AUGUST 2016 EDUCATION ISSUE
CHILD CARE COSTS PAGE 42
WHAT IS MU'S IMPACT? PAGE 34
P.Y.S.K. KEVIN McDONALD University of Missouri
I’m a Landmark.
Landmark was very accommodating through the home loan process, even running paperwork by my office to fit my busy schedule.
Landmark is a great bank with a good hometown feel to it. They’re personable and approachable and willing to work around your schedule to help get things done. When it comes to banking, there’s - Dr. Douglas Green no one else I would use. Isn’t it time you became a Landmark?
LandmarkBank.com | Speak With A Banker 7 Days A Week: (800) 618-5503 | Member FDIC
M I S S O U R I O R T H O PA E D I C I N S T I T U T E
EXPANDING IN 2017 Home to the Mizzou BioJoint Center, Mizzou Therapy Services and a number of specialized orthopaedic services, the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute is expanding to meet growing patient demands. The four-story, 85,462-square-foot expansion project includes expanded surgery suites, additional patient rooms, a larger dining area for patients and visitors, as well as a fourth floor dedicated to orthopaedic research.
Learn more about the leading-edge care that attracts patients from all over the nation to MOI. Visit us at MUHEALTH.ORG/MOI.
WHEN YOU PRINT AND SCAN THE NUMBER OF PAGES we do in just one day, it’s important for each department and some individuals to have their own printers. Some might view this as a luxury but we know it’s a necessity at Moresource! Andrea Paul of GFI makes it affordable and the GFI service crew are number one in the Moresource playbook! Kat Cunningham
TOGETHER WE CAN DO MORE
DIGITAL
GFI can centralize and simplify the management of your print, copy, fax imaging and digital storage to help you communicate more effectively, improve workflow, and substantially reduce costs. Stay focused on what's most important... your business.
GFI DIGITAL | 2415 CARTER LANE SUITE 102, COLUMBIA, MO 65201 | WWW.GFIDIGITAL.COM | (573) 874-5600
HR
LESS is
Benefits
ACA PAYROLL Compliance BOOKKEEPING
THEM.
IT
.
Insurance
573.443.1234
Moresource-Inc.com
Because you have better things to do.
US.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2ND
START A
TEAM JOIN A
TEAM COLUMBIA WALK TO END ALZHEIMER’S OCTOBER
SUNDAY
2
Sunday, October 2nd
Cosmo Park Lamb Shelter
Check-in 12pm Walk @ 1:15pm
Online Registration Open Now! www.alz.org/walkcomo The end of Alzheimer’s starts with YOU.
Top Commercial Videographer
Chimaeric is a motion picture company comprised of filmmakers and proudly based in Columbia, MO. We specialize in producing content that creates empathy and connects our viewer’s heads to their hearts.
Your business has a story. We can help you tell it.
chimaeric.com | 573.289.5540
Is your school a
Discover Nature
School?
Whether inside or outside the classroom or gym, we help kids Discover Nature. Benefits
• Grants for equipment/
field trips • Free teacher training • Free student manuals/ teacher guides Missouri Archery in the Schools Program
Discover Nature Schools outdoor classroom
Learn more at mdc.mo.gov/education
Career-building. Committed to Columbia. Connecting people. Co-ed graduate programs designed with you in mind • M.Ed. in Counseling • M.F.A. in TV and Screenwriting • Master in Physician Assistant Studies • Master in Strategic Leadership
dream up. We’ll advocate for your success. Talk to a counselor today to find out how you can chase down your dreams— conveniently and affordably. We welcome in-person visits. Stephens promotes small class sizes across all programs, so you always receive individual attention. online@stephens.edu (573) 876-7207 stephens.edu
OFFICE AND RETAIL SPACE AVAILABLE! 36,000+ sq. ft.
G re a t vi e w s of th e A ve n ue of th e C ol um n s & C ou rt h ou s e
w it h in d oo r R oo ft op d e c k e & ou td oo r s pa c
S q ua re
Projecte d completi on summer of 2017
CALL FOR AVAILABILITY & PRICING! Direct: 573-424-2895 • Office: 573-449-6200
© 2016 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.‰ Equal Housing Opportunity.
FROM THE EDITOR
EDITORIAL Erica Pefferman, Publisher Erica@BusinessTimesCompany.com Brenna McDermott, Editor Brenna@BusinessTimesCompany.com Matthew Patston, Assistant Editor Matt@BusinessTimesCompany.com
Gain through Pain
DESIGN Jordan Watts, Editorial Designer Jordan@BusinessTimesCompany.com
›› GROWTH NEVER COMES without pain. It’s a mantra that has guided me throughout the past year. Growth feels difficult when you’re going through it; sometimes feels impossible. Our community has certainly experienced pain during the last year. We’ve watched our state’s flagship institution — its students, faculty, and staff — experience protests, resignations, enrollment losses, and the threat of funding cuts. Students, faculty, staff, and the community have experienced this time of pain together. What’s left to see is where and how we will grow from the pain and frustrations of the last year. Photo by Anthony Jinson It is disappointing that students living in our community, customers of our city’s biggest business, experience racism. I often wonder how I, as an individual, can make a difference. How can I help make our community better for students and residents? How can I promote a community of inclusion and equity? That’s a personal question that I (and, I hope, you) will continue to explore. I got the chance to meet MU’s new chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, Kevin McDonald (page 29). He is an individual who will make a big difference at MU and hopefully throughout the community. He’s intelligent, warm, kind, and thoughtful. It’s not an easy job, growing from points of pain. While Dr. McDonald will guide our university to inclusion for all, he can’t do it alone. Let’s take this opportunity to grow through the pain. Let’s work together, town and gown, to make our community better. Take some time to consider what helping would look like for you. Remember, our city’s success is inexorably tied to the health and success of the university and its students. How can you and your business work to be more inclusive? How can we become a city where everyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, or age, wants to be? I want to thank everyone who attended our 2016 Top of the Town event, presented by Columbia Regional Airport. More than 400 people came to support the businesses you voted as Top of the Town (check out the full list on page 82). We enjoyed great live music from Spontaneous; food from Günter Hans, D. Rowe’s, and Kaldi’s; and beverages from Logboat and St. James Winery. It was a great party, and I’m happy we were able to recognize the dozens of first and second place winners that are deserving businesses in our community. This is our education issue, so I hope you’ll learn some things: get a master class in leadership from Stephens College president Dianne Lynch (page 48), hear the struggles working families have when trying to afford child care (page 42), and take some time to think about the connection between the distribution of poverty in our community and the districting of our local schools (page 54).
Thanks for reading,
Brenna McDermott, Editor brenna@businesstimescompany.com
Photographer Anthony Jinson and I wanted to create a simple setting for the August cover and focus on bringing out the personality in our subject, MU Chief Diversity Officer Kevin McDonald. Kevin, thankfully, has lots of personality to give. Photo by Anthony Jinson.
AUGUST 2016 EDUCATION ISSUE
CHILD CARE COSTS PAGE 42
WHAT IS MU'S IMPACT? PAGE 34
P.Y.S.K. KEVIN McDONALD University of Missouri
CREATIVE SERVICES 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 Janelle Wilbers Hayley, Marketing Consultant Janelle@BusinessTimesCompany.com Heather McGee, Marketing Consultant Heather@BusinessTimesCompany.com Crystal Richardson, Digital Marketing Manager Crystal@BusinessTimesCompany.com Jessica Kaiser, Account Manager Jessica@BusinessTimesCompany.com CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Keith Borgmeyer, Anthony Jinson, Brenna McDermott CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Al Germond, Zach Lloyd, David Morrison, Matt Murrie, Monica Pitts, Tony Richards, Anne Williams INTERNS Sarah Everett, Taylor Horvatich, Jonné Pratt, Taylor Twellman, Abby Wade MANAGEMENT Erica Pefferman, President Erica@BusinessTimesCompany.com Renea Sapp, Vice President of Finance ReneaS@BusinessTimesCompany.com Amy Ferrari, Operations Manager Amy@BusinessTimesCompany.com Jamie Patterson, Digital Services Director Jamie@BusinessTimesCompany.com SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscription rate is $19.95 for 12 issues for 1 year or $34.95 for 24 issues for 2 years. To place an order or to inform us of an address change, log on to ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com. The Columbia Business Times is published every month by The Business Times Co., 2001 Corporate Place, Suite 100, Columbia, MO 65202. Copyright The Business Times Co., 2008. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of any editorial or graphic content without the express written permission of the publisher is prohibited. OUR MISSION STATEMENT The Columbia Business Times and ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com strives to be Columbia’s leading source for timely and comprehensive news coverage of the local business community. This publication is dedicated to being the most relevant and useful vehicle for the exchange of information and ideas among Columbia’s business professionals.
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 17
18 \\\ AUGUST 2016
ABOUT THE LAST TIMES What's happening online Matthew Murrie @MattMurrie #Whatif those who can, can’t teach? To all the teachers & #entrepreneurs who deserve better @ColumbiaBiz #SocEnt
Around the office Thank you to the 400-plus people who partied with us at CBT’s Top of the Town, presented by Columbia Regional Airport. Head to our Facebook page for all the party pics.
United Way Heart MO @UWHeartMO July #Movers&Shakers in @ColumbiaBiz include our board prez @Mitzi_Clayton +4 new board members you probably know! Lauren Whitney-Karr @LaurenWhitK Employees of @veteransunited donate 1% of their paycheck to @VUFoundation. $20 million has been raised since 2011. @ColumbiaBiz Chris Casper @spacecasper “The majesty of the sky just isn’t there anymore” Missouri #lightpollution mars amateur astronomy. Via @ColumbiaBiz Columbia Takes Off @comotakesoff Why do visitors to Columbia walk through the rain into a double wide trailer? Good question! Via @ColumbiaBiz
We escaped with four minutes to spare. Thanks for a fun lunch break activity Escape Plan LLC!
PhilanTopic @pndblog .@veteransunited Foundation Awards $1.5 million for @WelcomeHomeInc Emergency Shelter @ColumbiaBiz #MO Triumph Group Int. @TriumphGroupInt Leverage online #marketing for your event (via @ColumbiaBiz) [#eventmarketing #eventprofs] Simon Oswald Arch @SOArchitecture Bill Oswald leads @SoArchitecture team to @ColumbiaBiz Top of the Town event @LogboatBrewing We’re COU’s Top Arch Firm!
Behind the scenes We had a blast with cover model Kevin McDonald during his photo shoot. Some people are just fun to photograph, and he’s one of them!
Correction In the July CBT, it was incorrectly reported that Columbia College Board of Trustees Chairwoman Daisy Grossnickle retired from the board. Grossnickle will continue to serve on the board, but has transitioned from the position of chair.
Write to CBT editor Brenna McDermott at Brenna@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 19
20 \\\ AUGUST 2016
August 2016
Vol. 23, Issue 2 columbiabusinesstimes.com
DEPARTMENTS
›› EDUCATION ISSUE
44
Master Class
President Dianne Lynch leads Stephens College through the changing landscape of higher education. What’s next for Stephens?
34
42
17 From the Editor 19 Letters to the Editor 23 Movers and Shakers 24 Briefly in the News 27 A Closer Look 29 P.Y.S.K. 33 Opinion 62 Nonprofit Spotlight 64 Celebrations 66 Marketing 69 Startup Diaries 71 Org Health 72 Ask Anne 74 Business Licenses 75 Deeds of Trust 76 Economic Index 77 By the Numbers 79 Around Town 81 This or That 83 Soundbite 84 8 Questions 86 Flashback
54
58
After the Fire
Money in the Crib
Get Them Ready
Rewriting the Story
MU faces a drop in enrollment
For working parents, raising children can be enough of a challenge. How are families handling the increasing cost of child care?
The Cradle to Career Alliance builds bridges to improve the education and lives of Boone County children, from K to 12 and beyond.
Columbia Public Schools is
and funding for fall 2016. What impact will those losses have on the Boone County economy?
working to address poverty and economic stress in the community. It starts with lunch.
Member SIPC
5
REASONS TO HIRE A REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL
They help with all disclosures and paperwork necessary in today’s heavily regulated environment.
______________________________________
Mark Richardson, CFP® Financial Advisor
They are well educated in and experienced with the entire sales process.
______________________________________
They act as a ‘buffer’ in negotiations with all parties throughout the entire transaction.
Change doesn’t
always have to be hard.
Sometimes it’s smart.
______________________________________
They help understand today’s real estate values when setting the price on a listing or on an offer to purchase.
______________________________________
They simply and effectively explain today’s real estate headlines and decipher what they mean to you.
Your life is always changing and consequently, so are your needs and preferences. As your trusted partner and advisor, it’s my role to ensure that your portfolio is reflective of your current financial goals. Your personal needs and preferences are always at the center of our relationship.
Denise Payne, ABR, e-Pro, GRI, CRP Office: 573-777-7274 | Weichert Realtors First Tier 3700 Monterey Drive, Columbia, Mo 65203
Serving the Mid-Missouri Area
Columbia | Ashland | Boonville | Centralia | Fulton Hallsville | Harrisburg | Hartsburg | Jefferson City Millersburg | Rocheport | Sturgeon
Mark Richardson ,CFP® 2415 Carter Ln Suite #104 Columbia, MO 65201 573.442.1276 mark.richardson@edwardjones.com 22 \\\ AUGUST 2016
For more real estate tips and to see current listings visit:
DenisePayne.com
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
›› Professionals grow, serve, and achieve
SEDEL CARSON
EDUARD SHAMKHALOV
›› Sedel Carson
›› Kevin McDonald
›› Kathy Birkes
Carson joined Tompkins Homes and Development as director of operations. Carson will oversee aspects of THD including land acquisition and sales, marketing and promotion, personnel management, and business relations with private and government entities. THD has been operating in Columbia since 1986.
McDonald is the University of Missouri System’s first chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, and he has also agreed to serve as the interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity at MU. In his role, he will work with students, staff, and faculty on diversity and inclusion matters. Before coming to MU, McDonald was the associate provost for diversity and inclusion at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and he has held several other leadership positions in higher education.
The Midwest Special Needs Trust Board of Trustees selected Kathy Birkes as their new executive director. Birkes has experience in public service at Washington University and, as director of the Missouri Department of Social Services, in the Missouri state government, and she has worked with numerous nonprofits and foundations.
JOE KENNEDY
›› Eduard Shamkhalov STEVE RUSSELL
KEVIN McDONALD
Shamkhalov, a culinary team member at Longhorn Steakhouse in Columbia, was the regional winner of the company’s firstever Steak Master Series competition. He was one of 60 team members from a pool of 6,000 in the company to receive the award.
Kennedy has joined Weichert Realtors-First Tier in Columbia. First Tier is an independently owned and operated affiliate of Weichert Real Estate Affiliates Inc., and First Tier was founded as a Weichert affiliate in Columbia in 2004.
Tucker is the new interim director of the Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers. Tucker is the former associate director, and he will be responsible for the operations and programs of 14 SBTDC contract centers, located on many of Missouri’s public university campuses, and eight business development specialists in MU Extension county offices.
›› Steve Russell
›› Central Bank
Tech Electronics has hired Steve Russell as the dedicated education account manager. Russell will be working with the Columbia’s K-12 and higher education institutions. He will provide customers with the latest communication, classroom, and life safety technology.
Erin Nichols has been promoted to teller II; Melissa Jansen was promoted to senior customer service representative; and Pattie Swartz, Cierra Robertson, Jessica Heisler, and Blake Jones were all promoted to customer service representative II.
›› Joe Kennedy GREG TUCKER
KATHY BIRKES
WALLY PFEFFER
PATRICIA BRANSON
KEENAN SIMON
›› Greg Tucker
of Boone County
›› Wally Pfeffer Mutual of Omaha Companies presented Pfeffer with his 35-year Honor Club ring for his productivity and service in the company. Only 17 Mutual of Omaha agents nationally have 35 years or more of Honor Club recognition.
›› Patricia Branson Branson has joined Coegi, an independent programmatic media buying firm in Columbia, as the director of client and employee services. Branson has six years of prior experience in the digital landscape, she was previously the vice president of strategy at AdKarma.
›› Keenan Simon Simon, of THHinc McClure Engineering Co., passed the professional engineering exam to become a licensed professional engineer. Simon joins a team of 40 professional engineers at THHinc McClure. CBT
➜ Are you or your employees making waves in the Columbia business community? Send us your news at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 23
BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS
›› A rundown of this month’s top headlines
MIDWEST COMPUTECH RECOGNIZED Midwest Computech was awarded in the annual DREAM BIG Blue Ribbon Small Business Awards from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which awards 100 companies for their success in helping America’s economy. Midwest Computech received the Blue Ribbon for the sixth consecutive year. The program awards companies all across the United States for dedicating themselves to the principles of free enterprise, helping restore jobs, and supporting economic growth. Midwest Computech provides IT solutions and manages technical services. The award was presented at the 12th annual America’s Small Business Summit, in Washington D.C.
BMW DEALERSHIP CONSTRUCTION Coil Construction broke ground on the new BMW of Columbia dealership located at 1900 I-70 Dr. The new 32,000-square-foot facility will be the new location for the Drewing Automotive Group’s BMW dealership. It will be one of the three largest BMW dealerships in Missouri and will include a 7,500-square-foot showroom, automatic car wash, and customer lounge. The project will be completed spring 2017.
WOODHAVEN’S AGE-IN-PLACE PROJECT Woodhaven began constructing age-in-place apartments and finished construction on the Billy J. Palmer Health and Training Center. The construction of these two buildings is supported through the Building on Our Strengths Capital Campaign, which successfully reached its fundraising goal of $1.9 million at the end of 2015. The Age-in-Place Apartment Project will feature five one-bedroom apartments that will be wheelchair-accessible, with widened doorways and an open floor plan. The new apartments will be built between Rock Bridge Christian Church and the fire station located off Green Meadows Drive.
