July 13, 2011
February 5, 2014
Vol 13 No 28
Tech Jobs in St. Charles
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Charles McElravy Award David Leezer, Director of Economic Development for the city of St. Charles, speaks to a crowd of about 150 people at the 2014 Regional Investors Breakfast held on Jan. 15 at Lindenwood University in St. Charles. Photo courtesy of the City of St. Charles.
Old Post Office Startups anticipated to be a regional hub for 50 tech startups On Wednesday, Jan. 15, the city’s Economic Development Department hosted their popular Regional Investors Campus at the Spellman Center on the campus of Lindenwood University. The program, entitled “Technology Leadership: Today’s Platform for Tomorrow’s Growth” highlighted two local speakers that are nationally recognized for their leadership in the technology industry. Steve Kinzy, recently retired as the Regional Manager for Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), spoke to the crowd of nearly 150 on why the company chose St. Charles as its regional office. “Technology companies rely on key factors like an educated workforce, growth markets and local resources to grow and succeed. That is why Esri has growth leader in its field and why we are located in St. Charles,” Kinzy stated. Founded in 1969 by Jack and Laura Dangermond, Esri, serves over 350,000 clients worldwide with the latest GIS systems. Its signature product, ArcGIS is a leader in mapping platform that allows clients to create and share interactive maps to improve productivity and reliability. Kinzy also stated that St. Charles and the St. Louis region have a number of assets to experience more growth in the technology field. Randy Schilling is the President and Chief Executive Officer of BoardPaq an affordable, easyto-use, secured application for planning, running and managing paperless Board meetings. A native of St. Charles, he is the former Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Quilogy and started the company in his hometown of St. Charles.
Schilling spoke to attendees about this latest endeavor, Old Post Office Startups, or “OPO”. OPO is a co-working center for digital startups and will be located in the former city post office building on South Main Street. The facility provides regional startups with affordable workspace and access to mentors, potential investors, programming, educational resources and a community of local entrepreneurs. Schilling estimates the OPO will open this summer. During his presentation, Schilling presented some very aggressive goals for this new venture. “After the first year, I anticipate OPO will have 50 startups with 200 to 300 members with nearly $100,000 of annual start up grants.” Schilling said the area is primed for this type of the development because of the all the amenities Main Street offers. “From restaurants and shops to fiber connections, Main Street offers a great location for technology based start ups,” Schilling added. Mayor Sally Faith stated the program demonstrated a great mix of our development past the potential the future holds for St. Charles. “Steve Kinzy demonstrated the city, and region, has the necessary assets to be a home for leading technology companies and Randy Schilling gave us an inspiring presentation of how the Old Post Office Startup will be a transformational project for decades,” Faith said. “Both presentations instilled a lot of excitement in me for our future.” Another key aspect of the Breakfast was the Economic Development Department’s unveiling of their new website, www.GrowStCharles.
com. “This was a much needed upgrade to make St. Charles a factor in site location decisions,” stated David Leezer, the city’s Director of Economic Development. For more information, please contact the St. Charles Department of Economic Development – located at 200 North Second Street, Suite 300 at 636.949.3231.
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