CPS graduate Tyus Monroe doesn’t like the term “role model” — it’s too lofty, too elite. She prefers a real model, someone “that you can reach and you can feel.”

Her real models are Monica Naylor and Nicolle Adair.

“I would say that working with both of them is — it’s like a privilege,” Monroe says.

“It’s a privilege not only because of the people that they are, but because of the things that they’ve accomplished. . . . Within our community, they’re leaders and they’re genuine people. They honestly want to see you succeed.”

Through the Education Experience Intern program (or EdX) — part of the larger “Grow our Own” initiative — Columbia Public Schools is developing students with a future in education and bringing them back to CPS to start their education careers.

Bringing it Back

Naylor is the daughter of Beulah Ralph, the educator in Columbia who dedicated her career to educational equality (an elementary school in south Columbia bearing her name opened in 2016). Naylor was in charge of the Minority Internship Program with Columbia Public Schools when she was the multicultural coordinator for the district, but when the program was dropped due to budget cuts in 2014, Naylor retired.

Two years ago, CPS Superintendent Peter Stiepleman talked with the Worley Street Roundtable, a group that meets to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools and in the public, about bringing the program back as EdX. The return of the internship program also brought Naylor out of retirement. “It makes a huge difference that our superintendent has a stake in making sure cultural diversity is addressed,” Naylor says, adding the initiative starts “from the top down.”

EdX takes minority students in eighth through 12th grade with a passion for teaching and places them as intern teachers in elementary or middle school classrooms. The interns are paid and must maintain a 2.5 GPA to stay in the program.

There are also scholarships available for after graduation — if students commit to majoring in education at Stephens College or Columbia College and commit to teaching for four years in CPS after they gradu42 AUGUST 2017

ate, their tuition will be waived and they’re guaranteed a teaching position after graduation. Students can continue to intern with CPS while in college. MU is in the process of establishing a scholarship program for EdX students.

Last year, there were interns from Hickman, Battle, and Rock Bridge high schools as well as West, Jefferson, and Lange middle schools who interned at Mill Creek, Shepard, Alpha Hart, Beulah Ralph, Rock Bridge, and Russell elementary schools and West Middle School.

“My goal is to not only increase the amount of students that are involved in the program, but to also have a 100 percent retention rate of the students who participated the year before,” says Adair, who is taking over direction of the program as Naylor returns to retirement.

Ten students participated in the program in its first year, and 17 participated in its second. Naylor says the first two years have reassured her that there is a need for this kind of opportunity — and that CPS recognizes it.

In the Classroom

Interns in the program are matched with a teacher for summer school; Monroe interned with Mandi Coe at West Middle School, who was one of her teachers in eighth grade. Monroe appreciates Coe’s dedication to the subjects she teaches and the way she discusses real-world topics and examples with her students.

“I feel like if you allow them to have the chance, they will be very open with you and very real with you,” Monroe says about the students she helps teach. “You just have to present yourself in a way that’s authentic.”

As part of the program, interns create lesson plans and teach. Monroe taught lessons on careers and advertising. She had students come up with their own personal brand and logo, and students made a poster about themselves and their brand. She also made up an algebra game using a Twister mat for one lesson.

“If I was nervous about anything, it would be that I hadn't actually ever taught anything to kids before,” EdX intern Nautica Varnum says. Varnum participated on her school’s dance team, so she used that as a way to connect with students on the playground.

Monroe and Varnum met Naylor and Adair during the application process — they

both heard about the EdX internship opportunity in AVID, a college-readiness class.

“Our AVID teacher was always giving us the next opportunity that was out there; she was always telling us about the newest scholarship,” Monroe says.

They both applied and were selected for an interview, along with 38 others. “When you meet Mrs. Naylor, she’s somebody you know that you don’t want to let down,” Monroe says. “You want to leave a lasting impression.”

In the interview, candidates were asked why they wanted to become teachers and what they thought the qualities of a good teacher were. They were given several classroom scenarios and asked how they would respond to each — the exercise, Monroe says, gave her a new appreciation for her own teachers.

Beyond K-12 In 2016, The MU system brought in the IBIS consult-

ing group to assess diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, through an audit and help guide the organization forward based on the results.

The audit consisted of 100 interviews with senior administrators, over 100 focus groups from all levels and campuses across the system, 200 respondents to

Feedback from interviews and focus groups indicated that 92 percent of senior administration, 80 percent of faculty and staff, and nearly 65 percent of students believe DEI is important to their institution’s mission and success. Many, too, understand the importance of prepping students with cross-cultural competency and communication skills that will allow them to connect with colleagues across the globe. The audit report states that several recent staffing changes reflect an emphasis on DEI, one of which is the creation of a chief diversity officer at the system level. The CDO will collaborate with individual campus CDOs. (Kevin McDonald, the CDO for the UM System, is now jointly serving as MU’s vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity, and equity on a permanent basis after serving in that position on an interim basis.)

In addition to providing recommendations

an online survey, 88 policies reviewed for legal com-

for the future, the audit identified successful

pliance, 4 proposed rules and regulations, and several

DEI endeavors already in place at all four UM

policy recommendations.

System campuses.

Results were divided into several categories, eval-

Audit feedback also indicates that there

uating leadership, the student body and overall cam-

remains a sense of skepticism that some senior

pus climate, faculty and staff, and resources. The

leaders do not fully understand DEI and why

legal review found that policies on all campuses com-

it matters and that some administrative units

plied with the law.

have inadequate plans addressing DEI.

“Being in the program for four weeks made me realize how having a grown-up in the classroom that looks similar to you can have such a big impact.”

— NAUTICA VARNUM, EdX Intern

Varnum, like Monroe, has been an EdX intern for two years. She interned with kindergarten and first grade classes at Rock Bridge Elementary, where she’s gotten to experience the importance of the teacher-student relationship firsthand.

“One day I was playing with a girl named Laila, who was African-American, and it was just us two,” she says. “We were talking on the bench and making flowers and she decided that I was going to be her ‘sister,’ so she went and told all her friends . . . Being in the program for four weeks made me realize how having a grown-up in the classroom that looks similar to you can have such a big impact.

I bonded with all the kids but felt a close bond with some of the African-Americans because they always wanted to be around me and would always ask me for help.”

In the Community

CPS hopes EdX will help with recruitment and retention of minority teachers. Twenty percent of their students are black or multiracial, but the same is true for only six percent of CPS teachers. Likewise, 6.3 percent of students are Hispanic, but only one COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 43

Nicolle Adair

EdX intern Tyus Monroe

44 AUGUST 2017

EdX intern Nautica Varnum

Monica Naylor

INDIVIDUAL, INSTRUCTIONAL, INSTITUTIONAL Nikki McGruder, executive director of the Diversity Awareness Partnership – Columbia and member of the Worley Street Roundtable, has been conducting a diversity audit of Columbia Public Schools, which began with sitting down with every CPS principal to find out about each school’s current landscape — what the makeup of the school is, what diversity training exists within the school, and what diversity curriculum looks like within the school.

This is part of Superintendent Peter Stiepleman’s vision for CPS: “We Are One,” a slogan the district uses to promote unity. McGruder says the district needs to go beyond saying “we are one” and begin implementing it through policy and procedure. This must occur at the individual, instructional, and institutional level.

McGruder says individual teachers must assess their personal experiences with diversity and assess whether their lesson plans recognize and respect all points of view and backgrounds. CPS as an institution must be active and passionate about recognizing and appreciating its diverse constituents — something that goes beyond one or two multicultural nights per year.

“We are at a point of transition in our history,” McGruder says, referencing the United States Census Bureau’s projection that racial and ethnic minorities will make up more than 50 percent of America by 2050. “The demographics are changing.”

McGruder wants to provide “culture kits” and readings to supplement existing social studies lessons in the classroom and Skyping with local professionals of color, known as community champions. Some of these plans could be implemented immediately, while others, like the culture kits, will take time to develop.

McGruder says they would first focus on younger grades in the first year of implementation, and the curriculum and kits will look different at each grade level.

percent of teachers are. “It’s important to see teachers who look like the makeup of the community,” Naylor says.

Nikki McGruder, executive director of Columbia’s Diversity Awareness Partnership, is in the middle of conducting a diversity audit for CPS. She says having minority teachers in the classroom is important for all students, not just minority students, “so that they don’t have skewed perspectives of what people can achieve.”

Monroe agrees. “I’ve learned the importance of connecting with kids who look like me, and I’ve learned the importance of connecting with the kids who don’t look like me,” she says.

“The whole object of the program is to nurture students who would be more likely to stay in the community — if they grew up here in the community, they may be more likely to stay here and work,” says Dr. Ellis Ingram, a former professor in the MU School of Medicine and member of the Worley Street Roundtable. “The foundation of Worley Street Roundtable is connections — just threading things together in the community.”

A major part of the EdX program is learning professionalism. The students are hired by CPS through HR and must go through orientation, like they’re regular employees. Adair says that, for some students, this is their first time going through the hiring process. She checks in with the interns and talks with them about professional communication — punctuality, accountability, and responsibility.

“Nicolle always makes sure that I'm doing okay and always will check up on me in school to make sure I'm getting all the assistance I need, even if I don't think I need it,” Varnum says.

Naylor, Adair, and the rest of the program board serve as a support system for the students, answering questions about college life and the education major. Adair says her position gives her the opportunity to help students make their ambitions their reality — she’s at her best when she’s pouring into other people.

“They literally light up — they’re all so passionate about it. It really is exciting,” Adair says. “What an opportunity to be able to live out your dream and your passion and get paid to do it at such a young age.”

Varnum and Monroe are looking forward to starting college in the fall; Monroe will study at Columbia College and Varnum will go to Stephens. One other EdX intern will attend Columbia College next year as well.

Adair will continue to check in with these students in college. Varnum says she looks forward to further working with Adair, meeting new people, and learning more about teaching, and Monroe says she looks forward to becoming an expert on her curriculum, just like her teacher mentor, Mrs. Coe. “Now that my college is paid for, I don’t really have to worry about the financial side of things. [Mastering teaching] can really be my goal, and I know that I can really focus on that,” Monroe says. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 45

) S BOUN ( E E R G D E D

46 AUGUST 2017

For working professionals, the choice to enroll in a college degree program can be daunting.

Juggling classes and homework with a full-time job, obligations to family and friends, and civic duties requires dedication, sacrifice, excellent time management, and a constant eye on the prize — a chance for a promotion or to start a new career altogether. We talked with three local working professionals who have taken the college plunge with no expectations other than to succeed.

