Columbia Business Times - December 2016

DEALERSHIP UPDATE JO E MACH E N S

UNIV E R S I T Y S UB A R U

KI A O F CO LUMB I A

DREW I N G AUTO MOT I VE

WHEELS UP AT COU PAGE 58

THE ROAD TO MEDICAL TOURISM PAGE 64

B O B Mc COS H

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18 DECEMBER 2016

I

t’s been a big year for Columbia Business Times.

In the last year, we revealed the new CBT website, DEALERSHIP a logo rebrand, and our redesign of the magazine. We UPDATE received more than double the 20 Under 40 nominations that we had last year. We experienced record breaking voting for the Top of the Town awards, honoring the best businesses in Columbia. We increased awareness of our 20 Under 20 program, which recognizes outstanding high school seniors in our area. Visits to our website grew by 21 percent. The list goes on.

It has truly been a year of victories for our team, and those victories are worth celebrating. Woo hoo!

Okay, okay, enough celebrating. It’s time to look forward to the next year of growth for this publication.

ON THE COVER What will 2017 have in store for CBT? We’ll continue to Recently we’ve taken some artistic risks strive for better coverage of the business community, both with our CBT covers, and they’ve paid in depth and breadth. We have a vibrant, growing town off for us. But this time I wanted to go back to the CBT fundamentals – a simple, to cover, and our mission to connect you with the people beautiful portrait of a really cool person. and things you need to know in local business continues.

Look for more online stories to keep you up to date on what’s happening. We’re launching two new columns in January that will help you work on your business, not in it.

We’ll continue to introduce you to new, innovative, interesting people in our community.

We’ll also continue to better utilize our CBT advisory board. These folks have given up time to meet with us this year and talk about what’s going on in the community. They haven’t gotten enough thanks or recognition from us for their gift of time. We’ll be bringing on new members soon, but these folks stepped up in a big way and contributed many of the ideas you’ve seen in CBT over the last year.

J O E M AC H E N S

UN I V E RS I T Y S UB A RU

K I A O F CO LUM B I A

D RE W I N G AUTO M OT I V E

WHEELS UP AT COU

EDITOR'S PICKS As we wrap up 2016, take some time to check out my three favorite stories we told this year in CBT. You can find them all at columbiabusinesstimes.com.

B O B M c COS H

PAGE 58

THE ROAD TO MEDICAL TOURISM PAGE 64

• • • • • • •

Raja Bhattacharya, Columbia College Kate Boatright, Fresh Ideas Food Service Management Eric Johnson, Columbia Public Schools Jessica Macy, New Chapter Coaching JJ Musgrove, City of Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs Justin Starr, Starr Properties Rusty Strodtman, Columbia Mall

Tempest in a Teapot January 2016

As the Loop CID continues to thrive, it’s interesting to remember its controversial beginnings.

The Greenest House on Earth April 2016

Forming this advisory board also reminded us of the importance of getting together with people in our community on a regular basis to talk. Talk about the issues, talk about solutions, talk about what’s next. The only way we can collaborate better is to communicate better. We’re working on a way to do our part to facilitate that in 2017.

In the meantime, enjoy this final issue of 2016 — the transportation issue. We’re catching up with all the dealerships in town (page 48), learning about the city’s interest in growing the medical tourism industry (page 64), and updating you on topics like the airport, COMO Connect, and more. Enjoy.

Nick Peckham’s net positive, environmentally friendly house introduced us to the growing eco-building industry.

Thanks for reading,

Dream Chasers October 2016

Minority Business Owners Thrive – This story introduced us to some of the energetic and hard-working minority entrepreneurs in our community.

