Columbia Business Times - November 2016

PLAYING WITH ROBOTS PAGE 64 SCOTT DALRYMPLE Columbia College

PAY WITH A SELFIE PAGE 46

INSIDE THE VIDEO GAME HUT: CO LUMBIA CO LLEG E E S PO RTS

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A

s we were planning the innovation issue, I knew I wanted to include MU’s Venture Mentoring Service, plucked from the minds at

MIT. The program pairs entrepreneurs with successful local business people for a mentoring opportunity — PLAYING WITH ROBOTS PAGE 64 SCOTT DALRYMPLE Columbia College

PAY WITH A SELFIE PAGE 46

they meet for a year and discuss goals, plans, struggles,

EDITOR'S PICKS I try to take five minutes out of every day to learn. Here are some of my favorite and fast business tidbit sources.

successes, and everything in between.

It is a groundbreaking program that will have lasting impact on not just the startups coming out of Columbia,

INSIDE THE VIDEO GAME HUT: COLUMBIA COLLEGE ESPORTS

but also the caliber of professionals who will be the next generation of leaders in our community. In the next decade, as millennials develop into leaders, mentoring

ON THE COVER The dark room and electric blue lights made this a technically challenging shoot. Photographer Anthony Jinson was up to the challenge of photographing an other-worldly room.

will be a key component of crafting world-class CEOs. It sounds strange, but I never thought about, nor did I ever hear anyone talk about, mentoring before I moved to Columbia three years ago. I’ve had good jobs, I went to a good school, I had people in my life whose opinions I valued. But no one ever told me that: a) a

Inc. Wire newsletter This newsletter is full of stories tailored around entrepreneurs. Some how-tos, some success stories, some data-driven stories.

Find it at: inc.com/wire

mentor could help my professional development and b) that someone would actually want to take time out of their life to help me be a better person.

I didn’t know you could ask someone to help you set goals and achieve them.

It sounds like a simple concept now, but I don’t think it's simple for everyone. Many of us don’t feel we’re good enough to deserve someone else’s help. Some don’t even know it’s a thing that people do. That’s why it is so important we keep the conversation going about the importance of mentors in our lives.

Don’t have one? Get one. Think of the people in your life whom you admire; who challenge you to be better; who can share lessons learned from the field.

Maybe you’ve already had one in your life: so become a mentor to someone else. Find a co-worker or colleague who makes waves, or maybe one who is quiet but has great ideas. Give back. Sharing our knowledge and experience is the way toward better leadership down the road.

Welcome to the innovation issue of CBT. You’ll read about everything from robots helping

Dan Rockwell’s Leadership Freak Subscribe to the newsletter for short, insightful articles on leadership.

Find it at: @Leadershipfreak

to teach kiddos engineering and math (page 64) to the growing field of eSports (page 52) and more. It’s a great time to be part of this community, and I can’t wait for you to read about the groundbreaking things happening here.

Thanks for reading,

Mentoring Moments This is a delightful podcast where women leaders share their experiences, or “mentoring moments.”

Brenna McDermott, Editor brenna@businesstimescompany.com

Find it at: forbes.com/podcasts

/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

Ed i to r @ B u s i n e ss Ti m e s Co m p a ny.co m COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 19

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EDITORIAL Erica Pefferman, Publisher Erica@BusinessTimesCompany.com Brenna McDermott, Editor Brenna@BusinessTimesCompany.com Matthew Patston, Managing Editor Matt@BusinessTimesCompany.com Libby Wall, Editorial Assistant Libby@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 MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES Deb Valvo, Marketing Consultant Deb@BusinessTimesCompany.com Tami Turner, Marketing Consultant Tami@BusinessTimesCompany.com Janelle Wilbers Hayley, Marketing Consultant Janelle@BusinessTimesCompany.com Heather McGee, Marketing Consultant Heather@BusinessTimesCompany.com Crystal Richardson, Digital Marketing Manager Crystal@BusinessTimesCompany.com Fran Patrick, Account Manager Fran@BusinessTimesCompany.com Emily Brehe, Digital Account Manager Emily@BusinessTimesCompany.com

Inside the Issue Twitter Chatter SafeTrek @SafeTrek Thanks @ColumbiaBiz for featuring #SafeTrek! Proud of our Columbia, MO roots!

Buchroeders Jeweler @Buchroeders We’re turning 120! Read about us in @ColumbiaBiz, where we’ve been & where we are going. #CoMo #DiscoverTheDistrict CACC-CPS @CACC_CPS Thank you for featuring two of our Rockstars! We appreciate the support of our Columbia Public Schools. #caccbest @PStieple

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The COMO Bizettes, made up of some of the lovely ladies here at the Business Times Company, took home “Best in Show” at the first Wine, Women & Song variety night hosted by Joe Machens. All we do is win.

You nominated your favorite young professionals. Tune in to our social media channels in December when we reveal the 20 Under 40 Class of 2017, presented by Joe Machens Dealerships.

Contributors

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Write to CBT editor Brenna McDermott at Brenna@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 21

NOVE MBE R 2016 VOL . 2 3 / ISSUE 5

TA B LE OF CON T EN TS

Innovation Issue 19 FROM THE EDITOR 21 INSIDE THE ISSUE 25 CLOSER LOOK 26 BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS 29 BUSINESS UPDATE

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Centennial Investors

32 NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT PACE

34 CELEBRATIONS Chris McD's

37 MOVERS & SHAKERS 39 P.Y.S.K. Jaime Freidrichs, Missouri Women’s Business Center

43 11 QUESTIONS Chris Rohlfing, Boone Electric Cooperative

45 OPINION 77 MARKETING Five Social Media Secrets

79 ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH The Multitasking Myth

82 ASK ANNE Maximizing Your Management

Service with a Selfie Fresh Ideas Food Service Management, through their FreshX app, thinks they have the technology to compete with Apple. The concept? Payment by selfie.

84 NEW BUSINESS LICENSES 85 DEEDS OF TRUST 86 ECONOMIC INDEX 88 BY THE NUMBERS 90 FLASHBACK MU Research Reactor

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Level Up Go inside the Game Hut with the Columbia College eSports team, and see how the Cougars are using video games to establish a national profile.

Innovators at Work Columbia has long prided itself on creative growth. Three companies, old and new, are backing up the talk.

How to Make an Engineer Robots. Drones. A uniquely painted bus. Can Columbia figure out a better way to teach kids science and math?

Mentor & Mentee The Mizzou Venturing Mentoring Service, based off a program developed by MIT, hopes to develop and keep Columbia’s entrepreneurs.

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

C LOSER LOOK

Closer Look

Arches Footwear

CoMo Confectionary

EloScout Consulting

Arches Footwear began as a small retail truck called Stadium Shoes, traveling throughout the Columbia and Boonville area. Most of owner Nathan Fleischmann’s shoe truck customers came from the south side of Columbia, so that’s where he decided to set up a brick-and-mortar location for his business. “I’m a Columbia and Boone baby, born and raised,” Fleischmann says. “I’m proud of our city, and I’m just wanting to get to know more customers and more people in my community.”

The store is located on Nifong and opened on October 1. Fleischmann carries style and comfort brands such as Jessica Simpson, Lucky Brand, and Nine West; some brands are carried over from the shoe truck and others are new to the store. Shoes are also sold on the Arches website, and Fleischmann hopes to appeal to the online shopper. Most of his inventory is displayed out on the sales floor. Fleischmann hopes to develop a program where individuals and businesses can hold private shopping events in the space as well.

CoMo Confectionary is a cake decorating business owned by Carly Love. The business opened in August. While she does not have a physical location, Love makes cakes for delivery and pickup for all events, particularly weddings, birthdays, and infant smash cake parties, where parents give their babies free reign to smash a cake with their hands or face. Her staple flavors are chocolate, vanilla, lemon, and almond, but she’s willing to work with her clients on something new. Typically, Love collaborates with clients on design and color after they share the theme of the event. Using very few tools, Love takes two to nine hours to create each cake, depending on the project.

Love is self-taught. She started making cakes for friends’ celebrations and learned to decorate from tutorials and workshops. She worked at Harold’s Doughnuts and developed a passion for pastry decorating. When Love was looking into starting her business, she noticed affordable wedding cakes in Columbia were mostly sold by grocery stores.

“There wasn’t really a niche. There wasn’t really someone to serve the middle market,” she says. She is hoping to sell affordable cakes with a gourmet, personal touch.

Connor Hall, a recent MU graduate, was a professional eSports player before he came to college. His workload in school led Hall to give up playing competitively, but he remained interested in eSports, and he helped Columbia College develop their eSports program and recruit players.

Hall’s work eventually led him, along with fellow player Christian Matlock, to found EloScout, a consulting firm built to help schools capitalize on the expanding eSports market. EloScout can help schools build programs from scratch, or they can help colleges recruit eSports players by scouting talent and connecting players to their schools. Players can also team up with EloScout to help find compatible schools who are looking for players.

Newzoo, a gaming industry research firm, projected that eSports will grow to be a more than $1 billion industry in 2019. Because of the high growth potential of the industry and Hall’s eSports experience, EloScout was one of the first four companies to receive seed funding from the Missouri Innovation Center’s Mid-MO Tech Accelerator. In addition to funding, EloScout will also receive office space and advising from MIC.

Contact: 573-808-0820 Website: comoconfectionary.com

Contact: 314-698-9000 Website: eloscout.com

Contact: 573-442-0711 Website: archesfootwear.com

Are you an entrepreneur? Are you sprouting a new business? Tell us about it at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 25

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

Briefly in the News NOVEMBER 2016

Solar Ready

State Poverty Stats

In September, SolSmart, a national designation and assistance program for expanding solar energy use, announced gold, silver, and bronze designations for communities across the nation making efforts to find faster and cheaper ways to harness solar energy. Columbia received gold recognition alongside 13 other cities. This designation means that Columbia is “open for solar business,” or ready to attract solar industry investment and generate economic development and local jobs.

The U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey reported that the number of Missourians living in poverty declined from 15.5 percent in 2014 to 14.8 percent in 2015, and the medium household income rose from $48,363 to $50,238. The number of uninsured Missourians dropped from 694,000 to 583,000. Poverty rates for children, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and those without a high school degree or equivalent remain higher than the overall rate.

The latest available census data lists Columbia’s poverty rate at 24.9 percent. College students generally inflate their host city’s poverty rate.

CC Partners with State Columbia College will now offer enrollment at a special discount to Missouri state employees and retirees. There are 77,000 employees eligible for this program, which is the first of its kind in the state. Enrollment opened on October 24.

Wastewater Grants Columbia's Cost of Living The Council for Community and Economic Research released 2016 second quarter cost of living statistics, showing that Columbia’s living costs were 7.5 percent below the nationwide average. Columbia received a composite index figure score of 92.5, meaning that $100 worth of goods in an average U.S. city typically costs $92.50 in Columbia. Columbia’s index remained the highest in the state. The figures are based on are housing, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services.

26 NOVEMBER 2016

The Mid-Missouri Regional Planning Commission is part of a statewide program offering grants to make repairs or replacements on septic and other on-site wastewater systems throughout the state. The grant program is funded by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Grant eligibility is based on income guidelines outlined by the Department of Health and Human Services, with the maximum grant covering 50 percent of costs.

BR I EFLY I N T H E N EWS

Affordable Housing In September, Boone County Family Resources and partners broke ground on 28 affordable, handicap-accessible, and energy-efficient one-bedroom apartments on Apple Tree Lane and St. Joseph Street in central and southwest Columbia. The housing will primarily be for tenants with disabilities who can live independently or small families with children who have disabilities. The City of Columbia outlined a need for this type of housing in their 2015–2019 consolidated plan, as average wait lists for affordable, accessible apartments range from one to five years.

Realtors Donation The Columbia Board of Realtors donated $1,000 to the Realtors Relief Foundation to help victims of flooding in southern Louisiana.

On a state level, the association also contributed $2,500, and the national Realtors’ association pledged $350,000. These donations will help provide housing assistance to victims.

Garden Dedication range free Anniversary Range free, a bakery and café dedicated to foods free of gluten, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, and other allergens, celebrated its first anniversary in the North Village Arts District. The café offered live music, a Second Chance animal shelter petting zoo, food and drink, entertainment, and raffles.

Boone Hospital recently dedicated its healing garden, next to the hospital’s main entrance, to Barbara Weaver. Weaver served as a trustee on the hospital’s board for more than 30 years before her retirement in 2015.

The garden will display a newly commissioned sculpture, called “Synergy,” designed

by Larry Young.

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

B U SI N ESS U PDAT E

Guardian Angels Centennial Investors takes the lead in startup funding.

BY MATT PATSTO N | P HOTOG R A P HY BY A N T H O N Y J I N S O N

Matt McCormick, Bruce Walker, and Andrew Beverley COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 29

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

BRUCE WALKER TAKES PRIDE IN discernment. He’s the president of the angel investing firm Centennial Investors, Columbia’s only group providing angel-level funding to Missouri-based startups. Discernment is a virtue in the startup world, which can be enamored with hype; even more so in angel investing, where the difference between success and failure is, largely, a keenly developed eye for winners. For the firm — comprised of 60 or so member investors — the goal is to continually sharpen their vision.

“We want to make steady progress in terms of becoming better and making more investments,” Walker says. “I think we’re definitely on the right path.”

In CI’s last spending year (August 2015 to July 2016) they invested $1.6 million, the most ever for the organization. They also stepped up their collaboration efforts: with other angel funds, like St. Louis Arch Angels, and with Columbia groups, like the Missouri Innovation Center, who recently received $300,000 from CI to help start their seed-level accelerator fund for tech startups. CI’s was the second largest donation, after MU. Walker and CI’s leadership team are hoping to use that momentum to establish a sustainable foundation for growth. The more success they have, the more money they’ll be able to invest into the community, which is their founding purpose. “The past year was great and positioned us for this year,” Walker says. “Naturally, the thing we want to do is have really robust deal flow and do more deals than we did last year, or at least as many . . . but we also want to work hard at becoming better at what we do.”

PLANNING GROWTH Although it’s now its own entity, CI is a product of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce (Matt McCormick, chamber president, is CI’s treasurer). In 2005, the chamber appointed a task force to research and develop strategies to promote new business in mid-Missouri, and to find a way to appropriately celebrate the chamber’s 100th anniversary. The task force, after deliberating and studying other communities, decided an angel investor group would bring the most impact with the most flexibility; having members rather than dedicated employees would help the group establish itself quickly. In 2006, the idea crystallized as Centennial Investors.

“I thought we would be extremely successful if we had 20 or so members,” says Gene Gerke, a task force member, management consultant, 30 NOVEMBER 2016

and current vice president of CI. Of the 60 investors currently in CI, Walker says they added six new members in the two months after the end of the investing year.

The group made their first two investments in 2007, Innovia Medical and Terminus Energy.