LENIOR WOODS CONSTRUCTION Lenior Woods Senior Living Community started construction on new independent living apartments in June. This is the third phase of a plan to make Lenior Woods a continuing care retirement community. The new development, Edgewood Apartments, will be a four-story complex with 79 apartments, and the residences will include screened balconies, a view of the woods, and garage parking under the building. There will be a new dining venue and a new wellness center with an indoor pool. The previous completed projects include new assisted living, skilled nursing, and memory care spaces. The Edgewood Apartments will be located along Highway 63 and New Haven Road. 24 \\\ AUGUST 2016
CITYWIDE NURSING SHORTAGE Local hospitals and clinics are facing a nursing shortage, and they’re finding more ways to motivate recruitment for nurses in mid-Missouri. MU Health is motivating staff to recruit more nurses by providing a $10,000 bonus and a chance to win a fourperson, all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii. Staff members who successfully recruit registered nurses for neurosciences, internal medicine, and psychiatric ICUs are eligible. Boone Hospital Center is offering a $10,000 signing bonus to full-time registered nurses with five years or more of experience, and a net $5,000 bonus for nurses with at least six months of experience.
MU SUMMER ENROLLMENT
Summer session enrollment for MU increased 2.2 percent this year. The enrollment grew from 13,396 to 13,694, an increase of 298 students. This marks an all-time high in summer enrollment for the university.
CHAMBER AWARDS The Columbia Chamber of Commerce presented its most prestigious awards at its annual meeting in June. Kat Cunningham, president of Moresource, was named the Chamber’s 2016 Outstanding Citizen of the Year. Dan Scotten received a special recognition for his more than 40 years serving the Chamber Ambassadors. Nancy Allison, a Shelter Insurance agent, received the Debin Benish Outstanding Businesswoman Award. Cathy Cook, of Kona Ice, received the Ambassador of the Year Award. And Teresa White, of MFA Oil, received the Emerging Professional of the Year Award.
ROUNDABOUT OATS WINS PLAN POSTPONED City council has postponed a $600,000 roundabout plan after hearing opposition. The project, planned for Fairview and Chapel Hill Roads, was proposed to alleviate an increase in traffic in southwest Columbia. Some opposed the roundabout due to its proximity to Countryside Nursery School and the safety of pedestrian crossing. Council agreed to continue research on traffic in the area.
OATS Transportation was named the 2016 Rural Community Transportation of the Year by the Community Transportation Association of America. OATS, a nonprofit organization that provides specialized transportation to thousands of Missourians, serves the rural general public, senior citizens, and people with disabilities. OATS was recognized by the CTAA for improving service to their passengers and serving the community. The RCTY award is presented yearly at the CTAA national conference and brings recognition to rural transit systems who excel in serving the needs of people in their communities.
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 25
Columbia’s Only Children’s Boutique show this ad for
$
5
off footwear!
These See Kai Run shoes are recommended by the American Podiatric Medical Association for promoting healthy foot development, functionality, and safety.
CLOTHING, SHOES, ACESSORIES & MORE!
2001 Corona Rd. #203 in the Village of Cherry Hill • boutiqueladida.com • 573-397-6991 • Mon-Sat: 10am-5pm 26 \\\ AUGUST 2016
A CLOSER LOOK
›› A quick look at companies on the rise and in the news
Infinite Wellness Float Center Contact: 573-442-0570 Website: infinitewellnessfloatcenter.com
Floating is a therapy where one enters a tank or pod to float in 10 inches of warm, dense salt water to enter a state of sensory loss and relaxation. The brain shifts into a theta, or dreamlike, state. Infinite Wellness Float Center opened on April 7 and is located in the Broadway Professional Park, across from the library. Matunde Tatum, owner of Infinite Wellness, first heard about floating in a podcast. A couple years later, he got the opportunity to float in Florida and fell in love with it as a tool to help him meditate. There are few distractions while floating, he says; the tank is light proof and sound proof, though clients can play music or soundtracks in the tank if they wish. The salt in the tank pulls harsh toxins from the body, and the experience relaxes muscles and sharpens focus. Infinite Wellness has one tank and a top-of-the-line filtration system, says Tatum. Tatum’s clients are athletes, students, stay-at-home parents, and business executives. One-hour and two-hour float sessions are available.
Confetti Craft Co.
The Southern Rose
Contact: 573-303-1263 Website: confetticraftco.com
Contact: 573-815-7673 Website: thesouthernrosecomo.com
Confetti Craft Co. is coming to The District, in a spot just east of The Broadway under Gumby’s and Nourish Café. The building is currently receiving an exterior facelift. At Confetti Craft Co., guests select a craft from the project bar, such as string art, leather passport holders, glasses cases, and jewelry. Customers can also enjoy drinks from the bar. “When you come in, you’ll be handed a menu of 25 to 30 different craft projects,” owner Michelle Nickerson says. The crafts are self-led, with picture tutorials and tools on every table. Confetti Craft Co. is headed by Nickerson and her husband, Scott; they also own a tile and flooring business. Nickerson has a background in DIY creations. Nickerson hopes the nightlife of Columbia will extend further down Broadway, and that businesses come for team-building events. “I feel like people in Columbia are looking for something to do other than go to dinner or go to the movies,” Nickerson says. Confetti Craft Co. will open in late August.
The Southern Rose, owned by Mackenzie Bowden and Nicole Morris, is a monogram and gift boutique located in the Rock Bridge Shopping Center, next to Hy-Vee and Orange Leaf. Bowden is a Missouri native, and Morris is from North Carolina. In the south, Morris says, there are plenty of monogram shops. The ladies of Southern Rose are bringing the south to a storefront in Columbia in early August; they will sell apparel, school spirit items, gifts, and offer gift wrapping. Not every item will be monogrammed, Morris says, but custom monograms are definitely an option. Clients can also bring in personal items for monogramming. Monograms are done through embroidery and vinyl decals. With a background in marketing, advertising, and business administration, Bowden has her own shop on Etsy, Wild Rose Monograms. She has also sold at craft shows. She teamed up with Morris, who has a background in fashion merchandising, in 2014. They hope to build a strong reputation in Columbia and sell items on their website by the end of the year.
➜ Are you an entrepreneur? Are you sprouting a new business? Tell us about it at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com. COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 27
Landscaping Columbia from one end, to the other, for over 30 years. _________________________________________________________
Full service Commercial & Residential Landscape Services rostlandscaping.com ď‚˝ (573) 445-4465 ď‚˝Visit us on Facebook
28 \\\ AUGUST 2016
KEVIN McDONALD AUGUST 2016 • PYSK • PERSON YOU SHOULD KNOW
CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER | UM SYSTEM | AGE: 44 Title and company/organization: Chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, University of Missouri System, and interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity, MU.
Age: 44. Job description: Provide collaborative leadership to the diversity and inclusion efforts at the UM System and MU. Years lived in Columbia/mid-Missouri: Two months.
Original hometown: Cleveland, Ohio. Education: B.S. in psychology, Andrews University; J.D., The Ohio State University; Ed.D. in higher education, University of Rochester.
Professional background: Disability rights investigator, Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, disability rights section; dispute administrator, Network Solutions; campus compliance officer, University of Maryland–College Park; assistant director of compliance and conflict resolution, Johns Hopkins University; director of equal opportunity and affirmative action programs, Virginia Tech; vice president for equity and inclusion, Virginia Tech; vice president and associate provost for diversity and inclusion, Rochester Institute of Technology. A Columbia businessperson I admire and why: I haven’t been here long enough to identify someone, but I look forward to meeting more members of the business community.
A favorite recent project: Founding the
Photos by Anthony Jinson
M.O.C.H.A. (Men of Color, Honor, and Ambition) Initiative at RIT and seeing its transformative impact on the lives of young undergraduate men. COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 29
""Diversity is more than just increasing the composition of If I weren’t doing this for a living, I would:
The next challenge facing my industry:
probably be working for the state or federal
Believing in and operating on the fact that
government, because I’ve always had a
diversity is more than just increasing the
fondness for government entities.
composition of an organization; it also
Why I’m passionate about my job: I’m
entails leveraging those differences in a
an organization.""
variety of functioning areas to impact the
Greatest weakness: Taking on too much and
organization’s bottom line.
not finding enough of a work–life balance.
importance of diversity and inclusion in an
My next professional goal: I don’t know — I
What I do for fun: I love working out and
organization’s quest for excellence. I just want
think I have enough keeping me busy with
eating out with my family and friends.
to work collaboratively to help organizations
these two roles that I don’t have much time to
desiring to achieve inclusive excellence.
think about what my next professional goal
Family: I’m married to Kim McDonald, and
will be. Suffice it to say that I believe it will be in
we have three wonderful children: Rodney
higher education, because I have grown to love
Osborne Jr., 24, Kayla McDonald, 16, and
the field.
Kesslyn McDonald, 14.
administrators, and local community members
Biggest lesson learned in business: Your
to work collaboratively to move diversity and
Favorite place in Columbia: I enjoy Main
degrees and past professional experiences may
inclusion efforts forward. I feel very fortunate
Squeeze and Babbo's as favorite places to eat,
help you get through a professional door, but
to be a part of this community, and I look
your ability to forge, nurture, and maintain
and I enjoy Wilson’s Fitness as a favorite place
forward to working with others in an effort to
strong professional relationships will keep you
driven by a desire to make a difference in the lives of others, and I’m passionate about the
Why I’m passionate about my company: There is supportive leadership and a collective will among students, faculty, staff,
set the system, and all of the campuses that comprise it, apart nationally as having the best practices in the diversity and inclusion arena.
What people should know about this profession: That it is steeped in research,
there and allow you to ascend in your career.
How you would like to impact the Columbia community: I look forward to working collaboratively to positively impact the K–12
to work out. I haven’t discovered my favorite trail as of yet. There are a few to choose from, so the jury is still out.
Accomplishment I’m most proud of: Working with my wonderful partner to raise
pipeline to higher education and initiatives
three amazingly gifted, respectful, and
focused on the younger generation.
driven children.
inform the work of diversity professionals in
Greatest strength: My interpersonal
Most people don’t know that: I’m a vegan
higher education and in other professions.
communication skills.
who enjoys heated yoga. CBT
and that this research, when examined disaggregated, tells important stories that
➜ PYSK: KEVIN MCDONALD • CHIEF DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION OFFICER • UM SYSTEM • AGE: 44 30 \\\ AUGUST 2016
BEST PRODUCTS
+ BEST PRICE +
EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE
= A GREAT VALUE 573-445-5266 | www.proamgolfusa.com
1729 W. Broadway (next to Shelter Insurance) | Mon-Fri 9-7 • Sat 9-5 • Sun 12-4
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 31
come experience columbia’s only craft distillery locally made spirits well crafted cocktails
210 St. James Street, Suite D Columbia, MO 65201 (573) 777-6768
open tuesday - saturday 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Affordable, custom window coverings that fit your style and your budget. FREE Cordless Lift On all signature series cellular shades, wood and faux wood blinds.
Now through August 31st!
BUY MORE, SAVE MORE! OFFER EXPIRES 8/31/16
Call Bill Sheppard for your complimentary consultation and measurements.
573-819-4020 or 573-355-7595 bsheppard@budgetblinds.com
FOR QUALIFYING PRODUCTS
INCLUDES SOLAR AND ROLLER SHADES
Buy 5-9 ... SAVE 5% Buy 10-14... SAVE 10% Buy 15+ ... SAVE 15%
ROUNDTABLE › Al Germond
Listen to Citizen Concerns COLUMBIA IS HARDLY the exception among municipalities in seeking an ongoing report card of citizen perceptions about the quality of life here. The ETC Institute, of Olathe, Kansas, has been surveying Columbia residents for the past fifteen years. Not surprisingly, among the 1,016 residents queried for the most recent survey, respondents said that they are increasingly concerned about the Al Germond is the host of the deterioration of Columbia's infraColumbia Business Times structure (streets and sidewalks), Sunday Morning Roundtable while voicing more negative conat 8:15 a.m. Sundays on KFRU. cern about public safety and police He can be reached at response times. Of course, this is all algermond@ tied to Columbia's somewhat metebusinesstimescompany.com oric growth as the city has struggled to find new revenue sources needed to develop programs in response to these needs while sales and use tax receipts plummet with few, if any, alternate revenue sources in sight. Fair enough to survey the hoi polloi, the result of which was a claimed accuracy around three percent, a number that should surprise no one. Streets, sewers, transit, the water and electric utilities, police, fire, public works — you name it, there's something here for everyone to gripe about, and one or more of these areas have been the scratching posts for citizen complaints ever and anon. How convenient that we shy away from charting the attitudes and perceptions of Columbia's shareholders — its citizens — toward the mayor, city council, and the assortment of realms that function under their aegis. So only a quarter of its citizens bothered to vote for the mayor. Being elected in one of the city's six wards doesn't necessar-
... there's a great team of honest, capable department heads who want to do the best job possible to serve the needs and best interests of the city's shareholders ...
ily translate into citywide popularity, recalling the often minuscule number of residents who even bother to vote and the relatively small, hyper-charged groups of activists who push them over the finish line. The mayor's honeymoon is over. No ear trumpet is needed to hear the mounting drumbeats of mayoral angst that are only bound to increase over time — bumps in the road, like the fracas over law enforcement issues that continues to unfold. In a city financially challenged because sales tax revenues continue to decline, battle lines are forming as budgets are honed with a stridency not seen in recent years, pitting the need to fund and provide basic, essential city services against what some would argue are the less important luxuries that make Columbia a “full service city.” Nothing personal here, Mr. Mayor, but there is mounting evidence of buyer's remorse based on attitudes and temperament. May we suggest taking time to re-read Columbia's 1949 Home Rule Charter and subsequent amendments, if you haven't already done so? CBT Editor Brenna McDermott recently returned from a Leadership Columbia session at city hall disappointed because the mayor didn't appear on the city government panel that spoke to the group. Tsk! Tsk! Remember, the mayor has a daytime job in Jefferson City, and, short of having a still-mythical means of instantaneous transportation back here borrowed from the annals of “Doctor Who,” his honor was again confirming his in absentia role as Columbia's elected at-large councilperson and person who should be readily available here as the city's official greeter and public relations maven. Perhaps a survey would reveal the increased arrogance and “my-wayor-the-highway” attitude the mayor has been exhibiting along with some of his acolytes on the city council. The rush-at-all-costs formbased zoning initiative has many of the people who get things done around here rather upset. One wag claims that more than a handful of builders, developers, realtors, property owners, contractors, and their kin stand poised to speed-dial their legal counsel for relief and maybe a march into the Boone County Courthouse. Just what Columbia needs: a bevy of more lawsuits. In spite of the mayor, the city council, and the dissenters gathered ’round the scratching post, the day-to-day operation of the city is in very good hands. That's because there's a great team of honest, capable department heads who want to do the best job possible to serve the needs and best interests of the city's shareholders — again, its citizens. Cheap-shot anonymity gets us nowhere. Take it upon yourself to meet some of these key people. Time for the mayor and his sycophants to reach out to all of us and quit pushing personal agendas because they feel they've been anointed by some ethereal body to do so. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 33
34 \\\ AUGUST 2016
AFTER THE
Boone County is bracing for the economic fallout from a tumultuous year at MU — but how bad will it really be? B Y M AT T PAT S T O N | P H O T O S B Y A N T H O N Y J I N S O N
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 35
Just west of Jesse Hall’s front staircase, facing the Columns, is a skinny trapezoidal stone monument dedicated to the building’s namesake, former university president Richard Henry Jesse. It’s about 10 feet high and 5 feet wide at its base. It attracts good sunlight during the daytime. MU installed the monument in 1939 — a 100th birthday present to itself. Jesse, previously a Latin professor at Tulane, became president in 1891, one year before Academic Hall (which was, at that point, essentially the entire university) burned down on a snowy night in December, famously leaving only the six columns salvageable. MU enrolled a little over 1,000 students at the time; around 5,000 people lived in Columbia. With the campus ruined, state officials considered moving the university to Sedalia, which had nearly three times Columbia’s population and was growing. Alarmed by the potential loss of one-fifth of their population and a significant fraction of their city’s jobs, Columbians raised $50,000 — about $1.3 million today — to rebuild the school in Boone County. As president, Jesse led the campaign, and his work in rebuilding and expanding the school earned him the nickname “the Father of the Modern University.” His monument bears a quote, on its west face: “The University itself — its learning, its skill, its zeal, its enthusiasm — remains untouched, and its work will go on 36 \\\ AUGUST 2016
without interruption.” The attribution reads, “Richard Henry Jesse, 1892, After the Fire.” At the end of the 2015-2016 school year, Boone County and MU found themselves in a better position than in 1892, but still not a very good one. Racially charged protests and the resulting backlash (and, seemingly, the backlash to the backlash) hastened an enrollment falloff that the school had been avoiding for years, even when comparable colleges began struggling to recruit new students. Throughout the spring semester, bad news came endlessly: investigations, threats to cut off state appropriations, meager application numbers, and on and on. At a forum in early March, Interim Chancellor Hank Foley, who assumed his job in November amid the protests, announced that the school would institute a hiring freeze and mandatory five percent budget cuts for all departments in response to an expected $34 million budget shortfall. The partnership between MU and Columbia generally benefits both, which is why the city so steadfastly fought to keep the university in 1892; the college provides jobs for residents and human capital (put another way: skill, zeal, and enthusiasm) for employers, who get access to a constantly refreshing talent pool to grow their businesses. But with the university wounded, what's at stake for the community?