BY J E N N I F E R T R U E S DA L E

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 47

CONSIDER THE NUMBERS. Columbia is the most educated city in Missouri and ranks fifth highest among small metro cities in the country, according to Forbes. Nearly 49 percent of Columbians hold a bachelor’s degree, compared to 31 percent nationally. Perhaps that’s not surprising when you consider the sheer number of colleges and universities in the area.

While national and state labor statistics indicate that demand for vocational education is outpacing demand for advanced degrees, enrollment in these programs is strong. The most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that 1.9 million bachelor’s degrees were conferred nationally in 201415, a 32 percent increase over the 2004-05 year.

Attainment of graduate and doctorate degrees is also on the rise. Business, education, and health professions are among the most in-demand programs at the baccalaureate and graduate levels, while two-thirds of doctoral candidates are completing medical or law school.

The growing prevalence of online education over the last 20 years may be a contributor to these numbers. More than 20 million students took at least one online course in 2014, and a quarter of post-baccalaureate students completed their degrees entirely online. All of Mid-Missouri’s colleges and universities offer online or evening courses, catering to working adults who are up to the challenge of balancing school, career, and family life. And that’s helping some in Columbia move up.

PURSUING A DREAM

“I’ve always enjoyed being around computers,” says Scott Thompson, 29. “When I started looking for jobs, IT was a growing industry with the start of cloud computing. I was looking for a career where I would have job security.”

DASRIL DASRIL

48 AUGUST 2017

The Linn native who grew up in St. James moved to Columbia in 2010 after completing his bachelor’s degree in management information systems at William Woods University. With his freshly minted degree, he worked in IT at Columbia College for three years before landing a job at Veterans United Home Loans in 2013. He started out as a CRM administrator and is now a product analyst, working with data and business processes.

While Thompson has worked his way through the IT ranks with his bachelor’s degree, his dream has been to become a chief technology officer. After spending a few years researching programs at different local universities that would help him achieve his dream, Thompson decided to return to his alma mater to pursue his MBA in the fall of 2015.

“Classes are offered in short, eight-week sessions, meeting once per week and working on homework and projects the rest of the time,” says Kathy Groves, vice president for enrollment and marketing at William Woods. “Students have the ability to stop and start based on their own schedule.”

William Woods offers several in-seat and online undergraduate and graduate degree programs tailored for working adults. Groves says the master’s programs in business administration and education are the most popular among students at the William Woods campus at the Parkade Center in Columbia, and the college strives to add new programs to stay current with growing labor markets.

“Health care is the fastest growing industry right now, so we’ve recently added a Master of Health Care Administration degree,” says Groves. “Our students regularly express an interest in technology, so we also added a Master of Education in STEM program. Our undergraduate completion and graduate programs are designed for the working adult, with a focus on flexibility.”

Thompson says he enjoyed that flexibility, which allowed him to work at his own pace by

STACY STEGEMAN

• 5 degrees

• 2 degrees (3 in Dec.!)

• Columbia College

• Columbia College

• MU

• Stephens College

taking one in-seat class every eight weeks. He still completed his MBA this past June in just less than two years. Having an accommodating employer that supported his decision to go back to school, along with personal dedication and exploring his options, also set him up for success.

“The experience is great if you can manage your time well,” says Thompson. “Most professionals, if they’re successful, should be good at that already. I made sure I used my time wisely to get the most out of the program.”

Thompson is now busy planning his wedding in October to Allison, a project manager at Veterans United. Tackling work, school, and his personal life for a couple of years is a decision he doesn’t regret.

“Getting my MBA has given me a different perspective, not only professionally, but personally, that I think really will help me grow,” he says.

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE

When Stacy Stegeman was in her mid-30s, college wasn’t on her radar. Originally from St. Martins, Missouri, Stegeman graduated from Jefferson City High School in 1989 and went straight into the workforce. At 17, she was a manager at Wal-Mart before moving on to management at Long John Silver’s. She then spent 16 years as a human resources manager for Hy-Vee, helping to open all three locations in Columbia.

Little did she know that at 46, she would be working on her master’s degree. She attributes her education success to her fiancé, who, at 56, has three degrees and is enrolled in a master’s degree program at MU. “When we first met, 10 years ago, he found out that I had never gone to college,” says Stegeman.

“He encouraged me to ‘Take just one class — if you don’t like it, you can quit.’”

Stegeman took his advice, but she didn’t stop after one class. In 2013, she finished her associate degree in general studies, followed by a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2015, both from Columbia College. She is set to finish her mas-

SCOTT THOMPSON • 2 degrees • William Woods University

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 49

ter’s degree in education with an emphasis in clinical mental health counseling from Stephens College in December of 2018, a path she chose after years in human resources helping employees with personal problems.

“Although I was able to help many — I even attended AA meetings with some people — I felt unprepared,” she says. “I wanted and needed the skills that I’ve learned from Stephens.”

Stephens offers three programs designed specifically for working adults, with a total enrollment of around 110 students in the Mid-Missouri area. The Master of Education in counseling is offered in-seat during the evening, while the Master of Fine Arts in TV and screenwriting and Bachelor of Science in health information administration are offered online. The TV and screenwriting program also requires students to complete a 10-day workshop at Jim Henson Studios in Los Angeles.

“All programs require a résumé, and we look for work experience as part of their application materials for admission into these programs,” says Lindsey Boudinot, director of graduate and online admissions at Stephens. “The majority of local students are in our Master of Education in counseling program.”

While taking three in-seat courses each semester for her master’s degree, Stegeman has also been running a drug screening business that she opened five years ago, working a part-time job, and being mom to a 17-year-old foster daughter who has been in her care for the last four years.

Her goal after graduation is to become a licensed professional counselor.

“I hope to work with children and families in the foster care system,” says Stegeman. “Eventually, I would like to open a low-cost or no-cost counseling service.”

Stegeman says having a support system of family and friends to cheer her on and understand her lack of free time has been key. She encourages working adults already settled into their careers not to be anxious about pursuing an advanced degree.

“It’s tough, but if I can do it, anyone can,” she says. “I had terrible grades in high school; I graduated cum laude from Columbia College and am currently holding a 4.0 at Stephens. Don’t be afraid of starting school. Just take one day at a time, one class at a time, and before long you’ll be holding your degree.”

THINKING LONG TERM

For some, the pursuit of education is a lifelong journey that takes many turns. Growing up 50 AUGUST 2017

in Padang, West Sumatera, in Indonesia, Dasril Dasril, 46, has four bachelor’s degrees and an MBA on his résumé.

Dasril completed an industrial engineering degree at Bandung Institute of Technology in Indonesia in 1995 and worked for Mattel Inc. for two years. In August of 1997, he moved to Columbia to pursue an MBA, which he completed at Columbia College in 2005. Dasril’s journeys in Columbia led him to befriend an older married couple, and when the wife received a medical diagnosis requiring extra care, Dasril jumped in to help. That’s when he discovered his passion for nursing.

He completed his nursing degree at the MU Sinclair School of Nursing in 2007 and began working full-time as a registered nurse at University Hospital, also picking up shifts at Landmark Hospital, a long-term acute care facility.

He rounded out his health care education with bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and biology from Columbia College in 2013. But Dasril wasn’t done with school yet.

“I attended a program at MU called the Summer Biomedical Informatics Institute in 2013,” says Dasril. “The program made me realize how important and promising information systems are in the future of the health care business.”

He is now back at Columbia College as a fulltime student, finishing the last year of his bachelor’s in management information systems and thinking about his career long-term.

“Nursing is physically demanding. When you reach [your] 60s or older, it’s not easy to keep up with the job,” says Dasril. “Having knowledge in information systems will be very useful later in my life, because I can utilize that knowledge to enhance my nursing career, perhaps as an information systems specialist.”

Because of his schedule as a nurse, Dasril attends Columbia College’s residential day campus. While many working professionals cannot attend a day program, some 29,000 students enroll annually at Columbia College’s online campus or one of its 36 national locations, 10 of which are in Missouri. Around 1,200 students were enrolled online or in-seat at the local evening campus this past spring, where in-seat classes are offered in a format similar to those at William Woods.

“Locally, most of the evening campus coursework is one night per week,” says Micheal Lewis, assistant director of evening campus admissions. “New students have really appreciated this format, since it makes work–life balance more feasible.”

Lewis says that, of the college’s more than 80 certificate and degree programs, Dasril’s computer science program, along with nursing, business, general studies, and education are the most popular among working adults.

“I would say the vast majority of our students are working, but few are doing what they love,” says Lewis. “The driving force behind their pursuit of an advanced education is to ready themselves for the career of their dreams.”

STUDYING THE OPTIONS The Parkade Center, on Business Loop 70, has become Columbia’s educational core. Columbia College, William Woods University, Central Methodist University, and Moberly Area Community College all have locations at Parkade, complete with on-site admissions and financial aid counselors to make navigating the college system as easy as possible.

“Returning to college is a daunting thing for many adults, and the enrollment, registration, transcript evaluation, and financial aid processes — to name a few — can seem overwhelming,” says Kent Propst, executive director of marketing communications at Central Methodist University.

The university, based in Fayette, offers in-seat bachelor’s and master’s degree programs at the Forum Shopping Center in addition to the Parkade Center. It also offers 20 online undergraduate and graduate degree options, many of which are in business, education, nursing, and social sciences.

“We do our best to provide [students] opportunities for face-to-face contact with people who can help them start this new chapter in their life.”

Moberly Area Community College offers several associate degree programs in vocational and career fields at the Parkade Center. While Mizzou Online is not located at Parkade, the campus offers 30 fully online graduate degrees, 17 of which are in education, and served nearly 6,000 students in the 2015-16 year.

The options for working adults considering college, no matter their stage in life or career, are there. The key is to explore the options before taking the plunge.

“You have to stay committed,” says Thompson. “The more effort you put into your education, the more you get out of it. Don’t take the easy way out. And don’t rush into a program.

Take the time to find one that will give you the skills you need.” CBT

Nominate your favorite young professional.

AUGUST 1 thru SEPTEMBER 15 ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com

PRESENTED BY COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 51

FIRST AND GOAL HOW MU ATHLETICS

CAN HELP REVERSE THE SCHOOL’S FINANCIAL WOES. BY MATT PATSTON

52 AUGUST 2017

AT 6:14 in the evening on November 7, 2015, MU’s Legion of Black Collegians posted a tweet with two pictures. One was a photo of 31 black MU football players standing, arms locked, with Jonathan Butler, the MU graduate student who was by then on the fourth day of a hunger strike. The other was a screenshot of an iPhone note: “The athletes of color on the University of Missouri football team truly believe ‘Injustice Anywhere is a threat to Justice Everywhere” We will no longer participate in any football related activities until President Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students’ experiences. WE ARE UNITED!!!!!”