Not long after that, CI invested in Media Convergence Group, also known as Newsy, which went on to become CI’s first (and, so far, only) sale.

Newsy, which makes online videos aggregating and analyzing news events, sold to E. W. Scripps for $35 million in 2013. In between, under founding president Andrew Beverley, now an entrepreneur in his own right with Columbia Bancshares, CI accrued a diverse portfolio — and experience.

“I think we’ve become more sophisticated in how we look at startups,” Gerke says. “We’ve learned the best ways to help them and we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t.”

Only three of the 21 companies in CI’s portfolio have lost their investments. Excluding Newsy, 16 companies are operational, and one is working to sell its intellectual property. Some of CI’s companies — Elemental Enzymes and EternoGen Aesthetics, among others — have been held up as examples of Columbia’s entrepreneurial potential.

CI originally wanted to invest in only mid-Missouri companies, but, to establish a more consistent deal flow in their early years, they expanded to include any company in Missouri, including companies in St. Louis, Illinois and Kansas. CI especially likes businesses related to technology or science (or both). “Those are the jobs that we want to bring to Columbia, and those are the companies that are scalable and have the highest growth potential,” Walker says.

But the science and tech focuses aren’t strict criteria, and recent additions signal a more eclectic flair among CI members. NexMatix, a company that makes directional control valves for manufacturing, attracted 45 investors. CI members also invested in Greetabl, a company that makes designer greeting cards that are personalized and

shipped as a three-dimensional box. Greetabl pitched to CI after finding funding from angel groups in St. Louis, a process of teamwork that CI would like to see more of. Walker and Gerke both praise the caliber of investments that CI has made

"We want to make steady progress in terms of becoming better and making more investment. I think we're definitely on the right path."

B U SI N ESS U PDAT E

in the past year, and both talk about CI like they’re settling into a new role in the community. “I don’t know how any community can drive growth without risk capital,” Gerke says. “And I think we provide that risk capital.”

LEADING THE COMMUNITY CI’s $300,000 in the Missouri Innovation Center’s accelerator fund was perhaps the most significant investment they’ve made in recent years.

It allows them to, as Walker says, “have a second bite at the apple”: there’s a ready-made pipeline for accelerator clients to have a second round of investing through CI once the company becomes stable. CI and the MIC already have crossover,

and Walker says all of CI’s members have deep admiration for the MIC’s leadership staff, including CEO Bill Turpin. The accelerator fund also represents a new manifestation of CI’s roots: a community-driven program to help establish businesses in mid-Missouri. Walker says, “Our investors all have different motivations, so I’m just generalizing, but I think one part of the motivation was that [the accelerator] is something that’s going to be good for Columbia.”

CI, having spent a decade working to develop itself alongside the companies it was funding, will grow in 2017. They’ve formed a task force to put together set deal terms for the three most common patterns in angel investing (doing so

will help investors set clear expectations and help companies make sure they’re a good fit before pitching). For the first time, CI is considering actively recruiting new members, hoping to broaden their expertise and leverage now that they have established deal flow. They’re setting up for scalability. In that way, CI is a startup itself. CBT

Centennial Investors 1601 Providence Rd. centennialinvestors.com 573-884-0496 COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 31

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

Life’s Biggest Role PACE teaches more than art performance.

BY MATT PATSTO N

PACE — AN ACRONYM FOR PERFORMING ARTS IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATION — sets high expectations for its performers and crew. Sure, they’re all children. But they have a job to do.

“We treat these kids the same way we would treat them if they were in a professional theater,” Angela Howard, PACE’s co-founder and co-artistic director, says. “This is a professional show . . . we’re not just being cutesy.”

And that’s the point. PACE uses its programs, which include classes on things like stagecraft and vocal technique in addition to its stage productions, to teach kids about the real world. That means not indulging (or, at least, not overindulging) cutesiness.

“We feel the performing arts — and not just theater, but also music and dance — are an inte32 NOVEMBER 2016

gral part of children’s education,” Howard says.

“If they can’t appreciate art, there’s not much more for them to appreciate.”

A PLACE AT THE TABLE

Howard, an MU alumna who now has 40-plus years of professional performing experience, began collaborating on an idea with colleague Deborah Baldwin, PACE’s other co-founder, in 2003. Informed by their own experiences as children (putting on plays in their garages), they were both dissatisfied with mainstream children’s theater. They wanted a chance to make real theater — just with children.

Mark Heisner, manager of Encore Travel Group and current PACE board president, has two daughters who grew up in musical theater, and he saw how performing helped them build

confidence and learn communication skills that they couldn’t develop in a classroom. His family’s experience matched some of PACE’s core beliefs.

“Our goal is, initially and foremost, to give kids confidence,” Heisner says.

Kathleen Johnson, PACE’s current co-artistic director, moved to Columbia in 2015. She had also been involved in theater from a young age and was familiar with the problems that young performers typically face: choosing between working on a subpar show or working on a show that emphasized competition over education. PACE immediately impressed her.

“Doing what’s in the best interest of a child does not mean that any corners have to be cut in the professional execution of a show,” Johnson says. “And that, I think, is the best marriage you can find when working with kids.”

N ON PR OFI T

PACE ADDRESS 1020 E. Walnut St.

MAIN FUNCTION Educate children through theater, promote artistic and personal growth

FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES None; more than 100 parttime production and teaching artists per season.

PEOPLE SERVED 10,000+

ARTISTIC DIRECTORS Angela Howard and Kathleen Johnson

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Tammy Bodenschatz, Cyndi Goehl, Mark Heisner, Debbie Jones, Elissa Leitnaker, Julie McCutcheon O'Neal, Christopher Mooney, Gayle Mooney

NEEDS • Volunteers • Donations • Sponsorship packages from local businesses

PACE puts on five to seven shows per year, built for different experience levels. Their production of “Charlotte’s Web” will run November 12 and 13, and “Alice in Wonderland” will run from November 17 through 20.

PACE also offers classes to teach children — starting as early as age 3 and continuing through fifth grade — how to perform.

PACE students can then move on to PACE Academy, where they continue training with a focus on performance. The group’s teaching philosophy closely follows the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, an arts education advocacy group.

Students can also use PACE for community involvement; a group of young actresses playing Disney princesses visited MU Women’s and Children’s Hospital in February to give valentines to patients.

scene. Howard says they’ve already talked about collaborating with the Columbia Academy of Music and the Citizen Jane and True/False film festivals. “We’re wanting to do those kinds of things so we can not just be the entity we are here, but we can be a place where other groups feel like they can come in and use our space,” Angela Howard Howard says. “That’s really a Co-Artistic Director big thing in Columbia, because we have lots and lots of arts and we share a lot of things. The more collaborative we can be with other groups, the better for everyone.”

PACE is building other connections as well, including a partnership with Columbia College and Columbia Public Schools designed to teach performing and education majors the value of theater as a teachKathleen Johnson ing tool. PACE is also ramping Co-Artistic Director up fundraising, coordinating a A NEW HOME capital campaign to help bolster “Over the past year,” Johntheir new building and scholarson says, “the organization was ship program. looking at how to move ourAt this point, PACE has built selves to the next level.” After up a sizable group of alumni more than a decade spent estab(they have more than 120 listed lishing PACE’s foundation and on their website), and some tinkering with its strategy, they have gone on to pursue theater had figured out how to educate in college and beyond. But even kids in the way they wanted — for those who don’t, theater now they had to figure out how stays with them. Heisner says Mark Heisner to reach more of them. his two daughters, now in their Board President A major step forward was relomid-20s, are still friends with cation. PACE’s old home, off Big the kids they met in theater, and Bear Boulevard in north Columthey use the skills they learned bia, was getting, as Howard puts it, good on space, — confidence, communication, teamwork — but not on publicity. PACE was too isolated, too everyday in their careers. Those are the stories separate from the rest of the arts community.

PACE wants to create.

“Theater transcends more than just putting Their new space, in the middle of the North Village Arts District, puts them in the middle of natthem on the stage,” Howard says. “It transcends ural collaborators. every part of their life.” CBT “It brings us into the arts community downtown,” Johnson says. “It makes us centrally located. Everybody, all over town, is an equal distance away.”

PACE That makes PACE an accessible option to a 1020 E. Walnut St. wider range of kids, and it also integrates the pacecolumbia.com theater into Columbia’s already thriving art 573-808-6686 COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 33

Chris McDonnell

1991

1993

1994

Chris McDonnell hosts a ribbon cutting ceremony to open Chris McD’s for the first time.

A kitchen fire breaks out, causing severe damage and forcing the restaurant to shut down.

After rebuilding the restaurant, Chris McD’s reopens and lets customers slowly pass the news around.

34 NOVEMBER 2016

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

C ELEBRAT I ON S

Speaking Softly Chris McD’s celebrates 25 years of quality cuisine.

BY MA DELY N E M AAG | P HOTOG R A P HY BY K E I TH B O R G ME Y E R

THE CURSIVE, CHERRY RED LETTERS of the Chris McD’s sign, placed on the green metal roof of Forum Shopping Center, offers a hint that you might find a totally different atmosphere inside — warm shades of brown and beige, the scent of steak and seafood cuisines. It’s the last thing you would expect to see among a grocery store, satellite college site, and several retail businesses.

“We pride ourselves on our fresh food, knowledgeable staff, and consistency for good service,” Chris McDonnell, the titular chef and owner of Chris McD’s, says.

The establishment draws in regular customers weekly, monthly, and annually. Chris McD’s gets chaotically busy during high-traffic events in Columbia, like football games and festivals, and the staff thrives on the opportunity to provide standout customer service.

“One of my favorite quotes is, ‘You can make up for bad food, but not bad service,” long-time employee Aaron Guinn says. “I love meeting new customers and seeing the ones who I’ve gotten to know return to the restaurant. They know the great food they are about to get, and it’s wonderful to see them leave happy.”

SLOWLY AND SURELY For McDonnell, it all started during his childhood, when he grew up playing in his mother’s kitchen. Back in the ’70s, his mother owned and operated a hotel restaurant in Chicago. He found his niche in cooking by playing around with recipes and watching his mother create different steak and seafood dishes. McDonnell decided to become a chef, and he attended the Culinary Institute of America, in New York.

After completing school, Chris received a job offer to be a chef at a resort in Hawaii.

He accepted the job and found his passion for cooking with fresh seafood. Three years later, McDonnell and his mother were asked about a business opportunity with a partnership in Columbia. “The city had been looking for a change that they could invest in with its growing population,” McDonnell says. “So my mother and I were contacted to create a new restaurant.”

When the restaurant first opened, in 1991, it was different than it is now: There was a simpler flair in his dishes, an open kitchen, and sandwiches still on the menu. The restaurant that McDonnell really envisioned only came about a few years later, after the restaurant closed for a time.

In 1993, a kitchen fire caused hefty damage to Chris McD's and shut it down for more than six months. Despite the loss, McDonnell refused to give up and instead looked forward. The menu and interior of the restaurant were given a complete makeover, but the casual personality of Chris McD’s remained.

“I cannot give enough credit to the staff members of Chris McD’s,” McDonnell says.

“Each day, we come in and work as a team to make sure all roles are covered. It’s very much a ‘how can I help’ mindset versus ‘how can I help myself.’” McDonnell also takes pride in his staff members’ vast knowledge of the restaurant’s menu, which they can recite with ease.

After McDonnell quietly opened the restaurant back up, customers began to come back.

The popularity of Chris McD’s spiked once more, and this time they were serving more

than your usual seafood and steak. Fresh and new cuisines attracted the new customer base.

“Part of the original and continuing concept of the restaurant was to bring in fresh fish and dishes that you would find in the tropics,” McDonnell says. “I thought, why not bring up fresh snapper, mahi-mahi, tuna . . . things that you would normally find in a big city.” Aside from its fresh seafood, Chris McD’s offers a variety of steak, pasta, and chef specials that are carefully planned and prepared by McDonnell and his staff.

STEADY FOCUS Certainly, the years don’t lie about the success of McDonnell’s concept, nor do the awards given to Chris McD’s. McDonnell competed and won the Missouri Iron Chef competition in 2002. In the same year, his restaurant won the Restaurant of the Year award from the mid-Missouri chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association.

No matter how many awards or events the restaurant earns, there is only one focus for McDonnell and his staff — what’s happening now. Their most important quality is their new, creative concoctions. With their 25th anniversary coming up, McDonnell says that he’s likely to run a few new specials to celebrate. CBT

Chris McD's 1400 Forum Blvd. chrismcds.com 573-446-6237

2002

2002

2016

Chris McDonnell wins the Missouri Iron Chef competition.

The mid-Missouri chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association awards Chris McD’s with the Restaurant of the Year Award.

Chris McD’s celebrates its 25th anniversary.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 35

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M OVER S & SH AKER S

Movers & Shakers NOVEMBER 2016 HERRERA

Rock Bridge High School Hall of Fame On September 30, Rock Bridge inducted Mark Curry, William (Jud) Hisle, Ben Nelms, Pamela Nunnelly, and Leah Ann Pool into the Rock Bridge High School Alumni Hall of Fame, which honors individuals for their community and personal achievements. Curry is the owner of Industrial Economics Inc. Hisle is a police captain in Shawnee, Kansas.

Nelms is the founder of Canis Lupus LLC. Nunnely is a teacher at Battle High School. Pool is a physician in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Central Bank of Boone County In August, Central Bank of Boone County promoted four employees. Lauren Maki is the new assistant branch manager at Rock Bridge Bank, and she will help oversee day-to-day operations. Katelyn Shively has been promoted to sales assistant with Central Investment Advisors, and she will assist clients with financial planning and investments. In the loan operations department, Marissa Bacon and Brittany Woods were promoted to senior credit administration representative and loan processor, respectively.

Elizabeth Herrera Herrera has taken over as executive director of True North, a support organization for victims of intimate partner abuse. As executive director, she is responsible for community engagement, programming, fundraising, and fiscal management.

Commerce Bank

Tiffany Smith

Commerce Bank has added community members Mark Fenner, of MFA Oil, and Holly Hite Bondurant, of Tiger Pediatrics, and Andy Waters to their local advisory board of directors.

In addition, Kyle Reynolds has joined The Commerce Trust Company as assistant vice president and portfolio manager. Reynolds brings nine years of experience in finance and investment management to his role.

Smith has been hired in a new position as the director of content and publicity for the marketing and communications office of William Woods University. Smith has experience in university content creation for Bentley University, and she has done web and magazine writing for Care.com and Time Inc.

S. Hasan Naqvi Naqvi, an associate professor of clinical medicine and hospitalist with MU, has been named associate chief medical officer. In this role, Naqvi will be responsible for providing physician leadership for inpatient and outpatient care and working with clinical and educational leaders.