TO THE DRAWING BOARD Throughout the spring, two MU officials— Vice Provost for Economic Development Steve Wyatt and Vice Chancellor of Operations Gary Ward — were reporting updated enrollment projections to the board of Regional Economic Development Inc., or REDI, on which Wyatt and Ward are ex officio members. In recent years, under the direction of thenvice chancellor for research and graduate studies Hank Foley, MU turned to business development as means of creating revenue, which strengthened the school’s bonds with entities like REDI. Columbia’s broader entrepreneurship community refocused on collaboration as well, incorporating MU-adjacent groups like the Missouri Innovation Center with private and public enterprises like REDI and campus resources at MU and Columbia College. So, when Wyatt and Ward reported on enrollment to the REDI board, it was as a business partner in need of help. “I think the business community has really rallied behind the university,” says REDI director Stacey Button. “And we’re working proac-
tively to overcome anticipated shortfalls and potential drop-offs.” I met Button and REDI’s vice president, Bernie Andrews, to ask how the business community might soften the impact of MU’s budget trouble. Both reiterated REDI’s staunch support of the school, but they also made a point to talk about other opportunities for growth: at the blue-collar level with manufacturers like 3M, for example, or at Columbia College, which has retooled its recruiting process and administrative structure to attract more four-year students and expand their programs. “I think this community is resource-rich, and it’s a matter of coordinating effort between all of us,” Button says. “There is a very intentional effort to coordinate all of the resources together.” Having a united support system in Columbia has counterbalanced the fury that some state legislators aimed at MU after the protests in November. Button recalled a trip she made to Jefferson City, accompanied by representatives from the city, county, chamber of commerce, and public school system, to meet with legislators. Originally, the trip’s three goals were to generate support for Columbia’s airport terminal project, transportation services, and proj-
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 37
of all county teachers.
of all principals and administrators.
Infographic design by Jonné Pratt
ects at the MU Research Reactor. The fourth topic on the minds of state officials, Button says, was MU funding, and the informal diplomacy group found itself in the role of appropriations lobbyist. “Again, I’ve seen this business community rally,” Button says. “No one is shying away from [MU]. We’re wanting to come together to ensure positive outcomes.”
PICKING DATA In 2012, I came to MU from Denver as one of the out-of-state-tuition payers that bolstered the school’s finances in a time of sinking college enrollment (nationally, college attendance has declined every year since 2010, according to the Hechinger Report). The day after the hiring freeze was announced, in early March, when the threat of appropriation cuts still seemed very real, a professor of mine paused a class to say, “It’s much better to be a senior at Mizzou right now than a freshman.” In May, I graduated. MU, by nature of being a public research university, was in a precarious situation before the 38 \\\ AUGUST 2016
protests even started. A study from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences reported states cut support to the median public research university by 26 percent between 2008 and 2012, evidence that appropriations fell steeply during the recession. Another study, from College Board, found that appropriations were 14 percent lower in the 2014-2015 school year than in the 2004-2005 year. Colleges raised tuition to compensate, but MU was restrained by Senate Bill 389, which ties tuition to the consumer price index, thus limiting the school’s ability to raise prices. That bill, when passed in 2007, was coupled with a promise for more state support for higher education. State funding later fell off (by 26 percent between 2010 and 2015). The bill stayed in place. In response, MU boosted out-of-state recruiting and opened up admissions, bringing in highpaying out-of-state students and increasing enrollment numbers, which peaked this past fall at a little over 35,000. But protests, and the enrollment drop that followed, again made state appropriations an immediate concern.
Since higher education funding began to fall nationwide, colleges have tried to argue their case through economic impact reports — research papers, almost always done by university researchers, about how reliable an investment in higher education can be. MU released one in 2005, early in the downward funding trend, and The Missouri 100, a system-appointed group of university advocates, commissioned another this past spring, pleading the school’s case to Jefferson City. The report emphasizes the UM System’s positive impact on lifetime earnings for Missourians (and the corresponding bump in income tax) and the role of university-based research and development in growing businesses. The report’s key findings include that Missouri’s economy grows roughly onefourth faster thanks to the UM System’s R&D, that every one dollar reduced in appropriations to the UM system reduces the state’s real GDP by $38.48, and that an appropriations cut directed at the Columbia campus would be even worse. Likewise, every one dollar spent on appropriations would increase the state’s tax revenue by $1.46.
It’s easy to cast doubt on these types of economic impact reports, and many have. In a report for Duke University’s Urban Economics site, Michael Rebuck writes: “many of these economic impact studies exaggerate or incorrectly state the impact of their universities . . . A university’s goal of persuasion leads one to doubt the concrete accuracy of their reports.” Another report, from Vanderbilt University, was dedicated to troubleshooting the “methodological approaches and pitfalls common to studies of the economic impact of colleges and universities.” In that report, researchers point to inconsistency among economic impact reports as evidence of methodological flaws. In a survey of 138 impact reports, job impact multipliers (how many total jobs are created by one university job) ranged from 1.03 to 8.44. The impact that colleges have on their states — and, even more so, on their cities — is hard to quantify. For example, college towns generally rate extremely high in income inequality because students don’t generate much income, and some of them live, eat, and shop on campus, further complicating their relationship to their city’s economy. An unknown number of those students make essentially nothing but spend a lot, with financial help from parents or loans. And students also impact their city’s economy through the type of investments they attract, like student housing. These variables make it hard to establish a control group to study a university’s economic impact, so while there are undoubtedly positive economic effects present — like increasing human capital, raising lifetime earnings, and promoting growth through R&D — it’s hard to get a clear picture of how universities really impact their cities. Which, of course, makes Columbia’s current problem harder.
FIGHTING THROUGH THE PAIN Karen Miller was elected Southern District Boone County Commissioner in 1992. Her current term will be her last; in 2015, Miller announced that she wouldn’t be running for re-election. She’s spent part of her last year in office advocating for MU, locally and statewide (she was on the Jefferson City trip that Button mentioned). Miller is also the vice president of the County Commissioners Association of Missouri; the group held their annual board dinner at Grand Cru, in Columbia. The UM System’s interim president, Mike Middleton, was there, along with MU Provost Garnett Stokes. Miller addressed the crowd.
“Of that board — and there were 20-some of us there — only one did not have a tie to the University of Missouri,” she remembers. “I had each one of them get up, introduce themselves, and tell if they had a tie to the University of Missouri, if they either graduated, they have kids who graduated, they have grandkids in school, their parents went there — they had a tie somehow to the University of Missouri. I tried to remind them that the impact was statewide. And when you think of the drivers of the University as a whole, and the income that they produce in this state for all of us, we can’t be badmouthing our number one impact.” There are 18,193 UM employees living in Boone County, about 17 percent of the county’s total labor force. To Miller, the number speaks to the economic impact of MU, but also to the personal, emotional attachment that the community has to the school. To see national coverage of racially fraught protests at MU, then to see the fallout dragged over half a year, was shocking.
sity policy will be straightened out, and its finances will be trimmed to size and made more efficient. “I always look at lemons like, ‘Where’s the lemonade here? How can we turn this into a win?’" Miller says. In the short term, the situation is painful. A five percent budget cut means position cuts and layoffs — at a REDI board meeting, shortly after Foley announced the budget shortfall, Ward said there might be 600 positions affected. At the time of this writing, in early July, after the new fiscal year has started for MU, there have been 38 staff layoffs. The operations department, which Ward leads, was the first MU department to announce major cuts. Through various means, including assisted retirement, unfilled vacancies, voluntary layoffs, and involuntary layoffs, Ward eliminated 50 jobs. The cuts included a reduction in MU’s landscaping and trash removal services; the Columbia Daily Tribune’s article about
"Where’s the lemonade here? How can we turn this into a win?" - Karen Miller “I was out of state [during the protests], and every news channel, every paper, Wall Street Journal, USA Today — every time I turned around, we were on the front page,” Miller says. “It was embarrassing. And that’s what people were feeling. I think they were embarrassed because they honestly didn’t believe we were that backwards yet. I consider it backwards. I thought we were past that in-your-face — you know, there are bigots, and there are people who are prejudiced still, but I thought civility carried the day in our community. And I was very disappointed that there were things that were not very civil happening in our university.” Miller says that, in the long term, the past year will be helpful for MU. The school’s diver-
the announcement led with, “The University of Missouri will be shaggier and dirtier and faculty will be responsible for taking their own trash to dumpsters under the plan. . .” Ward was mildly ruffled by the media’s portrayal of the job cuts — he says there were only three involuntary layoffs — but he doesn’t dwell, nor does he apologize for acting quickly. “We’re operations. That’s what we do,” Ward says. “We have, I think, an obligation to our employees. We ask a lot of our employees, but we also treat our employees with respect, and one way we can do that is if I know something, I want them to know. It’s not necessarily that we have to shelter them from bad news — they just want to know the truth.” COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 39
40 \\\ AUGUST 2016
Last fall, Ward was already expecting a budget tightening, though not as severe as the one that occurred, so the department was able to make some preparations before the mandatory five percent cut. But even then, some job loss was inevitable, and not just within MU. Suppose, given the wide range of possible job multipliers listed in university economic impact reports, that we conservatively say that every one job lost at MU means 1.5 jobs lost in Boone County. That would mean the 38 layoffs MU made by July will translate to 57 lost jobs in the community. Budget cuts also have far reaching effects for MU’s (and, therefore, Columbia’s) business development efforts. Reducing expenses for the Office of Economic Development likely means easing back efforts at business growth. “That money is not going to be there,” Wyatt tells me. He sets up a hypothetical math problem: if you have $100,000, and somebody takes $5,000 away, then you just lost the ability to do whatever you were going to do with your $5,000.
WH AT MU O FFER S B O O NE CO U NTY From a report submitted by MU to the Columbia Chamber of Commerce:
An estimated $8.77 million in Columbia sales tax revenue generated by MU, MU Health Care, and UM System employees. $19,515,277 in uncompensated health care from MU Health Care to Columbia residents. 22 percent of Columbia’s voting population, encompassing UM System employees and retirees. The MU Police Department, which has a universityfunded budget of $3.45 million.
Also lost are the indirect impacts of that $5,000, whatever money that $5,000 business development investment might have made for the community. The budget cuts leave some programs hamstrung — groups like the Small Business and Technology Development Centers, for example, will now have a harder time securing matching dollars from the university for potential grants. All resources must be directed to simply maintaining operations. “The University Extension exists to explore and make things better, not just maintain the status quo,” says Steve Devlin, extension program director and leader of the SBTDC. Devlin is continuing to push his programs to grow in any way possible, but it’ll be harder now, for a lot of reasons. Devlin says, “Hiring freezes don’t work well when you have people retiring and people leaving for other opportunities.”
BRAND DAMAGE “The time for bashing this institution, on our part locally, is over,” David Shorr says. I met him on a late afternoon at Lutz’s BBQ — his suggestion. Shorr is a REDI board member, a position he earned through longtime involvement in the public arena: he was director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and he’s served in a variety of roles, both private and public, since then, currently as an attorney with Lathrop & Gage and a member of various boards. (Though not affiliated with this magazine, Shorr co-hosts the “Columbia Business Times Sunday Morning Roundtable” on KFRU.) “The brand has been hurt,” he says. “I would love to see the data on shirt sales and things like that, which we don’t hear anything about from the athletic department. . . . In southeast Missouri, I bet they’re down. And I bet Memphis t-shirt sales are way up.” Shorr, and others, say that the brand damage that resulted from the protests and following events accelerated MU’s enrollment problem, which is perhaps why officials like Button and Miller are eager to voice support for the university. The quicker MU can repair its image, the quicker they’ll be able to normalize finances. As Ward puts it, the school must “learn to ring our own bell.” MU is the biggest business in town, even bigger when combined with MU Health Care. And even while celebrating growth in other areas, the community seems to recognize the prime importance of the university. As part of Columbia College’s strategic realignment, the school has been adding pro-
grams and increasing four-year, on-campus enrollment, all while continuing to maintain a strong online presence and develop their athletic program as a recruiting tool. Kevin Palmer, vice president of enrollment and marketing, has overseen much of that effort, which came about via a larger effort to make the college’s administration more business-like. Even that has been affected by MU, which Palmer cited as an example of potential systemic problems in higher education. “The challenges that they have at Mizzou are challenges that we’re seeing throughout our culture,” Palmer says. “We address them, and we look at them, as any serious person would, and that’s that there’s always room to improve. “We love MU,” he added. “They’re the flagship university in our state. And we love having another cat in town.” Shorr admits that he, at times, has offered less-than-constructive criticism of the university over the last year, but since Foley’s budget forum, he’s recognized the need for a united front. Now, MU has to buckle down.
LEFT STANDING The economic link between MU and Boone County is very real, even if that link is difficult to quantify and harder to predict. It’s been a painful year for the school and for its community. It’s hard to say exactly how painful the coming years will be. Wyatt compares this year’s enrollment drop to watching a python swallow a pig: once it’s swallowed, you watch it move all the way through, without getting any smaller. That’s to say, the problem won’t be solved in a year, and it probably won’t be solved in four. Miller, now preparing to exit office, where she’s served as an advocate for MU and the community since 1992, is thinking long-term. “Opportunity comes out of crises in people’s lives,” she says. Foley, who didn’t respond to interview requests for this story, seems to be thinking long-term as well. In his letter to the university, announcing the budget shortfall, he wrote, “While these budget challenges will affect our ability to deliver teaching, research and service to Missourians in the short term, we also know that we have survived other stressors of this kind before.” Boone County’s relationship with MU has always been long-term; that was a promise made after the fire. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 41
42 \\\ AUGUST 2016
MONEY
IN THE
CRIB Changing diapers, sacrificing sleep, baby-proofing the house: the most painful challenge for new working parents may be paying for child care. How the prices got so
high — and what can be done to lower them. B Y D AV I D M O R R I S O N
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 43
Michelle Mathews knows the feeling well. When she was pregnant with her first child, even though she was assistant director of the MU Child Development Lab, she and her husband couldn’t afford full-time infant care for their daughter at Mathews’ place of work. Or at any other Columbia child care center, for that matter. Mathews reduced her hours and found part-time care with a woman in the community who could cover the few hours between the time Mathews went to work and her husband was off. For working parents, the choice between continuing careers and caring for a child is more than sentimental. For some, it costs more to continue working and pay for child care than it does to put their professional lives on pause and stay home with their children. Mathews, now the director at MU’s Child Development Lab, sees parents make that sort of value judgment regularly. “I empathize,” she says.
CITYWIDE CHALLENGES In a city like Columbia — decent size population, home to multiple colleges, full of young families — finding quality, affordable child care that helps parents juggle the personal and professional can be a difficult task. Jessica Macy, a senior associate at New Chapter Coaching, had four employees over an eight-year span at a nonprofit, where she worked until recently, leave the workforce. Those employees chose to stay home after giving birth because of the high cost of child care. Christina Gilbert, relationship manager at Advisors Edge Marketing, and her husband started looking for child care for their first child around the time Christina was three months pregnant. Even with months to search before the baby arrived, they still had to wade through wait lists before securing a spot, thanks in part to being “friends of friends of friends,” she says. Jennifer Bloss, an academic advisor at MU’s College of Arts and Sciences, and her husband faced combined child care costs that would’ve amounted to more than her salary for the cost of newborn twins and their 2-year-old less than a year ago. Luckily, they had grandparents willing to pitch in. “We were trying to figure out how much money we had in savings and how long that would last if I did go back to work versus if I had to stay home,” Bloss says. 44 \\\ AUGUST 2016
Wait lists. Hefty bills. The desire to ensure that children are getting all the support they need during their crucial formative years while their parents tend to career aspirations. It all adds up to one of the biggest decisions working parents will ever have to make. “With two working parents, it often is a conversation that leads to ‘You know what? I’m just going to stay home,’” says L. Carol Scott, CEO of Child Care Aware of Missouri. “‘Because it’s not important enough to me to work to pay out 90 percent of my salary in child care costs.’”
THE COST Bailey Calton, a sales manager at Stoney Creek Hotel & Conference Center, has a 2-year-old son who has been going to Bright Start Academy in Columbia since he was about six weeks old. Bright Start’s tuition bill for infants is $215 per week, which would be a little over $11,000 per year. Now that Calton’s son is 2, the rate is $200 per week, or $10,400 per year. It’s worth it, Calton says. They’ve had a great experience at Bright Start. “It’s tough to know what’s best, or which place is best, until you’re actually experiencing it,” Calton says. “But I don’t know that there’s a way to make that easier. It’s a big life decision, and those can’t be expected to be easy.” Now imagine the Caltons have two preschoolage kids. Bright Start offers a $10-per-week sibling discount, but that’s still about $20,000 a year. If the Caltons had three children, like the Blosses, one sibling would be 50 percent off, still putting the total bill around $25,000. And consider that Calton categorizes Bright Start as being in the “mid-to-highpriced range” in Columbia. There was another price bracket above that when they were doing their research. “It’s almost like paying a mortgage or paying rent,” says Erica Dickson, founder of King’s Kids, a child care center in Columbia. According to 2015 figures compiled by Child Care Aware of America, the average Missouri family pays around $9,000 a year in child care for children that are not yet school-aged when they send them to a child care center. That’s more than 11 percent of the median income for a married family in the state. The average annual cost for infant care in Missouri ($8,632) is more than the average yearly tuition at a public college in the state ($8,383), according to Child Care Aware.
And the burden isn’t that bad in Missouri when you compare it to the rest of the country: the average rate for two children — one infant, one toddler — in child care ($17,940) is only 21st most expensive out of 50 states. “It’s nice to be right in the middle somewhere,” Scott says. “But still, early care programs in Missouri can be pretty expensive, especially when the quality is very good. Which is, of course, what we want for children.” Scott says that the biggest determinant of cost within a community is not necessarily its size, but its education, employment, and income levels, as well as what the market will bear. A child care market rate survey by the Missouri Department of Social Services in 2014 found that the 75th percentile of infant care centers in Columbia charged $48.18 per day and the 75th percentile of preschool providers charged $36.38. Those rates were similar to larger cities such as St. Louis ($50.90, $35.40) and Kansas City ($44.00, $34.00). Springfield, despite having a bigger population than Columbia, charged $36.00 per day for infant care at the 75th percentile and $22.00 per day for preschool. “You want the best for your child, since, in most cases, that provider will be with your child more than you are, but you have to consider your budget,” says Shawna Cook, office manager for a Columbia dental practice and mother of a 3-year-old boy. “But how do you put a price on the care of your child?”