Brenna McDermott, Editor brenna@businesstimescompany.com

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

@ Co l u m b i a B i z

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

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

20 DECEMBER 2016

EDITORIAL Erica Pefferman, Publisher Erica@BusinessTimesCompany.com Brenna McDermott, Editor Brenna@BusinessTimesCompany.com Matthew Patston, Managing Editor Matt@BusinessTimesCompany.com Libby Wall, Editorial Assistant Libby@BusinessTimesCompany.com DESIGN/CREATIVE SERVICES Jordan Watts, Editorial Designer Jordan@BusinessTimesCompany.com Keith Borgmeyer, Art Director Keith@BusinessTimesCompany.com Kate Morrow, Graphic Designer Kate@BusinessTimesCompany.com Cassidy Shearrer, Graphic Designer Cassidy@BusinessTimesCompany.com MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES Deb Valvo, Marketing Consultant Deb@BusinessTimesCompany.com Tami Turner, Marketing Consultant Tami@BusinessTimesCompany.com Janelle Wilbers Hayley, Marketing Consultant Janelle@BusinessTimesCompany.com Heather McGee, Marketing Consultant Heather@BusinessTimesCompany.com Cassi Cody, Marketing Consultant Cassi@BusinessTimesCompany.com Crystal Richardson, Digital Marketing Manager Crystal@BusinessTimesCompany.com Fran Patrick, Account Manager Fran@BusinessTimesCompany.com Emily Brehe, Digital Account Manager Emily@BusinessTimesCompany.com

Inside the Issue Twitter Chatter Landmark Bank @LandmarkBank Congratulations @ColumbiaBiz Interactive on your one year!

You always know how to throw a lil' party. #como #localbiz Fresh Ideas Food @freshideasfood Our FreshX app is featured in the latest issue of @ColumbiaBiz! Learn why we developed new tech for our students.

MU Economic Dev @MU_EconomicDev We’re thankful for our incredible sponsors, @boonebank and @ColumbiaBiz, who made @bringupbiz a reality.

Connor Doyle @CC_Artemis Exciting, in-depth feature on what's happening here at @ColumbiaColg @Cougar_eSports.

Around the Office

MANAGEMENT Erica Pefferman, President Erica@BusinessTimesCompany.com Renea Sapp, Vice President ReneaS@BusinessTimesCompany.com Amy Ferrari, Operations Manager Amy@BusinessTimesCompany.com Jamie Patterson, Digital Services Director Jamie@BusinessTimesCompany.com J.J. Carlson, Web Services Director JJ@BusinessTimesCompany.com

20/40 20 40 T WENT Y UNDER FO RT Y

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Keith Borgmeyer, Anthony Jinson, Grace Vance CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Al Germond, Christi Kelly Kemper, David Morrison, Monica Pitts, Tony Richards, Jennifer Truesdale, Anne Williams INTERNS Sarah Everett, Madelyne Maag, Grace Vance, Bobbi Watts SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscription rate is $19.95 for 12 issues for 1 year or $34.95 for 24 issues for 2 years.

Subscribe at columbiabusinesstimes.com or by phone.

PRESENTED BY Thanks for helping us celebrate one year of business for Business Times Interactive, the digital marketing agency arm of the Business Times Company. Find out how BTI can help your business thrive at businesstimesinteractive.com.

It’s almost here! Stay tuned on CBT’s social media channels as we reveal our 20 Under 40 class of 2017 in the month of December!

Contributors

The Columbia Business Times is published every month by The Business Times Co., 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 strive 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.

CONTACT The Business Times Co., 2001 Corporate Place, Suite 100 Columbia, MO, 65202 (573-499-1830) • columbiabusinesstimes.com

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

22 DECEMBER 2016

DECE MBE R 2016 VOL . 2 3 / ISSUE 6

TA B LE OF CON T EN TS

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

58

OrderUp

32 NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT CPS Foundation

34 CELEBRATIONS Clear Vision Development Group

36 P.Y.S.K. Marcus Schumer, Sound Performance

38 MOVERS & SHAKERS 41 11 QUESTIONS Dale Lynn, City of Columbia

46 OPINION 75 MARKETING Five Problems Marketing Can’t Fix

77 ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH Avoiding the Plateau Trap

78 ASK ANNE Insuring Essential Employees

Flight Plan It’s been a busy six months at Columbia Regional Airport. Now the City is settling in to plan for the long term at COU.

83 NEW BUSINESS LICENSES 85 DEEDS OF TRUST 86 ECONOMIC INDEX 88 BY THE NUMBERS 90 FLASHBACK Stewart Road/Stewart Bridge

48

54

64

70

Dealership Update Following a series of shakeups in 2015, Columbia’s auto dealerships have bucked industry trends this year to stay strong.

Local Leadership After being acquired by Arkansas-based McLarty Automotive Group, Joe Machens Dealerships are still using local talent to drive business.

Destination Medicine City leaders wonder: What would it take for Columbia to become a world-class destination for medical tourism?

Columbia of the Future How the Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s leadership visits are exploring new ways forward for the city.