Needless to say, the team’s strike drew a fair amount of attention. Wolfe resigned two days later. The football team did indeed play their next game, beating BYU 20–16 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City for their fifth and final win of the season. The following spring, MU announced they were going to have to make budget cuts in the wake of low enrollment and further cuts in state appropriations. Several similar announcements have followed since.

MU’s athletic program is the most widely recognizable facet of the school’s brand by a wide margin; the same is true of any SEC school. It brings alumni back to campus throughout the year for tailgates and Homecoming, and it spurs donations and accrues goodwill. MU’s student–athletes serve as de facto ambassadors at every event they travel to. And, for what it’s worth, when I was 18 years old and trying to figure out where I wanted to go to college, I was intoxicated by the size of the MU’s football stadium and the prospect of watching SEC sports in-person for four years.

MU athletics have come to occupy a central part in the narrative of the November 2015 campus protests. Without the football team’s participation, it’s hard to imagine that the protests would have gotten the results that they did. And while university officials have said from the beginning that the protests aren’t solely responsible for the school’s enrollment decline and subsequent funding shortage — demographic changes in higher education and changes to neighboring schools’ recruitment strategies exacerbated the bubble-burst effect — the two have become inextricably linked in public consciousness: You can’t talk about the enrollment problem without talking about the protests, and you can’t talk about the protests without talking about athletics.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 53

Fair or not, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for MU. Athletics may be exactly what they need to turn things around.

MAKING MONEY TO SPEND MONEY For all the financial sputtering at the university, the MU Athletic Department had the two best funding years in its history in 2015 and 2016.

Last year, the department brought in a record $97.2 million in revenue, which topped the previous record of $91.2 million — set in 2015. Of course, those two were also paired with the two highest spending years in MU athletics history, at $86.8 million in 2015 and $94.3 million in 2016 (see graph below).

Such is life in the SEC. The biggest revenue generator in college sports is Texas A&M, a school that made the jump from the Big 12 to the SEC the same year that MU did. Texas A&M’s

MU ATHLETICS REVENUE AND EXPENSES 2006 TO 2016 54 AUGUST 2017

athletic department brought in $194,388,450 last year. Of the top 15 schools in sports revenue, 9 are from the SEC, according to data compiled

by USA Today. (MU ranks 30th overall, second lowest among the SEC schools listed.)

“One of the things that’s often a misconception with people, whether they’re inside or outside the university, is that the athletic department is funded by the university,” says Gary Ward, MU’s vice chancellor for operations. “But it’s the same way it is with our residential life halls, dining halls, hospital, parking garages — they don’t receive any money from state appropriations and they don’t receive any money from student tuition. They have to make their own dollars.”

Before moving to the SEC, MU’s athletic department ran generally around the breakeven point — in 2011, their last full year in the

Big 12, they brought in $64.1 million in revenue and had $64.1 million in expenses. The revenue jump is largely thanks to school’s TV rights, which are now sold to the SEC Network. For most colleges across the country, athletic programs operate the way MU did in the Big 12: around the break-even point, sometimes dipping into the red or ending up in the black. Not so in the SEC. Being in the conference is a commitment to spending more money than anyone else in exchange for making more money than anyone else — and having a higher national profile.

The athletic department, in fact, gives more back to the university than it gets. A “budget frequently asked questions” page on the MU Chancellor’s website says athletics pays “somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 million” for the tuition and fees of student–

athletes, a number also quoted by MU Athletic Director Jim Sterk.

Sterk took over as AD in August 2016 following the abrupt departure of Mack Rhoades, who left to take the same position at Baylor after just 14 (eventful) months as the department’s top administrator. “There’s a lot of learning and a lot of catching up to do when you come into a position like this,” Sterk says. “Basically, I spent a lot of time meeting with staff.”

Sterk commissioned his department to do five SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analyses for student experience, facilities, personnel, resource acquisition, and communication and politics. He also met with coaches, including first year football coach Barry Odom. That meeting, and another with former coach Gary Pinkel, led Sterk to

fully embrace a project that had been languishing on the department’s priorities list for more than two years: a stadium expansion behind the stadium’s south end zone, the biggest facilities upgrade since the Missouri Athletic Training Center opened in 2008. The plans include coaches’ offices, a new locker room, a new weight room, and a new player lounge.

“It’s like why universities build rec centers and student centers,” Sterk says. “It’s attracting athletes to your particular program. I think you need to have competitive facilities so students are attracted and want to come.”

And when you’re competing for recruits with the Alabamas and Texas A&Ms of the world, you better be ready to raise some money. The project is estimated to cost $95 million to $100 million. The opening date is still a ways off— Sterk hopes to have the

expansion done by the start of the 2019 season — but donors are responding now. The department has raised nearly $50 million, and at the time of this writing, Sterk expected the project to be formally approved by the UM System Board of Curators at the end of July.

“This is the same kind of thing that I think football needed,” Sterk says. “And it’s not just me saying that — it’s the commissioner of the SEC and others. It was selling that vision of what we could be, and I think people want us to be able to compete in the SEC. It’s a very difficult conference, a very competitive conference. So we needed to make investments to be able to compete.”

The fundraising momentum created by the athletic department over the last two years seems astonishing when you remember that the football team, to say nothing of the linger-

$100,000,000

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COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 55

56 AUGUST 2017

Renderings of the proposed south end zone expansion, set to open in 2019. Provided by MU.

ing stigma from November 2015, is coming off its second consecutive season without a bowl appearance and the men's basketball team went 10–21. The south end zone project has been a boon to the football program’s reputation among donors, but it’s arguably less impressive than Sterk’s hiring of Cuonzo Martin to be the new men’s basketball coach — Martin, a St. Louis native, put together an elite recruiting class that has the team on short lists ranking the nation’s top basketball contenders (including Kansas). MU’s most public-facing department is on the upswing again.

Brian White, the athletic department’s deputy athletic director for external relations, says the conversations with donors are changing. “When you’re having a gift conversation, it’s not like you just show up and ask for money,” he says.

“There’s a long relationship beforehand, and a lot of that is because they have to feel OK about what they’re investing in. They have to feel great about what they’re investing in. So a lot of them may not feel great about everything that happened, or they may not feel great about the way things are at Mizzou right now, but they buy into the vision of what their gift is going to do for the school they love. I think that’s one unifying thing from their school.”

REBUILDING A CORNERSTONE Of course, the optics of building a $90 million football stadium addition while the university is laying people off are not great. With money tight, MU has to answer for every project, every program, every move made.

“And that’s rightfully so,” Gary Ward says.

“Our friends and taxpayers want to know. And I think those are legitimate questions and we should answer them. . . . I’ve been doing public higher education now for a little over 30 years.

I don’t think we’ve done the best job of teaching our constituents the difference between the teaching and research aspects of a university and the auxiliary aspects of a university.”

But Sterk and others think that the athletic department can do more than not drain the university’s budget. Having a popular and successful athletics program is going to be a pivotal part of MU’s recovery strategy — sports could bring back some of the dollars the school has lost over the last two years.

“What other way do you get your brand on TV for four hours?” Ward asks. “Where else do you get that kind of exposure for an institution, other than the athletic department?”

There’s some direct ways that sports can help take the sting out of budget cuts — take,

"ATHLETICS CAN HAVE A ROLE IN ENGAGING A COMMUNITY AND ENGAGING A STATE, SO THAT’S WHAT I THINK OUR ROLE IS." - JIM STERK for example, the new residential life policy to rent out dorm suites for $120 per night on home game weekends. But there are also some less obvious ways, like attracting more walk-on student–athletes who are willing to pay full tuition for the chance to play at MU. Sports contribute to the less quantifiable “campus culture,” and while it’s not a direct causal relationship, it’s also probably no simple coincidence that MU football’s most successful 10-year stretch, 2005 to 2015, also coincided with the biggest enrollment increase in school history. Smaller

schools routinely subsidize their athletic programs, despite the fact that they operate at a consistent loss. The side benefits outweigh the direct costs.

“Having a basketball program that went from having like a 200-something recruiting class to having a top-five recruiting class” — Sterk laughs here — “that helps. I’ve had alums say, ‘Yeah, I just had my daughter commit somewhere and she heard about all this basketball stuff at Mizzou, and she’s wondering if she should have gone there,’ you know. I hear those anecdotes as I meet with people around the state. So it’s important — athletics can have a role in engaging a community and engaging a state, so that’s what I think our role is.”

Sterk says the department is also working with MU Extension to develop their presence in “every county in the state”; in January, Sterk hired former MU football player Howard Richards to be assistant athletics director for community relations in St. Louis, an area where enrollment has softened.

Obviously, the more MU wins, the bigger the benefits will be. In an email, Pelema Morrice, MU’s vice chancellor for enrollment, wrote: “When our teams do well, our national exposure does increase and we have experienced increases in applications. We’re always happy when our teams do well because it helps get students interested in learning more about us; students then have an opportunity to better explore what opportunities the university provides for students.”

Winning in the SEC is hard, but when it happens, sports can hold a spell over MU supporters that’s more intense than anything else the university could produce.

Academia can feel inaccessible to the general public — the research, the peer reviews, the adjuncts and associates and doctorates and cum laude and dissertations. Most people, at least on some level, understand sports.

“I’m looking forward to this year in a big way,” Sterk says. “I think this fall could be really, really exciting for this program and this university.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 57

58 AUGUST 2017

Meet the private schools

educating Columbia’s students.

BY ANNA COMFORT

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 59

1. Christian Fellowship School 2. Columbia Independent School 3. Our Lady of Lourdes Interparish School 4. Good Shepherd Lutheran School 5. College Park Christian Academy 6. Heritage Academy 7. Islamic School of Columbia 8. Christian Chapel Academy 9. Father Tolton Catholic High School 60 AUGUST 2017

C OLU M B I A PR I VAT E S C HO OL G U I DE

Columbia is and always will be an education town. While there’s plenty of coverage of MU, Stephens College, Columbia College, and Columbia Public Schools, it’s worth noting the other educational opportunities available for students in Columbia.

Get to know some of Columbia’s private school options.

CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP SCHOOL

This summer, the school established a new security system and began the first phase of an extensive library renovation. According to Christi Wolverton, director of development and public relations, adjustments to the middle school model will take effect this fall. “We used to have our sixth and seventh graders stay with stationary teachers in their own classrooms," Wolverton says. "Now, they’ll still have a home room, but they’ll rotate with other teachers” to better prepare for a high school schedule.