Kevin Palmer Palmer is the new senior vice president and COO of Columbia College. In his role, Palmer will oversee the enhancement of student-facing processes and the college’s digital presence, adding leadership of the college’s business office and technology services to his current responsibilities.

Keegan Thompson Thompson joined the team of 12 at Simon Oswald Architecture as an intern architect, bringing with him experience in commercial, government, residential, and designbuild architecture.

REYNOLDS

NAQVI

Williams–Keepers LLC Williams–Keepers recently added four full-time associates to their Columbia and Jefferson City offices.

Pete Stansberry and Paul Trenhaile are full-time tax associates, and Stephanie Conti and Heather N. Dempsey are now accounting services associates.

PALMER

THOMPSON

Christina Gilbert In September, Gilbert began her new role as executive director of First Chance for Children, where she oversees grants and contracts, manages staff, and networks with funding partners. FCFC works at the state and local levels to advocate for early childhood education programming for all, but especially for foster families.

SMITH

STANSBERRY

Mara Roberts Roberts, special assistant to the provost at Columbia College, was elected to Alternative Community Training’s board of directors.

ACT provides services for individuals with disabilities to aid them in becoming engaged members of the community. CBT

TRENHAILE

ROBERTS

Are you or your employees making waves in the Columbia business community? Send us your news at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 37

38 NOVEMBER 2016

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

JAIME FREIDRICHS DIRECTOR | MISSOURI WOMEN’S BUSINESS CENTER | AGE: 35 Job description: My team and I help women start and grow their own businesses by offering classes, business counseling, networking opportunities, and microloans. We can help people at any stage of business, from someone just starting with an idea to experienced businesspeople. And yes, while our focus is on women, we can help men too.

Years lived in Columbia/midMissouri: 17.

Original hometown: Brookfield, Missouri.

Education: Bachelor of Arts in English and Master of Public Affairs, both from MU. Professional background: Prior to this job, I worked at Woodhaven, a local organization empowering adults with developmental disabilities. I started as their receptionist in 2002 and soon moved into their development department, becoming director of development in 2008.

Favorite volunteer/community activity: Anything that keeps me involved in Woodhaven. I’m on the planning committee for their Zombie Pub Crawl and the boards for their HUD homes, and I try to attend as many Woodhaven events as possible.

A favorite recent project: Launching the Missouri Women’s Business Center! Central Missouri Community Action was awarded the grant to create it in March, and I was hired in late April, although I didn’t officially start until May 31. It has been a team effort with the staff at CMCA (especially my colleague Teri Roberts), committed volunteers, and many great community partners. You know who you are. I love teamwork, so taking on such a collaborative project suited me very well. And it has brought me into contact with such interesting people.

Photos by Anthony Jinson

My next professional goal: Ensure the Missouri Women’s Business Center is fully established, is reaching all eight of the counties we serve, and is sustainable for the future.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 39

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

"The vast majority of small business owners I'm meeting go into business because they want to make a positive impact in their community."

A Columbia businessperson I admire and why: I admire Kat Cunningham, of Moresource, immensely. She is so generous in sharing her time and expertise. She was one of the first people I reached out to when I started this job, and she has already helped in many ways. I know the same is true for many organizations in Columbia. I admire how she’s been able to balance a successful business, a family, and so much community service.

Why I’m passionate about my job: I get to play a small part in helping women achieve their dreams of business success, and that is such an honor. Also, I think that by empowering people to make their business ideas succeed, the Missouri Women’s Business Center has enormous potential to impact our community.

Why I’m passionate about my company: The breadth of services offered by CMCA is so impressive. It has programs that connect to nearly every aspect of a person’s life, from prenatal services to Head Start and Early Head Start to housing and energy assistance to health insurance to foster grandparents. And that’s not even a comprehensive list.

If I weren’t doing this for a living, I would: Probably devote more time to making documentary films with my husband, Chad. As a “weird second job,” I co-produce his films, working evenings and weekends. But I also see a downside to that; it’s nice to have my own career outside of movies.

40 NOVEMBER 2016

What people should know about this profession: The vast majority of small business owners I’m meeting go into business because they want to make a positive impact in their community. Before taking this job, I think I believed that mindset was more at home in nonprofits, but our local businesses are just as mission-driven.

The next challenge facing my industry: I think I’m still too new to have an answer for this. I want to encourage anyone who sees specific challenges facing women in business to please reach out to me. One of our pillars of the Missouri Women’s Business Center is to be responsive to community needs.

Biggest lesson learned in business: You can’t do it alone. Success is a team sport.

How would you like to impact the Columbia community: One of the biggest opportunities I see in the Missouri Women’s Business Center, beyond the businesses we help start or save, is bringing diverse groups of people together. Because our services are here for people at any socioeconomic level, we are a space where people can connect with peers they might not otherwise meet. I would love to see the center cultivate business relationships between people in Columbia who have not done business together before.

Greatest strength: I’m a very positive person.

Greatest weakness: I mean this as a serious answer — I think my greatest weakness is that I don’t like to talk about weaknesses. It is the flip side of my greatest strength, which I think is often the case. Also, running.

What I do for fun: Reading, hiking, travel (especially international). I’m also a soccer fanatic. My teams are Sporting KC, Arsenal, and the U.S. women’s national team.

Family: Husband, Chad, and our 10-pound wonder-dog, Hodge.

Favorite place in Columbia: Shelter Gardens — I have wonderful memories of visiting as a child with my grandmother, and it’s a great place for a walk or a picnic. Also, Chad and I got married there.

Accomplishment I’m most proud of: Co-producing and co-writing “The Pruitt-Igoe Myth,” a documentary about the infamous St. Louis public housing complex. Five years later, Chad and I still hear from people who were touched by the film: those who feel they saw their story told for the first time, those whose minds were changed by it, and those who used the film to educate or spark community conversation.

Most people don’t know that: I was addicted to the soap opera “Days of Our Lives” until just a couple years ago. I got hooked in middle school and continued to record and watch until my favorite character, Sami Brady, left the show. CBT

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 41

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

Q&A CHRIS ROHLFING

Member Services, Boone Electric Cooperative

Boone Electric Cooperative recently launched the Community Solar Farm, offering co-op members a renewable source of energy.

1. What is your role in the organization? Manager of member services. I oversee member relations, energy efficiency programs, energy audits, media relations, community activities, marketing, and Boone Electric satellite systems.

2. How did Boone Electric’s interest in utilizing solar power begin? It began with the people we’re controlled by: our members. Members had continually expressed interest in the addition of a solar energy option. The board of directors followed with surveys gauging interest in more renewable choice options.

The board determined there was enough member interest to go ahead and implement a community solar project.

1 1 QU EST I ON S

3. Is it more expensive? Solar energy does come at a premium added cost. While the photons from the sun are free, the cost of the technology and maintenance needed to capture them is not. Solar energy costs more than traditional sources of energy. The output per panel is expected to average 41 kilowatt hours per month; at this average, the added cost is $2.65 per panel per month.

The average output in the winter and summer is expected to be 24 and 52 kilowatt hours, respectively. The premium cost for winter and summer outputs will range from $1.54 to $3.35 per panel per month. The cost of a kilowatt hour from the solar farm is 15.95 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to 9.5 cents for conventional power.

performance with Energy Star and dual fuel and ground source heat pumps have been successful in helping members save energy and money. In 2015 alone, the result of these programs on members’ savings equated to 1,791,093 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. We always look first to ways of improving energy efficiency so savings can repeat year after year.

4. How have cooperative members reacted to this new offering?

They’ve reacted positively to the new solar offering. Output from almost half of the 400 panels has been spoken for as of October 1.

9. What are the challenges of utilizing solar power? Solar power is a varying power source. It varies at different times of day and in different seasons. It’s strongest during summer months and in the middle of the day. Other parts of the day and year, it’s not producing as much. With no production at night, we must rely on our coal and natural gas generative assets to assure reliable power for our members.

The total output from the solar farm and its 400 panels is anticipated to be 197,335 kilowatt hours per year. With an average consumption of 1,140 kilowatt hours per member per month, if the energy could be stored and distributed when needed, the solar farm could supply enough energy for about 14 homes.

5. What are the benefits? Subscribers are able to participate in renewable energy with no contract, commitment, or upfront costs. This is a great opportunity for co-op members who are unable to install solar at their residence. The cost for electricity from the solar farm is available for basically the same cost as a home-installed system.

Subscribers are also able to cancel at any time with no penalty or additional fees.

6. What obstacles did Boone Electric overcome to achieve solar power? As a nonprofit cooperative, the greatest obstacle Boone Electric had to overcome in building the Community Solar Farm was the cost to build it. We were fortunate to partner with Shelter Insurance as a tax equity investor. They took advantage of all the tax credits to help keep costs down per kilowatt hour.

7. What’s the next clean energy project for Boone Electric? The greenest energy is the energy never consumed. An area that we are very proactive in is energy efficiency. Boone Electric has returned $3,504,479 in rebates to members since 2008. Programs like home

8. How can people utilize this solar power? Members of Boone Electric can purchase the output from one or more panels and offset their energy use at home.

Community Solar is a great option for members who wish to use solar energy but are unable to install panels at their home.

10. How has the growth of Boone County affected your organization? Even with continued growth in Boone County and an increase in electric services, the demand for electricity has not really been affected. Our energy efficiency programs have played a large role in that.

11. What’s something people might not know about Boone Electric?

Boone Electric is a nonprofit cooperative that is member-owned and membercontrolled. It was the first rural electric cooperative to be formed in Missouri, in 1936. CBT

Check out past Q&A sessions with your favorite Columbia businesspeople online at ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 43

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Through Change, the Tribune Stands

BY A L GERMON D

LONGTIME COLUMBIA DAILY TRIBUNE readers should not have been surprised by the recent purchase of the newspaper and its associated printing plant by GateHouse Media Inc., of Fairport, New York.

GateHouse has been vacuuming up newspaper properties over the past few years with the backing of the Fortress Investment Group, a private equity firm based in New York City.

With more than 100 daily newspapers, the company’s quiver also includes hundreds of weekly and shopper-type publications. The significance of this acquisition is that it markedly enlarges the company’s position in Missouri by capturing the well-equipped Tribune Publishing Co. printing plant at the northeast corner of Fourth and Walnut.

Some might term GateHouse’s latest acquisition a “just in time” rescue effort, because it is hard to imagine that this afternoon daily in a very competitive media market has been profitable in recent years. Many of us have noticed the reduced volume of display and classified advertising, reductions in staff through several waves of layoffs, and the paper's own admission that circulation, currently around 17,000, is about where it was in 1969.

According to Bloomberg News, GateHouse Media paid $18 million for the newspaper and the associated printing plant. Who is to know what these properties might have sold for, say, five or 10 years ago. Of course, the sellers were a closely-held private corporation, and they are under no obligation to reveal anything. But they obviously missed the return-on-investment “sweet spot” because legacies and pride of ownership were more important to them than what they could have sold the properties for when offers and prices paid were considerably higher.

In the cold, hard world of finance, valuation and the price realized is about cash flow and whatever the applicable multiple is, based on EBITDA (earnings before income, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Another consideration is the federal and state capital gains tax, which has gone up from what it was a few years ago.

Titles and legacies aside, what GateHouse Media was really after — and what constituted the bulk of the $18 million purchase price — was the printing facility.

With long-term job contracts already in hand to print the New York Times, Rural Missouri, and other papers, as well as the Tribune, GateHouse Media can now consolidate much of its Missouri publishing operation here under one

OPI N I ON

roof, printing some of the other dailies it owns, including the Hannibal Courier-Post, Kirksville Daily Express, Mexico Ledger, Moberly Monitor-Index, and the Boonville Daily News. This means shuttering press operations in those places, resulting in significantly reduced printing costs and the termination of dozens of printers. In this eventual scenario, the out-oftown papers are all printed here on a staggered schedule and a fleet of trucks carts them off to their respective destinations.

But consolidation doesn’t stop there. In 2014, after a year-long trial at the Rockford Register-Star in Illinois, GateHouse launched its Media Center for News and Design, in Austin, which, according to one source, employs more than 200 designers as part of a consolidated effort to produce the pages for the company’s fleet of newspapers and websites. After the elimination of the production staff here and the resulting reduction in payroll expense, Tribune reporters and photographers will send their material to the Austin media center, where the pages are made up and sent back to the publishing facility at Fourth and Walnut, where plates are cast for inclusion on one of the company's high-speed web offset presses.

The Columbia Daily Tribune has been a wonderful exemplar of the newspaper as a public trust. That the Waters family stuck with it as long as they did is a tribute to their perseverance, and it also has to do with the wisdom of investing in the state-of-the-art publishing facility in what another publisher, years ago, called the “hen house.”

Perhaps in the earlier “hen house” scenario, involving the channel eight TV license the university aced the newspaper out of in 1953, the profits from television would have solidified the newspaper’s long-term position. Equally frustrating was the 1970 lock-out involving cable television, where the city council was dead-set against the newspaper’s involvement.

Historical piffle. We have enjoyed and will continue to read whatever print product is put in front of us. At the same time, we realize that the systems of delivery will continue to evolve.

As providers of information and entertainment in print and online, we vow to continue to adapt and not resist change. CBT Al Germond is the host of the Columbia Business Times Sunday Morning Roundtable at 8:15 a.m. Sundays on KFRU. He can be reached at algermond@businesstimescompany.com.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 45

46 NOVEMBER 2016

Service with a

Selfie Fresh Ideas Food Service Management developed technology that lets customers pay with a photo. How far can their idea go?

BY A N N A CO M FO RT P HOTO G R A P H Y BY K E I TH B O R G M E Y E R

WHAT’S IN A NAME? For Columbia-based food service company Fresh Ideas, quite a lot, actually.

“I think our name, in itself, pushes us every day to keep it fresh and keep it different,” says co-founder Matt Clervi.

Founded in 2001, Fresh Ideas works primarily with colleges and universities in the Midwest, with a few corporate and government partners as well, to provide dining and catering services. But, in recent years, the company has made an unexpected foray into the realm of mobile software, developing a new pointof-sale system that Clervi believes may change the way people shop. It’s called 1FITT, and it forms the basis of the company’s mobile application, FreshX. How does a food service company come to develop a market-disrupting new technology? Like most innovations, it started with a persistent problem just begging for a creative solution.

I KNEW I FORGOT SOMETHING… The majority of Fresh Ideas’ daily customers are college students. Kris Lensmeyer, Fresh Ideas’ Director of Business Development, explains that one of the most frequent hangups in the dining hall experience is when a student leaves his or her meal card in their dorm room. “As a service provider, we want to be student-oriented, but we also need you to bring your card,” she says.

It’s a bad feeling: you walk up to the counter ready to grab lunch, you reach for your wallet, and then you feel the heavy gaze of everyone in line behind you as you’re forced to explain that you must have left your card at home. It’s inconvenient for everyone involved. So Clervi, co-founder Dennis Owens, and their team set out to remove the need for a physical card.