24 DECEMBER 2016

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

C LOSER LOOK

Closer Look

Full Ride Sports Complex

Pie Bird Bake Shoppe

Global Hiker

In an active sports town like Columbia, Chad Martin wanted to provide his community with a place that celebrated the intersection of sports and casual fun while also providing services for young athletes, like his sons. To fill the need, he started Full Ride Sports Complex.

Columbia’s “premier multi-sport experience,” according to Martin, provides a wide range of services and products including full indoor arenas, an archery range, a ProBatter pitching simulator, batting cages, a bar and grill, a barber shop, and more.

With many amenities, the complex hosts birthdays, corporate parties, social events, and college outings as well as sports training.

When starting to plan for the facility, Martin thought about the full-ride football scholarship he received to play at MU. Martin says that being able to connect education and sports provided him with the ability to succeed later in life.

Ultimately, Martin prides himself on being able to provide services and facilities where “there’s a little something for everybody, without having to pay an arm and a leg.”

Martin plans to expand the facility’s services over the next year.

Julie Brown launched her business out of her home after 13 long years of contemplation; a working mother of two, Brown struggled with making the decision to take a chance on her dream of opening a bakery. It wasn’t until her kids encouraged her that she finally went for it.

Since opening in August 2016, the business has grown mostly by word of mouth. The store’s most popular item is her caramel apple crunch pie — the dish includes hand-chopped nuts, caramel, cinnamon, and streusel. Brown’s menu options also include muffins, cookies, bread, and more holiday favorites.

However, taste isn’t the only priority for Brown — visuals are also an important factor.

“You eat with your eyes first,” she says.

The shop’s name comes from a baking term and a remembrance of Brown’s late father. A pie bird is a ceramic bird used to help disperse heat throughout a pie, but it’s also a reference to her father’s love of birds.

Within the next five years, Brown hopes to expand her business by obtaining a retail space, adding new menu options, and giving back to the community.

Air BnB has lodging. Uber has transportation.

Global Hiker plans to be the disrupting innovation behind travel.

Alex Winkler, founder and CEO of Global Hiker, is a senior at MU studying international management and a devoted traveler, having been to more than 22 countries. Global Hiker helps facilitate tourism and adventure by connecting travelers with local tour guides.

According to the Global Hiker website, the team of experienced local guides “can share some of the areas’ best kept secrets, personal experiences, and find what isn't being shown on Google.”

The application includes a variety of unique features such as “Boots,” which enables users to customize their travel through personalized interests designed to fit user needs and “travel style/personality.” For example, a user could list information with an interest in food, museums, or penny-pinching deals.

The concept behind the app won Global Hiker second place in the Bringing Up Business pitch competition in October. Winkler and the Global Hiker team plan to launch the beta version of the app in December and hope to make the app available for free in early 2017.

Contact: 573-447-7529 Address: 2604 Paris Rd. Website: fullridesportscomplex.com

Contact: 573-489-5196 Website: facebook.com/piebirdbakeshoppe

Contact: 816-616-4034 Website: theglobalhiker.com

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

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

Briefly in the News DECEMBER 2016

Hurricane Matthew Relief

Official MU Enrollment Stats Official enrollment figures for the 2016–2017 school year show an increase of 489 students from opening day numbers, including increases in undergraduates and minority students. The official total for fall enrollment at MU is 33,266 — higher than some MU officials expected, but still lower than last year’s enrollment of 35,050. The 2016–2017 retention rate increased to 85.7 percent, the third highest in MU history. The average ACT score for the class of 2020 remained at 26, tying a university record.

UM System Announces President After a nearly year-long search process, the UM System Board of Curators named Dr. Mun Y. Choi as the system’s 24th president. Choi has been the provost at the University of Connecticut for four years. He will officially replace interim President Mike Middleton on March 1.

26 DECEMBER 2016

Global First Responder, a nonprofit volunteer relief organization in Columbia, sent a relief team to Haiti the week of October 22 through 28 to help in the recovery effort after Hurricane Matthew struck the country earlier that month. The team was directed by Adam Beckett, who led the medical effort, and Matt Ford, who led the reconstruction effort. The team, after assessing the needs of the community, sent a larger group to the region in late November. GFR also coordinated pledges of financial support from community members for construction and medical materials.

BR I EFLY I N T H E N EWS

StorageMart in the U.K. StorageMart, an international storage company headquartered in Columbia, added 15 stores in southeast England as part of their acquisition of Big Box Storage Centre. The acquisitions are the beginning of the company’s push to expand throughout Europe. StorageMart already operates 172 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Friends of the Farm Partnership The Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture, on behalf of the Friends of the Farm Partnership, was awarded $29,000 as part of the USDA’s Local Food Promotion Program. Friends of the Farm is made up of the CCUA, the Columbia Farmers Market, Sustainable Farms and Communities, and Columbia Parks and Recreation.