The high school schedule is getting its own changes as well. “The [Columbia Area] Career Center has fluctuated their start times, and that made it difficult for our students to get over there and get back in time to take their core classes,” says Wolverton.

“We've restructured our schedule so that our high school kids can better take advantage of the awesome Career Center classes.”

GRADES: Pre-K through 12 ENROLLMENT 2016-2017: 275 RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Christian (non-denominational)

LOCATION: 4600 Christian Fellowship Rd.

PRINCIPAL: Scott Williams HIGH SCHOOL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL:

GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN SCHOOL GRADES: Kindergarten through 8 ENROLLMENT 2016-2017: 40 RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Lutheran LOCATION: 2201 W. Rollins St.

Brad Clemons

PRINCIPAL: Tammy Mangold YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1981 YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2001 Founded by Christian Fellowship Church in Columbia, Christian Fellowship School follows the high school model outlined by the 1982 U.S. Department of Education report “A Nation at Risk,” requiring a full four years of English and at least three years of other core subjects in an effort to better prepare students for college and the workforce.

Good Shepherd Lutheran School places a strong emphasis on community building and involvement. “We partner with parents so that they can be an active part of their child’s education,” says principal Tammy Mangold. Though the school primarily serves younger students, with National Lutheran

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 61

C OLU M B I A PR I VAT E S C HO OL G U I DE School-accredited curriculum through the eighth grade, Good Shepherd encourages its students and their parents to participate in community service, partnering with several organizations in the community. And because the student population is small, Mangold says, “extracurricular activities vary each year depending on the interests of the student body.”

The school is associated with Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia as well as Campus Lutheran Church. The two churches oversee the school together and make decisions collaboratively; although the school is housed at Trinity because of the size of its school facilities, both congregations share equally in the decision-making process.

COLUMBIA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL GRADES: Pre-K through 12 ENROLLMENT 2016-2017: 325 RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: None LOCATION: 1801 N. Stadium Blvd.

HEAD OF SCHOOL: Adam M. Dubé YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1998

Located in the northwest corner of the city, Columbia Independent School is the only pre-K through 12 private school in the area not affiliated with a church or other religious institution. New this fall will be a renovated space for the school’s Center for Inspiration, Innovation, and Investigation, known to students as CI3, or The Cube. The Cube is a makerspace used by students of all grade levels to promote exploration of STEM fields. The Cube’s previous location is being converted

by CIS maintenance staff this summer into

62 AUGUST 2017

a junior kindergarten classroom, and a new Cube space will be unveiled in the fall.

Earlier in 2017, the new CIS Athletic and Arts Center opened its doors. The building contains a gymnasium and performance space. “With the addition of the Athletic and Arts Center, commencement was able to be held on campus for the first time in our 19-year history,” says Kari Dowell, director of admissions and marketing, “and we also hosted our first on-campus basketball games there in January. The expanded facility will allow us to serve more students in a more comprehensive way.”

FATHER TOLTON CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL GRADES: 9 through 12 ENROLLMENT 2016-2017: 287 RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Catholic LOCATION: 3351 E. Gans Rd. PRINCIPAL: Bernie Naumann YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2011

participate in building maintenance, including painting and cleaning, to prepare for the new school year. The 2017 graduating class was awarded a combined total of more than $5 million in college scholarships, with some recent grads set to attend Notre Dame and Yale this fall. Principal Bernie Naumann credits the school’s rigorous college-preparatory curriculum and community building for its graduates’ successes. “Our house system promotes involvement, leadership, and service for the greater good by blending students from all grades into smaller communities,” he says. “These groups work together with a focus on faith-formation, team building, mentorship, and service.”

ISLAMIC SCHOOL OF COLUMBIA GRADES: Pre-K through 5 ENROLLMENT 2016-2017: 56 RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Islamic LOCATION: 408 Locust St. ADMINISTRATOR: Tae'lor Jones YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1998

Named for a freed slave who went on to become a Catholic priest, Father Augustine Tolton Catholic High School was founded by the Jefferson City Diocese to establish a Catholic secondary school option for families in area parishes. Though many of the school’s students come to Tolton from Our Lady of Lourdes Interparish School, 25 percent of the student body is non-Catholic. All students take part in weekly Mass and annual faith retreats.

This summer, Tolton introduced a new work–study program, under which students

The Islamic School of Columbia is housed in the Islamic Center of Central Missouri, a mosque and community center located downtown. The Islamic Center serves Muslim families who have been a part of the Columbia community for generations, as well as immigrants and international students from local colleges. The Islamic School serves students from preschool through fifth grade. “Our focus is to provide a rigorous curriculum while immersing our students in Islamic studies,” says school administrator

Tae’lor Jones. “We work to meet the needs of each student no matter their background.”

Jones says a common misconception about the school is that English language instruction is not included in the curriculum. “In fact, we teach both English and Arabic formally,” he says. “Our teachers are dedicated to our students, families, and community.” In addition to the Islamic School’s traditional academic model, an after-school program is available for students who attend other public or private schools but still wish to take Islamic studies.

COLLEGE PARK CHRISTIAN ACADEMY GRADES: Pre-K through 9 ENROLLMENT 2016-2017: 55 RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Seventh-day Adventist

LOCATION: 1114 College Park Dr. PRINCIPAL: Heidi Jorgenson YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1944

Columbia’s oldest continuously operating private school, College Park Christian Academy has been a part of the Columbia community for 73 years. The school recently brought on a new principal, Heidi Jorgenson, who took over the position from Stan Michael. In addition to her duties as principal, Jorgenson will also teach seventh through ninth grade.

A new kindergarten teacher, Valerie Haveman, will begin work this fall as well.

Jorgenson is looking forward to a new partnership between CPCA and Columbia’s homeschooling community. “This year, CPCA is expanding its ministry by adding

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 63

64 AUGUST 2017

C OLU M B I A PR I VAT E S C HO OL G U I DE a new social opportunity program that will allow homeschooling families to participate in worship, art, music, and other activities on Friday mornings from 8 a.m. to noon,” she says. Jorgenson views CPCA as a family, and she notes that parents have commented on the older students’ willingness to help younger children at the academy. She looks forward to showcasing renovated classrooms at an open house for the school in August.

as renewable energy or food safety, and in building a robot to compete on a table-top playing field.

homework assignments. Parents are encouraged to take an active role in their child’s academic experience.

HERITAGE ACADEMY

OUR LADY OF LOURDES INTERPARISH SCHOOL

GRADES: 3 through 12 ENROLLMENT 2016-2017: 81

CHRISTIAN CHAPEL ACADEMY

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Christian (non-denominational)

GRADES: Pre-K through 8 ENROLLMENT 2016-2017: 179 RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION:

LOCATION: 606 Ridgeway Ave. CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER:

GRADES: Kindergarten through 8 ENROLLMENT 2016-2017: 648 RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Catholic LOCATION: 817 Bernadette Dr.

Tammy King (interim)

PRINCIPAL: Elaine Hassemer

YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2002

YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1960

Heritage Academy is a college preparatory University-Model School, based on a structure developed by University-Model Schools International, an association of Christian private schools focused on the biblical imperative for parents to teach their children. University-Model schools, as the name implies, takes its structure from typical American colleges and universities.

“Students are on campus only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, taking classes that they choose, which can be one or up to six each semester,” says Tammy King, interim chief administrative officer. The school is currently interviewing for a new CAO. “This distinctive model allows for more time at home with the family,” says King, “which is a major part of our mission.” The University-Model program begins at the third-grade level, with class choice beginning in high school. Younger students attend half days on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

For all grade levels, Tuesdays and Thursdays are intended for independent learning via

The Our Lady of Lourdes Interparish School, formerly Columbia Catholic School, has been part of the community for more than 50 years. The school serves all three Catholic parishes in Columbia: Our Lady of Lourdes (where the school is located), Sacred Heart, and St. Thomas More Newman Center.

OLLIS recently announced plans for a large addition to its facilities, the result of a move by the Diocese of Jefferson City to expand Catholic school options in Columbia. “Bishop Gaydos gave his support to the concept of an addition on our current property, and we’ve moved forward with contractual and architectural planning,” says principal Elaine Hassemer.

Designs for the expansion will be released in the coming months, with fundraising efforts to follow. “The addition will enable us to eliminate the eight trailers and four classrooms in the rectory basement,” says Hassemer, “and to increase our overall campus security and educational environment.” CBT

Christian (non-denominational)

LOCATION: 3300 S. Providence Rd. PRINCIPAL: Rebekah Jouret YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1985

Christian Chapel Academy offers preschool through eighth grade education in a non-denominational Christian environment. The school as it exists today grew out of the Developmental Learning Center at C2 Church on South Providence in Columbia. The school was founded to promote leadership in the community through spiritual growth, academic excellence, and personal responsibility.

The school will welcome several new staff members next year and establish an orchestra program for their middle school students.

“We’re also excited about adding a LEGO robotics team this year,” says CCA Principal Rebekah Jouret. The team will meet as an extracurricular club to participate in the FIRST LEGO League. A coach leads the students in tackling a real-world problem, such

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 65

NOT I N CONV E N IE N CE, BUT OPPOR TU N IT Y MSHSAA events continue to impact Columbia’s economy.

BY BRENNA MCDERMOTT

66 AUGUST 2017

YOUTH SPORTS AND ALL THAT COMES WITH IT — travel, food, gas, hotel stays, and more — is part of the $8.6 billion sports tourism industry. (That number is according to a 2014 George Washington University sports management program study.) The city of Columbia, along with its tourism partners, is working to increase the city’s share of that income by working as a community to win bids for hosting Missouri State High School Activities Association statewide events and activities.

“We're actively going to pursue any MSHSAA event that's a good fit for Columbia as long as it works time-wise and with the facilities we have,” says Megan McConachie, strategic communications manager for the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Part of our mission is to generate economic growth using tourism, and these events fit in with that perfectly.”

Research done at the University of Florida in 2015 estimates that 25 million children ages six to 18 play in competitive school sports in the United States. The study also estimated that traveling youth athletes and their families generate an economic impact of $7 billion and, on average, parents spend $671 on sports-related expenses each year.

MSHSAA (whose headquarters are located in Columbia on North Keene Street) manages traditional sporting events, like baseball and football, but they also host events for bass fishing, bowling, chess, music, scholar bowl, speech and debate, spirit activities, and target shooting. Those activities, coupled with the 15 traditional sports championships, equal millions of dollars in economic impact across the state.

STATE MUSIC FESTIVAL Recently re-securing the MSHSAA State Music Festival has been a big win for the city and the community.

The MU School of Music and the City of Columbia have hosted the State Music Festival every year since 1952, (with the exception of 1989) according to the city’s bid for the event for 2018 through 2022, which was awarded to Columbia.