Lensmeyer explains, “What we wanted to do was create a technology platform that would allow us to use your phone as your meal card.” It was a solution that they already believed would appeal to the college kids using their services, and then they hit on an idea that would make it even more popular: using selfies to verify identity.

Here’s how it works. “When you come into the dining hall, we use technology that is available on all phones manufactured in the last six years that allows our cashiers to know that you’re coming in,” Lensmeyer says. “And here’s where the selfie comes in: a picture [a selfie taken by the student] will show up on the cashier’s screen with your name. It’s a handsfree process to use your meal card at the dining hall.” The cashier clicks your picture, and your meal card, pre-loaded balance, or credit card is charged. Faculty and staff, commuter students, and frequent visitors can use it as well.

The selfie serves a dual purpose, Lensmeyer says. The first, of course, is security: the picture ensures that students can’t just lend their phone to a friend, and no thief can use a stolen phone for a free meal. And second, with the selfies popping up on cashiers’ screens, “We get to know the students quicker,” Lensmeyer says, “and that’s what we’re all about. We’re about engagement and getting students to know what’s going on at the dining hall.”

Unsurprisingly, the pay-by-selfie concept has been “wildly successful” among students on the six campuses Fresh Ideas is using as their test market, Lensmeyer says. Students have a great time taking pictures and adding them to the FreshX app. “And this is just our first stage,” she adds. They’re also developing an online ordering system from the app: Students can sub48 NOVEMBER 2016

mit an order as they leave class, pick it up at the campus café without even taking out their wallets, and head straight to their next class or activity. It fits seamlessly into the college experience and saves students and cashiers alike from the time and hassle associated with traditional meal cards.

EXPANDING THE VISION

COPPER POT competition In naming their company “Fresh Ideas,” John Orscheln, Dennis Owens, and Matt Clervi really put the pressure on themselves to keep innovating. To bring this spirit into the kitchen, the company started the Copper Pot competition. Clervi explains: “At the end of the day, people eat our food, so we have to produce great chefs. The culinary council came up with the Copper Pot. It’s a traveling trophy — an actual copper pot — and it travels from unit to unit, and all of our chefs participate in it.”

Chefs form teams and compete to create their “best bite” for the local chefs and restaurateurs who serve as judges. And each year has new rules. Kris Lensmeyer gives an example: “One year, the three finalists got to shop at the market for their ingredients, and then they went back to the kitchen ready to prepare their final dish.” But, once the chefs returned, “they handed their box to the person to the right of them. So all of a sudden they had to do their presentation with somebody else’s ingredients. There’s always a different twist each year to make it fun. It builds community, it stresses innovation, and it’s fun.”

The benefits of pay-by-selfie technology were immediately apparent to other food service companies. Clervi says that their food service competitors worldwide wanted in, but the well-established point-of-sale companies they approached with the idea didn’t bite. So Fresh Ideas created a new company, 1FITT, and developed a platform to compete with those legacy systems.

As development progressed, it became apparent to the Fresh Ideas staff that their technology could have much wider applications than just food service. The basic concept — an app that offers a hands-free payment option with facial recognition built in — has the potential to compete with industry giants, like Apple.

The Apple Pay feature may remove the need for physical payment, but you still have to get your phone out and scan it at the register. Clervi wants to make things even more convenient.

Imagine a trip to the hardware store, he says.

“As soon as you walk into that location, we’ll know what your traffic patterns are — where you like to shop based on your history as well as what you’re doing in real time. And then we can send you deals based on where you are in the store. So if you’re looking at something and thinking, ‘That’s 100 dollars, I can’t afford that,’ and then suddenly you get a coupon for $20 off, that makes a big difference.”

Clervi gets asked pretty regularly whether he thinks customers will worry about their privacy. Because this technology is completely voluntary, anyone who’s wary can simply continue to pay with their card. But the FIIT-POS system, he stresses, is less invasive than simply surfing the internet, where virtually every site you visit can collect data on you and share it with advertisers. Fresh Ideas keeps your data private, and your credit card information isn’t even stored on your phone.

Back to Clervi’s hardware store scenario: “Now let’s say you travel all the way to the POS system [the checkout], and you’re already in line. The cashier will already know what position you are in line, and that you’re a frequent shopper there.” At this point, many COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 49

Sarah Carnes and Matt Clervi

stores ask if you have a rewards card. “In the 1FITT solution, when you come through we already know who you are. We already know your rewards numbers.”

You verbally select the rewards you want to apply and which credit or debit card to use.

The receipt is stored in the app, and you can walk out of the store without even reaching for your wallet. “We think it’s going to be a gamechanger,” says Clervi, “but it takes time. We have competitors in our marketplace that have already purchased this solution and they’re taking it throughout their entire company.”

So, the food service company from Columbia has become a tech trendsetter. Sarah Carnes, director of marketing at Fresh Ideas, developed a comprehensive marketing campaign for the FreshX app; those efforts earned Fresh Ideas and their technology partner, the Toronto-based mobile commerce firm Lucova, the 2016 American In-House Design Award, in the category of identity design, from Graphic Design USA. 1FITT sold FIIT-POS to Lucova and is still active in development of the prod50 NOVEMBER 2016

uct. Lucova and Fresh Ideas have spent the past year testing and improving the system.

THE INNOVATIVE CULTURE OF FRESH IDEAS As the buzz around FIIT-POS continues to grow, Fresh Ideas remains committed to its first priority: improving the dining experience on college campuses. In 16 years of business, Fresh Ideas has never lost a higher education client.

The same spirit of progress that led to the pay-by-selfie system pushes Clervi and his team to look for new opportunities to improve dining for students. “We’re partners with our clients and we really do look for ways to engage students with food, and not just serve food,” Lensmeyer says. “We look at how we can engage them in the process and make it fun.”

Clervi agrees that their clients are what propel them forward. He mentions Dianne Lynch, president of Stephens College. “She came to me one day and she said, ‘You need to take over the bookstore,’” he says. “And I said, ‘Okay, but I don’t know anything about bookstores.’”

“Oh, you’ll figure it out,” Lynch replied.

Clervi says that taking over the bookstore is what helped them recognize the potential retail applications of FIIT-POS. Fresh Ideas is cognizant that the public’s attitude towards food service has shifted in recent years. “It’s no longer hidden in the background,” Clervi says. “Chefs are celebrated.

People are worried about what they eat, and how it comes from seed to plate. We’ve got the microscope on us now, and it’s forced us to think differently.”

One aspect of the dining experience that Fresh Ideas is focusing on is the humble salad bar. (“The traditional salad bar is a thing of the past,” Clervi says.) They're playing with the idea of vegetable plants suspended above the salad bar so that chefs can cut them down and incorporate them directly into the salad. “[Customers] want it fresh, they want it now, and they want to see where it came from,” Clervi says.

And, after making the freshest salad possible, customers can pay by selfie. CBT

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52 NOVEMBER 2016

UP Columbia College earns national attention with inaugural eSports program.

BY BETH BRAMST EDT PH OTOGRAP HY BY A N T HON Y JIN SON

IT’S LATE AFTERNOON ON FRIDAY, after a week of drills, physical training, and scrimmages. The Columbia College Cougars are getting ready to review game film and amp up their communication skills.

The small, square room is dark, with the exception of the soft glow of the video monitors and the blue light streaming from alien-like tendrils creeping down the walls. Players sit in high-back chairs, donning headphones, and staring intently at the action unfolding before them.

But this is no ordinary locker room. It’s the Game Hut, home to the Cougars’ new eSports team, where 12 scholarship players and two coaches have come together for one purpose — to win the University League of Legends Campus Series, hosted

by Riot Games each spring.

Of more than 4,700 colleges in America, hundreds of which offer informal or club teams, Columbia College was only the fifth school to offer scholarships to “League of Legends” players, and the 2016–17 school year marks their inaugural participation.

“It was a bold move to create eSports under a traditional athletics umbrella and offer scholarships,” says Bryan Curtis, assistant director of athletics and director of eSports for the college. He’s excited to watch these student athletes thrive in both their gaming and academics.

“Yes, we’re a liberal arts school,” says CC President Scott Dalrymple, “but a liberal arts school can and should be innovative. I love to have one foot in the past and one foot in the future.”

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 53

Standing left to right: Head Coach Duong Pham, Gabe Eckenroth and Assistant Coach Matt Meininger; seated left to right: Wesley Pratt, R.J. Bohnak, Jonathan Song, Connor Doyle and Jake Rincones

ASSEMBLING A COMPETITIVE TEAM ESports encompass any video game that is played competitively and professionally. Dalrymple, who believes that anything done at a high level is worthy of respect, was excited to recruit elite athletes and launch the eSports program as a way to connect to students on their turf.

Being one of the first colleges to get behind “League of Legends” as a bona fide sport had its perks. “With over 10 million active players in North America and only a few teams offering scholarships,” Dalrymple says, “imagine the quality of team we were able to recruit.”

Curtis says the initial press release generated over 150 applications, with many players ranked in the top 400 in the country. The scholarships were eventually offered to 12 advanced players, all ranked in the top .01 percent, who met in person for the first time in August. Among the first athletes recruited were junior Connor Doyle and sophomore Jonathan Song.

Doyle was a traditional three-sport athlete and team captain in high school and went on 54 NOVEMBER 2016

to pursue degrees in math and economics from Colby College, in Maine. Doyle admits to going the practical and prudent route, but soon found he needed a change in direction and a competitive outlet.

“Competing is something I need,” Doyle says. “It brings out the best in me, and I wanted to be on a team again.”

Song says Doyle is the player with the most ambition on the team, but he was surprised to learn that Doyle doesn’t play other games. “He’s bad at everything else,” Song says with a smile.

“That’s because ‘League of Legends’ doesn’t feel like a video game,” Doyle retorts. “It feels like a competition — that’s why I love it.”

While the two may rib each other, getting to play together was significant in their decision to join the Cougars. “I played for another scholarship school during their first year,” Song says, “but it didn’t meet expectations. They didn’t take it as seriously as I wanted.”

Song, a computer programming major, says coming to Columbia College was the best decision he’s made.

SILVER SQUAD OPENS STRONG Columbia College’s division two eSports team — the “silver squad" — made its debut in the Collegiate Starleague in mid-October. The Cougars shut out Southwest Baptist University 2–0 in the match.

The Cougars’ mid-laner, Dylan “CC MercyLM” Guidicheesi, stood out in the first win, posting a perfect kill-death-assist ratio of 12-0-6 in game two of the best-ofthree match.

The Cougars’ division one team begins preseason play at the end of October, running up to the start of the regular season in January.

In scrimmages against the University of Texas and Ohio State, the Cougars are 2­–0.

“I could tell Jonathan wouldn’t settle for second place,” Doyle says. “We needed that fire. I knew if we recruited him, we could win.”

Coaches Duong Pham and Matt Meininger lead the team. They’re another reason Doyle and Song chose to play for the Cougars.

“The coaches care about us as people. They want me to grow as a player and a person,” Doyle says. “I’ve only had one other coach in my life that made me feel that way.”

Song agrees. “Columbia College and its coaches stood out,” he says.

Pham and Meininger worked in tech services for the college and played the game for fun, so Curtis recruited them to help in the search for a graduate assistant to lead the program.

“Then I realized they were perfectly qualified,” Curtis says. “They knew and were passionate about ‘League of Legends’ and were willing to put in the extra work to make eSports successful.”

“It was important to have coaches that believed in the college and its mission,” Pham shares. “I had to believe in it to sell it to the potential players.” Pham also believes it was critical to have gamers as coaches, especially since Curtis doesn’t play.

“We have our eyes set on winning the championship,” Pham says.

“We want to build a foundation for the eSports program at Columbia College that will have a lasting impact.”

PREPARING FOR NATIONAL COMPETITION In “League of Legends,” a multiplayer, online battle arena game, the team’s goal is to bring down the enemy’s Nexus, a sort of control base for each team, before the enemy takes down theirs. The 12 players split into two teams of five: a top-laner, mid-laner, bottom-laner, support, and a substitute. Players must build their own characters and perfect their style while learning to maximize their teammates’ strengths and weaknesses in order to destroy their opponents.

According to Riot Games, in early 2014, as Dalrymple was assuming the role of CC president, “League of Legends” already had a substantial following. More than 27 million people played “League of From left: Dean Wood, Gabe Eckenroth, Dillon Guidicheffi, Bob Hanson, and Ian Alexander

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 55

Legends” each day, and over 67 million played each month. Today, numbers have increased to more than 100 million players each month. The game is being played professionally on a global scale. The Campus Series is one way to engage a key market, men near college age.

“You have to be versatile and proficient in five to seven different characters,” Song explains.

“We’re constantly determining how to allocate our resources correctly and efficiently.”

“You really have to be clever,” Dalrymple adds. “‘League of Legends’ is a complex game of strategy. The only way to understand it is to play it.”

Leading up to the championship this spring, the Cougars will play hours and hours of the game to hone their skills. Currently they battle against some of the best amateur teams in North America and semi-professional teams from South America.

In tournament play, the Cougars will be competing against other schools that have recruited scholarship players, including The University of California – Irvine; Robert Morris University, 56 NOVEMBER 2016

in Illinois; Miami University, in Ohio; Maryville University and Missouri Baptist University, in St. Louis; and the University of British Columbia, who claimed both the 2015 and 2016 titles.

“The best way to practice is to play and then watch film back,” Doyle explains. “We don’t want to play other schools until we have to.

They could learn too much from us.”

The team began qualifying matches for the championship series in October, where over 500 teams engaged in bracket play last year.

Their first goal is to advance as one of the top eight schools in their region.

Those eight schools then move forward into regular season play with the hope of claiming one of the top four conference spots and advancing to the playoffs, where teams will compete on an arena stage in front of a live audience next spring.

“We have a highly competitive team,” Dalrymple shares. “We have a good shot at being successful right out of the gate.”

Song is excited to be part of Columbia’s first year in the series, and he hopes the Cougars will

be a stealth presence in the tournament. “People don’t know who we are,” Song explains.

“And we don’t want them to find out how good we are either.”

PLANTING THE SEEDS OF INNOVATION Dalrymple is excited to see how the eSports program progresses in the future. “It’s hard for leadership to innovate alone,” he says. “The best we can do is to create the conditions for innovation and see what people will do.”

Dalrymple says the idea for an eSports program started several years ago, at home. A father of teenagers, he wanted to spend time with his kids and knew understanding video games would help facilitate that connection.

Shortly after he was hired, Dalrymple challenged Columbia College students to beat him in a Madden NFL tournament.

“There was so much energy and engagement in the room at Madden that we tried to figure out how to bottle it,” Dalrymple says. “That discussion led us to where we are today.”