With these funds, a commercial or community kitchen will be added to Clary-Shy Park. Local public and private partners are hoping to convert the former fairgrounds into a sustainable food hub with demonstration gardens, an outdoor classroom, a community kitchen, office space, a multipurpose building, and a shelter for various community events.

Justice Initiatives Boone County has joined the White House’s DataDriven Justice Initiative, a program that supports city, county, and state efforts to lower the number of lowlevel offenders with mental illnesses in jail. The DDJ’s goal is to divert minor offenders out of the criminal system and to change the pre-trial incarceration process to prevent detainees from staying in jail because they can’t afford bond. The Columbia Police Department is participating in the White House’s Police Data Initiative, which supports the efforts of local law enforcement in leveraging data to increase transparency and accountability within the community.

Boone County Art Show The 57th annual Boone County Art Show, co-sponsored by Central Bank of Boone County and the Columbia Art League, took place on October 14. The event showcased 200 works, and artists won 29 awards in 11 categories. Categories included professional and non-professional painting and drawing, ceramics, and sculpture. First, second, and third places were awarded for most categories. The show was judged by Mario Carlos, a professor of art at St. Louis Community College, and works were displayed for the public on October 15 and 16.

Stables Tour Scholarship Commerce Bank and the Boone County Historical Society offered two $1,000 scholarships to eighth graders in Boone County for a second year as part of the second annual Boone County Stables Tour, a fundraiser for the historical society. Students wrote research-based essays and narratives about an aspect of Boone County’s history.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 27

28 DECEMBER 2016

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

B U SI N ESS U PDAT E

Digital Delivery OrderUp Columbia delivers local and franchise foods.

BY SARAH EVERE T T | P HOTOG R A P HY BY A N TH O N Y J I N S O N

Co-owners, Jill and Tim Overton (center), with the OrderUp Columbia team.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 29

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

ORDERUP BRINGS LOCAL COLUMBIA restaurants — both franchised and individually owned — to residential and business doors. Hungry customers looking to stay in for the night can place an order through the OrderUp website or app, and one of nearly 70 Columbia drivers will deliver it within 40 minutes or so.

“We provide a service that a lot of [restaurants] don’t provide themselves in delivery, and if they do provide it themselves, it’s a pretty challenging initiative in itself,” says Jamie Canine, co-owner of OrderUp Columbia.

Open seven days a week with hours varying per restaurant, OrderUp’s dual goal is to make restaurants accessible from home and to ease the delivery process for restaurants. “We think of ourselves as an extension of their company,” Canine says.

Hoss’s Market is one of many local restaurants that participates in OrderUp. Owner Trish Koetting knew Canine and his business partner, Jake Sheafer, through their advertising business, The AddSheet.

Koetting says OrderUp is all about customer service. The company allowed Hoss’s to offer delivery service that they couldn’t offer previously.

“It’s a segment of the market that you normally wouldn’t be capturing — it gives our customer another option for how they can get Hoss’s Market,” she says. If a customer wants to order dinner to their home, they will only be selecting from restaurants that deliver. “If you don’t have a delivery service, you’re not even an option,” Koetting says.

CONSUMER CONVENIENCE The OrderUp franchise came to Columbia in 2014. Tim and Jill Overton supervise logistics and delivery; Jamie Canine and Jake Sheafer oversee marketing and sales. These local owners have deep Columbia roots and backgrounds owning individual businesses, though this is the first franchise that any of them have owned. Canine and Sheafer own The AddSheet and Marketplace Magazine; Jack FM radio; and Pump-Top Network, a company that plays advertisements at gas pumps.

They decided to combine dining with their digital experience through the OrderUp franchise, which Canine calls a response to the market.

“Any place is a good place for OrderUp,” Canine says. “It’s kind of where the restau30 DECEMBER 2016

B U SI N ESS U PDAT E

rant industry is headed. It’s a service that’s in demand.”

They have three main goals: to add more restaurants they’ll deliver for, to grow their late-night offerings, and to add more tech features (for example, a feature to edit an order after it’s already been submitted is in the works).

Canine says that the franchise aspect of OrderUp has been a learning experience.