FINDING QUALITY The first months can be the hardest. First, a family has to take stock of its savings to see how long one of the parents can be off from work with the child after birth. Then, infant care tends to be more expensive than other categories because state regulations require a ratio of at least one teacher in the room for every four infants at a time in licensed centers. That’s if you can even get your child into a center within his or her first year: Mathews says there’s currently a waiting list of more than 200 families for the 15 openings in her “Blue Door” infant and toddler classroom. “Infant/toddler care is high-demand,” says Gay Litteken, executive director of the Mary Lee Johnston Community Learning Center. “Any before- and after-school care through centers comes at a high cost. I think that’s a high need in Columbia.”
Providers don’t have much of a choice in the matter when it comes to setting the price tag, Scott says. “I guarantee you nobody is getting wealthy in the child care industry,” she says. “Profit margin is teeny-weeny compared to other industries.” After five years as an administrative assistant at Mary Lee Johnston, Dickson decided she wanted to open a center of her own. In order to obtain a license to run the center, though, she first had to clear some hurdles. An inspector surveyed her space and let her know how many children it could serve. She had to develop a handbook about her business and wade through a stream of paperwork. She went through health and sanitation inspections. She went through a fire inspection that included the installation of fire doors and a central control panel to link all the center’s detection devices. If she wanted to care for infants, she’d have to install a sprinkler system. And if centers want to get accredited, get the seal of approval from the state that says they’ve taken the extra step in quality above licensing? That’ll cost even more. Dickson opened King’s Kids in 2012. It provides after-school care for school-aged kids when school is in session and fullday care when it is not. She has thought about expanding her services and age ranges, but that would mean more staff, more space, more installations, more inspections. More money. “If you haven’t been through the process before of taking what is currently a residential home in R-3 zoning and transforming that into licensed child care space, and you don’t have a strong knowledge of construction and finance, it can be very daunting for somebody trying to get into the pre-school world,” says Paul Prevo, owner of Tiger Tots. The notions of “quality” and “affordability” seem to be at odds in the world of child care. In order for providers to feature the type of care parents want for their children, they need to price their services to keep up with their overhead costs.
Litteken says when she was finding child care for her first son, more than two decades ago, she used providers that were affordable to her salary level then. Now, at a different place in her life and with more financial security, she says she probably wouldn’t repeat it. Mary Lee Johnston has a sliding scale for its families, meaning the price depends on income. It benefits the children for Johnston to be more than a babysitting service. “Questions parents often ask themselves before selecting a child care facility might be: Do they have a lot of outside or play time to
Children, a nonprofit that helps families with children 5 and under, know what specific traits they desire when seeking preschool for their children. Others don’t really know where to start, and the state of Missouri doesn’t help them much. Missouri is one of only seven states that does not at least have a pilot program for a quality rating and improvement system, or QRIS, for its child care providers. Much like with restaurants or hotels, the QRIS evaluates providers based on certain criteria and assigns a star rating, rewarding the higherrated centers and enticing the lower-rated ones with incentivized funding. Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Missouri, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming are all in the planning stages for such a system. Without it, parents have no real gauge for the quality of a child care provider. Two centers may be in the same price bracket but offer vastly different experiences. Jack Jensen, executive director at First Chance for Children, says, “Sometimes their best source — and I say that sarcastically —for what is quality child care is Yelp.”
“I GUARANTEE YOU NOBODY IS GETTING WEALTHY IN THE CHILD CARE INDUSTRY.”
FILLING A NEED
Columbia, like many communities around the country, has a need for quality, affordable child care. Prevo says Tiger Tots has grown from being able to care for 15 students less than a decade ago to 325 in its two branches today. He’s looking at expanding on his second location this year and possibly opening up a third center in the near future. The demand is there. But how difficult is it to fill? Mathews has an overflowing infant waitlist at the MU Child Development Lab, but, in order to serve more infants, she’d have to hire more teachers and carve out more space. The infant and toddler room is a money-losing proposition. The three pre-school rooms at the center actually “subsidize” it, Mathews says. “Even though I could probably fill 100 infant/toddler spots, I couldn’t pay for it,”
L. CAROL SCOTT work on gross motor skills? Do they go on field trips? What kind of help is required from the parents? Do they do parent-teacher conferences? Are they closed for holidays?” says Kate Stull, marketing and communications specialist at Columbia Insurance Group and mother of two. “A lot of times, there’s a down payment or a fee to basically reserve your child’s spot. Sometimes, that fee is non-refundable, which can also be a hindrance.” Some parents, like Gilbert and Stull, who both serve on the board of First Chance for
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 45
A NEW WAY OF DOING THINGS? WHEN SEEKING OUT CHILD CARE, parents value two factors most frequently and in about equal measure: quality and affordability. But, with child care centers already operating at minimal profit, how can they maintain quality without also maintaining their prices? More state assistance would help. Missouri ranks 38th in the nation in public pre-kindergarten funding, according to 2014 figures compiled by Raise Your Hands for Kids, a campaign working to pass an amendment to the state constitution that would raise Missouri’s tobacco tax rate with all revenue going directly back into improving the state’s early childhood education. L. Carol Scott, CEO of Child Care Aware of Missouri, also thinks the system would benefit from a changing business model. “Most of the managers of these programs, they come into that job because they are the teacher who’s been there the longest when the last director has left,” Scott says. “They’re good at teaching young kids, designing a classroom and a curriculum. They don’t know business management in general, let alone financial planning. “If you ask the majority of child care center directors, ‘What’s your break-even point on infants?’ they don’t even know what you mean,” Scott says. Since the state makes it easier to open smaller centers than large ones, Scott says, she’s a proponent of bringing multiple smaller centers in an area together under one umbrella. Then, using organizations such as Child Care Aware to run the financial side of things, they can admit more students and cut down on revenue inefficiencies. A typical center runs at about 15 percent vacancy and 15 percent revenue loss through parents and the state not paying expected fees, Scott says, and consolidating and letting an agency with more financial know-how run the back office could cut those figures down to less than five percent. “Then the director can start focusing on how good the teachers are and interacting with kids, which is what makes for a quality program,” Scott says. 46 \\\ AUGUST 2016
Mathews says. “Parents can’t afford to pay for the true cost.” Then there’s the matter of attracting and retaining qualified staff members to care for the children. Scott says annual staff turnover at licensed child care centers runs at about 28 percent. Finding trained teachers is costly. Keeping them is costly. The parents have to pay some of that bill. “It’s important for parents to have that peace of mind that their children are getting quality care,” Litteken says. “And then we’re sending kids to school that are ready to be there, and that makes a huge difference for everyone.” Providers bristle at the term “daycare.” They feel it devalues the profession. “We don’t take care of days,” Scott says. “We take care of children.” And if legislators see early childhood education as a less legitimate pursuit than K–12 education, they will be less likely to subsidize it. Without more government support, child care providers are less able to shoulder the costs of running their businesses and unable to pass the savings on to the consumers in the form of lower prices. High school graduation is closely linked to third-grade reading scores, Scott says. Third-grade reading scores are linked to a child’s vocabulary when he or she enters kindergarten. A child’s vocabulary at school entry is highly dependent on what sort of environment he or she experienced in preschool settings. Scott’s point being that, even if early childhood education is not deemed as important as K–12 in America, it should be. That realization might make it a little easier for working parents to decide between investing in child care and investing in their careers. “For younger parents with newer careers, in entry- to even mid-level jobs with corresponding salaries, this choice can be a real battle,” says Gilbert, who is president of the First Chance for Children board. “When you think about how much you would pay into daycare costs, and the idea of having someone else raise your child instead of you, it becomes an emotional decision on top of a financial decision.” CBT
TRUSTED ADVISOR. INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS. ENHANCING SUCCESS.
Top IT
Company
Temples, beaches, Bangkok... and so much more!
2
COMO
Cloud Computing Remote IT Support Data Backup Services IT Consulting Call us today for a FREE network
THAILAND
assessment, and
Book your 12 day Thailand adventure now
hype is about.
COMO2Thailand.com DECEMBER 27, 2016 - JANUARY 7, 2017
see what all the
573.499.6928 MidwestComputech.com
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 47
Mast e r CLASS Led by President Dianne Lynch, Stephens College solidifies a niche for itself in the changing landscape of higher education.
BY BRENNA McDERMOTT PHOTOS BY KEITH BORGMEYER
48 \\\ AUGUST 2016
Dr. Dianne Lynch COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 49
D
ianne Lynch visited Columbia once in the ’90s for an event and remembered the heat and humidity. “I remember being here and thinking, ‘Who lives here?’” Lynch says. “‘Why would anybody live here?’” Lynch had been interested, from a young age, in women’s leadership and women’s issues. She saw a job posting in 2009, while serving as dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College: Stephens College, a small women’s college, in that same muggy town, was searching for a new president. Lynch, who held a B.A. and M.A. in journalism and mass communication and finished her Ph.D. in art history and communications, had transitioned from her early days as a reporter to being a professor, and had spent two decades in higher education. Moved by the opportunity, despite the humidity, she spoke with a friend, another dean at Ithaca. “There’s just something about this job — I think I have exactly what they need,” Lynch recalls thinking. “I think that this is my job.” Her fellow Ithaca dean stared for a moment. She’d done her undergrad at Stephens. More than 4,000 higher education institutions in the country, and the one person Lynch confided in went to the tiny women’s college in mid-Missouri. “The universe has spoken, right?” Lynch says. “So I walked into the job interview and said, ‘I’m here to tell you I’m the only person for this job. Here are the 59 reasons why.’”
WHATEVER THOSE NEEDS MIGHT BE Founded in 1833, Stephens began as Columbia Female Academy. Throughout its history, Stephens College has prepared women for the lives that await them, meeting the needs of its students, whatever those needs might be. Lynch’s office is filled with gifts and notes from students, hedgehogs of all shapes and sizes (we’ll get to that later), and, in the corner of Lynch’s office (because, obviously, she got the job), a large, golden bust of James Madison Wood, whom Lynch credits with creating the modern culture of the college. Wood became president of Stephens in 1912. “He believed, in the 1920s and ’30s, that women could do anything, and that they should be empowered to do that,” Lynch says. “And that everything about educating women should be about preparing them for the lives that await them.” 50 \\\ AUGUST 2016
What awaited them changed, and Stephens changed with it. Under Wood’s leadership, the school spent two years amassing journals from women on their everyday lives: responsibilities, obligations, activities. They built a curriculum around that to serve the needs of women. “Nobody did that,” Lynch says. “And for women? Nobody did that. “There’s this profound cultural assumption,” she continues, “and it’s an operating assumption here that I’ve never seen anywhere else: that gender is not only not a failure or a burden — it’s a strength and a power, and there isn’t anything that women can’t do.” Lynch, the 24th president of Stephens College, mirrors Wood’s approach. Her vision: take what Stephens does better than any
... gender is not only not a failure or a burden — it’s a strength and a power, and there isn’t anything that women can’t do. other school and capitalize on those strengths in a way that’s sustainable, market-driven, research-based, and quality. Remember the hedgehogs? They come from one of Dianne’s favorite leadership books, “Good to Great,” by Jim Collins. The metaphor is based on an ancient Greek parable. The fox knows how to do many small things, but the hedgehog knows how to do one thing better: defend itself. And the hedgehog will beat the fox every time. “It’s a metaphor for knowing what you do and knowing how you do it better than anybody else,” Lynch says. “And so we needed to focus on what those things were in our market that we can do at incredible levels of quality and excellence.”
THE G WORD There’s a certain pride that shines from Lynch when she talks about educating women. The Stephens experience is founded on the idea that, while gender is expressed and there are certain challenges associated with all genders, there is a campus-wide attitude and guiding principle: Gender is a characteristic. It is not a barrier. Lynch’s personal passion for educating women is in her DNA, she says. “I’ve always been outspoken, and I’ve always been independent in spirit, and I’ve always recognized that the qualities of leadership or success in the world include being confident and outspoken and brave,” Lynch says. “So I started to study that, or pay attention to that, when I was in high school.” According to the Women’s College Coalition, the earliest women’s colleges were formed in the mid-1800s. In 1960, there were about 230 women’s colleges. Today, there are 41 in the U.S. and Canada, according to the WCC. Fewer than five percent of female college students attend women’s colleges. Lynch isn’t worried about the decrease in schools. “I actually have never been more convinced that there is a market niche for women’s colleges,” she says. She thinks of Stephens as a community that models what the rest of the world needs to understand about working effectively with women and creating an environment that embraces strong, ambitious, smart women. Undergraduate enrollment at women’s colleges in the U.S. has decreased slightly, from 59,844 in 2004 to 58,089 in 2012, according to the WCC, which also found that retention rates are higher at women’s colleges than private, coeducation colleges. In 2012, women’s colleges had a 75 percent retention rate, while private co-ed colleges had a 73 percent retention rate. “A lot of our students say they didn’t come to Stephens because it’s a women’s college,” Lynch says, “but they stay here because it’s a women’s college. They come for the programs, they come for the legacy, they come because they looked at Mizzou and they love the idea of living in Columbia, but they don’t want to go to an institution that big. So they end up here for a variety of reasons, but being here changes them.” Teresa Maledy, CEO and president of Commerce Bank’s central Missouri region, attended Stephens from 1974 to 1976 and now serves on the board of trustees. She attended Stephens initially because of the equestrian program.
“The thing that I didn’t think I would enjoy was the fact that it was a women’s college, and in hindsight, that was the thing I enjoyed the most and I thought benefitted me the most,” Maledy says. Studying there gave her an opportunity to focus on her growth, to become a leader without feeling self-conscious. As a trustee, Maledy says one challenge that Lynch and her administration face is competing for a dwindling number of high school students. Helping potential students and parents understand the value of a women’s college experience will be key to maintaining enrollment.
NO PINK RESUMES Lynch says one of her goals is to make sure students not only receive a good education, but are prepared for what awaits them outside of higher education. A degree isn’t all students need to get hired. “It’s all about how to become the most professionally prepared, polished, organized, well presented graduate on the planet,” Lynch says. Stephens women are now required to take a career and professional development workshop series each year in order to graduate. It starts with building a resume freshman year — and leaving high school activities off of it. And no, Lynch adds, resumes cannot be pink. “I don’t care that you were an honor student in high school. It doesn’t matter,” Lynch says. “By the time you’ve been in college for four months, what you did in high school doesn’t make any difference anymore. What are you going to do starting now?”
RE-EMBRACING STRENGTHS Academically, the college has turned its focus to two main areas of studies. The creative arts department continues to shine, with a leading international fashion program, and a recent shift to re-embracing health sciences has opened new doors to students with an interest in sciences. In the health sciences track are pre-professional programs like physician assistantship, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and chiropractic health, as well as tracks in health care management, fitness and wellness, and generalist studies. The physician assistant program is the first in the midMissouri market and classes will begin in August in the newly renovated Sampson Hall. According to a study done by researchers at the University of California, the most popular career aspirations for students entering women’s colleges were in nursing, medicine, and the health professions. Stephens will try to expand health science offerings to capitalize on the investment made in that department. It’s one of those specific areas in which Lynch plans to excel. “I expect that we will do a reasonably small number of things exceedingly well. I expect that those will be in health care.” COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 51
LEADING CHANGE Lynch continues to look ahead of the curve, trying to envision where higher education is going and how Stephens can be waiting in the right place at the right time. “You build a culture of change, that’s what you do. Comfort with change. And we have gone through so much change in the last seven years that I think it is part of the expectation now,” Lynch says. “It doesn’t work for everybody. But it’s hard to argue with results.” Does that mean everyone agrees with all the changes? No. Like any small environment, students and staff are deeply invested in the school, feel ownership of it. It isn’t about making everyone happy — that’s impossible. Rather, when change comes, it’s about making everyone feel they are heard. Lynch’s open door policy with students means she hears their opinions on myriad topics. She welcomes the feedback. “We are teaching them to be women with an opinion,” she says. “We are teaching them to 52 \\\ AUGUST 2016
understand, express, articulate, and stand up. We don’t get to decide we want them to [be outspoken] everywhere else and not here.” You lead change, Lynch says, by proving to people that the change is heading toward positive outcomes. That comes with time and trust. The new Master of Fine Arts in TV and Screenwriting program recently wrapped up its first year. Students spend time at Jim Henson Studios in Hollywood and complete most work online. Students also learn from working writers and mentors in the film industry, not only learning how to write but also selling screenplays. The MFA is full for the second year, and there will be a waiting list for its third year. “The program is designed to increase the voice and impact of women in the [film] industry,” Lynch says. “Which, if you know anything about any of that, has become a huge issue in the industry.” On her leadership team, Lynch stresses a collaborative environment. Her role is to craft the vision and let her team execute, although she
says she misses teaching. But it’s not her job to teach the classes. It’s her job to make sure Stephens has the resources and opportunities to teach well. It’s not always easy, leading and not executing, especially for a former journalist and educator. “You are incredibly attentive to detail, but you never lose sight of the big picture,” Lynch says. “I always say you end up where you’re headed. So, what horizon are you headed for?”