Jonathan Song

The questioning of eSports’ legitimacy doesn’t scare Dalryvmple. “The current conversation happening about eSports is similar to the conversation 100 years ago about collegiate sports,” he says. “Adding collegiate sports was a new, controversial idea. It took a long time for society to catch up.”

Dalrymple says many of the big colleges sneered at the idea of sports programs, and those who clung too long were on the wrong side of history. He did not want to make that mistake with eSports.

“I love the ancient next to the modern,” Dalrymple explains. “I want eSports players reading Sophocles.”

The college’s willingness to pioneer in the area of eSports just may earn them name recognition in the near future. If they do well in the tournament, the team will be on ESPN playing against other schools.

“It’s not easy to get a national name quickly,” Dalrymple says, “but this may do it.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 57

Innovators at Work.

Perhaps because of its long history as a college town, a dedication to critical thinking and creative problem solving permeates Columbia’s businesses and institutions. With strong ties to the past and eyes set on the future, these companies are propelling Columbia forward with bold new ideas. By Anna Comfort.

58 NOVEMBER 2016

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his year marks Shelter Insurance’s 70th anniversary since it opened its doors as MFA Insurance in 1946. As one of Columbia’s oldest and largest companies, Shelter has become a community cornerstone.

Shelter recently earned J.D. Power’s highest ranking in customer satisfaction among auto insurers in the group’s central region.

The team at Shelter is committed to pushing forward and trying new things, including the launch of a new insurance brand.

Marc Deiter is the director of Say Insurance, a new online, direct-channel brand launched by Shelter this year. This brand is the equivalent of Allstate's Esurance, Deiter says. Customers can use the website or the call center to find quotes and purchase insurance.

Deiter recalls the launch, which took place in the Chicago market. Say Insurance went live on August 19, at 10:15 a.m. Deiter and his team used various analogies to describe the process. Among them: giving birth, finishing the first lap of a race, and “preparing for a stage show,” he says. “We’ve done all the rehearsals; now we pull back the curtains, turn the lights on, and people are starting to show up.”

Shelter carefully planned and tracked Say’s opening weeks. “We did a very soft opening on purpose, to govern the traffic and figure out where the bugs are,” says Deiter.

“We’re still doing that.”

There are three ways a customer can buy property and casualty insurance: captive agent, independent agent, and direct channel.

Direct channel insurance has been in the market for about 20 years, so it’s relatively new when compared to the two more traditional methods. In the independent agent model, an insurance agent sells products from multiple insurance companies, which allows them to help their customers shop around for a policy.

Shelter branched into this field in 2006, when the company purchased Haulers Insurance, based in Tennessee.

But Shelter has largely operated under the captive agent model for most of the company’s history, meaning the company contracts with agents who exclusively sell Shelter products.

According to Deiter, Shelter’s captive agent channel continues to grow in policy count and premium. So why bother with the other

two models? Anna Hargis, Shelter’s director of advertising, says, “Part of our growth and innovation is to diversify our risk.”

With Shelter’s traditional model, its acquisition of Haulers, and now the launch of Say, the company can operate in all three channels. MacLellan believes the forward momentum started with Haulers. “That got everybody thinking that there are different ways that we can sell insurance,” he says.

“We’ve grown from that standpoint.”

Hargis agrees: “I personally think it’s a neat time to be here. I got to help out with Say, and helping to build a new brand — that’s extraordinary. Marc was phenomenal to work with, and I think there’s a lot of potential for this brand. I got to help put the marketing team in place, and now, as I’m stepping back, it’s so much fun to watch them fly.”

Deiter sees a similar energizing effect from Say’s development. He says: “It created a lot of excitement, a lot of energy. I think it’s part of our challenge, in launching Say, to learn about new things — whether it be technology or processes — and share those with the rest of the business. I encourage them to let us be their testing ground.”

In keeping with Shelter’s soft opening and slow-growth plan, Say won’t expand to other states until next year. In the meantime, though, Shelter continues servicing its existing channels, even as it looks to the future.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE Like Shelter, CM Engineering built new solutions on top of decades of history. CM Engineering’s design of the OHM Professional Office Building, on Columbia’s northeast side, earned the building an Energy Star rating of 98; by that measure, OHM is one of the most energy efficient buildings in the EPA's Energy Star program, and the most efficient in Columbia.

Since construction ended in 2014, the building has amassed an impressive list of awards for green design and energy efficiency. Among those are the 2015 Mayor’s Climate Protection Award and a 2016 Technology Award from ASHRAE, a national heating and cooling organization.

OHM is named for Bill Oswald, of Simon Oswald Architecture; Jen Hedrick, also of SOA; and Kirk Mescher, of CM. The three collaborated to design the building and now share it as tenants, along with Working Spaces, an office furniture dealer.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 59

Mescher, who co-founded CM Engineering with Dennis Cotter, passed away in 2015, but his attitude still guides the company’s employees. CM’s CEO, Kent Hayes, says that no matter the project: “Kirk always made his goal clear. K.I.S.S. — keep it simple, stupid!”

Mescher was adamant about creating the most efficient office building in Columbia, and OHM stands as a validation of Mescher’s practicality and efficiency.

Of the design partnership with Simon Oswald Architecture, Hayes says, “Both companies started around the same time, and we grew up together, you might say.” Having worked in the same building in downtown Columbia for years, SOA and CM were both thinking about moving out of their rental space and investing in their own property. The three partners in the design “had the same vision and wanted to make a showplace of the innovative things that we do,” Hayes says.

The OHM building is heated and cooled using Mescher’s One Pipe geothermal exchange, which removes excess heat from the building during warmer months and stores the energy in the earth to be used for heating in winter. Geothermal HVAC saves 30 to 40 percent on cooling over traditional systems and 50 to 60 percent on heating.

Behind the building is a rainwater reservoir, which provides the water needed to operate the toilets in the building and irrigate the grounds. SOA incorporated reclaimed materials into the building plans.

Some of the bricks used to build OHM were left over from the construction of the Broadway Hotel, and concrete blocks from Battle High School were also used.

LED lighting, efficient insulation, and an energy recovery wheel, which Mescher helped develop years ago while working at SEMCO, a systems engineering company, combine with other features in OHM to showcase some of the most energy-saving and cost-efficient technology available.

The word “sustainability” gets thrown around a lot when it comes to designs like OHM. But Hayes says: “Our goal is efficient use of energy and efficient use of space. CM has been designing simply efficient systems since its inception. Sustainability is a great and wonderful thing, but CM Engineering was efficient before people were talking about sustainability.” For that reason, Mescher and the others decided to forego 60 NOVEMBER 2016

solar panels, which are certainly sustainable, but not yet as cost-efficient as geothermal HVAC and LED lighting.

When Hayes says the companies wanted to show off what they could do, he means it literally. The geothermal water pumps and other machinery, usually hidden behind walls and in utility closets, are plainly visible in CM’s office space, out in the open, with plaques explaining their uses and benefits. Several different styles of water pumps are on display in the office, and the gauges showing the pumps’ energy usage can be seen through a glass door directly behind the reception desk.

CM and the other tenants make sure that their work is being seen. “We’re always having lunch-and-learns and open houses and different events to educate and inform people of what we’re doing here,” Hayes says.

“It’s like a lab. You can walk around and see everything, feel it, touch it — for the more mechanical maintenance guys, who will take care of [the equipment in the systems CM designs], when they can touch it, feel it, and look at it, they have a sense of, ‘Yeah, I can take care of that. That’s not complicated.’

And that communicates the idea of keeping it simple.”

COMMUNITY CULTURE Adam Wells-Morgan and Dan Dethrow have brought something new to Columbia by honoring their roots. Friends since high school, the two have spent years honing their skills (Dethrow is a bartender, Wells-Morgan a chef ) and dreaming of opening their own restaurant. This past year, their dream came true — with the help of the online crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter.

FlyOver is the result of those years of planning, and it reflects the duo’s commitment to creating a place that blends Midwest traditions with cutting-edge culinary excellence. And the name of the restaurant reflects that, with a wink. “All of our friends on the coasts will call our part of the country ‘flyover states,’ and we feel that represents the idea that there’s nothing worth stopping here to see,” Wells-Morgan says. “We’re poking fun at that with what we’re doing here.”

The goal, he says, is hyper-regionality: “We’re trying to establish an identity for Midwestern food. The Midwest is a melting pot of a whole bunch of different cul-

tures and styles. People tend to gravitate here because it’s a really nice place to live, so we get all kinds of influences here. The food is very unique. We focus predominantly on land-based animals and freshwater seafood here. We don’t do saltwater seafood here because it’s not indigenous.”

Dethrow stocks the bar with Missouri wines and beers, and he adds new ingredients to classic cocktails to create a signature taste. Lately, he says, “We’ve been playing with different kinds of Old Fashioneds. Our Old Fashioned is very distinctly from here — we make a special syrup that we put in it.

Right now we have a rum Old Fashioned on the menu that’s pretty cool. We use a Fernet-Branca, which is a bitter herbal liqueur, luxardo maraschino cherry juice, and things like star anise and cloves. It’s a really cool flavor profile.”

Wells-Morgan and Dethrow want to return to a sense of communal dining, so there are no televisions, and the kitchen and bar are open to the dining area.

The centerpiece of the restaurant is its wood-fired brick oven, a system that Wells-Morgan first worked with at Trattoria Stradda Nova, in Columbia, as a 17-yearold. Dethrow says: “A lot of people see it and think that we only do pizzas in it, but they are really versatile. We cook duck, meatballs, macaroni and cheese, soft pretzels in there.

It gives a nuance of flavors.”

The oven was paid for, in part, by the Kickstarter campaign, spearheaded by the pair’s friend, Josie Zimmerman. The campaign offered FlyOver-themed packages for different levels of support. The highest level earned the supporter a brick in the oven with their name engraved on it. The campaign raised $21,000 from 110 supporters in just 30 days.

Zimmerman wasn’t surprised by the enthusiasm of their supporters. “Knowing what they’re capable of, and then to be able to see them do it on their own, without guidance or structure from others, just letting their voices be heard — I was confident that it was really going to be a great thing.”

Using the Kickstarter platform to make their dream a reality helped Wells-Morgan and Dethrow draw an audience together around their vision. It’s a philosophy that works in Columbia — for FlyOver, Shelter, CM Engineering, and many more. CBT

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HOW TO MA K E A N IN NO V AT O R

Can Columb ia educators find a be tter way to teach kids STE M?

BY MATT PATSTON PH OTOG R APH Y BY ANTH ONY J I NSO N

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 65

CRAIG ADAMS, WALKING THROUGH the offices of Columbia Public Schools’ administration building on Worley Street, is mulling over an idea that his superintendent, Peter Stiepleman, just floated out to him. Adams sits down in a chair in Stiepleman’s office and takes his clear, thick-frame glasses off. He rubs the gray stubble on his chin.

Adams is the CPS STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math — CPS’s spin on the more conventional “STEM”) coordinator, and he’s spent this school year driving to different schools in the STEAM Bus, the school-bus-turned-laboratory that CPS created last year, and helping teachers design alternative classes to teach kids about science, math, and practical problem solving. The bus is packed with gear not otherwise available to students — robots, nanobots, a drone, a 3D printer, virtual reality headsets made from Shakespeare’s pizza boxes, etc. Stiepleman told Adams there’s been some talk about driving the bus out to the Perry Juvenile Justice Center, outside of Columbia.

Adams is excited about it.

“I like those kids,” Adams says. “I like them.

I would totally go for it. I’ve always liked working with bad kids — or, kids who thought they were bad. I can connect with them . . . that’s really where I came from. I wasn’t your typical good student. I wasn’t that person.”

Adams was a shop teacher for 24 years at Jefferson Middle School, where he still keeps his home base. He struggled in school, particularly in classes where he had to sit at a desk. After graduating, he wanted to be an architect, at first, but lost interest; then he wanted to be a mechanic, then a computer specialist. “That was horrible,” he says.

“Too boring. But you put all those things together and what do you get?”

CPS’s plan to innovate STEM education depends on students who are like Adams was — kids with a latent passion for tinkering but little patience for traditional classroom settings. If Adams can successfully steer those kids toward high-demand career paths in STEM fields, then, hopefully, they can feed back into the school system as local STEM professionals. Ultimately, with enough success in the first five years, CPS wants to make Jefferson Middle the first STEAM-focused middle school, in the same way they’ve made Lee Elementary an expressive arts school.

Stiepleman describes the district’s approach as — “for lack of a better word,” he says — an infection model: the more teachers use Adams and non-traditional STEM education, the more other teachers will want to give it a try. It’s a plan predi66 NOVEMBER 2016

cated on having people believing it will work, and for that to happen, change has to happen outside the district as well.

BUILDING COMMITMENT The United States is widely believed to be bad at STEM education. Various international groups rank the U.S.’s science and math education in the middle of the pack or lower among industrialized countries. In 2012, the Program for International Student Assessment ranked the U.S. 35th out of 64 countries in math education, and 27th in science. In another ranking, this one of 34 countries, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked the U.S. 27th in math and 20th in science. And while there is positive data — graduate enrollments in STEM subjects, for instance, have gone up since 2007, particularly among minority groups — U.S. citizens take an even dimmer view of our STEM education than international rankings do: a 2015 Pew survey reported that 51 percent of respondents said that U.S. scientific achievements were at least above average, but only 29 percent said the same thing about K–12 STEM education.

And it’s not that the U.S. has been ignoring the problem. The country heavily focused on STEM education for decades, starting in the 1950s, and when the number of students declaring STEM majors sharply declined, in the early ’90s, the need for improved K–12 emphasis became a popular platform. Between 1987 and 2009, 200 bills were introduced in congress containing points about science education. The federal government appropriates somewhere between $2.8 billion and $3.4 billion for STEM education annually.

Meera Chandrasekhar, a physics professor at MU who grew up in India, first became interested in physics when everyone in the U.S. did — during the space race. “It was kind of really exciting because that was the smart thing, you know?” she says. “And I was hearing about all the launches and John Glenn going up and all of that stuff [she was 12 during Glenn’s orbit], so there were lots of interesting things going on, none of which made sense to me.”

Chandrasekhar’s father was a military officer in India, and their family moved around a lot, which gave Meera plenty of time to incubate her curiosity about physics without any interference from a classroom. By the time she finally took a proper physics class, in 10th grade, she had developed a reverence for science that carried her through her college classes in India and, later, her Ph.D work at Brown University.

Chandrasekhar moved to Columbia in 1981, when her husband, H.R. Chandrasekhar, also a physicist, was appointed to the MU faculty.

Meera had enjoyed teaching as a graduate student-teacher at Brown, and she taught at MU in part-time capacities until 1989, when she also became a full professor. On a whim in the early ’90s — the same time U.S. students were slowing their enrollment in STEM fields — Meera teamed up with Becky Litherland, CPS’s science coordinator at the time, to develop a program to get female students interested in physics. The program eventually expanded to include other courses and other MU programs collaborating with CPS. Chandrasekhar continued working with younger students, balancing her own research and course load at MU. She received the Presidential Award for Mentoring in Science and Engineering in 1999.