“Being able to cater every little detail around customers’ and consumers’ desires” can be challenging when working with a company that seeks regulation and uniformity across the nation, he says.

Still, the site has many customizable features, and the Columbia franchise is able to offer giveaways and promo codes for local businesses and residents.

OrderUp already offers features that make the service more convenient for customers, including ticket splitting, group ordering, order-for-later scheduling, and delivery tracking.

The parent company is headquartered in Baltimore, which is where technology development takes place. The company started with the name LionMenus, serving State College, Pennsylvania, the town where Penn State University is located. The company relocated to Baltimore and expanded in 2009 as LocalUp. The name changed to OrderUp when it began to operate under a franchise model.

OrderUp is now available in 62 cities.

It’s comparable to other online delivery services like Mr. Delivery, Uber Eats, and GrubHub. Mr. Delivery is available in 23 cities, including Columbia, while Uber Eats targets larger metropolitan areas: it’s available in 29 American cities and 16 other international cities. GrubHub is available in over 1,100 American cities, Columbia included, and London.

BUILDING THE COMMUNITY

After an order is placed through the OrderUp website or app, restaurants receive an automated phone call telling them they have an order, and then they can accept the order over the phone.

Once accepted, orders are sent via email to the restaurant. Hoss’s Market gets about 40 OrderUp orders per week.

In Columbia, OrderUp partners with 61 local restaurants, including D. Rowe’s, Shakespeare’s, CJ’s, G&D Pizzaria, and Buckingham BBQ. They also partner with national chains, such as Subway and Dairy Queen. Restaurants can choose what portions of their menu they offer on the website. Osaka, the Japanese bistro on Nifong, offers just their dinner menu, for example.

“The local restaurants are who we cater to the most, but, now that we’re proven and have a track record behind us, the national guys are starting to come on board,” Canine says.

Canine says OrderUp started with about 30 restaurants and adds two each month. In November, they added Noodles and Company, increasing their portfolio of national brands. “We want to offer as much variety as we can for the consumer,” he says.

At the national level, OrderUp’s primary clients are college students, but Canine says their client base in Columbia, despite its high collegiate population, is split evenly between permanent residents and students. Young professionals in Columbia often use the app to order lunch at work, and the app can be used to cater large events. Fridays are their most popular group-order days.

Overall, OrderUp averages more than 230 orders per day in Columbia — one of the higher ticket averages in the industry. He says, “I think that speaks to how open to new things and how open to innovation that the general population is.” CBT

A restaurant that partners with OrderUp is a subcontractor, meaning that the customer enters an agreement with OrderUp, pays OrderUp for the food and delivery, and then OrderUp pays participating restaurants at the end of the week.

OrderUp Columbia.OrderUp.com 866-267-1823 COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 31

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

Opening up Education The CPS Foundation goes beyond a textbook education.

BY MA DELY N E M AAG

IMAGINE YOU ARE A HIGH SCHOOL student attending the True/False Film Festival for the first time. The environment of the festival is already alive with an abundance of activities occurring around town, but there’s only one thing that has fully grasped your attention: the documentaries. The production of real world stories told in a way that toys with its viewers’ emotions.

For you, a high school student, the opportunity to attend this festival could release a calling for a future career that you never considered before.

Opportunities like these for students are made possible by the Columbia Public Schools Foundation.

For the past 20 years, the CPS Foundation has worked to help endow funding for initia32 DECEMBER 2016

tives in Columbia Public Schools that impact student learning, including classroom supplies and grant programs. Since the foundation opened up in 1996, they have funded more than $1,000,000 in grants to Columbia schools, from providing funds for field trips to events like True/False to creating makerspaces at CPS elementary schools, where students can experience hands-on STEM projects like robotics or coding. The CPS Foundation provides the district with tools to enhance each student’s experiences.

The foundation is financially independent from the district: local businesses, organizations, and individual members of the community donate to the foundation. Board

members then assign those donations to different grants, which fund the various programs, projects, and proposals for Columbia’s public schools.

“I love how we are able to provide extra opportunities for kids to remember forever,” Lynn Barnett, president of the CPS Foundation, says. “To impact their lives forever — that’s the exciting part of working with the foundation.”