LOOKING AHEAD As the landscape of higher education continues to change, Lynch nurtures an environment of constant change at Stephens. Lynch says she expects an increase in parttime students and non-traditional students in the future. Stephens will continue to be a community for women, even if fewer of them are ages 18 to 22. The leadership team is looking at potential new programs in technology and computer science, including a technology and design pro-
gram, combining aesthetic and technical skills; more health sciences; and a living and learning environment for women veterans. “If you look at the fastest growing sectors in the world, one of the top three is medical care,” Lynch says. “The other one is technology. If we don’t figure out how to get women in technology, this country is in really serious trouble.” The school is looking to expand online graduate programs and grow both undergraduate and graduate enrollment. For undergraduate population, Lynch says the goal would be 1,000 to 1,200 students. This year’s undergraduate enrollment will be around 800. Lindsey Boudinot, director of graduate and online admissions, says graduate enrollments are on the increase, especially for the M.Ed. counseling program. The MFA and Master of Physician Assistant Studies degrees are above projected goals. “Our enrollments are growing,” Lynch says. “This year? We’ll see. We’ll hold our
own for sure. I don’t know how much more of an increase we’re going to have.” Lynch says Stephens is well positioned for the future of higher education. They understand their niche market. “I would rather be here, in a place where we absolutely know who we are and we absolutely know what our market is and we absolutely know how to serve it better than anybody else, than one of the thousands of other undergraduate liberal arts colleges trying desperately to figure out how to distinguish themselves from every other great undergraduate resident liberal arts college,” Lynch says. Maledy jokes that she likes to take credit for finding Lynch. She served on the presidential search committee, and each member was in charge of vetting one candidate. “I remember talking to one of her references about how Dianne is capable of having big ideas and being able to execute on them,” Maledy says. “What we were looking for was somebody who was strong fiscally to get the college on the right track financially, but also help us navigate through the changes that we were going through in higher education.” Maledy says she enjoys seeing the passion Lynch shows for educating women. Lynch spreads that enthusiasm to the faculty and staff. She tries to visit each new hire and instill in them that, whether they’re in financial aid or custodial services, working at Stephens is more than a job; it’s a life’s work. Lynch says she has no plans to ever retire, nor is she actively looking at other opportunities. “I don’t think that my work here is done,” she says. When she came on in 2009, the leadership team developed a strategic plan, and Lynch says they’ve accomplished 85 to 90 percent of those projects. They’ve achieved “tremendous progress over the last decade,” she says, and are building a new strategic plan. She credits those projects to the faculty and staff who’ve committed their careers to Stephens. These people recognize they’re part of something important — changing women’s lives. “It’s not about coming to work, doing your job, and going home,” Lynch says. “Because what we do is we educate women. And that’s a mission. Everything we do is seen through the lens of ‘how does this move forward our mission of educating women?’” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 53
54 \\\ AUGUST 2016
GET THEM
The Cradle to Career Alliance bets on research and collaboration to improve the odds for Boone County children and, eventually, the state’s economy. B Y T AY L O R T W E L L M A N
IN 2013, after a period of planning and recruitment, a group of practitioners, agency representatives, college and university professors, school district personnel, teachers, librarians, and health professionals of Columbia came together to determine how they might address the educational disparities seen in race and socioeconomic status. The coalition discovered Boone County ranks 426th out of 2,478 counties in helping poor children climb the income ladder, according to national support group Strive Together. To support quality education for Boone County children, the Cradle to Career Alliance, or C2CA, was born. C2CA’s mission is to improve children’s successes and reducing education disparities. The alliance seeks to understand the structural barriers in
education, such as unconscious and explicit bias. These barriers threaten the goal of the alliance: that every child can realize his or her potential, from cradle to career. C2CA builds bridges and partnerships among schools, businesses, local governments, nonprofits, parents, and other interested parties – it’s the catalyst for collaboration between those groups. After building those bridges, C2CA gathers and analyzes data in order to identify practices to execute. C2CA is not a direct service provider, or a source of funding. The alliance is passionate about bettering the community as a whole — which, for C2CA, starts with children’s education. “For every dollar spent on early childhood, there is a $7 return,” current executive director Pam Conway says. COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 55
STRIVE TOGETHER: NATIONAL SUPPORT After looking at how different communities were addressing similar problems, the alliance applied for membership in the Strive Together Cradle to Career Network in 2014. Membership gave C2CA access to national resources, including research on the community’s specific needs. C2CA is Missouri’s only Strive Together member. Strive Together launched in the Cincinnati and northern Kentucky area in 2006 to target the problem of being “program rich and systems poor,” meaning that the connection between schools and useful programs and resources to those schools needed to be strengthened. Strive Together provides a framework program based on a community’s needs and encourages funding of statistically proven strategies. The organization is made up of 65 communities and two countries that are building cradle-to-career infrastructure using the Strive Together framework. During its first five years, the national network recorded positive improvements in 40 of 53 educational outcomes, including a nine percent increase in kindergarten readiness, an 11 percent increase in high school graduation, and a 10 percent increase in college enrollment. “It took a lot of pre-work [to become a member of the organization], including setting what our outcomes would be and determining community indicators in order to see if we are making progress,” Conway says. “Strive has many resources to support their members as they work to attain their goals.”
The network provides information and strategies, as well as interactions with and education from other communities with similar goals. Strive members perform a self-assessment each year to mark their progress and set goals. The research conducted with the available data from Strive Together examines issues of race, health, mortality, teen childbearing, marital outcomes, and crime and incarcerations.
TEAM EFFORT Conway has a passion for working with kids and eliminating disparities. C2CA has brought together a board full of people with similar passions. The board members work toward meeting the alliance’s five goals, which are set nationally by Strive Together: all children ready for kindergarten; all children reading on level by third grade; smooth transitions for all students in and out of middle school; high school graduation, prepared for some type of postsecondary learning so that they are collegeor career-ready; and all students completing their post-secondary program and being workforce-ready. Eventually, there will be a local committee formed to address each goal. Teresa Maledy, regional president of Commerce Bank, has been a part of the alliance since 2012, in the group’s earliest stages. “The outcomes of the alliance are important,” Maledy says. “Cradle to Career can serve as a central hub for organizing community resources for academic success.” Maledy has been involved in developing the organization’s infrastructure and
generating community support of the program. This has involved talking with legislators about the importance of early childhood education and the C2CA. “I think Cradle to Career can help all of us do a better job with workforce development,” Maledy says. “Workforce requirements might be constantly changing, but it helps when we start before kindergarten to get children ready to learn so they are successful throughout their academic lives and are career-ready or ready to go to college.” C2CA wants business leaders to call on state and federal policy makers to invest in early child care and education. Investments in early learning allow community business leaders to work with the education system in teaching specific skills for in-demand jobs. This investment, hopefully, will then go on to generate sales of goods and services for Missouri businesses and create thousands of jobs in the state. The shared vision of what the alliance could accomplish is what brought board and committee members together, including superintendent of Columbia Public Schools, Dr. Peter Stiepleman. “It is less about what I do for the alliance and more about what the alliance does for me,” Stiepleman says. “They are a non-evaluative body that provides important feedback. They are what many call a critical friend.” Stiepleman explains that when the alliance adopted the five goals of Strive Together, they began providing data to support other organizations and agencies.
CAN DO
CPS HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATES BY ETHNICITY 2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
WHITE
89.5%
90.0%
89.7%
93.1%
93.5%
ASIAN
87.7%
88.7%
88.9%
87.8%
90.0%
HISPANIC
71.7%
85.7%
80.8%
83.9%
92.7%
BLACK
68.9%
68.5%
73.3%
82.2%
80.1%
TOTAL
84.2%
85.4%
85.9%
90.3%
90.4%
56 \\\ AUGUST 2016
Source: MO DESE; Columbia Public Schools
C2CA works in committees called collaborative action networks, or CANs, to measure and work toward specific goals. CANs are made up of a cross-section of the community, from business owners to public school staff. Each group spends six to 12 months studying root causes, best practices, evidence-based practice, needed safety nets, and deterrents to success that impact children living in Boone County. Then, they establish a goal and the action steps they will take to reach it. C2CA currently has two CANs at work: the Wise Early Childhood Collaborative Action Network (WEC CAN), and the High School Graduation Network (HS CAN). WEC CAN’s primary goal is to increase the number of children ready for kindergar-
C2CA DR. CHRIS BELCHER Assistant Professor, MU STEVE CALLOWAY President, Minority Men’s Network MELISSA CARR Director, Daniel Boone Regional Library KARLA DeSPAIN DeSpain Cayce DARIN FORD Superintendent, Centralia Public Schools ANDREW GRABAU Executive Director, Heart of Missouri United Way STEVE HOLLIS Human Services Manager, Columbia Dept. of Public Health DR. JACK JENSEN Executive Director, First Chance for Children DR. JEFFREY LASHLEY President, Moberly Area Community College DR. DIANNE LYNCH President, Stephens College TERESA MALEDY Regional President, Commerce Bank DR. BOB McDAVID Retired Mayor, City of Columbia MIKE MIDDLETON Interim President, UM System JEAN NICKLAS Director of Communications and Membership, REDI PHIL PETERS Professor Emeritus, MU
BOARD OF DIRECTORS DARIN PRIES Executive Director, Central Missouri Community Action LYNN PROCTOR Superintendent, Harrisburg Public Schools RANDY REEVES News Director, KOMU TV MONICA ROBERTS Director, The Tiger Institute, CERNER DR. TOM ROSE Rolling Hills Veterinary Hospital ROBERT ROSS Minority Men’s Network DR. TERRY SMITH Professor, Columbia College PHIL STEINHAUS CEO, Columbia Housing Authority DR. PETER STIEPLEMAN Superintendent, Columbia Public Schools KAREN TAYLOR Executive Vice President, Central Bank of Boone County JANET THOMPSON Boone County Commissioner KELLY WALLIS Director, Boone County Services BISHOP LESTER WOODS Urban Empowerment Ministries; MODOT MICHELLE ZVANUT Vice President, Boone Hospital Center
ten by eight percent by 2020. In mid-July, the WEC CAN released their criteria for kindergarten readiness, which not only included specific academic goals, such as recognizing numbers and letters, but also benchmarks for social and emotional development. WEC CAN will start implementing action items, like making stateapproved curriculum available for all child care providers; refining the set of standards for Boone County kindergarten readiness; communicating WEC CAN’s findings with child care providers, educators, and parents; and forming parent partnerships to support children. The HS CAN is dedicated to ensuring all Boone County students graduate from high school and are either college- or career-ready. HS CAN is still in the research phase, determining deterrents to student success, safety net programs needed, and obstacles at-risk high school students face. The HS CAN plans to announce their goals and action plan by early 2017. Strive Together has found that high school graduation rates are critical to the next step of getting a career. Graduates are more likely to acquire post-secondary education and earn at least $10,000 more annually than individuals who do not complete high school, and, over a lifetime, they earn over half a million dollars more than their counterparts without a diploma. Unemployment rates for high school dropouts are higher than for high school graduates; if the number of high school dropouts in the 50 largest cities in the U.S. were cut in half, the extra earnings of those graduates would be $4.1 billion per year. High school graduation has been shown to directly correlate to health, mortality, teen childbearing, marital outcomes, crime, and incarceration. In 2015, C2CA received an equity fellowship as another opportunity for research. After successfully completing an application through Strive Together, three members of the Boone County alliance visited several cities around the U.S. for training alongside other members of the network and obtained research to help understand the specific needs of their community.
COMMUNITY EFFECTS Through data collection and research, the CANs will determine which programs and infrastructure most impact the youth of Boone County. That information can be helpful when local businesses decide what programs to support. “This data could be helpful when Commerce considers different charities and organizations for our annual contributions,” Maledy says. “As we move along and collect the data, we will find which programs have the best outcomes and we may choose to invest more in these programs.” Commerce donates to almost all of the charities and organizations associated with children of Boone County, Maledy says, so in upcoming meetings, they will focus on the programs’ progress in order to use their resources for the betterment of the community. Culture development also plays a role in children’s success, and C2CA incorporates as many cultural issues as possible into the organization’s scope, turning attention to issues such as the increase in refugees coming to live in Boone County. “Our group represents a wide diversity of experiences, and we convene those experiences in order to meet our five goals,” Stiepleman says. “We’re always learning how to eliminate barriers for the children and the families that we serve. Culture is a big piece of this work.” In Boone County, the alliance tries to create a culture where they support all children and try to find ways to level the playing field for those who don’t have many resources. Though in the early stages of action, C2CA will continue to determine and document what works best for Boone County’s youth. Those actions and the data collected will go a long way for the future of the county’s economy. “Eventually, it helps all of us,” Maledy says. “It helps our local economy if we are able to have a higher number of productive citizens paying into the tax base and able to be employed by the businesses we want to attract to our community.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 57
Columbia Public Schools addresses the city’s economic issues.
58 \\\ AUGUST 2016
BY Z AC H L LOY D
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 59
A
map of the Columbia public school system writes its own tale of two cities when each elementary, middle, and high school has a certain statistic stamped next to it — the proportion of the student body enrolled in a free and reduced-price lunch program, one of the only metrics available to a school to estimate the dispersion of poverty and economic stress throughout its population. The schools with the highest levels of free and reduced lunch students are generally on the north side of town, while schools in south Columbia have lower levels. Growing up in an environment with little to no disposable income and a family history of being poor can physically, mentally, and academically alter a child. The fact that the amount of free and reduced lunch students has doubled, to around one out of every two students in Columbia, over the past 15 years is a key indicator of disparity across the district. “We, as a district, feel that we are underreporting a lot in all three high schools for lunch numbers,” says Jennifer Rukstad, principal of Rock Bridge High School, which had around 21.7 percent of students receiving lunch benefits this past year. “You make a shift, and where communication between those things was directly between the parents and the elementary or middle school, in high school, we can’t necessarily ensure that the forms get into the hands of the parents who fill them out.” In terms of lunch metrics, Rock Bridge is the lowest of all three comprehensive public high schools in town, followed by Hickman, at 32.1 percent, and Battle, at around 50 percent. At the lower grade levels, the gap widens further. The two elementary schools with the highest number of students receiving free and reduced lunch — Blue Ridge Elementary (79.3 percent) and Alpha Hart Lewis Elementary (75.93 percent) — are located in the northeast part of town; the elementary with the lowest percentage — Mill Creek, with 12.62 percent — is located in the growing and high-priced southwest region of the city. According to Rukstad, the economic disparity across schools is an inherent representation of the greater community. “Our district has tried very, very hard every time to draw the boundaries and have had the impossible, thankless job of trying to create somewhat of a microcosm of our community as a whole.” Rukstad says. “It’s 60 \\\ AUGUST 2016
very difficult just because of the way neighborhoods work, so you end up with sillylooking attendance boundaries that strive to mix it up as equitably as possible.” However, the main goals of redrawing attendance lines are to level larger numbers like attendance and transportation needs, and social or economic issues can get shuffled down the priority list. According to the CPS Superintendent Peter Stiepleman, those problems need to be addressed at the individual and community-wide levels.
YOUR BRAIN ON POVERTY When Stiepleman was running for superintendent two years ago, he decided to form his platform on the ideals of achievement, enrichment, and opportunity, or AEO, as it became known, for all students. Growing up as a privileged white kid in Long Island, New York, Stiepleman has always been aware of the opportunities his economic status allowed him. He was also aware of those around him who did not have the same opportunities, and he decided to make it his mission to help students less fortunate than himself. Working his way from teacher to administrator in Oakland, California before moving to Missouri, Stiepleman has seen and overseen all types of students. “I have seen, over my entire career, the dramatic effect of poverty on achievement, and it was something that distinguished my candidacy from others because of my experiences in high-poverty districts,” Stiepleman says. Over the past two years, Stiepleman has been hard at work integrating his predecessors’ vision and his AEO ideals into the school system’s administrative, classroom, and extracurricular activities. He cites studies from Harvard researchers that point to a physiological difference in the brain chemistry of children from low and high economic upbringings as one of reasons to push for a more involved faculty and a more open system of sports, clubs, and out-of-school programs for his students. “Children of chronic stress situations and poverty will be more likely to come from generationally poor families,” Stiepleman says. “And they have high cortisol levels, which means their brains are in constant fight-or-flight mode. These kids can be quick to anger, have poor verbal skills, are more impulsive, and have fewer positive peer relationships.”
Increasing access — to teachers who understand these issues, to school sports programs, and to equal opportunities — is how Stiepleman hopes to improve the lives of his at-risk students. Initiatives like the homegrown teacher program, which makes local teachers out of local students, and using levy funds to train faculty members on restorative practices and diversity are currently in their first years of implementation. As the third largest employer in town, the school district plays a major role in influencing the local economy and the public it represents. And that public seems to be generally supportive of the work CPS is doing for Columbia students and their families.
A COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION In April, Columbia voters agreed to a 65-cent operating levy increase to their property taxes at a time when most of the state, and the country, is weary and wary of paying more taxes. The levy allows the district to collect around $6.12 per every $100 in assessed value of an owner’s home. James Whitt, president of the board of education and member of the mayor’s diversity task force, says the district had plans to parcel out their asking for funding slowly. But rather than opting for the piecemeal approach, the community preferred that the district “just ask for what [they] need, and don’t come back anytime soon,” according to Whitt. Through his position on the school board and his work helping women- and minority-owned businesses through the mayor’s diversity task force, Whitt comes into contact with the economic disparities facing Columbia every day. “I have the unique viewpoint of seeing disparity from the time prior to kids entering school, all the way through school, and to graduation.” Whitt says. “If you look at these disparities, they start early, and they impact everything we do as a community.” According to a 2011 study from the U.S. Department of Education, students from families with incomes in the bottom 20 percent are five times more likely to drop out of high school than their higher-income classmates. A similar study, from Northeastern University, found that around one in 10 male high school dropouts will serve juvenile or adult jail sentences — a number that’s four times as high when only black youths are concerned.