“I don’t quite know what it is [about teaching,],” Chandrasekhar says. “It was interesting to me because I found this thing — the human aspect of it — very interesting. So it’s just taken on a life of its own. It’s never been boring. If it was boring, I’d quit doing it.”

Chandrasekhar’s latest project is A TIME for Physics First, a program funded by the National Science Foundation that helps teachers from 36 partner school districts in Missouri learn how to effectively teach a freshman physics class.

The project ran from 2009 to 2014, and Chandrasekhar is still working to make the Physics First program more widely available.

Teachers in the project learned more Socratic ways of teaching physics based on conceptual, rather than quantitative, problem solving — “building a community around science,” Chandrasekhar says. Kids are encouraged to explore their own experiments and question what they’re seeing. Participation in the project required absolute commitment that the school districts involved would start teaching physics to ninth graders (most high schools start with biology, putting physics off until junior year). It was one of the ways to make the principles stick, to safeguard against a district sending teachers to the program without ever intending on changing the way they actually taught. Chandrasekhar says it takes “a lot of moral courage” for a teacher to change the way they do their job, particularly when it can mean losing control of a class.

“Teachers I’ve met who are really dedicated are just the people who believe [teaching] is the right thing to do,” she says. “And I don’t know if that’s always why they started, but somewhere down the line, they thought, ‘Gosh, I am making a differ-

Craig Adams, CPS STEAM Coordinator; Heather McCullar, STEM specialist at Benton Elementary; Mike Szydlowski, CPS Science Coordinator

Dana Wegge and Martha Gahl, of the MU College of Engineering

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 67

Adams working in the STEAM bus.

ence in the life of kids who might just completely go astray if I did not have the handle on them.’”

That’s a problem CPS has to solve too: why should teachers have to change the way they teach? How do you prove to them that it works?

Chandrasekhar is now working on developing an online curriculum based on the Physics First programs, and she has the data, in the Physics First project results report, to back up her credibility: 97 percent of teachers in the program say their physics knowledge increased, and 94 percent said the program helped their students learn more about physics.

The STEAM Program isn’t without metrics or long-term planning. The district has four established objectives in a (roughly) five-year plan: introduce STEAM to the students and teachers, teach students curricular concepts through the program, work with teachers on professional development in teaching STEM subjects, and establish the STEAM school at Jefferson Middle.

Each objective has its own tracking methods, like standardized test comparison and survey analysis.

But Adams is a more freewheeling project lead than Chandrasekhar; Stiepleman’s nickname for Adams is “Willy Wonka.” His strength is action.

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“We really are a good partnership in this,” Stiepleman says, “because I try to pull back and say, ‘Let’s have a plan in place, I need to check these things off,’ and he’s going, ‘Mhm, yeah, well I just got this partnership to do this, so we can go try it.’

It’s a push and pull.”

“And I do need that,” Adams says. “And this program needs that. . . . If there’s something to try, I want to try it, and if it doesn’t work, then we’ll keep going forward. But I need someone, every once in a while, to say, ‘OK, that’s not going to work.’”

THE LONG VIEW The STEAM program isn’t CPS’s first effort at shaking up STEM education. The CPS STEM Alliance, a program for connecting STEM business professionals with the district, already existed, and they’ve been working on incorporating free iPads into the classroom for every student to adapt to the tech-driven job market.

A common refrain in the STEM education crisis is that U.S. schools aren’t producing enough STEM professionals to fill the job market, with science and technology companies either hiring from overseas or not growing. Stiepleman says he hears this often from the Columbia business com-

munity — we need more local IT people, more engineers, more health scientists. The Columbia Area Career Center, a CPS affiliate, already offers students practical classes in STEM fields, often for college or certification credit, with a focus on filling the local job market. In Adams’ previous job, as CPS practical arts coordinator, he had a meeting with REDI and learned that 60 percent of CPS students end up staying and working in Columbia. “A lot of the stuff we’re doing on the bus is looking at what we need right here,” he says.

But most of the job-focused STEM programs CPS already has are focused on high schoolers — getting them college- or career-ready. Younger students, like most of the ones that Adams works with on the STEAM Bus, need more foundational knowledge to build on later.

CPS has frequently had elementary school students work with the MU College of Engineering’s LEGO robotics program, led by Professor Satish Nair, to sharpen their programming and engineering skills. The program runs camps for all ages in addition to their annual Robotics Design Challenge, where teams of students compete to build robots out of LEGOs and program them through a course, completing various objectives along

3D Printer on the STEAM bus

the way. The LEGO program looks promising for STEM education because of what it teaches children — programming, design, communication, team problem solving — but also because of the program coordinators, Ben Latimer, Martha Gahl, and Dana Wegge. Latimer is a graduate of Missouri S&T doing post-graduate work at MU, and Gahl and Wegge are both undergraduates.

In 2007, according to data collected by the National Math and Science Initiative, about a third of public middle school science teachers either didn’t major in the subject in college or weren't certified to teach it. Even for teachers who do have degrees in the subjects they teach, their day-to-day focus isn’t on sharpening their science or math knowledge, but on teaching their students and managing their curriculum.

Having college students help to fill in gaps in expertise is an appealing solution in a college town like Columbia.

“I think it’s important to expose kids to this kind of thing young,” Latimer says. “It makes engineering fun, or science and math. It makes it so kids aren’t scared of it.”

Gahl grew up in Columbia, and she heard about the LEGO program while she was still a high schooler. Both of her parents were engineers, and her mom was a particular inspiration to enter the field. “I don’t know that I would have thought I could do it if I didn’t have a really strong role model like that,” she says. “So now I

like going to the camps and being able to say, ‘I’m an electrical engineering major, and that sounds really scary, but look, I’m doing it!’”

The kids use a special (and rudimentary) programming language designed by LEGO; they program a small gray box, which they can attach to the robot and which makes the whole thing move. The robot uses sensors — for pressure and light, among other things — to navigate, and some are outfitted with an internal gyroscope.

The LEGO program shares some DNA with the STEAM Bus, particularly in its target audience: kids who wouldn’t have access to gear that makes STEM fun to learn. CPS couldn’t buy a 3D printer for every school in the district, but they could buy one for the STEAM Bus and have it drive around to every school in the district. The Tech4K5 program, an offshoot of MU’s LEGO work, focuses on bringing the robotics activities to Title 1 schools in rural areas.

The program’s success depends as much on providing access to concepts as to equipment.

Gahl, Latimer, and Wegge all talk about how people, especially adults, dismiss STEM subjects as impossible for anyone but the especially gifted.

“When people ask me what my major is and I say electrical engineering, they say, ‘Oh, I could never do that,” Gahl says. “So it’s not even happening at the kids’ level. I think, even as we’re getting into adulthood, people have this idea that they couldn’t do it.”

“We have this concept that you have natural strengths or something in academic areas,” Latimer says, “which I don’t think has been proven true. I mean, obviously everybody has their strengths, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t do it.” As was the case with Chandrasekhar, growing up without a physics education until 10th grade, younger students have plenty of curiosity to cultivate, if you can capture their attention.

But it’s important to take a long-term view about any sort of culture shift in education.

Assuming that CPS’s plan for developing Jefferson Middle as a STEAM school goes off without a hitch, the first sixth grader would enroll at the school in 2021; that means they wouldn’t finish their undergraduate coursework until 2032, and that’s taking the optimistic view that they’ll get through their degree program in four years.

That’s why the focus of STEAM’s first year has been building relationships, setting up the infrastructure needed to carry the program forward.

“For so long, I was so impatient that I thought waiting five years for something was like a lifetime,” Stiepleman says, “and it is, in so many ways, but that doesn’t mean you can’t incubate small pieces along the way.”

Part of CPS’s planning accounts for the scenario that either Adams or Stiepleman, for whatever reasons, leaves. Both want the program to continue, to become part of Columbia’s public school institution. It’s more than a pet project for a one-time shop teacher; it’s part of an address to the city’s education and employment landscape.

“But I’m excited in that, like, this is my career,” Adams says. “I’m in my 29th year, and I can see myself doing this for a long, long time because I’m just so passionate about it. And I want to see this become a thing.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 69

70 NOVEMBER 2016

Mentor & Mentee The Mizzou Venture Mentoring Service is betting on relationships to breed — and keep — entrepreneurs in Columbia.

BY DAV I D MO R R I S O N P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A N TH O N Y J I N S O N

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 71

SARAH HILL HAD AN EPIPHANY RIGHT in the middle of a mentor meeting.

The former news anchor and chief storyteller at Veterans United came to a meeting of the Mizzou Venture Mentoring Service because she thought her skill set could be of use to the prospective entrepreneurs who tap the service for assistance in launching their startups.

With a fledgling enterprise of her own — StoryUP, a virtual-reality media company — Hill came to the conclusion that she could also probably stand to benefit as a mentee.

“They talked about all the things that they could provide, and I quickly realized that, well, I need help with that,” Hill says. “I don’t have all the answers, even as a mentor. VMS offers a non-threatening, welcoming, inviting way to surround yourself with geniuses of business and tap into some of those skills that you need.”

Since its launch last October, the Mizzou VMS has been busy welcoming entrepreneurs into its fold and matching them up with a team of mentors that it feels can best suit their many (and varied) needs. At the end of its first year, co-director Greg Tucker says, the service boasts around 30 mentors for 20 entrepreneurs. Plus a full waiting list.

“We want to connect these people so that we’re increasing the odds for the entrepreneurs to be successful going forward,” says Tucker, who is also associate director of the Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers. “We look at ourselves as a startup and, like any startup, we have to control the growth. We’re very selective of our entrepreneurs, very selective of our mentors. We’re trying to build a pretty highlevel, high-end program.”

The Mizzou VMS brings two or three new projects — screened by its operations board — into its monthly meetings at the Missouri Innovation Center, where the entrepreneurs present a 10-minute pitch to the group of mentors.

After, the mentees leave the room and the mentors hold a roll call for who they think can best nurture the project. Usually, around three or four mentors get paired with each venture.

The entrepreneurs set up a 90-minute session with their mentors, and, once all the action

items from the previous meeting have been completed, they can set up subsequent meetings for as long as they’re needed.

It’s a free service, even though prospective clients must have some tie to MU, and Tucker says that’s open to negotiation as well. Come to VMS with a worthy idea and you’ve got a good shot at getting in front of the group.

The mentees get a chance to troubleshoot the early days of starting a business with people who have been through it before. The mentors get to give back to a community that has helped nurture their paths to success. All this for the purpose of keeping the entrepreneurial ecosystem in mid-Missouri a welcoming one.

“There is an infrastructure in place in Columbia to help entrepreneurs start and grow their

15th century, the Italian painting masters had gathered there, which then drew patrons and apprentices to Florence, which then helped establish the republic as a center of fine art.

Columbia was full of bright minds with innovative ideas. Why not localize an apprenticeship model at the university and try to turn the city into a Florence for entrepreneurs?

“I think it’s the No. 1 thing we can do for companies — to surround them with people who have their best interests in mind and are coaching and counseling them to be successful,” says Turpin. “Columbia didn’t have a lot of those people just floating around.”

Turpin got the job and, along the way, earned a big fan in then-senior vice chancellor for research and graduate studies, now interim chancellor of MU, Hank Foley.

When Foley was vice president for research at Penn State, that school effectively used a mentorship model that was pioneered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Foley told Turpin that if someone wanted to bring a similar model to the Columbia community, the university would gladly pay to get it on its feet.

That’s how Turpin, Tucker, Foley’s then-senior executive assistant Gloria O’Brien (soon to be co-director of the Mizzou VMS), Missouri associate vice chancellor and vice provost for economic development Steve Wyatt, and Business Engagement Center director Jim Gann found themselves on a plane to Boston in February 2015.

The group of five learned from the directors of the program at MIT and sublicensed it for use at MU. When they got back to Columbia, they put together an initial list of mentors for a launch in the fall. Turpin says it wasn’t too difficult of a task. Local businesspeople were eager to help.

Once October hit, the Mizzou VMS was open for business.

“A lot of this was due to Hank Foley’s vision and having him to move it ahead,” Turpin says.

“I think, without his vision, we would’ve probably created some homegrown system, maybe

I think it’s the No. 1 thing we can do for companies

— to surround them with

people who have their best interests in mind and are coaching and counseling

72 NOVEMBER 2016

them to be successful.

business,” says Greg Bier, a VMS mentor as well as the director of MU’s Entrepreneurship Alliance and the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities. “All the players here in Columbia are fairly well known. And they’re very involved, very liberal with reaching out and supporting one another.”

THE MIT MODEL Before Bill Turpin landed the role of director for the Missouri Innovation Center in the summer of 2014, he had to pitch to the board.

His idea was a vision of Columbia as a second coming of Renaissance-era Florence. In the

From left: Greg Tucker and Bill Turpin

wouldn’t have been as good. We wouldn’t have gotten as good a staff to run it. That was kind of the kick-off.”

Tucker, Turpin, Wyatt, Gann, and executive assistant Marsha Moore serve as the VMS operations team. O’Brien was an integral part of getting the venture off the ground and served in that group until recently. She moved with her husband, Michael, when he transitioned from dean of MU’s College of Arts and Science to provost at Texas A&M–San Antonio.

The VMS board vets both mentors and entrepreneurs before they can become part of the system. MIT had around 300 mentors for 275 companies when the team from Missouri visited.

Tucker doesn’t think Columbia can facilitate quite as large a program. Then again, he’s not in the business of putting a cap on potential progress.

“The intent is to keep those entrepreneurs here. Dr. Foley was very strict that this be a community program,” Tucker says. “We can’t just create entrepreneurship at Mizzou. We need Stephens College, Columbia College, the Chamber of Commerce, the Main Street businesses . . . It’s relatively easy to scale because, as we continue with the program, many of the mentors we have will become lead mentors, which will allow us to take on more entrepreneurs.”

ESTABLISHING AN ECOSYSTEM Tucker says he first became involved with entrepreneur incubation in St. Louis at the start of the 2000s. Back then, Chicago and Boston swept up any innovative technology and thinkers that came out of the local universities. Those cities just had a better foundation in place to support such ventures.

As the decade went on and St. Louis and Kansas City built their own infrastructures, they started plucking the best and the brightest from Columbia.

“If it wasn’t for resources like this, I might have started my startup on the West Coast,” COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 73

INSIDE A MENTORING SESSION Olivia Vann, co-founder and chief marketing officer for the 2BuyAg mobile application, had some instant feedback for fellow co-founder and CEO Kim Harrison after a recent meeting with the company’s mentors from the Mizzou Venture Mentoring Service — mainly the observation that Harrison got a little heated when one of the mentors questioned an aspect of their business.