Sally Silvers, who has been the longtime secretary for the foundation, has witnessed it grow from a mere idea to an organization that changes lives. It all began in the early ’80s, when Silvers, along with several others involved in Columbia’s schools, started throw-

N ON PR OFI T

CPS Foundation MAIN FUNCTION Provide grants and test pilot programs for Columbia Public Schools

FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES Zero

PEOPLE SERVED Roughly 18,000 CPS students

BOARD OFFICERS • Lynn Barnett • Sally Silvers • Shatenita Horton • Nyle Klinginsmith

BOARD OF DIRECTORS • Jill Evans • Sondra Flaker • Jean Gurucharri • Lynn McIntosh • Cindy Mustard • Tom Rose • Les Borgmeyer • Ted Webber • Linda Duffy • Jolene Schulz

NEEDS • Donations • Volunteers

ing around the idea of a fountransport kids in after-school dation. Around the same time, programs. When the grant was another one of the foundation’s originally discussed among original founders, Lynnanne CPS Foundation members, Baumgardner, had been runit made sense to everyone to ning for a spot on the Columbia offer that after-school service. If the kids have no transschool board. portation to get home, what “She used the idea for would have been the point of Columbia Public Schools an after-school program?

Foundation as her tagline while “What really hit home for me running,” Silvers says. “And by Lynn Barnett was the fact of, ‘Oh my gosh this the ’90s, she had put together President is what we did and your child a community to launch it and benefitted from it.’ I absolutely organize it.” love it,” Silvers says.

After the foundation offiBut the passion of CPS cially began in 1996, memFoundation members workbers from the school district ing for the foundation goes and community jumped in to beyond simply creating new help. Grants were gathered opportunities for the kids. and distributed among classTheir passion starts with their rooms across the district. Sillove for Columbia and teachvers recalls one exciting grant ing in its schools. Barnett, who that was given during the foungrew up in Columbia, first met dation’s infancy that called for Baumgardner when she was in a roll-cart of encyclopedias Sally Silvers the eighth grade. that would be shared between Secretary “While I was growing up in classrooms. Before the interColumbia’s schools, Lynnanne net, Silvers says, technology happened to be my Spanish was something, like the founteacher,” Barnett says. “It is dation, she didn’t expect to amazing to think that we’ve become so important.

“Technology . . . crept in and become close through the changed the foundation over school district. She had started the last 20 years,” Silvers says. the foundation a few years “Grants for Smartboards and before I was hired as an assistant superintendent.” tools to improve our reading program proved to us that Then, in 2009, after Barnett indeed [technology] was here retired as an assistant superto stay.” intendent, she decided to keep Shatenita Horton The foundation expanded working for the kids of the disTreasurer from funding classroom protrict. She joined the board posals to funding projects that for the CPS Foundation, and include the entire school district. As a longshe’s stayed involved. The love for education time member of the foundation, Silvers has shared among the members of the CPS Founseen the result of different grants and prodation has expanded the group’s ability to furposals in action. ther a student’s educational opportunities, “A while back, I had been helping out a something the group hopes to do for another friend of mine pick up her daughter from 20 years. CBT school when she couldn’t get there,” Silvers says. “One day, I called to ask if her daughter needed to be picked up, and she told me ‘Oh Columbia Public Schools Foundation no, you don’t have to pick her up because there P.O. Box 1234 is a bus bringing her home.’”

It dawned on Silvers that the foundation cpsf.org tested out pilot programs, including a bus to 573-424-9578 COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 33

Tony and Ann Marie Richards

1998

1999

2005

2007

Tony and Ann Marie tie the knot.

The couple relocates to Columbia from Cape Girardeau.

Word Marketing launches, with Ann Marie at the helm.

Tony acquires Horizon Research.

34 DECEMBER 2016

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

C ELEBRAT I ON S

Standing Together Tony and Ann Marie Richards merge Word Marketing and Clear Vision Development Group.

BY JENNIFER TR UESDA L E | P HOTOG R A P HY BY A N TH O N Y J I N S O N

EARLIER THIS YEAR, TONY AND ANN Marie Richards did something that many couples dream about but are often wary of: going into business together.

Tony’s Clear Vision Development Group provides business consulting and leadership development services; Ann Marie's Word Marketing offers a host of advertising and research services. After years of side-by-side successes, this couple found common ground in their two companies and set out to merge them.

pieces he needed to open Clear Vision Development Group in 2009.

After a business retreat in early 2016, Tony and Ann Marie decided it was only logical to bring the two companies together.

“We have a lot of clients who use us both,” says Tony. “So why do they have to go to two places?”

Under the Clear Vision umbrella, clients have one-stop shopping for business consulting and marketing — which Tony and Ann Marie link together with science.