FREE AND REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH ELIGIBILITY IN COLUMBIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 2015
Looking at the local level, Columbia is a growing, successful Midwestern city with an unemployment rate lower than the U.S. average (3.2 percent in March 2016; the national rate was 5.1 percent). Break that number down, however, and the disparity is clear. The unemployment rate for black Columbians was nearing 15 percent during the last census, in 2010, over four times higher than the city average. Ninety percent of black students in CPS are on free and reduced lunch. This was one of the key points addressed when the city council approved the 2016-2019 strategic plan for Columbia, which featured the improvement of social equity at its core by focusing on three distinct neighborhoods in the north side of town. “It’s impacting everybody in our community,” Whitt says. “Poverty is not even race related. If you’re poor, you’re poor. There are higher probabilities if you’re a minority of being poor . . . but once it hits you, it has a devastating impact on you and your ability to succeed.” Children growing up in poor Columbia families have it particularly rough. Boone County is in the bottom 18 percent of all counties in the nation for social mobility, according to data compiled by The New York Times, meaning if you’re born impoverished in Boone County, you have a good chance of staying poor. According to the database, being raised poor in this part of the state means you will statistically earn 6 percent less by the time you’re 26 when compared to the average American. Columbia’s stressed and impoverished families are facing their fair share of uncertainty about the future. The question will be whether Columbia can make changes now to ensure they have better chances. The CPS district is made up of 300 square miles of urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods, and it serves every type of student in between. While there is no silver bullet solution to addressing the issues that financial stress presents schoolchildren, Stiepleman is committed to working pieceby-piece toward a larger goal and a brighter future. CPS is working to eliminate pay-for-play sports to ensure that every student can afford to join a team and bond with their teammates. The school has started offering a “work near where you live” initiative for its employees, especially custodians. In May, the school board approved hikes for all CPS employee wages — a total of around $8.7 million — for the coming school year, and the district’s minimum wage for its lowest paid employees was raised to $10 per hour. And the district is continuing to grow. With the public approval of a $30 million bond, the district plans to purchase land and design a new middle school in two years. These initiatives were made possible by the public’s support and will work toward improving working, learning, and living conditions for students, employees, and families alike, according to Stiepleman. “I hope that someone will pick up this story ten years from now and say, ‘Let’s rewrite it and see if we accomplished this,’” Stiepleman says. “Because I think we will.” CBT
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Alpha Hart Lewis Elementary School: 75.93% Battle Elementary School: 61.73% Benton Elementary School: 73.44% Blue Ridge Elementary School: 79.34% Cedar Ridge Elementary School: 50.97% Derby Ridge Elementary School: 72.08% Fairview Elementary School: 31.24% Field School: 47.83% Grant Elementary School: 36.13% Lee Elementary School: 37.16% Midway Heights Elementary School: 31.95% Mill Creek Elementary School: 12.62% New Haven Elementary School: 57.09% Parkade Elementary School: 58.39% Paxton Keeley Elementary School: 28.63% Ridgeway Elementary School: 17.99% Rock Bridge Elementary School: 33.12% Russell Boulevard Elementary School: 37.19% Shepard Boulevard Elementary School: 49.91% Two Mile Prairie Elementary School: 38.25% West Boulevard Elementary School: 74.72%
MIDDLE SCHOOLS Gentry Middle School: 20.52% Jefferson Middle School: 62.06% Lange Middle School: 62.06% Oakland Middle School: 55.49% Smithton Middle School: 34.64% West Middle School: 40.56%
HIGH SCHOOLS Battle High School: 49.97% Douglass High School: 70.87% Hickman High School: 32.09% Rock Bridge High School: 21.69%
CORE: 66.13% Source: Missouri Department of Education COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 61
NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT
›› The Community Montessori
Early Education for All The Community Montessori provides preschool for all income levels BY SARAH EVERETT In 2009, The Community Montessori consisted of 10 students and one instructor inside a house on King Street. “It was a little tiny house, but it was full of love,” says Nicolle Adair, the preschool’s board president. The house — about a decade before the preschool moved in — was a crack house, the school’s founder Myke Gemkow says. Gemkow knew the location because he drove a taxi while he was in college. After college, he taught at a men’s prison. “One commonality was that the majority of these men had lacked access to education,” Gemkow says. He realized that if educators could give everyone a positive education experience early on, it could change their futures drastically. The Community Montessori hopes their efforts to provide this kind of early education to families of all incomes will narrow the achievement gap in Columbia.
WELL-ORDERED SCHOOL Now, The Community Montessori has its own campus and serves 20 students. The little green preschool sits on Providence Road. Tucked behind it is a garden where students and families spend time.
Lara Landrum 62 \\\ AUGUST 2016
“When you walk into the classroom, it’s very peaceful, it’s very well ordered,” board member John Wright says. “The kids are busy working away on their own tasks.” Wright joined the board in 2011 and has a background in early education. He helped start Rollins Reading, which runs another Montessori preschool, at Grant Elementary; he also served in the state legislature and pushed for elementary schools to have preschool programs. Joining Wright, Adair, and Gemkow on the board are CJ Strawn, Benjamin Warner, David Aguayo, Saxon Brown, Bobby Campbell, Lara Landrum, Nick Peckham, Anne Stinson, Astrid Villamil, and Ellen Wilson, the executive director of the school. The board fundraises, recruits, and forms partnerships with community organizations. They also set the strategic direction for the school. “We have been blessed with really exceptional teachers at The Community Montessori,” Wright says. “Our job is to help support them and help support their leadership.” This is easy to do with a director like Wilson, Adair says. Before teaching preschool, Wilson taught remedial reading to middle schoolers, where she also realized that early education is critical to a student’s future success.
Myke Gemkow
CJ Strawn
“You could not ask for a better director than Ellen,” Adair says. “She’s passionate. I really try to give her frank and direct advice … I try to offer her critical and strategic advice that’s going to grow the school.” Wilson is a co-teacher in the classroom; she does administrative work for the school, writes grants, helps with community outreach and fundraising, manages the staff, and communicates with parents.
WHAT IS MONTESSORI? Montessori education, developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori, is an educational approach characterized by a child’s independence and natural development. On a typical day at The Community Montessori, students arrive around 8:30. There are two Montessori work periods. All of the students, ranging from ages 3 to 6, work together. “Everything in the classroom is called work, which is a form of respect for the child,” Gemkow says. The work period emphasizes individual curiosity. Wright believes there is a gap in public education in the idea that learning starts at age 5. Due to developments in cognitive neuroscience, he says, educators now know a tremendous amount of learning takes
Anne Stinson
➜ 705 N. Providence Rd. 573-777-3131 tcmontessori.com
NONPROFIT The Community Montessori OPENED 2009 ADDRESS 705 N. Providence Rd. MAIN FUNCTION Provides children of lowincome families with the education and social skills they need for kindergarten and beyond. STAFF 6 CHILDREN SERVED 20 DIRECTOR Ellen Wilson BOARD PRESIDENT Nicolle Adair NEEDS • Educational partners • Funding
Nick Peckham
place between ages 3 and 4. The Community Montessori is trying to fill that gap with an uninterrupted, self-guided style. “My little one is very independent,” Melita Walker, a parent, says. Walker says because of The Community Montessori, her daughter exceeds the benchmark skills needed for kindergarten. “They really do a good job of teaching to the whole child,” Walker says. Walker says her daughter has knowledge not just in curriculum, but socially and environmentally. She’s been exposed to different ideas and cultures. “I watched her absolutely flourish,” Walker says. “She started out a little timid, and through the nurturing and support of that Montessori staff, I really saw her come into her own.” In addition to Montessori work periods, there is outdoor time, lunch time, rest time, and a handson crafting time. Lunches are provided daily by Café Berlin, who also partnered with them on a lip-sync competition fundraiser for the school. The school’s other community partners include Lucky’s Market, the Grant Montessori Preschool, and the Columbia Housing Authority. The preschool is partially funded by Heart of Missouri United Way; many students have scholarships or sliding tuition scales. Wilson is proud of the community and attendance at family nights, where parents and students can spend time in the classroom and work in the green space. “I was always impressed that everybody showed up,” Walker says. “All of the parents showed up. The grandparents showed up.” Wilson hopes the school will grow in capacity and programming. The property the school sits on
Saxon Brown
is large, but the school itself is not. Wilson hopes to build onto the facility or build a separate classroom. “I think if they could get a larger space, they could serve more students, and again, that Montessori experience that they are offering over there is absolutely top-notch,” Walker says. Currently, there is a waiting list for the preschool of more than double what Wilson can accommodate. The Community Montessori is piloting a program where a new mother can intern at the preschool and learn child care skills in exchange for a scholarship for their child to attend the preschool the following year. Wilson hopes to expand this kind of multi-generational programing. “These young moms are enthusiastic,” Gemkow says. “They are incredibly motivated to provide the best opportunities for their kids.” So many of their parents are single and under 25, and what’s holding them back from having meaningful incomes and careers is lack of good child care, Gemkow says. Wilson also hopes they can gain funding for summer school; Gemkow hopes to develop an infant and toddler program, and an elementary program down the line. The school hopes to work with mental health professionals so families can speak with licensed, experienced family counselors. The goal that remains constant is to close Columbia’s achievement gap. To have a school so economically and racially diverse with such great attendance, Wilson says, is rare. “Children who live in poverty are some of our most vulnerable citizens,” Gemkow says. With that focus, he hopes The Community Montessori educates and empowers children to be proud of their accomplishments. “In society, we all want to contribute. We all have meaningful work to do.” CBT
Bobby Campbell
Ellen Wilson COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 63
Tim and Robin Zakrewski Photo by Anthony Jinson 64 \\\ AUGUST 2016
CELEBRATIONS
➜ 1206 Business Loop 70 W. 573-445-9999 tigermaids.net
›› Tiger Maids
Twenty Years and Cleaning Tiger Maids celebrates its 20th birthday. FIRST CUBS
NOW TIGERS
When the Zakrewski family moved to Columbia in 1995, they appeared to be passing through. Tim Zakrewski accepted a position as a plant manager. Robin Zakrewski began cleaning a couple of houses to earn some extra cash. Twenty years later, Tiger Maids is a growing Columbia business and the Zakrewskis aren’t going anywhere. “I wanted to do something during the day while my kids were at school, [something] that wouldn’t interfere with taking them or picking them up,” Robin says. “So I just picked up a couple of houses to clean.” After working for a cleaning service in St. Louis, Robin had enough experience, and she began to form connections. Robin met Pat Jones, an agent at House of Brokers, who introduced her to new clients. “My business grew very quickly from there because of her,” Robin says. By 1998, Robin had her first employee. By 2000, the Zakrewskis decided that Robin’s cleaning ventures could become a viable business, choosing to name the budding company “Maid to Order.” “We thought ‘Let’s see what we can do with this thing!’” Tim says. “And by 2003, we were up to about two teams or three teams, so [we had] about four to six employees over the next four years. We continued to steadily grow.” With growth in mind, Tim left his sales career in 2007 to work at the business full time. “We decided we were going to put all of our focus into this business,” he says. “The majority of what we’ve done and accomplished was just [by] staying focused together.” By 2007, Tim and Robin were MU fans, and they wanted their business to reflect the spirit of the town they had grown to love — Maid to Order rebranded as Tiger Maids. “I think that may have had some facilitation in our growth too, because people know who we are. And we make sure we pop up at the top of Google,” Tim says.
Having grown up strong, Tiger Maids needed to expand outwards. “We really focused on being a part of the Women’s Council of Realtors, doing some chamber activities, sponsoring open houses … stuff like that,” Tim says. “That gave us a good foundation with the realtor community. Currently, Tiger Maids services between 250 and 260 homes regularly — post-construction clean-up projects are a large contributor to the company’s growth. “When we do post-construction clean up, we get paid to clean up [new houses] by the builders,” Tim says. “After we’re done and we do the final cleaning, Robin goes through and puts flowers, sometimes a bottle of wine, and our brochures in the houses. So, generally, those people are interested when they move in. They say, ‘Wow, my house looks great, how can I get regular service?’” And after building up their reputation through time and strong business tactics, Tim says business now comes to them. Robin focuses on training, staffing, and quality, rather than cleaning. Tim focuses on sales, marketing, and production management. “We’re only able to grow because of the staff we have,” Robin says. “We have great girls that work for us." Tim attributes this, in part, to offering above-average pay for the cleaning industry, awarding performance bonuses, and providing paid vacations for the staff. Even the Tiger Maids website speaks to the importance the owners place on the treatment of their staff — individual profiles highlight the personalities and talents of the staff listed, Lorena, Deysi, Anel, Itzel, Maria, Yesenia, Rosa, and Lucia. “The staff is a big part of our success and our growth,” Tim says. “This is a tough job to go out and do every day. They’re cleaning around three to five houses a day, and they bust their butts.”
BY ABIGAIL WADE “And they still come in happy every night!” Robin adds, with a smile. “Even on 100-degree days.”
ROARING ONWARD With 20 years under their paws, Tiger Maids intends to keep the momentum going. “I think we continue to grow with the town. As long as we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing out there, we grow about 30 percent per year,” Tim says. “The larger we get, the more we are known and the more our reputation is known.” Tim explains that customers are just “people who loathe that type of cleaning. Others are busy with their families,” he says. “I think that’s what we’ve stayed focused on. [Maid services] are not a wealthy, luxury item anymore. Our average customer is just a family that has two kids and a couple of pets. They’re just busy.” This shift has also helped to boost business. “I’d say, based upon what I know about our competitors, we’re probably up there at the No. 1 or No. 2 slot, based on volume of regular customers. I’d say our first goal would be hitting the million-dollar mark,” Tim says. “That’s something that’s not too far off in the distance.” CBT
TIMELINE 1995 › The Zakrewski family moves to Columbia. Robin Zakrewski begins cleaning houses. 1998 › Robin hires her first employee. 2000 › The Zakrewskis decide the venture could become a viable business. They coin the name "Maid to Order." 2005 › Tim leaves his job in sales to focus on growing the business. 2007 › The Zakrewskis decide to change the name of their company to "Tiger Maids," in an effort to reflect the community. November 2016 › Tiger Maids will celebrate its 20th anniversary. COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 65
MARKETING
›› Monica Pitts talks marketing trends and tips
Interns 101 INTERNS ARE A STAPLE in the MayeCreate company culture. I find myself encouraging more and more of my clients to hire an intern to help with their marketing efforts. If you’ve always been hesitant, here’s your Intern 101 guide.
WHAT CAN I HAVE AN INTERN DO? Marketing tasks, bookkeeping, answering phones, filing, or even running errands — ultimately, any project they have the skills for. I find that super technical tasks (unless they're going to school for it) are difficult to delegate to interns. The best activities for shortterm interns are specific projects or routine-structured activities. At MayeCreate, those activities may include simple site updates, business card and letterhead design, blogging, social media posting, photo editing, or illustrations.
WHERE DO I FIND AN INTERN? Many degree programs require students to have an internship before they can graduate. Fortunately, we live in a college town, so there's lots of college interns available. “Work closely with the school’s career services office,” says Dan Gomez-Palacio, director of career services for Columbia College. “These offices will post your positions and help you recruit candidates, typically at no charge. Consider attending local career fairs or events to speak with students directly.” Sharon Wood-Turley, MU science and agricultural journalism program chair, shared: “One of the best things you could do is establish a relationship with the faculty in the departments from which you hope to recruit interns. Explain what type of skill set you are looking for, and the faculty contact will help you connect with the students who will best fit your needs.” Gomez-Palacio says it’s best to start early, as students are often planning internships for subsequent semesters.
BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS Real world experience. You can’t teach real world experience in a classroom. “Even though our degree program offers students excellent opportunities for hands-on experience, nothing we can do exactly replicates the environment of a real workplace,” Wood-Turley says. Gomez-Palacio agrees. “Students learn professional soft skills that are so necessary when they leave college,” he says. “Interacting with supervisors and colleagues, self-monitoring, rapidly re-prioritizing tasks, and handling yourself in meetings are examples of skills needed in today’s workforce and not learned in the classroom.”
M O N I CA P I T TS 66 \\\ AUGUST 2016
Improved employment opportunities upon graduation. Job skills gained in an internship could be a key factor as employers make hiring decisions. “Getting that initial experience in your field, even if it’s unpaid, can mean an easier time finding employment after graduation,” GomezPalacio says. Test the waters before diving in. Students have the opportunity to experience different types of work in varying company and city sizes. Through internships, “students can gain practical knowledge about what happens day-to-day in the industry,” Gomez-Palacio says. “Sometimes, that can be a realization that the field may not be right for them, though often it helps them solidify their career choice.” College credit for hands-on experience. Many degree programs encourage or require internships for graduation, and many others offer class credit for internships.
BENEFITS FOR EMPLOYERS A new perspective and tech skills. Interns can give you a fresh set of eyes and perspective to look at things a little differently. They can be super tech savvy, so they can help you digitize your marketing list, start a blogging campaign, or get a handle on your social media without much training. Cost-effective. I choose to pay my interns because I want them to be more invested. It’s not uncommon for interns to work for free. “Recent federal laws have made it difficult for businesses to not pay their interns, but many organizations still do it. However, by paying the interns — even at minimum wage — you greatly increase the likelihood of attracting possible candidates,” Gomez-Palacio says.
➜ C H I E F C R E AT I V E D I R ECTO R O F M AY EC R E AT E D ES I G N
Make sure to factor in the cost of your time spent training and managing to ensure your intern is truly cost-effective. A hand up, not a handout. You are grooming the next set of workers to enter the job pool. You can teach valuable life lessons early. “Internships can help students understand their aspired field and learn from a mentor,” Gomez-Palacio says. “They can also be places for students to observe and find professional mentors to help ready them for their next steps.”