“Olivia says to me, ‘Wow, that was a little bit of a defensive answer. You need to chill out,’” Harrison says, with a laugh. “We’re learning how to not take it personally.”

Entrepreneurs have very definite ideas about how they want to structure their businesses.

Mentors have very definite ideas about what has worked for them in the past, and, sometimes, that can run counter to deeply held beliefs on the part of the entrepreneurs.

Hence, friction.

“We have some baby boomer mentors who’ve been successful in life, then this 23-year-old college junior coming out challenging — it’s a different mindset,” VMS co-director Greg Tucker says.

“Sometimes there are chemistry issues that we work out and handle. We may give them information or advice they don’t agree with. They don’t have to listen.”

The VMS counters monolithic viewpoints on the part of its mentors by striving for diversity in age, gender, and background. It also makes sure to match each project with multiple mentors so that entrepreneurs are fielding questions and hearing solutions from more than one source.

“It’s good for the entrepreneurs to actually hear that they’re discussing between themselves on issues, so they know there isn’t just one right or wrong answer,” says Bill Turpin, director of the Missouri Innovation Center. “The tendency is, when you only have one mentor, that when the mentor suggests something, you kind of feel like you have to do it.”

Jonathan Cisco, who created the Cisco Consulting academic consulting firm with his wife, Jayme, says he has never felt as if he was being talked down to in a session. It was more of a give-and-take than a lecture, with both sides respecting each other’s opinions.

“Everybody walks out smiling, so it’s good,” Vann says.

74 NOVEMBER 2016

Hill says. “Mentorship is like a magnet that keeps these entrepreneurs inside these communities.”

Jonathan and Jayme Cisco were among the first clients at the Mizzou VMS. Jonathan, assistant director of the Campus Writing Program at Missouri, was at a faculty meeting before the VMS launch, when representatives were putting out a call for entrepreneurs.

Jonathan and Jayme just so happened to be in the midst of launching Cisco Consulting, an academic consulting firm for graduate students and faculty members.

“It almost seemed too good to be true,” Jonathan says. “You’re getting in front of a group of successful entrepreneurs, pitching your idea, and having them help you along the way.”

Kim Harrison and Olivia Vann, of 2BuyAg, came to the VMS in a slightly different way. They gave a pitch for their burgeoning business — a mobile application that connects farmers and food-buyers — at the end of an eight-week boot camp put on by the Small Business and Technology Development Centers.

O’Brien was in the audience for the presentation and approached Harrison and Vann about bringing their idea to the VMS. “With the mentoring sessions, we have an hour-plus to get feedback and good questions from people that have had a lot of varied business experience,” says Harrison, 2BuyAg’s co-founder and CEO. “That’s really what we were looking for: some good, solid questions challenging us on our thought processes, and to do it in a timeframe where we actually have the time to have some good conversations.”

Each project gets a team of mentors so the advice received comes from different areas of expertise, rather than just one source. And, even if none of the mentors are especially versed in some aspect of a startup, they all know people who are. Cisco Consulting wanted to explore the possibility of adding an eCourse, to supplement their in-person workshops, and creating an informational video for its website. None of the company’s mentors had intimate knowledge of either area, but Jayme

says they were instrumental in putting her and her husband in touch with the right people.

“There were phone calls to pick their brains on how they did it, how they succeeded, and what they learned over the years,” Jayme says. “They helped us set up meetings with people who would be potential clients just to pitch them the idea and get their feedback. That would’ve been virtually impossible without all the different individuals in that room.”

The needs vary from company to company, but most come to the VMS seeking guidance on marketing, financing, and how to plan for possible growth. Gary Lee, a VMS mentor and chief technology officer at Veterans United, says many also come needing help narrowing their focus.

“They have all these different choices of all these different opportunities,” Lee says.

“If you keep chasing everything, you’re never going to accomplish anything.”

Lee says he’s currently involved with four projects. Hill is in on two. Joe Henderson, president at Central Bank of Boone County, has a few on his plate.

All of the mentors involved are busy with their own businesses, but they still find the time to lend a hand. They’d have wanted someone to do the same when they were just starting.

“Entrepreneurs don’t know what they don’t know,” Henderson says. “It’s like going down the highway and not knowing there’s potholes in front of you.

We’re trying to help them avoid those potholes as best we can. Part of our responsibility to the entrepreneur is to ask a lot of questions, make them think about these potential potholes and say, ‘There’s stuff coming at you. How are you going to deal with that?’”

It’s Florence, by way of MIT and MU. “What we really do is kind of centralize that coaching or mentoring relationship,” Bier says. “There’s really one phone call that needs to be made to get in front of a pretty diverse group of coaches, mentors, or entrepreneurs.

That’s the real advantage that VMS fills.

It puts you on a path to meet people that you need to be meeting.” CBT

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 75

76 NOVEMBER 2016

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

M AR KET I N G

3. Be original. Take a picture of what makes your company unique. Social media algorithms love pictures, and they know when content is replicated. If you post the same photo twice, it won’t be shown as well the second time. Make sure your words are original.

4. Expect sharing. Not everyone knows what it means to be a good friend. Share your expectations with your social media following, especially your regular supporters on social media. Ask them to share your content.

5. Do it for real or don't do it at all.

M ARKET I NG

Five Social Media Secrets

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

THE IDEA OF STARTING A SOCIAL media campaign can be intimidating. While you might already have the skills you need to be successful on social media, you might not know how to apply them. Instead of thinking “I’m going to start a social media campaign,” think, “I’m going to make new friends.”

Making friends is far less scary than “marketing on social media.”

Here are my five secrets to social media success — in friendly terms.

1. Make friends like you always do.

First and foremost, ask. If you don’t ask people to be your friend, they may not ever think of it themselves. Just like you ask your new neighbors to dinner, ask your customers, “Do you like us on Facebook?” or, “Can I take your picture with your new widget for our social media?”

Integrate social media with your company culture, marketing, and office. Successful campaigns aren’t about one person doing it all. It’s

a group effort, so encourage employee involvement. Social media is about people, relationships, friends. Create a common vocabulary and a “dos and don’ts” list of posting for your staff, and then encourage them to share.

Another thing — use your current marketing to your advantage. Post a sign next to your receptionist, or write in sidewalk chalk outside your door. Put social media in your on-hold message, invoices, email footer, and anywhere else your customers or target market may see it.

2. Make friends with the “in” crowd.

Become part of the “in” crowd for your business. Look for companies you admire, and then make strategic alliances with those who have an active social media presence reaching your target audience. Then be their best friend. Follow them and share their content. Tell them that you’re sharing it by tagging and complimenting them on their quality contributions. Treat them the way you want to be treated: like a friend.

Be fully invested with your social media friends.

Interact in a timely manner and post new content on a regular basis. It’s hard to maintain a good following on social media when you’re just occasionally talking.

Think of social media ads like a networking group. They can help show your content to new people who may not have reached you on their own. CBT

Many companies follow a rule of thirds when posting content:

• Brand awareness and personality. In-the-moment, fun, and brand-related content.

Highlight employee birthdays, share photos of happy customers, tell a story about the bird that just flew into the office. This is storytelling content sharing who you are.

• Promotional posts. Specials, coupons, events, blog post highlights, and newsletter promotion all fall into this category.

• Industry news and “in” crowd content. Share blog posts, news, and other content interesting to your followers.

The compliments, shares, and retweets you give the “in” crowd’s content counts towards this third.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 77

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

OR G A N I ZAT I ON AL H EALT H

way too many things open on your desktop at the same time? The system slows down, sometimes even freezes.

Psychologists and human behavior studies have shown that the same thing happens to human beings when we have too many “open loops,” or too many things which are hanging out there, waiting on us to come back to them and close them up.

Think about hammering a nail into a wall.

Our response to these open loops is to go around tapping each nail a couple of times.

Some go in a little and some go in a lot. Some get crooked because we don’t hit them straight when we’re in a hurry. Some must be pulled out and replaced. Wouldn’t it be better to hit each nail properly and firmly, one at a time, sinking it all the way into the wall?

ORGA N I Z AT IONAL H E ALTH

The Multitasking Myth

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

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR FOCUS AND NAIL IT:

1. Daily goals. Decide in advance what your three to five biggest objectives of the day are going to be.

2. Peak time. Everyone has times during NO PERSON IN THE WORLD CAN DO TWO things equally well at the same time. As a matter of fact, both tasks will probably suffer.

Multitasking is a term we have adopted to make us feel good about excusing less-than-superior performance. If you challenge someone on this, they will more than likely get defensive with you and proudly declare they don’t have time to not multitask; it is an essential part of their job.

The term multitasking first appeared in the computer engineering industry, in the mid1960s, where it was used to refer to the ability of a microprocessor to process several tasks at once. (Actually, because of the speed involved, even though it looks like the computer is doing several things at once, it’s actually doing one thing at a time rapidly.) Multitasking with people occurs when we try to give more than one thing our attention at the same time.

Have you ever followed someone who was driving an automobile and texting? The vehicle weaves back and forth, crossing the lines and posing a serious threat to other drivers. This will also occur when someone is talking on their cell phone while driving. They’re focusing on operating a several-thousand-pound piece of

machinery while having a conversation simultaneously. Neither is getting the full attention it deserves. This is the effect of multitasking when a split focus occurs, and the effectiveness of each individual task decreases as you add tasks and split the focus between each one.

Can you imagine the effectiveness of trying to do three things or five things at the same time?

Now, if you are finalizing a report and making coffee, you are not multitasking. You put the water in with the coffee grounds, flipped the switch, and left to do something else. The coffee pot does not require your attention, nor is it getting any. Therefore, this does not qualify as multitasking. Leaders do a serious disservice when they set up the expectation that people can and should do more than one thing at a time. Peak performance comes from focus. Focus comes from elimination. Performance decreases as you add things on. Performance increases as you remove things. Researchers have proven people get a shot of endorphins when they mark things off their to-do lists. A sense of accomplishment feels good to the system. Can you imagine the stress on a person’s system as things just keep getting added on? Surely you’ve experienced this with a computer. What happens when you have

the day where they feel their best, have more energy, and are most effective.

Plan your most difficult projects during this time.

3. No-communication zones. If possible, establish times of the day you will not take phone calls or answer email. Focus in on your project.

4. Mini-milestones. Establish small targets you must get to before you stop working or take a break. Most experts agree 90 minutes straight through before a break is optimal.

5. Batches. Put smaller tasks, such as phone calls, emails, and errands, together in one single session.

6. Early-birding. If possible, get up at 5 a.m. and go straight to work on your most difficult or important task. Most of my clients who do this get more done before 8 a.m. than other people get done all day.

7. Fast tempo. You must stay focused on the task at hand when you do this: walk faster, talk faster, type faster, read faster.

Do it right, nail it, and then go home sooner with more accomplished. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 79

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TOP COMMERCIAL BUILDER

Second Place: Accounting Plus

TOP OFFICE DIGS First Place: Veterans United Second Place: Delta Systems Group

TOP COMMERCIAL VIDEOGRAPHER First Place: Chimaeric Second Place: The Evoke Group

TOP STAFFING COMPANY First Place: JobFinders Second Place: Pulse Medical Staffing

TOP ARCHITECT

First Place: Coil Construction Second Place: Little Dixie

First Place: Simon Oswald Architecture Second Place: Peckham Architecture

TOP SEASONED PRO

TOP OFFSITE MEETING LOCATION

First Place: Mary Ropp Second Place: Kat Cunningham

First Place: Logboat Brewing Co. Second Place: Stoney Creek COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 81

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

ASK AN N E

Q In my previous life, I was in sales management, but I’m now a business owner.

My business is growing and I will need employees soon. Is there a secret formula to figuring out how many to hire and when?

A SK A N N E

Maximizing Your Management

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

their business and industry. Being dishonest doesn’t always land you in jail, but it could lead to business issues and possible termination.

I’m a new manager and know that there are things I should do, like knowing and supporting company policies and guidelines.

My question is: Is there an unwritten “code of conduct” managers need to follow?

Accountability. I bet you expect your team to take responsibility for their actions and performance.

That means take ownership, accept blame, and come up with a solution to avoid future problems.

I don’t know of a “code of conduct” to follow, but your company can’t move forward without leaders with integrity. Personally, I think the best managers place fairness and ethics (and their own good performance) at the top of the list when thinking about conduct. Managers who create a code of conduct benefit their entire team as well as the company’s image.

A few things I treasure in a manager include: Honesty. Managers should uphold the company mission and be behind its goals 100 percent. They need to know the laws governing 82 NOVEMBER 2016

Integrity. I want my leaders to be consistent when making decisions. I want them to be truthful and fair when identifying or resolving issues and promoting or terminating employees.

Employees will notice when you have integrity.

Respect. Not only should you respect your boss; everyone in the organization should be respected as well. You don’t have to be best friends with everyone, but you need to respect what they do. Your role as a manager is to show your staff how jobs are to be completed, monitoring always and offering suggestions only when needed. Remember, the goal for everyone at the company is to stay productive and ensure that the company stays profitable.

Projected labor needs are based on a lot of things: new product sales forecasts, last year’s sales, office growth and attrition, and even the political climate. HR planning includes the number and types of workers you’ll need, the costs, and the administrative work involved.

First thing first. It’s a good idea to also develop an organizational chart showing how you plan to grow over the next few years. By adding departments, managers, and staff members, your chart helps you see your staffing needs.

It’s not rocket science, but… If your company produces a product, the labor pool will fluctuate with sales. As you grow, everyone will need to work closely with the sales and production team to ensure you don’t fall behind on orders.

When staffing for service-oriented businesses, look at sales history and the economy and rely on resources from industry leaders.

Stay mindful. Forecasting helps you know when a retirement or a layoff may be coming up.

As an owner, you want to stay mindful of these events in order to know when to stop backfilling or when to start recruiting.

It all costs money. When you forecast, you have an advantage over competitors that don’t.

You will see ahead of time if you need temporary staff, or an overtime budget. You will be able to judge what your needs are and figure out the costs. Sounds a lot like sales forecasting, doesn’t it? 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.

FEATURED LISTING

Visit our showroom for creative solutions that work ... for your workplace and your budget.

2801 Woodard Drive, Suite 101 | Columbia, MO 573-443-0370 | wspaces.com

15 S 10th Street Columbia, MO 65201 Size: 1,330-8,989 sq ft Zoning: C-2 Price: $1,500-$8,350/month Fantastic downtown location available for lease. Immediate occupancy available. Currently set up as an office but ownership will participate in renovations / changes to the space.

Call for additional detail.