FROM THE BEGINNING

FINDING COMMON GROUND IN NEUROSCIENCE

In the early 1990s, Tony moved to Cape Girardeau from his home state of Kentucky after selling a successful business venture. The move brought him to work for Zimmer Radio and Marketing Group, where he met Ann Marie, a native of North Dakota.

“The way I tell the story is that she asked me out,” Tony says with a wry smile. Ann Marie doesn't deny it.

“It's the first time I ever did a double take,” she says. They married five years later, in 1998, and have been together for 23.

The couple relocated, along with Zimmer, to Columbia in 1999. Shortly after, Ann Marie left Zimmer and dabbled in interior design before landing at KOMU 8, where she successfully transitioned from sales to the creative side of marketing. By 2005, the two were ready to start their own venture: they opened Word Marketing, with Ann Marie at the helm, while Tony remained at Zimmer.

But Tony was feeling the drive to lead his own business as well. After acquiring Horizon Research in 2007, Tony began gathering all the

“We've both become very big into human behavior and neuroscience. It’s the basis of both of our companies," says Tony.

For years, major universities and scholarly journals have published research on neuroscience's role in marketing and leadership strategy alike. Through this research, both scientists and businesspeople gain a better understanding of human motivation and behavior.

“Facts and figures are great,” Ann Marie says, “but if you can get people thinking and using logic, then that's what they're going to do — think, think, think. But I want them to act. So I want to take that logic and move them. Why does this matter in their lives? That's what's going to get them to take action.”

Tony finds common ground in this approach when working with his clients on developing people, strategy, and plans to execute. "[At] Clear Vision, one of the things we do with leaders and managers is get them to clearly understand themselves,” says Tony. “We do a lot of behavioral and motivational assessments

with them, so we're deep into the science of human behavior from a leadership standpoint.

Now we're just taking those two halves [marketing and leadership development] and putting them together."

RESPECTING BOUNDARIES Tony and Ann Marie study their own behavior as well. They say the key to merging and running two businesses together is knowing when to leave it at the office. They are devoted to a home life that is separate from work. At least most of the time.

"We have something called family time that means we shouldn’t talk work,” Ann Marie says.

“I'm the worst violator."

Clear Vision has approximately 40 clients, mostly large businesses, with regional or nationwide reach. Tony and Ann Marie have work styles that complement each other.

“He's brilliant,” Ann Marie says of her husband. “I value intelligence. He's very smart. He takes the complicated and makes it concise.”

Tony smiles in agreement. “I'm intensely practical, and she's more aesthetic and free flowing and able to take a lot of disparate parts and assemble them into something that's not only attractive, but makes sense,” he says.

So far, their approach to life and business seems to be working. Their professional, and personal, support of each other is clear. CBT

Clear Vision Development Group 20 E. Southampton Drive #101 573-489-1836 clearvisiondevelopment.com

2008

2009

2016

Ann Marie obtains a production company for Word Marketing.

Clear Vision Development Group launches, with Tony as president.

Tony and Ann Marie merge Word Marketing with Clear Vision.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 35

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

MARCUS SCHUMER PRESIDENT & OWNER | SOUND PERFORMANCE INC. AND THE TINT GUYS | AGE: 44

Job description: Relationship coordinator.

Years lived in Columbia/midMissouri: Jefferson City since 1996.

Original hometown: Perryville, Missouri.

Education: High school; two years of college; 23 years of marriage and still being educated by her.

Favorite volunteer/community activity: Serving at our local church, St. Peter’s, in Jefferson City.

Professional background: 29 years of professional experience in car audio and custom car audio, and 16 years of professional window film (tint) installation.

Why I’m passionate about my job: I originally would say that I get paid to play with fun stuff and big boy toys for a living — who wouldn’t be passionate about that? But now, it’s more about sustaining a business model that is centered around people (employees) that connect with other people (customers) on a personal level to provide goods and services that, while not essential, absolutely make their daily life more enjoyable (like in-car Bluetooth music streaming, hands-free phone integration, remote car starters, residential or commercial or automotive window tinting, and over-the-top custom car stereo installations).

How you would like to impact the Columbia community: In the future, I would love to pilot or help pilot a program that helps integrate people into our community or back into our community through work and skill-building.

The next challenge facing my industry: Believe it or not, it's self-driving vehicles and the regulations that National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are trying to impose on drivers, manufacturers of vehicles, and after-market accessory companies.