There were many factors working in Columbia’s favor to win the bid, McConachie says. MU made efforts to tighten the footprint of the festival on campus so participants and families could stay in a more condensed area for the entirety of the festival, making it easier to navigate.

In 2019, the new School of Music building, which will be located at the corner of Hitt Street and University Avenue, will be completed, adding an additional performance space and central hub for the festival. The CVB and its volunteer group of certified tourism ambassadors offer hospitality services at the events to help guests acclimate. There are 150 to 200 active CTAs in Columbia who volunteer their time at tourism events.

It’s now the industry standard to offer cash incentives to MSHSAA for the rights to host. The CVB solicits funds from businesses and community partners. “It’s something other communities are doing, so we don’t want to skip that part,” McConachie says.

For MSHSAA, the “community involvement,” or financial support from the community, is a big part of the equation when considering a bid for a project.

“With the basketball championships, that one pivoted because the Springfield community, their business community, got very

M SHSAA STAT E MUSI C F EST IVAL AT T ENDA NC E Source : MSH SAA

PA RT I C I PAT I NG S CH O O L S

500

395

390

2013

2014

398

401

404

2015

2016

2017

250

0

TOTA L PE RF ORM AN CES

7,000

5, 000

4,819

4,879

2013

2014

5,159

5,230

5,306

2015

2016

2017

3, 000

1, 000 0

TOTA L PA RT I C I PAN TS

15, 000

10 ,000

9 ,859

9,856

2013

2014

10,335

10,684

10,274

5, 000

0 2015

2016

2017

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 67

involved in underwriting the cost of the event,” says MSHSAA CFO Craig Long.

“With the state music festival, that is one where Columbia employed the same strategy and they were successful in getting some support from the business community in Columbia to help underwrite the cost of the event. That’s a strategy we have seen more in the last couple of years.”

THE SCOPE OF THE FESTIVAL Of 590 high schools in Missouri, 530 participate in music activities, and each year about 10,000 students from about 400 Missouri high schools qualify for the state music festival. In total, there are about 5,000 performances each year. MSHSAA estimates more than 5,000 people —friends, family, administrators, and accompanists — attend the event as well.

According to MSHSAA’s RFP documents, the festival will utilize 32 to 34 performance rooms from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the duration of the three-day festival, each room with a minimum of 700 square feet, plus 20 to 25 warm-up rooms for participants. Oh, and the individual rooms have to be secured each year for five years.

The facility fees for each year’s festival total $9,850.

“One of the reasons that we wanted to go after music and to keep it here is to get all of those students on campus,” McConachie says. “There’s a lot of value in that.”

The festival will also use significant lodging space, with complimentary hotel rooms for 50 workers and staff for four nights and thousands of rooms for schools, participants, and families. Columbia has about 3,700 hotel rooms, and three new hotels are under construction.

“What we have to do when you look at any piece of business is first look and see how many room nights it generates,” McConachie says. “For us, that’s the most important thing, because the room nights really tell us a good story about how much economic impact [an event] has.”

ECONOMIC IMPACT MSHSAA’s communications director Jason West says it’s difficult to determine the statewide economic impact of MSHSAA; they rely on local data to draw conclusions about events. Statewide, there are between 175,000 and 200,000 students who participate in MSHSAA activities, a number that has stayed steady.

The CVB uses Destinations International’s “destination marketing event

STATE MUSIC FESTIVAL (ALL CLASSES)

2018-2022 WRESTLING (ALL CLASSES)

Through 2018 event GIRLS GOLF (CLASS 1 AND 2)

2016-17

T HE M U SCHO OL O F MU S I C WILL P ROVIDE EQU IPMEN T E ACH Y EAR FO R THE STATE M U S IC FESTIVAL. 41 pianos 2 xylophones 2 sets of 4 timpani

BOYS GOLF (CLASS 2 AND 3)

2019-2020 FOOTBALL (11-MAN CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR CLASSES 1-5)

2017 Show-Me Bowl

2 vibraphones 6 marimbas 2 concert bass drums and, don’t forget, 2 sets of chimes

Upcoming MSHSAA events for bid: The city anticipates RFPs on five other events soon, including speech and debate, track and field, cross country, volleyball, and wrestling.

68 AUGUST 2017

COST F O R STAT E M USIC FESTIVAL IN COLUM BI A ( 2 01 8 vs. 2019- 2022) $

$ 150K

142,258 $

133,308

$ 100K

$ 50K

$ $

18,121

27,071

$

24,750

$

19,750

$

-$6,629

$0 FEE

impact calculator” to determine the economic effect of MSHSAA events and other events, like conventions or festivals. This tool arms CVBs and other tourism entities with information to illustrate the power of these attractions, from meetings to sports to festivals.

The calculator has been used to analyze more than 100,000 events — it figures in everything about an event, like its length, the number of tickets sold, the cost of facilities rented, and many other factors to determine economic impact.

Using the economic impact calculator, McConachie says, state wrestling generates $8.4 million and state music festival generates $1.3 million in economic impact per event in Columbia.

Long says MSHSAA will release the RFP for the next round of track, cross country, football, and

$ 5 ,1 2 1

total cost to MSHSAA of equipment rental each year, including piano moving and tuning, music stands, and chairs.

CVB &COMMU NITY SU P P ORT

7,321

COST TO MSHSAA

wrestling championships, as well as speech and debate festival, by mid-August.

“The people that are organizing the bids have — I don’t want to say learned from their mistakes, but they’ve certainly taken heed to what other entities have put in their bids, so we have seen some very competitive bids in this process,” West says.

TEAM EFFORT Each RFP the city considers from MSHSAA has different facility needs and different entities involved: sometimes it’s MU, sometimes Parks and Recreation, sometimes Columbia Public Schools. The CVB forms a new committee for each individual event depending on its needs – MU athletics, Parks and Rec, CVB, hotels, etc.

These events are critical to the success of hotel industry, says Wingate by Wyndham hotel general manager and Columbia Hospitality Association president Steve Bales. CHA partners with the CVB by supplying room data, offering to sponsor these statewide events, and providing complimentary rooms for officials. Hoteliers depend on events like MSHSAA, graduation weekend, and football games to have successful years, Bales says.

Long says one of Columbia’s strengths for statewide events like MSHSAA’s is the city’s central location and wide variety of sports facilities. They also consider available activities outside of the tournament. “Our responsibility is to our statewide membership, so central location absolutely,” Long says. “And the physical property that’s available, whether it’s University of

WA I V ED

Missouri or other facilities in central Missouri, there are some very nice opportunities there for groups like us.”

“It’s a positive impact for everybody, for the whole economy,” Bales says. “Retailers, grocery stores, restaurants, obviously the hotel industry, taxis. All of the above. It’s a win-win for everybody. When we do have an opportunity to host these wonderful events, we want them to have a wonderful time and be able to want to stay in Columbia.”

“It takes a lot more cooperation than you might think,” McConachie says. “There’s a different team you have to assemble each time. And that team has to immediately come together and immediately put together the best proposal they can with what they know.”

The work is detailed and goes beyond the staff of the CVB — it’s a community effort now. That’s a mindset the rest of the city is coming around to, and that's a good thing, since the CVB will continue to win more MSHSAA business.

“These events aren’t just a bunch of people coming in and making it take longer to get somewhere,” McConachie says. “There is a really big economic impact behind it. That’s what we’ve really tried to push. They’re supporting local jobs and they’re supporting the quality of life that we get to enjoy all year. And so we’re kind of making inroads in that I think and people are recognizing it more as an opportunity than an inconvenience.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 69

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opportunities to use their training. We must delegate responsibilities to them, let them learn on the job, trust them, and make ourselves available for ongoing guidance.

4. Recognition. In our enthusiasm to develop good leaders, we can’t forget to balance feedback with recognition. We can't let our high standards and expectations stand in the way of positive comments. There’s nothing that helps a developing leader more than sincere praise and guidance for getting better through growth. We must let people know how we feel about them.

This also must be balanced publicly and privately.

ORGA N I Z AT IONAL H E ALTH

Nine Keys for a Leadership Development Culture

BY TON Y RICHA R DS | Fou n de r of C le ar Visio n Deve l o p m e n t G ro u p

BY DESIGN, EVERY HUMAN BEING HAS the capacity, potential, and raw material to become a leader. You don’t need title and position to lead.

It’s a tragedy that most people living on Earth today will bury the leader trapped within them in the grave of a follower. Many of us are products of our environment, lacking the will and the courage to change, to develop our potential and become who we are born to be. That’s why leadership development inside organizations is so vitally important. Not only do our organizations have a chance to develop our future leaders, but also to produce better human beings to live in their communities. But that’s a real challenge for businesses.

Becoming a true results-oriented leader is not easy. It’s true that every human being is born with the ability to lead, but they must develop themselves to become a leader, just as a person born a male must go through development to become a man.

(The same applies to females becoming women.)

And regardless of title, you cannot be a leader without followers. Being a leader is not being a manager.

Being a leader is not being a boss. A person who has subordinates but has no followers is not a leader.

A leader is one who leads others to leadership.

A leader leads themselves first and, by so doing, inspires others to follow them.

Today, organizational leaders know intuitively they need to create an environment that produces leaders, but they’re sometimes confused on the strategy and tactics of doing so. Great companies are developed from the inside out, not the other way around. And while customers are ultimately important, they’ll receive treatment and service based on what is already present inside the company — improving the inside automatically improves the outside, and that improvement happens through development. Here are a few points business leaders should consider when building a development-oriented culture of leadership.

1. Vision. It's the air leaders breathe. It's the atmosphere that ensures leaders’ survival. It's the why and the where. We must always provide a vision that both sustains and requires leaders.

2. A plan. While we can’t know every twist and turn along the road, we must have a general direction, a plan for developing leaders. We have to invest time and energy thinking through the plan and understanding it intimately.

3. Opportunity. Those we develop cannot sit idly by. We must provide them with genuine

5. Time. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to leadership development — but that's one of the reasons I love it. Everyone can do it, but few choose to do it. It takes long-term courage, risk, and commitment, but there’s nothing more rewarding across every area of a person’s life. The fact is that it requires a space in your life that’s a priority over other busywork. Remember that everything gets better when your people get better.

6. Gratitude. We should be grateful for the opportunity to develop others and for the trust they’ve given us. Their future vision is under our current supervision.

7. Self-development. To develop other leaders, we must continue growing ourselves through our own personal development plan.

In order to be teachers, we must be willing to be taught by those who have been sent into our lives for that purpose.