MEL ZELENAK

573-999-3131 mel@malyrealty.com

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 83

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

New Business Licenses NOVEMBER 2016

Stuart Parker Apartments

Columbia Hospitality

Anxiety & Depression Clinic

1201 Paquin St. Property management

Management

717 Cherry St. Administrative office

2024 Cherry Hill Dr. Licensed professional counseling

Art Underground LLC

Hager Radiator Service

1103 E. Walnut St. Artistic instruction

1805 Santa Fe Pl. Radiator repair

Institute

Easily Distracted

Korrect Optical

3605 S. Providence Rd. Cheerleading , tumbling gym

Art Collaboration

805 Ridgeway Ave. Large scale art installation

800 Hospital Dr. Retail sales of prescription glasses

Ouroboros Enterprises

Club Impulse

2 Rothwell Dr. Translation services

and Rehab Room

Kummerfeld Homes

Carroll Wilkerson, CFP® Jared W. Reynolds, CFP®, CDFA™

1905 Cherry Hill Dr. General contractor All-Star Performance

Fortuity

Meet The Retirement Team As a business owner, do you maximize your 401(k) contributions?

Are you aware of the fiduciary responsibilities of providing a 401(k)?

Do you know all of the fees charged to your 401(k)?

FIND A BETTER WAY:

573.875.3939 • WRWEALTH.COM

914 E. Broadway Retail women’s boutique Manzo’s Pizza

2200 Forum Blvd.

Restaurant

Wing Stop

Columbia Carpet Cleaning

2300 Bernadette Dr. Photography

2703 E. Broadway Restaurant

2501 Blackfoot Rd. Carpet cleaning

Movement Mortgage LLC

Paris Road Family Pawn

Mariner Finance LLC

303 N. Stadium Blvd.

Mortgage lender

2416 Paris Rd. Pawn broker

2703 E. Broadway Consumer finance

Salt House Co. LLC

My House Nightclub & Sports Bar

AAAAChange

1003 Marcassin Dr. Online retail apparel

10 E. Leslie Ln. Consultation, education

Crushed Red

2nd Base Sports Bar

2540 Broadway Bluffs Dr. Restaurant

2306 E. Business Loop 70 Bar

Prime Consulting

2600 Forum Blvd.

Esthetic services

Securities and Investment advisory Services offered through Waddell & Reed, Inc., a Broker/Dealer, Member FINRA/SIPC and Federally Registered Investment Advisor. Waddell & Reed is not affiliate with Wilkerson and Reynolds Wealth Management 11/15

84 NOVEMBER 2016

DreamCatchers Studios Inc.

Hickam Esthetics LLC

The certification marks above are owned by Certified Financial Planner Board of standards inc. and are awarded to indiviuals who successfully complete CFP Boards initial and ongoing certification requirements.

2508 Paris Rd. Night club

Interim HealthCare

303 N. Stadium Blvd.

Home health care

119 S. Seventh St. Bar Discolicious

220 N. Eighth St. Food cart

Services LLC

McVey Homes

108 Sieville Ave. B2B consulting

4106 Steinbrooke Ter. General contractor

Pemberton Woodworking

Baked Paper

1804 N. Garth Ave. Woodworking service

4900 Bullhead Ln. Home-baked sweets and handcrafted paper

Dealer Tinting Arches Footwear

Services LLC

Jim Campbell Plumbing

10 W. Nifong Blvd.

Retail footwear

2603 Paris Rd. Window tinting

310 Parkade Blvd.

Plumbing CBT

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

Deeds of Trust WORTH MORE THAN $588,000

$18,000,000

$900,000

$640,000

McAlester Park LLC UMB Bank LT 26 Columbia

Prenger Properties LLC Jonesburg State Bank BL G High School Court Sub

$9,000,000

$894,000

Boone Holdings LLC First State Community Bank LT 2B1 Providence North Plat 2-B

Whitaker, Todd Curtis & Margaret Elizabeth US Bank LT 142 Copperstone Plat 1

Adams, Darren D Revocable Living Trust Mid America Mortgage Services Inc STR 15-51-11 /NE/SE SUR BK/PG: 4467/89 FF Tract 2

$7,126,253

Old Ridge LLC Sobieck, R Mark Irrevocable Trust LT 2 Kelly’s Ridge

Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity Housing Corp Central Bank of Boone County LT 47 PT La Grange Place FF W/ Private Sidewalk $4,227,851

Somerset Village Development LLC St. Charles Road Development LLC LT 101 PT Somerset Village Plat 1 $4,200,000

Grossnickle-Digges-MillerSwindle LLC The Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. LT 1 Corporate Lake Plat No 14 $1,920,000

Burlington Vandiver LLC The Callaway Bank STR 30-49-12 //SW SUR BK/ PG: 414/115 FF PT of Lots 1 & 2 and all of Lot 7 $1,400,000

The Crist Family Revocable Trust Agreement Central Bank of Boone County STR 25-47-13 //NW

$880,650

$790,000

Windsor Apartments LLC Mid America Mortgage Services Inc. LT 1 1607 Windsor Condominiums Declaration $760,250

New Haven Custom Homes LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT 224A Copperstone Plat 7 $611,050

Yanis, Osama First State Community Bank LT 4C Woodrail on the Green Sub $600,000

AR Titleholder LLC First State Community Bank LT 106 Bluegrass South Estates

$750,000

$588,000

Midway of Columbia Inc. The Missouri Bank II STR 6-48-13 /W/SW SUR BK/PG: 383/124

Horton, Margaret J Indenture of Trust Landmark Bank LT 33 Leawood Sub

States, Jonathan L & Samantha A Central Bank of Boone County LT 3 Arrowhead Lake Estates

2513 Old 63 South Columbia, MO 65201

Price: Type: Zoning: SQ FT: Acres: Cap Rate:

$1,900,000 NNN Investment C-3 9,600 1.47 8%

Net Operating Income: $150,000

This retail strip center was built in 2005 and has a great mix of tenants. The surrounding area includes 5 student-housing complexes, 2 child care centers, and the Bluff Creek subdivision.

$588,000

Horton, Margaret J Indenture of Trust Landmark Bank LT 5 Leawood Sub CBT

GINA RENDE

$643,699

1415/1413 Paris Road LLC Hawthorn Bank LT 7 Nowells Sub /Machir Place

5,237 SF Turn-key Restaurant Space Available to owner/occupant

$612,000

Vaughn, Matthew L Revocable Living Trust Landmark Bank STR 32-49-14 /E/W SUR BK/ PG: 2305/146 AC 15.22

$700,000

FEATURED LISTING

604 deeds of trust were issued between 9/6 and 9/30

314-477-4462 gina@malyrealty.com

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 85

B U S I N E SS • P E O P L E • I M P R OV E M ENT • FYI

Economic Index LABOR

Value of commercial building

August 2016 - Columbia

permits: $8,262,403

Labor force: 67,838

Commercial additions and

Employment: 65,132

alterations: 16

Unemployment: 2,706

Value of commercial

Rate: 4 percent

additions and alterations: $2,299,072

August 2016 Boone County

UTILITIES

Labor force: 100,304

Water

Employment: 96,178 Unemployment: 4,126 Rate: 4.1 percent August 2016 - Missouri

Labor force: 3,145,173 Employment: 2,976,490 Unemployment: 168,683 Rate: 5.4 percent August 2016 United States

Labor force: 159,800,000 Employment: 151,804,000 Unemployment: 7,996,000 Rate: 5 percent

September 2016: 49,773 September 2015: 47,919 Change #: 1,854 Change%: 3.869 percent Number of customers receiving service on October 1, 2016: 50,598 Electric

September 2016: 50,131 September 2015: 48,437 Change #: 1,694 Change %: 3.497 percent Number of customers receiving service on September 1, 2016: 51,090

CONSTRUCTION

86 NOVEMBER 2016

August 2016

HOUSING

Residential building

August 2016

permits: 75

Single-family home sales: 197

Value of residential building

Single-family active listings

permits: $12,352,827

market: 657

Detached single-family

Single-family homes average

homes: 18

sold price: $224,040

Value of detached single-

Single-family homes average

family homes: $5,841,413

days on market: 40

Commercial building

Single-family home pending

permits: 24

listings on market: 175 CBT

FEATURED LISTING

404 Portland Street Columbia, MO 65201

Size: +/- 3.76 acres Zoning: O-1 (platted & ready for development) Price: $900,821 Located in Keene Medical Corridor with close proximity to Interstate 70 & Highway 63. Ideal for medical office development. Utilities on site.

MEL ZELENAK

573-999-3131 mel@malyrealty.com

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 87

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

From the very first meeting, my clients feel a sense of

MU EXTENSION BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (Statewide figures, 2013-2015)

$

relief.

They now know what needs to be done and why. And then they discover a level of personal service they’ve probably never experienced before.

I can do the same for you, as well.

439 million sales increase

24,180 jobs created or retained

$

$

419.6 million new investments

1.4 billion

in government contracts won

2016 COLUMBIA STARTUP WEEKEND

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MEMBERSHIP (2015-2016)

Wills & Trusts Business Law 303 N. Stadium Blvd. Suite 200 Columbia | 573-874-1122 NathanJonesLaw.com The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.

88 NOVEMBER 2016

144 tickets sold

1,120 members

ADVERTISER INDEX 43TC....................................................................................................................................... 12 ACCOUNTING PLUS.........................................................................................................91 AFFINITY OFFICE FURNITURE..................................................................................... 62 ANNABELLE EVENTS & RENTALS...............................................................................61 ANTHONY JINSON PHOTOGRAPHY.......................................................................... 51 BETZ JEWELERS............................................................................................................... 78 BUCHROEDER'S................................................................................................................. 13 CARPET ONE......................................................................................................................42 CENTRAL BANK OF BOONE COUNTY....................................................................... 15 CENTRAL TRUST COMPANY...........................................................................................5 CHIMAERIC...........................................................................................................................16 CHRISTIAN CHAPEL ACADEMY...................................................................................42 CITY OF COLUMBIA WATER & LIGHT.......................................................................20 COMMERCE BANK.............................................................................................................61 D & M SOUND......................................................................................................................36 DAVE GRIGGS FLOORING AMERICA......................................................................... 57 DESIGNER KITCHENS & BATHS.................................................................................. 62 DOGMASTER DISTILLERY............................................................................................. 78 GFI DIGITAL..........................................................................................................................18 H&P CONSULTANTS........................................................................................................ 76 HAWTHORN BANK...........................................................................................................92 HEART OF MISSOURI UNITED WAY...............................................................................3 JOBFINDERS....................................................................................................................... 87 JOE MACHENS HYUNDAI..................................................................................................7 JOE MACHENS LINCOLN............................................................................................... 24 JOE MACHENS NISSAN..................................................................................................70 JOE MACHENS NISSAN.................................................................................................. 75 JOE MACHENS TOYOTA.................................................................................................80 LANDMARK BANK................................................................................................................2

MALY COMMERCIAL REALTY....................................................................... 83, 85 & 87 MASSAGE ENVY.................................................................................................................41 MAYECREATE WEB DESIGN......................................................................................... 28 MEDIACOM.............................................................................................................................6 MIDWEST COMPUTECH.................................................................................................. 17 MISSOURI DEPT. OF CONSERVATION.......................................................................14 MISSOURI EMPLOYERS MUTUAL..................................................................................11 MODERN LITHO/BROWN PRINTING......................................................................... 22 MORESOURCE INC..............................................................................................................9 NATHAN JONES LAW.....................................................................................................88 NAUGHT NAUGHT INSURANCE AGENCY...............................................................42 PERSONAL TOUCH CLEANING SERVICE................................................................. 17 PROAM GOLF.....................................................................................................................36 PROVIDENCE BANK.........................................................................................................89 QUANTUM WIRELESS INTERNET..................................................................................8 SOCKET................................................................................................................................38 SPECTRUM BUSINESS......................................................................................................10 STANGE LAW FIRM...........................................................................................................44 STARR PROPERTIES.........................................................................................................44 STATE FARM INSURANCE - STEPHANIE WILMSMEYER..................................... 87 SYLVAN LEARNING CENTER.........................................................................................83 TECH ELECTRONICS...................................................................................................... 57 THE DISTRICT....................................................................................................................38 TIGER SCHOLARSHIP FUND........................................................................................... 4 VISIONWORKS....................................................................................................................41 WEICHERT REALTY: DENISE PAYNE..........................................................................86 WILKERSON & REYNOLDS WEALTH MANAGEMENT.........................................84 WILSON'S FITNESS..........................................................................................................63 WORKING SPACES...........................................................................................................83

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 89

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

FLASH BAC K

MU Research Reactor STORY A N D P HOTOG R A P HY BY G R AC E VA NC E

THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI Research Reactor, or MURR, was founded in 1966. Former UM President Elmer Ellis, the acting president during MURR’s construction and opening, hoped it would prompt greater scientific research at the university. The reactor was built on an 85-acre property originally known as the Hinkson Creek Valley. The property was later extended to 315 acres.

The total construction expenditures of the building before expansion amounted to $4,211,000. The $731,000 shortfall between the budget and total cost was covered by a five percent loan made by the Northwest Mutual Insurance Company, according to papers from the American Nuclear Society.

The facility was originally licensed to operate at 5 megawatts in 1966. However, in 1974, it upgraded to 10 megawatts, making it the most powerful university reactor in the United States. This is the same level of power MURR runs off of today.

In 2002, a 6,000-square-foot building addition made way for an expansion of good manufacturing practice, or GMP, isotopes for MURR’s research. In 2006, MURR expanded again with a 25,000-square-foot development that would hold laboratories, offices, and classrooms.

The reactor has facilities for physics, radiochemistry, and material science, with its core competencies being training and education.

These factors have allowed MURR to do groundbreaking research with cancer treatment, radiopharmacy, and Molybdenum-99, an isotope that’s been a particular focus for MURR. As stated in the MURR dedication speech of Dr. Glenn Seaborg, a Nobel Prize winner and former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, in 1966, the reactor brings “... the rewards of the months and years ahead as students and professors, scientists and engineers bring their interests and talents to this nuclear research facility, and in working with it, add to their own knowledge and skills and to those

which will advance science and man in this nuclear age.”

The university’s impact on MURR is shown not only in the reactor’s focus on instruction, but also in the opportunities it opens to students and faculty. As of 2012, MURR employed 400 faculty and 150 graduate students — overall contributing to more than 180 departments and 100 international universities. MURR still remains a worldwide hub for research and reliability; in 2007, it produced 41 different isotopes with more than 1,000 shipments to 14 different countries. As the reactor continues to grow, MURR’s mission of “endowing the future” is closer to the present than ever. CBT

MURR 1513 Research Park Drive murr.missouri.edu 573-882-4211

We love Columbia business history. If you have any interesting photos and stories, please send them to Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com 90 NOVEMBER 2016

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 91

COLUMBIA BUSINESS TIMES \ 2001 CORPORATE PLACE, STE. 100 \ COLUMBIA, MO 65202

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“You really feel they care about you.”

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