MANAGEMENT TIPS “The role of supervising an intern is critical to the success of a student,” Gomez-Palacio says. “It starts before the student even gets there and continues throughout the experience. If managed well, interns can accomplish a great deal, add new ideas to your organization, infuse energy and excitement into your staff, and complete projects.” • List out intern tasks and responsibilities, goals, and expectations, and learn your intern’s goals. • Create process documents or training videos to explain tasks. • Make sure new hires understand the office environment and staff roles. • Check in early and often, even micromanage a bit at first. Remember, he or she is settling into the workforce. • Anticipate a learning curve. Point out the things your intern does well and areas for improvement. • Keep daily tasks or projects specific. Your intern’s time is limited and it’s likely he or she doesn’t have a fully developed skill set for problem solving in your work environment. CBT
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 67
68 \\\ AUGUST 2016
STARTUP DIARIES
›› Matt Murrie reflects on the entrepreneur's life
Find a Mentor Who Can Teach WHAT IF it's time to look at the true value in teaching as it relates to entrepreneurship? I've worked with several mentors, only to find out that few, if any, of them took the time to visit my website or look into any of the work I have done over the past five years before telling me they could not help me because they do not understand what I do. At first, I took this as a deficiency in intellectual curiosity, but what if it's more than that? What if it is a symptom of a more problematic deficiency in our local entrepreneurial community? What if it is a lack of respect for the value of effective teaching? What if teaching was valued as much as doing? “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” George Bernard Shaw’s exact words in his play "Man and Superman" are: “He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.” Then again, I’m just a teacher; exactness or precision are things we are incapable of doing, right? Or should I say I used to be “just a teacher.” I have been a teacher and a doer for the past five years. Out of my respect for the immense value in effective teaching, I did not even consider making the jump into entrepreneurship until I knew I could access mentorship to help guide me along the way. But neither Shaw’s statement nor the title of this article are as simple as stated. I want to give some advice to all doers considering teaching, from a teacher who is now doing. What if you treat your teaching as a skill? There is an art and science to effective teaching. Think about that teacher you had who still makes you smile today and that teacher who still makes you cringe. What if the skill of teaching is expressed in the distance between these two? But, like most things done with ninja-level skill, when done well, teaching looks as effortless as a Steph Curry half-court swish. What if, once you recognize the skill associated with teaching, you’ll be less likely to underestimate what it takes for you to be an effective teacher? What if teaching is a skill of equal value to doing? If doers need to learn how to do and there are no teachers to help them learn, our doers cease to exist. Good teachers keep delivering their unique brand of value to all who come their way. What if Shaw’s thoughts are not universally embraced? There are models from Finland to South Korea where the respect for and focus on education have helped them pull out of years of war and colonial rule to develop into economic powerhouses producing doers at the scale of Samsung, Nokia, and Psy. This respect is not only
M AT T M U R R I E
given to their teachers; the full responsibility and accountability of being a teacher is taken on by those who teach. As a result, teaching is an honor that transcends financial status, and teachers are treated with respect commensurate with this honor. What if it is also an entrepreneur’s responsibility to seek and secure solid mentors? What if we entrepreneurs start holding our mentors and teachers responsible for the respect we are so ready to give them? These are some suggestions earned through difficult lessons I have learned from taking mentorship from those who can, but can’t teach. • • •
• • • •
Demand as much out of your mentor as you demand out of yourself. Set minimum standards to which you and your mentor agree. Make sure your mentor has, at the very least, read your website, looked at your LinkedIn profile, and has a baseline familiarity with any content, work, or material you have produced. Never pay a mentor. Pay an advisor. Pay an employee. Make sure your mentor is as committed to giving you advice as you are to do something with it. Ask your mentor how you can be helpful to him or her. Prepare to be a mentor yourself.
It may seem silly, but what if those doers, unless they value the ability to teach, offer little help in getting you where you need to go? And what if learning the value and skill of teaching can also help those doers do more? CBT
➜ E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R A N D C H I E F C U R I O U S I T Y C U R AT O R O F W H AT I F ? . . . 3 6 0 COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 69
Office Retail Restaurant
Old HawtHOrne Plaza
C Oming S ummer 2016
573-447-2414 | office@starrproperties.com
BE SOCIAL. Bu sin e ss p eopl e, places & thi ngs you ne e d to k now.
70 \\\ AUGUST 2016
columbiabusinesstimes.com /ColumbiaBusinessTimes @ColumbiaBiz
ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH
›› Tony Richards coaches organizations into good health
Giving and Getting Feedback Better GIVING OR RECEIVING FEEDBACK can be a powerful influence on learning and achievement. Former athletes are typically a little easier to coach as employees because they are accustomed to receiving constant feedback on what they need to improve. Many employees are not used to having consistent feedback. Some very much desire it, and some want to avoid it. How we intend, administer, receive, and process feedback depends largely on how we feel about ourselves.
HOW WE CAN GIVE IT If we have a high intrinsic strength and belief about ourselves, we can give feedback with good intention and guide it for better impact. If we have a lower intrinsic strength and belief about ourselves, we could fall into a trap of knocking someone down to make ourselves look stronger or better. Self-awareness and self-management are essential for leaders to provide useful feedback to others. A high degree of awareness helps us understand our personal power and how our behavior affects those we lead. Administering feedback that is negative or improvement-oriented requires us to balance our own perspective with that of the person we are leading. If we do not present the feedback in a way in which they can identify or see the problem, why or how could they attempt to change? To do a better job of giving feedback, we have to examine our intentions in giving feedback and its impact on the receiver. We must also exhibit behaviors that enhance and build trust.
RECEIVING LOUD AND CLEAR Those receiving feedback must be open to it, and they must accept the support required to commit to behavior changes. What are the things that block feedback from being effective for the receiver? Sometimes, we are apprehensive about getting feedback because we attach a negative meaning to it. If we think all feedback is improvement-oriented, then we must be doing something bad and must change something. But not all feedback is bad. You receive feedback if your neighbor tells you that your landscaping looks good or if your child's teacher praises his or her developing social skills. Feedback can be appreciative and should be given liberally. If someone gives us plenty of appreciative feedback, then we are more likely to accept the improvement-oriented feedback they give to us. Perhaps a customer lets you know how delivery could be better; your hairdresser tells you another cut would suit you better than the bangs you wanted. We get this type of feedback all the time, and we are pretty okay with it.
TO N Y R I C H A R D S
TRUTH TRIGGERS Then there is the other feedback, the one that leaves us frustrated, flat, or even angry. What's the difference? Mainly, it's the emotional story we have attached to it, or in other words, how we receive it. At best, we see this feedback as too critical, and at worst, we see it as an attack on us personally. Our brains whisper to us, "Is this what they really think of you?" Pushing our emotional triggers aside or pretending they don't exist will not work. You will have some sort of mental attachment to any feedback you receive, so don’t pretend it isn’t there. Sorting out our emotional triggers and understanding them is a great step toward better accepting feedback. If we accept that the feedback we are receiving is factual and accurate, then what we are dealing with are truth triggers. All too often, we hear “truth triggers” and our reactions to it are extreme. For example, your manager might mention you were a little quiet and aloof at the networking event. This hits a truth trigger: you are naturally introverted and have worked to overcome this in social situations, but on this particular situation, your energy level was low or something was distracting you. Rather than responding to the feedback with vulnerability, you respond with, "What was I supposed to do? Jump up on the table, tell jokes, and dance?" The feedback has hit the truth trigger, and you overreacted instead of dealing with the feedback in a healthy way. To do a better job in receiving feedback, we have to closely examine the triggers and the stories we tell ourselves in relation to the feedback we receive. If our intrinsic belief about ourselves is lower, it could be harder to receive and accept the feedback needed to make necessary changes and move ahead productively. CBT
➜ FOUNDER OF CLEAR VISION DEVELOPMENT GROUP COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 71
ASK ANNE
›› Anne Williams answers readers’ HR questions
Texting Trouble ›› My company is small and has recently hired its first full-time sales rep. She is bringing in revenue and generating a lot of business, but also causing my partner and me a great deal of stress. An example: Last Tuesday, she called the office after sending a document and said we needed to read and respond within 15 minutes. Everything with this rep is last minute and urgent, with no regard for our time. Is this normal? How do we decide if her revenue generating is worth our mental health? What should we do? If you haven’t gone nuts by the time this answer comes, you might want to take a look at why your rep is like she is. Remember, you said she’s new, and a good rule of thumb is to allow a mistake here and there, but have rules in place also. Hopefully, she’ll learn from any mistakes made and not repeat them. All that said (giving her benefit of the doubt), it seems her issues relate to a lack of good organization and ability to plan and manage her time. Perhaps she doesn’t know how to get organized well enough to block enough time for a client, understand your time and its importance, or know the company products well enough that she doesn’t need to disrupt you and your partner. Sometimes things like this are signs of immaturity, or maybe she’s very creative. It’s been shown that creative people seem less capable of planning or managing time. People can improve to a tolerable level if someone is willing to help identify their shortcoming, give them a chance, and coach them. I suggest setting a time to discuss the mishaps. Document recent incidents, and don’t forget to mention that she’s done a good job generating business. Point out how each instance cost the company time or money, caused confusion, or inconvenienced you and your partner. Point out that this behavior cannot continue. Then, let her talk. She may admit having had difficulty in the past or have feedback as to why the issues are happening. Regardless of her reasons, suggest she develop some vital skills through time-management courses, seminars, etc. If she embraces the change, you will notice it quickly in her demeanor. She will probably want to share information and ideas with you about the changes she is making.
ANNE WILLIAMS 72 \\\ AUGUST 2016
When you follow up in a week on what she has done to find and start training and the answer is the deer-in-the-headlights look or “nothing,” you know your answer. You are not going to be able to help her if she won’t help herself . . . hire slow, fire fast!
›› Dear Anne, I have a problem with several staff members who are continually on their phones. I catch them texting a lot. Can I take their phones away at the beginning of their shift? I just encountered this in my office. I actually said, “If I see you on that phone again, I may shoot it.” I was joking. (Not really.) The first thing I hope you have is an employee policy on texting. If not, get one and enforce it consistently. If someone violates the policy, he or she should be disciplined as they are for violating other policies. An effective way to emphasize the policy is to include that, as the final warning step of the disciplinary process, the employee will be required to surrender the cell phone during work hours. As always, do not put this policy or any other in place that you do not intend to enforce equally. Unequal enforcement lessens the respect management has at the company. Here is a sample policy. As always, check with your HR department or legal counsel before using. Personal Use of Cell Phones, Computers, and PDAs at Work: While at work, employees are expected to refrain from unnecessary personal use of cell phones, computers, and PDAs. Personal calls, messaging, texting, etc. during the work day — regardless of whether the equipment used is company-owned or not — interferes with employee productivity and is distracting to others. Employees are at work essentially to provide value to the company. They are expected to limit personal communications during work time and make personal calls and/ or send personal text messages, etc., on non-work time and to ensure that friends and family members are aware of this company policy. The company is not liable for the loss of personal cell phones, PDAs, or other personal electronic equipment brought into the workplace. 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.
➜ PRESIDENT OF JOBFINDERS EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
Presented by Columbia Insurance Group
AUGUST
24
Big Supporter Reception at 4:30 pm
FEATURED LISTING For Sale or For Lease
General Admission at 5:30 pm Columns Club in the East Tower of Memorial Stadium Hors d’oeuvres and Beverages Live and Silent Auction Reserve Your Tickets Today: Online at www.bbbscountdown.com or by calling 573-874-3677, Ext. 219 General Admission $50 (pre-purchased) $60 (at door) Big Supporter $100 (pre-purchased) Includes Reserved Seating and Reception with Chancellor
2012 Cherry Hill Dr., Suite 102 SQ FT: 511-3,290 Sale Price: $464,128 Lease Price: $15-21 PSF Gross Located in the Village of Cherry Hill, this space can easily be divided into 3 separate suites. This property features an underground parking garage and storage closets, an elevator with nice common area access and multiple entrances with a lot of windows and natural light.
®
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Missouri
Proudly Sponsored By:
GINA RENDE
®
314-477-4462 gina@malyrealty.com
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 73
Your employees work hard for their money
We provide quality diagnostic services at the best price in town. Make sure your employees know they can tell their doctors, “It’s my money, I want Advanced Radiology.”
NEW BUSINESS LICENSES
›› Columbia residents and their upstarts
Smoothie King – Mobile
The Installers
Show Me Disc Sports
805 E. Nifong Blvd.
810 E. Business Loop 70
705 Big Bear Blvd.
573-228-6333
Automobile installers
Sports equipment
Vapor Maven
Columbia Window
Secret Boudoir by Shantise
3103 W. Broadway
Cleaning
5117 Alpine Ridge Dr.
479-409-2293
901 W. Worley St.
573-356-7314
Electronic cigarette
Window cleaning –
Photography
store
commercial
Vaughn’s Versatile
Bella Casa
SCBU LLC
Handyman
3336 St. Charles Rd.
3315 Berrywood Dr.
4311 Beulah Dr.
573-529-2550
573-875-5248
573-881-5425
Cleaning houses
Management and sales
Colors of Brazil
Burrell Pharmacy
Bur Oak Home
3303 Appalachian Dr.
3401 Berrywood Dr.
Inspections
573-239-4781
573-777-8430
5290 Burning Bush Rd.
Crafted jewelry
Pharmacy
573-289-5080
online – Etsy
Food truck mobile unit
Handyman
Today’s Trends Ent.
Home inspections
• • • • • •
MRI/MRA CT/CTA Ultrasound DEXA X-Ray Pain Injections
Mistic & Me Hair Company
310 Alexander Ave.
York International
1809 Vandiver Dr.
573-356-8170
Corporation
573-397-8500
Misc. gifts, cards, books
1809 Santa Fe Pl.
Hair salon Visionary Landscaping
314-651-1376 Bella’s Massage
3567 Prescott Dr.
1412 I-70 Drive SW
620-717-8051
Erdel and Wood
626-861-5330
Landscaping and
3810 Buttonwood Dr.
Massage therapy
hardware services
Retail flooring and home
Joy Pulliam C.C.
Marker Redux Corporation
improvement store
1700 Forum Blvd.
1404 Grand Ave.
951-259-6094
573-673-2923
Certified life coach
Supplier chain
HVAC Distribution
573-875-1110
Origin Woodworks LLC
management
1404 Grand Ave. Columbia • Jefferson City • Osage Beach
www.ARadiology.com 573-442-1788
74 \\\ AUGUST 2016
573-673-2923
Breakout COMO
Prototyping, short
218 N Eighth St.
Small Cakes
production runs of
816-896-1657
2609 E. Broadway
mostly wood
Team-building service
Bakery CBT
DEEDS OF TRUST
›› Worth more than $499,000
$35,000,000 DRI/CA Columbia LLC The Privatebank and Trust Co. LT 1 Sam Subdivision
$3,000,000 LGS Properties LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT 101A Village Square Plat 1-A Lots 101 & 102
$20,000,000 6th and Elm LLC Landmark Bank LT 16 PT Columbia PT Lots 16-18
$2,000,000 St. Charles Road Development Providence Bank LT 101 Somerset Village Plat 1
$18,000,000 The Village of Bedford Walk LLC UMB Bank LT 1 Bedford Walk - Plat 9
$1,840,000 Providence Green Meadows LLC The Missouri Bank II LT 2A Village Subdivision Plat 3
$11,250,000 MO Murrayfield LLC Greystone Servicing Corporation Inc. LT 103 Providence Court Plat 1 $10,000,000 Pecapro LLC The Business Bank of Saint Louis LT 9 Lake of the Woods Center $6,703,972 Columbia Hospitality Group LLC Equity Bank LT 5E Liberty Square Block 3 Lot 5 $4,750,000 Bear Creek Housing Development Group LP Brian P. Krippner Mortgage LT 3 Bear Creek SUB BLK 3 $4,000,000 Kelly Highlands Partnership LP Central Bank of Boone County LT 4C Smithton Ridge Plat 4-A $3,391,988 Bear Creek Housing Development Group LP Housing Authority of the City of Columbia LT 3 Bear Creek Sub BLK 3
$1,500,000 Rader Hospitality Company LLC; Seventh Street Properties Business Loop Properties LLC LT 84 PT Columbia $1,010,000 Cherry Hill Dental Associates LLC Central Bank o Boone County LT 3D Rockbridge SUB Block 5 Lot 3A $900,000 D&D Investments of Columbia LLC Landmark Bank LT 1 Huff SUB BLK 3 $870,000 Michael and Carisa Petris Hawthorn Bank LT 3 Heritage Woods Plat NO 1 $752,000 Matthew L. Vaughn; The Revocable Living Trust Landmark Bank STR 32-49-14 /E/W SUR BK/ PG: 2305/146 AC 15.22 $735,000 Brent P. Karasiuk & Lori Ann Grieman Pulaski Bank LT 16 Highlands PL 1
747
DEEDS OF TRUST WERE ISSUED BETWEEN 5/23 AND 6/17 $716,000 Timothy Louis Robert and Cheryl Christine Holekamp Central Bank of Boone County STR 15-47-12 //NE SUR BK/PG: 400/583 AC 71.54 $632,498.05 Beacon Street Properties LLC Martinsburg Bank & Trust STR 15-47-13 //N SUR BK/PG: 642/259 AC 26.56 FF Tract 1A w/Exceptions
FEATURED LISTING
$625,000 Allan F. and Tina W. Price Landmark Bank STR 17-47-13 //S SUR BK/PG: 4347/61 AC 23.23 FF Tract 7 $620,000 Robert G. Campbell; The Living Trust Commerce Bank LT B Mill Creek Terrace $526,150 Matt Young Builders Inc. Central Bank of Boone County LT 12 Bristol Lake Plat 1 $516,000 THM Investments LLC The Callaway Bank LT 1 Liddell & Davis
Northeast Corner of Range Line & Blue Ridge Road Columbia, MO 65202 Price: $680,000 (sale) Zoning: ML Acreage: 1.95 Acres Site is prime for a convenience store, quick serve restaurant or general retail. Surrounding area has seen fantastic residential growth in recent past.
$512,000 Jacob and Elizabeth Kettle Central Bank of Boone County LT 245 Copperstone Plat 2 $500,000 Bear Creek Housing Development Group LP Housing Authority of the City of Columbia LT 3 Bear Creek SUB BLK 3 $500,000 Blab Holdings LLC The Bank of Missouri LT 2 Vandiver Corporate Centre $499,000 Woodhaven Learning Center Commerce Bank LT 4 Hathman SUB CBT
MEL ZELENAK
573-999-3131 mel@malyrealty.com
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 75
ECONOMIC INDEX
›› It’s all about the numbers
Labor:
Commercial building
May 2016- Columbia, Missouri
permits: 28
Labor Force: 70,187
Value of commercial building
Employment: 68,256
permits: $11,148,714
Unemployment: 1,931 Rate: 2.8 percent
Commercial additions and alterations: 23 Value of commercial additions
May 2016- Boone County Labor Force: 103,626 Employment: 100,790 Unemployment: 2,836 Rate: 2.7 percent
May 2016- Missouri Labor Force: 3,149,511 Employment: 3,022,367 Unemployment: 127,144 Rate: 4 percent
and alterations: $7,161,531
Utilities: Water June 2016: 48,748 July 2015: 47,882 Change #: 866 Change %: 1.809% Number of customers receiving service on July 1, 2016: 48,826 Electric June 2016: 49,106
May 2016- United States Labor Force: 158,800,000 Employment: 151,594,000 Unemployment: 7,207,000
76 \\\ AUGUST 2016
June 2015: 48,474 Change #: 632 Change %: 1.304% Number of customers receiving
Rate: 4.5 percent
service on July 1, 2016: 49,145
Construction:
Housing:
May 2016
May 2016
Residential building
Single-family home sales: 283
permits: 165
Single-family active listings
Value of residential building
market: 588
permits: $16,057,905
Single-family homes average
Detached single-family
sold price: $217,084
homes: 50
Single-family homes average
Value of detached
days on market: 44
single-family homes:
Single-family home pending
$11,618,349
listings on market: 259 CBT
BY THE NUMBERS
›› Boone County statistics
FEATURED LISTING
77
Child care providers in Columbia, as listed on childcarecenter.us
$22,585 Average student debt for a Columbia College graduate
59%
$48,429
Missouri public school teachers with master’s degree or higher
Average teacher salary in Columbia Public Schools
12.2 Average years of experience for CPS teacher
2513 Old 63 South Columbia, MO 65201 Price: Type: Zoning: SQ FT: Acres: Cap Rate:
$2,142,850 NNN Investment C-3 9,600 1.47 7%
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.