8. Popularity (or lack thereof). We all have our favorite teachers, but often those who may not be our favorites have the most relevant message for our lives. I don’t know how many stories I’ve heard from former Norm Stewart players about how much they initially disliked his coaching style and discipline. It wasn’t until later they truly began to value what he did for them through that process.

9. Freedom. Every parent knows that someday our children will leave home. There is an appropriate time to release leaders we’ve developed, whether it’s to another area of the company or outside the company altogether.

That doesn't mean the relationship ends. It just changes. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 71

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advisable to drive the maximum number of visitors to your site. The study suggests over 30 posts per month delivers less clicks per month than just 15 posts.

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How Much Is Too Much?

BY MON ICA P ITTS | C h ie f C re at ive D ire ctor o f M aye C re ate D e s i g n

IF YOU'RE IN THE BEGINNING STAGES of a social media plan for your business, you’ve probably asked yourself the question, “How much do I post?” or even, “What time should I post?”

Like all other questions that involve favorable human interaction, the answer is that it’s complicated. Sure, your audience is unique, but you still need somewhere to start, right?

I approach social media (and all marketing, really) like a big science experiment.

As you begin the experiment, you start with what you know, then you make a good hypothesis about what might happen, watch the results, adjust the variables, and rerun the experiment.

To build our “how much should I post?” hypothesis, I checked with the experts — HubSpot, Constant Contact, Buffer, Dow Social, LocalVox, Nulou, and Quick Sprout.

All these folks are proven thought leaders in the social media sphere and, fortunately for us, decided to run multiple studies in the

past year in an effort to answer those ominous questions of how much and when.

FACEBOOK For the longest time, marketers have suggested a benchmark of two posts per day on Facebook. But after all these studies, it turns out that isn’t all true.

If you have 10,000-plus followers, then yes, two times a day is perfect for engaging viewers. However, if you have less than 10,000 followers, which many of us do, you should post far less to connect with — but not bombard — your audience.

Facebook engagement and posting frequency varies widely by industry, but for our purposes, let's discuss Facebook engagement (likes, shares, clicks, and follows) for a page with a following between 201 and 1,000.

Hubspot found posting as little as one to five times per month to that size audience will yield the most link clicks. Per-post clicks decrease as number of posts increase. However, posting up to 30 times per month is still

TWITTER Not a big surprise — Twitter’s posting cadence is faster and more frequent than Facebook. The algorithm displaying content to viewers on Twitter places far more weight on recent posts than Facebook’s algorithm. Plus, Twitter allows its account holders to decide how they want their newsfeeds sorted, so there’s a wider variety of how people receive content.

If what you’re going for on Twitter is maximum post engagement, work towards 1 to 5 tweets per day. If you want to maximize total responses, you can tweet until you’re blue in face. The studies show you can post up to 50 times a day without oversharing. B2C businesses have the best luck on weekends and Wednesdays, and B2B business fare better during the weekdays.

LINKEDIN Like Facebook, LinkedIn seems more manageable to maintain from a time investment perspective. All the experts agree that oversharing on LinkedIn is a terrible strategy, but any post on the network may reach around 20 percent of your contacts, so don’t neglect it entirely. Try to post once a day during the weekdays for best results. The beginning and the end of the workday will be your best bet for scheduling.

Regardless of the network, your industry, or the size of your audience, experts and audiences alike agree on one thing: If you don’t have something interesting to say, don’t say anything at all. Your social posting plan should emphasize quality over quantity.

There’s certainly a minimum of quality posts you’ll need to make, but posting just to post so you can reach a goal of posts per month isn’t worth your time. Use these benchmarks as a guide, taking into account the time you have available to create quality content.

You’ll have to make your own hypothesis about how much and what times you should post your social media content. Then, like any good scientist, review your data, tweak, and repeat. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 73

CELEBRATING

35 years

IN BUSINESS!

TRUSTED ADVISOR | INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS | ENHANCING SUCCESS

by Columbia Reg red ion we al Po Ai rp or t

We want to thank all of our school and business partners that have made this happen and a special thanks to the Columbia business community for selecting us as the Top IT Company in Columbia in this year’s Top of the Town!

TOP

CBT’s

OF THE

T OW N 20 17

To celebrate we’re offering a

FREE network assessment for your business IT needs.

Go to MidwestComputech.com/CBT to find out what makes us the best IT company in Columbia!

Recognized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as one of the top small businesses in the country for six consecutive years!

573.499.6928 74 AUGUST 2017

MidwestComputech.com/CBT

IT Consulting | Cloud Computing | Data Backup Services | IT Support

B U SINESS • P EOP L E • IM P ROVE M E N T • F YI

P OL IC Y

Time to Streamline Sales Tax

BY JERRY DOWELL | Director of Government Affairs, Columbia Chamber of Commerce

AS OUR CULTURE EVOLVES AND THE internet continues dominating our lives, we need to make updates to our tax laws to keep pace with the changing economy.

The state, county, and municipal governments that rely on sales and use taxes to fund public services are increasingly unable to provide the services and infrastructure necessary to keep up with growth. The failure to capture taxes owed on online retail purchases through remote sellers is not only preventing the government from making strategic investments in the well-being of its citizens, but it’s also creating a competitive disadvantage for Missouri’s brick-and-mortar retailers.

In the 1992 case of Quill v. North Dakota, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a state cannot collect sales tax on items purchased outside a customer’s home state if the retailer does not have a physical presence in the state.

An MU study estimated that Missouri missed out on $358.3 million in state and local sales tax revenue in 2014, the results of which were recently illustrated by Columbia City Manager Mike Matthes in his State of the City address. The

City has reduced spending to match the lower revenue and has instituted a hiring freeze in this fiscal year with further reductions and cut backs to programs and services in next year’s budget.

Sales tax growth is at the lowest rate in Columbia’s history. City officials say Columbia, estimating conservatively, has lost $12 million in sales tax revenue over the past 10 years.

So where do the state and city go from here?

One avenue is for the State of Missouri to adopt legislation to enact the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement. This legislation helps states simplify their sales tax laws to make it easier for online retailers to collect and remit state and local sales and use taxes. Once the legislation is passed, the state becomes a member of the national Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. The governing board notifies all registered retailers that they must begin collecting taxes on purchases made by residents of that state. The legislation also provides for compliance by using one of seven certified providers that interface with online retailers to calculate the appropriate state and local taxes.

POLI CY

The agreement would simplify the state’s sales taxes and create a way for online retailers to calculate, collect, and remit the tax to the state.

Twenty-four states have enacted the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, including seven of the eight states that surround Missouri. Becoming a member of the Streamlined Agreement only captures sales and use tax from retailers that have joined and agreed to remit the tax. Leveling the playing field for all retailers in every state will require the U.S. Congress to make collection of state and local sales and use taxes compulsory for all online retailers.

We’ve tried to do this before. A version of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement has been filed in the Missouri General Assembly by a Republican or Democrat every year since 2000.

Enacting the Streamlined Agreement does not create a new tax; it sets up a mechanism for collecting an existing tax. All products subject to sales tax today would be subject to sales tax tomorrow. The agreement would simplify the state’s sales taxes and create a way for online retailers to calculate, collect, and remit the tax to the state.

Missouri already has a use tax that requires Missourians to calculate and remit sales taxes on purchases made through online retailers, putting the onus on the consumer. In 2011, only 168 people remitted use tax payments to the state.

Clearly, that’s not working for us. We must set up mechanisms on the state and federal level to collect sales and use tax to fund needed services and infrastructure — and to level the playing field for our Main Street businesses. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 75

L A S I K | C at ar a c t Su rg e ry | G l a u c o m a | Dry Ey e

Restoration Eye Care brings the most advanced vision options to you.

Learn more about how you can take control of your vision by visiting RestorationEyeCare.com 76 AUGUST 2017

BU SINESS • P EOP L E • IM PROVE M E N T • F YI

ASK AN N E

professional levels. The employees know how they’re doing, how they need to improve, how they can advance their career, and where to go for help. Most of all, these meetings create open and honest communication between the employee and their leader.

Q A SK A N N E

One-on-ones and Fun

I never seem to have enough time to do the little things a CEO should do — send birthday wishes, LinkedIn congrats, talking to my spouse about life, writing thank you notes, and more. How can I better balance these things?

BY A N N E W ILLIAM S | P re side n t of JobF in der s E m p l oy m e n t S e r vi ce s

Q I am having a hard time keeping my employees engaged. Some seem very happy, work hard, and know what they want, but others just float along, only doing what they must to get by. What can I do to get them engaged and more productive?

You need to become The Engager! But the term “engagement” is a bit nebulous, and there’s no easy way to tell if employees are totally engaged. Seemingly happy employees aren’t necessarily engaged, and you can’t be certain that outwardly stoic employees are not engaged. It’s a subjective measurement from an employee about your company at any given time.

The company culture plays a big role in getting and keeping employees engaged.

Do you have company rituals, processes, benefits, awards, and recognition for engaged employees? Those things help.

One tool we’ve used to get our staff engaged is one-on-one meetings with managers and other company leaders. We utilize an agenda with predeveloped items on it — that way the meetings ensure every staff member gets time with their leader and both know the topics for discussion. A few questions you can ask in these meetings include: •

What things are working well and what are key performance indicators for you?

•

What progress are we making on your personal development?

•

How are you making progress on your annual goals?

•

What can I, the leader, do to help you achieve your goals?

•

What business or personal items need to be addressed?

•

What did we learn from this meeting?

These one-on-one meetings allow leaders to have consistent and meaningful discussion with team members on personal and

There’s never enough time in the day to look for new business opportunities, recognize employees, show staff how much you care, etc. This is a universal problem for top management, I think. Recently I read an article written by a CEO in Chicago who runs a major insurance company with thousands of employees. He decided that it was his role, not his assistant’s, to wish his staff a happy birthday. He also wanted to have time to text his kids, look at the grandkids’ pictures on Facebook, and do the other little personal things that everyone wants to do.

So, what was his solution? He scheduled it out. Every Monday morning, he went to the office early, looked at his calendar of “havetos,” then scheduled 15-minute segments of spontaneity time. He made sure to have at least one per day and sometimes squeezed in two. His assistant was told to shut his door and turn off the inbound calls. During his “free time,” he made birthday calls, looked at Facebook, and even called his kids.

In life, we schedule our time off and our vacation time. Why not schedule a bit of time to do the little things at work that have such a big payoff? CBT Anne Williams is not an attorney. All content in this column is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality and is not to be construed as legal advice.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 77

78 AUGUST 2017

B U SINESS • P EOP L E • IM PROVE M E N T • F YI

B U SI N ESS SM AR TS

Phony Work E-mail Leads to Computer Virus An employee at one of the largest companies in town received an e-mail from his company’s tech support team. It asked him to click a link that would provide a necessary update to his system. He clicked it and never thought about it again — until a virus crashed his computer.

Again, this was a masked e-mail that looked exactly like it had come from the company’s tech support office. Every day, e-mails just like this are sent with viruses that take control of a computer, steal information, cause damage, or cause a variety of other problems.

Skimmer on Gas Pump Used to Steal Credit Card Information

B U SI N ESS S MARTS

Avoiding Scams Takes Effort

A skimmer is a device used by scammers that’s placed on gas pumps, ATM machines, and other devices that take credit and debit cards. Unless you really know what to look for, they can be very difficult to spot. While you’re trying to conduct your business, scammers are stealing your card information. It could happen to pretty much anyone, and most will never know until money starts being taken from their account.

We heard one such story from a local who was just using a gas pump.

BY SEAN SP ENCE | Re gion al D ire ctor of Be tte r B u s i n e ss B u re a u Co l u m b i a

Protecting yourself from scams like these takes vigilance, caution, and attention to detail.

MANY OF US HEAR ABOUT SCAMS AND wonder how anyone could fall victim to them.

We would never wire money to the prince in Nairobi who has e-mailed because he has money for us. We would never give our credit card number to someone who had called claiming to be an IRS agent. The list of things we would not do is pretty endless.

But scammers are getting much smarter, and they target businesses in much the same way as they do consumers, often for much more money.

Set aside the fact that people fall for the scams mentioned above pretty much every day. More and more, we’re seeing scammers become more sophisticated and subtle. We’re seeing scams that any of us could fall for, given the right circumstances and timing.

Add to this that businesses often have multiple decision makers, can have insufficient safeguards in place, and often have plenty of

individual employees who can be targets — altogether, the average workplace is a potential goldmine for scammers.

Let me give you three examples, all of which have happened in Columbia in the last year and were reported to BBB.

Subscription Scam Almost Succeeds In this case, the scam didn’t work, but companies fall for it on a regular basis all around the country. The marketing director for a local company received a bill for a subscription to a database service, one not unlike several others the company uses on a regular basis. She was about to authorize payment when she noticed that the company name was slightly different than what she was used to, so she looked into it further. Pretty quickly, she realized the invoice was made to look like one she regularly paid, but it was actually a different company — one that was trying to scam her.

Here are a few tips that can help all of us protect ourselves from scams:

• Make sure you are 100 percent confident in any internet link before you click it, especially if you’re not expecting it.

• Use the web to check your bank accounts on a regular basis to make sure there are no unexpected charges.

• Be wary of any request to wire money.

• If you wire money on a regular basis, be sure there are safeguards to make sure every wire is valid.

• Check the BBB Scam Tracker on a regular basis so you’re familiar with scams in your area, state, and around the country.

This is a tool that can tell you, down to the zip code, where specific scams are being reported, including the amount of money involved. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 79

80 AUGUST 2017

BU SI N ESS • P EOPL E • IM P R OV EM EN T • FY I

New Business Licenses AUGUST 2017

J&J Salas Cleaning

CPR Cell Phone

1501 Vandiver Dr.

Repair Columbia

573-441-8333

2609 E. Broadway

Commercial janitorial services

636-778-9883 Electronic, phone, computer,

Everything’s EZ by Everett Rob

and tablet repairs

5431 E. St. Charles Rd. 573-442-1416

Jazz It Up Cleaning

Vinyl wrap services,

573-228-1986

custom car detailing

Commercial cleaning

Diamond Shine Cleaning

1323 English Dr. 573-514-2818 Residential and commercial cleaning service Fighting In the Shade

5010 Melissa Dr. 573-886-2052 Lecturing Gamal Castile’s Smartbodies

5010 Melissa Dr. 573-886-2052 Personal training and online

Cinderella Construction

573-289-8086 General contractor Backyards and Beyond LLC

314-853-5686 Rentals for camping equipment — online delivery Joy’s Carry Out & Catering Service

2202 Paris Rd. 573-355-607 Food catering

coaching CNH Massage & Colonics Happy Nails

1902 Corona Rd.

3709 S. Providence Rd.

573-447-1225

573-356-0015

Massage and colonics

Nail salon Lochness Charm Goods Avery Window Cleaning

1706 Parkside Dr.

404 Duncan St.

573-808-7493

573-397-1357

Online retail store for

Window cleaning

key chains and jewelry CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 81

B U S I N E SS • P E O P L E • I M P R OV E M E N T • F Y I

DEEDS OF T R U ST

Deeds of Trust WORTH MORE THAN $747,500

$19,500,000

$1,080,000

$785,000

Discovery Park Apartments II LLC First State Community Bank LT 401 Discovery Park Sub Plat 4

Krueger, Charles F & Shelly J Ginsburg & Company LLC Lt 7 BL 5 Fyfer’s Sub

Angell, Justin L Central Bank of Boone County STR 28-51-11 /NE/SE

$1,080,000

$770,687

Schlacks Rentals LLC The Central Trust Bank LT 2B Slumberland Furniture Store Sub LT 2 1B

27N9TH LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT 10 PT FF Conley’s Subdivision

$1,055,000

$770,687

Lewis, Garry L & Brenda G Central Bank of Boone County LT 48A Corporate Lake Plates No 4,6,11

D&D Investments of Columbia LLC Landmark Bank STR 3-48-12 //NE SUR BK/ PG: 505/133 AC 28.7 FF with exceptions

27N9TH LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT 11 PT FF J C Conley’s Sub

$3,382,372

$970,000

Burlington Vandiver LLC The Callaway Bank STR 30-49-12 //SW SUR BK/ PG: 414/115 FF LOTS 1,2 & PT LOT 7

Braik Brothers Tree Care & Green Waste Recycling LLC Exchange Bank of Missouri LT 2 Columbia Air Park Sub Pl 2

$3,335,000

$925,845

Gentry, Eric G & Striegel, Ruth Ann The Bank of Missouri LT 19 Seven Oaks Plat 1

Ginger C LLC The Central Trust Bank LT 1 Crossroads North Sub Pl 1

$3,145,000

$880,000

OTA Properties LLC Landmark Bank LT 63 Corporate Lake Plat No 12

Discovery Hotels LLC Central Bank of Boone County Lot 303 Discovery Park Subdivision Plat 3

$1,351,155

$800,000

Tharp Family CO LP Central Bank of Boone County LT 1 PT Boone Industrial Park East

First Tier Investments LLC The Bank of Missouri LT E First Tier Condominiums

$1,100,000

$800,000

Willett, Kent F Trust The Landmark Bank STR 35-49-12 //N AC 10 FF BO BO SURVEY #8045

Big River Land Company; Forck; Thomas JR & Amanda Connections Bank LT 1 MRWA Subdivision Plat

$5,630,000

Vandiver 1500 LLC The Central Trust Bank LT 4 Curtis Rollins Sub Block 2 $5,500,000

BUSINESS TIMES

We k n ow m i d - M O. 82 AUGUST 2017

$770,687

27N9TH LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT 10 PT FF Conley’s Sub $770,687

27N9TH LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT 11 PT FF J C Conley’s Subdivision $756,000

Williams, Yancy B & Misty D Landmark Bank STR 34-50-11 //S SUR BK/PG: 4754/21 AC 20 FF TRACT 1 $747,680

Naydyhor, Justin E & Shelley L Landmark Bank LT 12126A Highlands Plat 12-C The $747,500

EFE & AME Revocable Trust The Hawthorn Bank LT 14 Deerfield Ridge Plat 2 CBT 845 deeds of trust were issued between 5/30 and 6/30

BU SINESS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • FY I

Economic Index LABOR

Value of commercial building permits: $3,596,009

May 2017 —

Commercial additions

Columbia, Missouri

and alterations: 15

Labor force: 66,921

Value of commercial additions

Employment: 64,944

and alterations: $2,692,894

MAKE

Unemployment: 1,977 Rate: 3 percent

HOUSING May 2017 — Boone County

WORK

May 2017

Labor force: 98,164 Employment: 95,358

Single-family home sales: 286

Unemployment: 2,806

Existing single-family home

Rate: 2.9 percent

sales per month: 244 New construction single-

May 2017 — Missouri

family home sales per

Labor force: 3,059,676

month: 42

Employment: 2,935,478

Single-family active listings on

Unemployment: 124,198

market: 648

Rate: 4.8 percent

Single-family homes average

P L AY

sold price: $209,363 May 2017 — United States

Single-family homes median

Labor force: 159,979,000

sold price: $189,900

Employment: 153,407,000

Single-family homes average

Unemployment: 6,572,000

days on market: 43

Rate: 4.1 percent

Single-family homes pending

@theloopcomo #goodtobeintheloop

listings on market: 267

CONSTRUCTION

THE

May 2017

UTILITIES

Residential building

Water

permits: 71

June 2017: 48,903

Value of residential building

June 2016: 48,748

permits: $7,264,302

Change #: 155

Detached single-family

Change %: 0.318

good to be in the loop Whether it’s souping up your car or sprucing up your house, grilling a steak or planting a garden, we have the knowledge and the tools to get the job done.

homes: 25 Value of detached

Electric

single-family homes:

June 2017: 49,773

$5,930,434

June 2016: 49106

Commercial building

Change #: 667

permits: 20

Change %: 1.358

PMS 370

See you Saturday on The Loop.

PMS COOL GREY 9

PMS 158

PMS 550

PMS 2289

PMS 7536

theloopcomo.com Business Loop 70 | Columbia, MO

CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 83

84 AUGUST 2017

BU SI N ESS • P EO P L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • FY I

BY T H E N U M BER S

Education By the Numbers

#12

88.3%

80.9%

Columbia Public Schools 2016 proportional attendance rate.

CPS proportional attendance rate for students on free or reduced lunch.

District Report Card — Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Stephens College’s rank on fashion-schools.org’s list of the top private fashion design schools in the nation.

Fashion-schools.org

3.49 Average high school GPA for day-campus students at Columbia College.

Columbia College Institutional Research

29% CPS funding that comes from the state.

35% Average Missouri district funding that comes from the state.

District Report Card — Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

$120

Cost per night to stay in a fourbed MU dorm suite for a home football game this fall. Bed linens and towels are included.

MU Residential Life COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 85

You deserve a positive experience. our system ensures you have one.

With an organizational approach to building and remodeling, clients gain confidence that we will guide them in a collaborative manner. From site analysis and design concept to construction and completion, Sean and his team will help you stay on task and on budget.

Call today for a no-obligation appointment to talk about your project.