70.3% CPS teachers with a master’s degree or higher
18,102 Total public school enrollment in Columbia
GINA RENDE
314-477-4462 gina@malyrealty.com
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 77
For your windows... Call us for your free consultation & measure!
Carroll Wilkerson, CFP® Jared W. Reynolds, CFP®, CDFA™
Intelligent shades that simplify your life.
Meet The Retirement Team As a business owner, do you maximize your 401(k) contributions?
105 Business Loop 70 E. | 573-449-0081 | MidMOFloorPros.com
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
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. 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
78 \\\ AUGUST 2016
Who says a local printer can’t be fast and affordable? Not me. From business cards to elaborate brochures, and everything in between, Accent Press provides exceptional service and value. If you let me bid your next project, I promise to not disappoint you.
ACCENT PRESS
COPIES & DESIGN
Ed Rantz, owner
573-446-4400 | AccentPress.net | 316 Tiger Lane | Columbia
AROUND TOWN
›› Top of the Town 2016
Thanks to everyone who attended CBT’s Top of the Town 2016, presented by Columbia Regional Airport. Top of the Town recognizes the top B2B products and services in the community. We celebrated the winners at Logboat Brewing Co. on June 29. Check out some photos of the event. We had a blast!
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 79
Your Education Technology Solutions Partner Tech Electronics of Columbia now has a dedicated account manager to serve the Education market. Contact us today to discuss how we can help your school operate safety and productively. Fire Alarm Security Emergency Call Professional Sound Audio Visual Telephone Monitoring Service Support IT Services Columbia, Missouri 573.875.1516 www.techelectronics.com 80 \\\ AUGUST 2016
THIS OR THAT
›› Columbia professionals answer the hard questions
THIS Mac Money
Casual
Today
Tomorrow
Learn
Teach
Phone
Email Feet First
Books
Magazines
Coffee
Tea
DIY
Buy
Handwritten
Typed
Digital
Quiet
Lively
Early Bird Behind the Scenes Gel Pen
Details Night Owl In the Spotlight Ball-Point Letters
Volunteer Solo Sitting Desk Outlook Lunch in Drive to Work Donut
Cluttered Donate Team Standing Desk Gmail Lunch out Public Transportation Bagel
Creative
Analytical
Introvert
Extrovert
Laptop
Desktop
Optimistic
Realistic
Travel Happy Hour
C an I do bo th ?
Numbers Clean
Director of Alumni Relations, Columbia College
Influence
Business
Big Picture
ANN MERRIFIELD
PC Writing
Cursive
Photo by Keith Borgmeyer
THAT
Reading
Head First
D ep en ds on th e ac ti vi ty !
or
Staycation Home
COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 81
TOP B2B PRODUCT OR SERVICE
TOP COFFEE MEETING LOCATION
TOP JANITORIAL SERVICES
TOP ENGINEER
First Place: CoMo Connection Exchange Second Place: Influence & Co.
First Place: Kaldi’s Coffee Second Place: Dunn Bros. Coffee
First Place: Atkins Second Place: City of Refuge
TOP BUSINESS WITH A COMMITMENT TO PHILANTHROPY
TOP BUSINESS ROOKIE
First Place: Crockett Engineering 2608 N Stadium Blvd., Columbia crockettengineering.com 573-447-0292
TOP ADVERTISING AGENCY First Place: Caledon Virtual 1906 Corona Rd. #200, Columbia, 573-446-7777, caledonvirtual.com
Second Place: Word Marketing
TOP PLACE TO WORK First Place: Veterans United Second Place: Fresh Ideas
TOP LOCAL TEAM-BUILDING EXPERIENCE
First Place: Veterans United Second Place: The Bank of Missouri
TOP BUSINESS INSURANCE First Place: Columbia Insurance Group Second Place: Mike Messer – Shelter Insurance® Agent 908 Rain Forest Parkway, Columbia, 573-442-5291, shelterinsurance.com/ CA/agent/mikemesser
TOP HAPPY HOUR First Place: Logboat Brewing Co. Second Place: Houlihan’s
TOP CHAMBER VOLUNTEER First Place: Wally Pfeffer Second Place: Michele Spry
TOP FACE OF BUSINESS First Place: Bill Costello Second Place: Kit Stolen
First Place: Logboat Brewing Co. Second Place: Paint the Town
TOP COMMERCIAL LENDER
TOP NATIONAL IMPACT
First Place: Logboat Brewing Co. Second Place: Stoney Creek
TOP PLACE TO CLOSE A DEAL
TOP ACCOUNTING SERVICE
First Place: Logboat Brewing Co. Second Place: Boone Central Title Co.
First Place: Williams-Keepers Second Place: Accounting Plus
First Place: Lift Division 308 S 9th St., Columbia 573-445-0658, liftdivision.com
TOP IT COMPANY
First Place: Flat Branch Second Place: 44 Stone
First Place: Midwest Computech Second Place: 43Tc 1000 W Nifong Blvd., Ste. 220, Bldg. 6, Columbia, 855-647-43TC, 43tc.com
TOP COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER First Place: L.G. Patterson Second Place: Casey Buckman
TOP CATERER First Place: D. Rowe’s Second Place: Hoss’s
TOP HR FIRM First Place: Moresource Inc. 401 Vandiver Dr., Columbia 573-443-1234, moresource-inc.com
First Place: Veterans United Second Place: True Media
First Place: John Keller, The Bank of Missouri Second Place: Todd Hoien, Hawthorn Bank
TOP EVENT LOCATION
Second Place: THHinc McClure Engineering
TOP FAST-GROWING COMPANY
TOP CULTURE First Place: Veterans United Second Place: Delta Systems Group
First Place: Kaitlin Warner Second Place: Lydia Melton
First Place: CARFAX Second Place: Veterans United
TOP WEB DEVELOPER
TOP PLACE FOR BUSINESS LUNCH TOP REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER First Place: Mike Tompkins, Tompkins Homes & Development Second Place: John Ott, Alley A Realty
TOP BANK First Place: Central Bank of Boone County Second Place: The Bank of Missouri
Second Place: Caledon Virtual 1906 Corona Rd. #200, Columbia, 573-446-7777, caledonvirtual.com
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
SOUNDBITE
›› CBT readers weigh in
What’s the most important business lesson you’ve learned? “To always do what you say you’re going to do. Your word carries a long way.” Rob Roach Business Development Manager, Caledon Virtual
“Always listen to the needs of clients, never tell them what they need.” Terry Merritt Division Manager, Alliance Water
"That at times things will go wrong . . . the best strategy is to admit the mistake, correct it, learn from it, and let it go!" Carol Miller President, Central Missouri Auto Body
“You can’t do it all by yourself. Surround yourself with the best people you can with different backgrounds and experiences who communicate exceptionally well and who will engage in a common goal.” Rich Blattner Vice President of Business Development, Atkins Inc.
“If you’re going to make a mistake, make a new one.” Michele Batye Financial Officer, Dave Griggs Flooring America
“We make money doing what we do well. We lose money trying to do what you do well.” Greg Jones Assistant VP and Trust Officer, The Trust Company
➜ Next month’s question: What’s the one professional skill you need to improve? COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 83
8 QUESTIONS
›› Get to know your professionals
➜ 601 Business Loop 70 W. 573-234-1067 macc.edu/columbia
Our Community's College
Tami Sells, Director of Instructional Services, Moberly Area Community College 1. What are the current challenges in the community college industry? The toughest challenge for a community college is funding. In Missouri, community colleges educate 40 percent of students in higher education but receive only 15 percent of the funding allocated to higher education as a whole. Although we have a smaller operating budget than most fouryear institutions, we continue to offer as many free services to our students as possible. 2. What are the misconceptions about community college education? Common misconceptions of community colleges involve the quality of instruction and curriculum. Unfortunately, this stereotype is sometimes promoted by pop culture. Instructors at MACC are engaging, flexible, and extremely invested in student success. Small class sizes allow our instructors to provide individualized instruction, offer a great deal of guidance, and connect with students.
4. What is your relationship like with other higher education entities in Columbia? We have a very good working relationship with other higher education institutions in the area. In fact, we have developed partnerships with many to ease the transition from a twoto a four-year degree. Columbia College, Central Methodist University, and MU all offer coursework in our building. We have some programspecific agreements in place to facilitate transfers as well, such as our architectural studies co-enrollment agreement with MU. Columbia College and MU are two of our top receiving transfer institutions, so we work diligently with both institutions for the benefit of students. There is value to starting at a community college, and I think other institutions acknowledge this.
3. How does MACC fit into the higher education environment in Columbia? I think MACC has a very unique niche in the Columbia community. Because we are an open enrollment institution, no student is turned away. Students come here for a number of different reasons: small class sizes, quality instruction, low cost, a springboard into a four-year program, etc. We can also be flexible and responsive in meeting workforce training needs.
5. What is your school’s greatest strength? Our greatest strength is our clear focus on the needs of students and the community. We continually adapt our course offerings and degree options based on local need. We are very student-centered and have a true commitment to student success. We never lose sight of our mission, which is to provide dynamic and accessible educational opportunities that empower our students and enrich our communities.
CBT ONLINE: 84 \\\ AUGUST 2016
6. What are some new programs MACC is offering? Here in Columbia, we have expanded our mechatronics program, which launched in 2012, to include a mobile classroom with a truck and a trailer. We have also recently revamped the Associate of Science pre-engineering degree program so that students completing the degree can seamlessly move into MU or Missouri S&T’s engineering program. Beginning in fall 2016, our Hannibal site will offer a continuing education certificate in fire academy. 7. What are some of your more popular programs? We offer a variety of different degree programs. In Columbia, our most popular programs are the Associate of Arts transfer degree, Associate of Applied Science in computer information technology, and Associate of Science in pre-engineering. 8. What is the relationship like between MACC and the Columbia business community? The community’s need drives our course offerings. We have advisory board meetings every semester for a number of different career and technical programs. In these meetings, our program coordinators and local business representatives work together to determine if there is a need to expand or alter our curriculum to match the needs of area businesses. This process helps ensure that MACC is providing our students with the education they need to join, and succeed in, the workforce. CBT
➜ C h e c k o u t m o re q u e st io n s and answe rs wi th Tam i S e l l s onl i ne at Col um b i aBusi ne ssT i m es. com.
ADVERTISER INDEX 43TC.........................................................................................................................................9 ACCENT PRESS................................................................................................................. 78 ACCOUNTING PLUS........................................................................................................ 87 ADVANCED RADIOLOGY............................................................................................... 74 ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION..........................................................................................8 ANTHONY JINSON PHOTOGRAPHY.......................................................................... 13 BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES..............................................................16 BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL MISSOURI....................................... 73 BIG CEDAR LODGE...........................................................................................................68 BRINGING UP BUSINESS.................................................................................................. 4 BUDGET BLINDS............................................................................................................... 32 CARPET ONE...................................................................................................................... 78 CHIMAERIC...........................................................................................................................10 CHRISTIAN CHAPEL ACADEMY................................................................................... 53 CITY OF COLUMBIA WATER & LIGHT..........................................................................6 COLUMBIA REGIONAL AIRPORT................................................................................. 28 COMMERCE BANK............................................................................................................26 COMO CONNECT............................................................................................................. 67 DOGMASTER DISTILLERY............................................................................................. 32 EDWARD JONES................................................................................................................ 22 FRESH IDEAS FOOD.......................................................................................................... 12 GFI DIGITAL............................................................................................................................5 GRIZZLY BEAR LAWN CARE.........................................................................................85 HAWTHORN BANK...........................................................................................................88
FALL
IS
HEART OF MISSOURI UNITED WAY...............................................................................3 JOBFINDERS.......................................................................................................................80 KANSAS CITY RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL.................................................................. 67 LA DI DA................................................................................................................................26 LANDMARK BANK................................................................................................................2 MALY COMMERCIAL REALTY........................................................................73, 75 & 77 MAYECREATE WEB DESIGN.........................................................................................20 MIDWEST COMPUTECH................................................................................................. 47 MISSOURI DEPT. OF CONSERVATION.......................................................................14 MISSOURI EMPLOYERS MUTUAL..................................................................................11 MORESOURCE INC..............................................................................................................7 NAUGHT NAUGHT INSURANCE AGENCY............................................................... 47 PROAM GOLF...................................................................................................................... 31 SOCKET................................................................................................................................ 76 STANGE LAW FIRM............................................................................................................ 31 STARR PROPERTIES.........................................................................................................70 STATE FARM INSURANCE - STEPHANIE WILMSMEYER.....................................80 STEPHENS COLLEGE...................................................................................................... 15 SUPERIOR GARDEN CENTER/ROST LANDSCAPE............................................... 28 TECH ELECTRONICS......................................................................................................80 TIGER SCHOLARSHIP FUND..........................................................................................18 VISIONWORKS...................................................................................................................70 WEICHERT REALTY: DENISE PAYNE.......................................................................... 22 WILKERSON & REYNOLDS WEALTH MANAGEMENT......................................... 78
C OM I NG
I S YO U R L AW N R E A DY ?
This wet summer weather has compacted your lawn’s soil. Compact soil restricts the movement of oxygen, nutrients, and water in your lawn, leaving poorly growing grass that is more susceptible to drought, disease and insect damage. But don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. Aeration can alleviate those compact soils and get your lawn ready for the seasons ahead.
CALL FOR YOUR FREE ESTIMATE
WE OFFER: • Aeration • Overseeding • Turf Fertilization
573.256.TURF
• Weed Control • Mowing • Landscape Maintenance
• Landscape Installation • Irrigation Maintenance • Commercial Snow Removal
573.256.8873 | GrizzlyBearLawnCare.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM /// 85
FLASHBACK
›› Columbia, then and now
BY SARAH EVERETT
THE COLUMBIA COMMERCIAL CLUB was founded in 1905 with around 100 initial members. The members were all prominent businessmen; women were not allowed to join until around 1919. The club held its first meeting on June 16. As its name indicates, the Columbia Commercial Club promoted commercial development, especially downtown, as the business district of the city stemmed from Broadway. According to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the club urged the construction of the city’s municipal water and light plant. They encouraged the creation of more factories, such as the Hamilton Brown Shoe Company, which was a major employer in the city. They also encouraged the paving of roads and sidewalks downtown, they advocated for street lighting, and they played a role in devel-
oping a cross-state highway, then called State Highway 40, now called I–70, and a major north-south highway, which is now Highway 63. The placement of both brought growth and commercial success to Columbia. In 1909, they sought the construction of a new courthouse. At the time, some people wanted to preserve the existing courthouse, and, as a compromise, the columns from that courthouse were left standing in their original position. Both the new courthouse and the retained columns survive today. A Commercial Club publication from 1912 said the club was “the most effective organization of its kind in any city four times Columbia’s size in the state, and it has accomplished things little short of wonderful.” The 1910s and ’20s saw a growth in population in Columbia, from around 10,000 in 1910 to 14,967 in 1930. With population
growth came additions of large business buildings, banks, hotels, and theaters. This building, on Ninth and Elm streets, housed the Commercial Club beginning in 1906. The Columbia Commercial Club became the Columbia Chamber of Commerce in 1927. According to the Columbia Daily Tribune, the building was one of the first in Columbia to be air-conditioned, in 1936. Prior to the Commercial Club, the University Club occupied the structure. Other occupants include the Fine Arts Studio; KFRU; and a fraternity. The last tenant before the building was demolished, in August 1969, was the fisheries research department of the Missouri Conservation Commission. The site is now home to a youth and college center for Missouri United Methodist Church. CBT
➜ We love Columbia business history. If you have any interesting photos and stories, please send them to Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com 86 \\\ AUGUST 2016
“
We were a nonprofit doing all of our accounting in-house, and we were struggling. Accounting Plus was our solution. We’re grateful to work with Alicia, because she gets the job done, and she gets it done right. She has the expertise and experience necessary to take care of our bookkeeping, bill pay, and anything else we might need.
“
MIKE DEERING CEO, Missouri Cattlemen’s Association
Mike Deering – CEO Kevin Johansen – Membership Manager Wes Tiemann – Manager of Strategic Solutions
Missouri Cattlemen’s Association
Leave it all to us! Come see us for your Business Accounting & Tax needs! 573.445.3805 | www.AccountingPlusInc.com 1604B Business Loop 70W | Columbia, MO Right across from Cosmo Park!
COLUMBIA BUSINESS TIMES \ 2001 CORPORATE PLACE, STE. 100 \ COLUMBIA, MO 65202
“Hawthorn Bank knows what we have coming up, and they bring us ideas we haven’t thought of.” “They understand our business, what we’re trying to do. Whether it’s our receivables, material purchases, equipment needs, or whatever, they’re ready to help. “You really feel they care about you.” – Aaron Vollrath Capital Railroad
573-449-3051 HawthornBank.com
Member FDIC NASDAQ: HWBK ©2016, Hawthorn Bank