573-356-2600 • ArtisanCoMo.com

86 AUGUST 2017

olumbia Region al A

by C irp red or we o t P

TOP

CBT’s

OF THE

TOWN 2017

TOP PLACE TO WORK – 1-25 EMPLOYEES

TOP BANK

TOP JANITORIAL SERVICES

TOP WEB DEVELOPER

1st Place: Columbia Eye Consultants 2nd Place: Caledon Virtual

1st Place: Central Bank of Boone County 2nd Place: Landmark Bank

1st Place: Atkins, Inc. 2nd Place: Safi Sana

1st Place: Hoot Design Co. 2nd Place: Delta Systems

TOP REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER

TOP COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER

TOP PLACE TO WORK - 26-50 EMPLOYEES 1st Place: Woodruff 2nd Place: Century 21 Advantage

TOP PLACE TO WORK - 51+ EMPLOYEES 1st Place: Veterans United Home Loans 2nd Place: Central Bank of Boone County

TOP HR FIRM 1st Place: Moresource, Inc. 2nd Place: Accounting Plus 1604 Business Loop 70 W. B, Columbia 573-445-3805, accountingplusinc.com

TOP CHAMBER VOLUNTEER

TOP STAFFING COMPANY

1st Place: Tom Trabue, McClure Engineering Co. 2nd Place: Sherry Major, Columbia EDP

1st Place: JobFinders Employment Services 1729 W. Broadway #4, Columbia, 573-446-4250, jobfindersusa.com

1st Place: Mike Tompkins, Tompkins Homes & Development 2nd Place: Jay Lindner, Forum Development Group

TOP BUSINESS INSURANCE 1st Place: Stephanie Wilmsmeyer, State Farm 2609 E. Broadway, Columbia 573-445-5774, insurecomo.com

1st Place: LG Patterson 2nd Place: Casey Buckman

TOP COMMERCIAL VIDEOGRAPHER 1st Place: The Evoke Group 2nd Place: Cosmic Sauce

TOP B2B PRODUCT OR SERVICE 1st Place: GFI Digital 2nd Place: CoMo Connection Exchange

TOP COFFEE MEETING LOCATION 2nd Place: Columbia Insurance Group

1st Place: Kaldi’s Coffee 2nd Place: The Grind Coffee House

TOP EMERGING PROFESSIONAL

TOP ENGINEER

1st Place: Amanda Quick, The Hatchery 2nd Place: Brandon Banks, Modern Media Concepts

1st Place: Crockett Engineering 2nd Place: McClure Engineering Co.

TOP PLACE FOR BUSINESS LUNCH

TOP SEASONED PRO 1st Place: Eric Morrison, Providence Bank 2nd Place: Gina Gervino, Columbia Insurance Group

TOP COMMERCIAL REALTOR 1st Place: Paul Land, Plaza Commercial Realty 2501 Bernadette Dr, Columbia 573-445-1020, paulland.com

2nd Place: Kelly Services

TOP COMMERCIAL BUILDER 1st Place: Coil Construction 2nd Place: Little Dixie Construction

TOP OFFICE DIGS 1st Place: Fresh Ideas Food Service Management 2nd Place: Missouri Employers Mutual

TOP ARCHITECT 1st Place: Simon Oswald Architecture 2nd Place: PWArchitects

TOP ACCOUNTING SERVICE 1st Place: Williams-Keepers LLC 2005 W. Broadway, Columbia 573-442-6171, williamskeepers.com

TOP CEO 1st Place: Steve Erdel, Central Bank of Boone County 2nd Place: Gary Thompson, Columbia Insurance Group

TOP HAPPY HOUR 1st Place: Logboat Brewing Co. 2nd Place: The Roof

TOP CATERER 1st Place: Bleu Events 2nd Place: Hoss’s Market 1010 Club Village Dr., Columbia 573-815-9711, hosssmarket.com

TOP SALESPERSON 1st Place: Brooke Berkey, Central Bank of Boone County 2nd Place: Danny Gingerich, Joe Machens Toyota-Scion

2nd Place: Accounting Plus 1604 Business Loop 70 W. B, Columbia 573-445-3805, accountingplusinc.com

TOP PLACE TO CLOSE A DEAL

TOP IT COMPANY

TOP EVENT LOCATION

TOP COMMERCIAL LENDER 2nd Place: Gina Rende, Maly Commercial Realty

1st Place: Addison’s 2nd Place: D. Rowe’s

1st Place: Chris Widmer, Landmark Bank 2nd Place: Chris Rosskopf, Central Bank of Boone County

TOP ADVERTISING AGENCY 1st Place: True Media 2nd Place: Visionworks Marketing Group

1st Place: 44 Stone 2nd Place: Boone-Central Title Co.

1st Place: Midwest Computech 2nd Place: EasyPC IT & Computer Repair

1st Place: Logboat Brewing Co. 2nd Place: Stoney Creek Hotel & Conference Center

TOP NATIONAL PRESENCE

TOP LOCAL TEAM-BUILDING EXPERIENCE

1st Place: True/False Film Fest 2nd Place: Veterans United Home Loans

1st Place: Breakout CoMo 2nd Place: Escape Plan COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 87

ADVERTISER INDEX ACCOUNTING PLUS............................................................................................91

JOBFINDERS.........................................................................................................78

ACHIEVE BALANCE.......................................................................................... 70

LAMMTECH.............................................................................................................. 5

ANTHONY JINSON PHOTOGRAPHY............................................................. 9

LANDMARK BANK................................................................................................ 2

ARTISAN BUILDERS OF COLUMBIA........................................................... 86

MAHER COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE.........................................................72

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES................................................18

MCDONALD'S....................................................................................................... 80

BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL MISSOURI......................... 8

MEDIACOM..............................................................................................................16

BLEU EVENTS...................................................................................................... 86 BOONE HOSPITAL............................................................................................. 30 BRINGING UP BUSINESS....................................................................................4 BTI..............................................................................................................................38 CARPET ONE........................................................................................................ 70 CHRISTIAN CHAPEL ACADEMY....................................................................78 CITY OF COLUMBIA WATER & LIGHT........................................................... 6 COLUMBIA CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU...................................22 COLUMBIA EDP....................................................................................................72

MIDWEST COMPUTECH....................................................................................74 MISSOURI EMPLOYERS MUTUAL..................................................................76 MODERN LITHO/BROWN PRINTING............................................................14 NATHAN JONES LAW....................................................................................... 70 NAUGHT NAUGHT INSURANCE AGENCY.................................................72 RESTORATION EYECARE................................................................................76 SEPTAGON CONSTRUCTION..........................................................................35 SOCKET.................................................................................................................. 84

COMMERCE BANK..............................................................................................35

SPARK PROMOTIONS........................................................................................32

COMO LEADERS................................................................................................. 84

STANGE LAW FIRM.............................................................................................88

EDWARD JONES..................................................................................................32

STATE FARM INSURANCE - STEPHANIE WILMSMEYER.................... 80

FIRST STATE COMMUNITY BANK.................................................................78

SUPERIOR GARDEN CENTER/ROST LANDSCAPE.............................. 80

GFI DIGITAL............................................................................................................. 3

THE BANK OF MISSOURI.................................................................................36

HAWTHORN BANK.............................................................................................92

THE LOOP...............................................................................................................83

HEART OF MISSOURI UNITED WAY.................................................... 10 & 11

THE TRUST COMPANY........................................................................................ 7

88 AUGUST 2017

B U SINESS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • FY I

T H I S OR T H AT

MUN Y. CHOI President, University of Missouri System

Mac

PC

Details

Big Picture

Cursive

Print

Early Bird Cinema Michael Jackson Firefox 9-5 Learn At Your Desk

Night Owl Netflix The Beatles Chrome Flexibility Teach In a Meeting

Wine

Beer

Pie

Cake

Improviser Modern Skeptical City

Planner Traditional Certain Country

Save

Spend

Summer

Winter

Cat Passenger Car Ocean Optimistic Business

Dog Driver Plane Mountains Realistic Casual

Solo

Team

For Here

To Go

DISC Books

StrengthsFinder Magazines

Reading

Writing

Creative

Analytical

Introvert

Extrovert

Podcast Cluttered Card Game Concept Fiction Text Soup

Playlist Minimalist Board Game Execute Non-fiction Call Sandwich

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 89

B U SINESS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • FY I

FLASH BAC K

Williams Hall STORY A N D P HOTOG R A P HY BY R AC HEL T H O M AS

AT THE CENTER OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE’S campus sits Williams Hall, a quaint square brick building, modest in size in comparison to several larger and newer halls and buildings that surround it. Yet, to many, Williams is a hallmark of the college’s past and present.

The hall has been in operation since the college’s inception in 1851. It also happens to be the oldest collegiate building in continual use for academic purposes west of the Mississippi River.

Ever since the building opened over 160 years ago, Williams has never closed its classrooms, not even in the midst of the Civil War. (Nor during decreased enrollment due to the infamous “panty raid” of 1908, when male students from neighboring MU raided the bedrooms of several female students.)

But before Williams realized its academic destiny, the building was an unfinished mansion owned by James Bennett, sitting atop a plot of 29 heavily wooded acres. During its first academic

session, Columbia College’s original student body of seven students were taught in a small church.

But as enrollment quickly increased (to 36 students), there was a need for a permanent home for the next session. The college’s Board of Trustees purchased the property from Bennett for $5,500, and Columbia College’s campus was born.

The mansion became the soul of the campus.

In fact, for roughly half a century it served as both classrooms and living quarters for all students, faculty, and administrative staff. It wasn’t until 1900, when the mansion was housing a hundred people, that the second oldest building, St. Clair Hall, was built to accommodate increasing enrollment.

The building has had many reincarnations over the past century and a half. As the student body grew and more buildings were added, the mansion became endearingly known as Old Main. In the 1950s, the building found a new identity as Practice Hall, as it began to house practice and music rooms. Finally, in 1969, Practice Hall

was named Williams Hall, as it’s known today.

The hall is named after John Augustus Williams, the college’s first president.

Today, Williams Hall houses faculty offices and several classrooms. Though the hall has been renovated several times, there are major features, such as the original staircase, still intact.

“Academia is built on history,” says Bradley Meinke, Columbia College archives collection manager. “We must defer to its history in order to keep going forward. Keeping the institution’s history alive is a great way for everyone — students, staff, and faculty — to have pride in this college. Even when things change, some remain the same.” CBT

Williams Hall at Columbia College 600 Cougar Dr. ccis.edu

We love Columbia business history. If you have any interesting photos and stories, please send them to Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com 90 AUGUST 2017

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