36 DECEMBER 2016

Photos by Anthony Jinson

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

Why I’m passionate about my company: Most us spend our time split between work and family, with, for the most part, the balance leaning toward work in order to meet our family’s needs for security and stable growth. I recognize that, and I try to create a balance that can be sustained for myself and employees while being profitable — this is very challenging. It’s fulfilling when everything is on track, but it’s a constant fight and takes a team effort. Our goal is to set expectations for our customers and then exceed them with our products and services on a consistent basis. When it doesn’t happen initially, for one reason or another, it presents us an opportunity to show integrity and fulfill our promise, even when it’s the harder thing to do. I consistently let our staff know that what we do and the way we do it is hard, but if we do it right, we’ll always be moving in the right direction and be fulfilled and employed.

A Columbia businessperson I admire and why: There are a handful, and they all have some things in common: Marc LaFerriere, from Dents Unlimited; Jamie Canine, from Modern Media Concepts; Bob McCosh, from Bob McCosh Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac; James Copeland, from Midwest Autoworx; Bill Rajewski, from Perry Legend Collison Repair Center; and Brent “Doc” Moore, from MoX. They all directly deal with their customers alongside of their employees, helping set and manage expectations and helping fulfill those expectations in a challenging retail world. Plus, they’re always looking ahead and moving their business and employees in a better direction while taking calculated risks for growth. Some of these guys I admire from afar, but I have a real respect for what they’ve built and continue to sustain and grow.

If I weren’t doing this for a living, I would: At this point in time, I’d be a stay-athome dad.

What people should know about this profession: Almost anything can be purchased with ease and convenience from your home, work, or even sitting in traffic via your smart phone, and that is a fact. We know this and anchor our value to the product and service combination. We must have great products, but, more than that, we must have expertise about those products and the installation and maintenance of them, along with substantial warranties to ensure great value for our customers. Other companies in our industry must adapt to this model to stay viable and support any type of staff and overhead in the coming future.

Biggest lesson learned in business: There is a natural law that God set in place and it is constant: There are no short cuts in life.

You must make the right (sometimes hard) choices daily. The only measure of success is happiness and contentment achieved at a cost that does not compromise your morals or the morals of others.

Accomplishment I’m most proud of: My family, even though we struggle just like everyone else.

My next professional goal: My wife and I separated one of our divisions from Sound Performance (installing and monitoring ignition interlock devices and in-car breathalyzers), and used it to start two additional businesses in May of this year: Ignition Interlock of Columbia and Ignition Interlock of Jefferson City. We have a separate location in Jefferson City and share our Columbia location with Sound Performance.

My goal is to continue developing a model that will allow us to duplicate this service in other markets next year. The model must incorporate a sensitivity to the current and incoming clients. These clients, without fail, have been treated like common criminals throughout the entire process to stay legal or become legal to drive again. The truth is, the majority of these clients are normal everyday people and business professionals from our community that made a bad judgment call and got caught up in the system.

Greatest strength: My trust in God is my greatest strength. There is a reason for and lesson in every perceived “bad” thing or situation. They only strengthen us or get us ready for something better — if we look at it the right way and have faith.

Greatest weakness: Forgetting my greatest strength on a regular basis. But then I remember it!

Family: Shelly, wife and partner for 23 years; Tyler Gabriel, 23, son and employee; Macy Paige, 18, daughter; Maddie Rosalani, 15, daughter; Rylie Marie, 14, daughter; Gannon Christopher, 11, son; and Dillyn Ericka, 6 months, daughter.

What I do for fun: Getting dirty in my Jeep, hunting, riding my motorcycle at moderately high speeds — but most of all antagonizing my beautiful girls with a sense of humor that only I think is funny. Really, really funny.

Favorite place in Columbia: Definitely downtown, because of the restaurants and the unique people and atmosphere.

Most people don’t know that I: am a born introvert that continually struggles with social anxiety, but, for the most part, I overcome it daily. But those around me have no idea. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 37

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

M OVER S & SH AKER S

Movers & Shakers DECEMBER 2016 RAY

The Callaway Bank The Callway Bank announced several employee promotions. Emma Ray has been promoted to branch manager of the bank’s West Broadway and Lake of the Woods locations, Amanda Bargas was promoted to mortgage loan originator, and Jacob Pestle was appointed branch manager of Chapel Hill location.

Matthew Smith Matthew Smith, the outpatient medical director of the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute and associate professor of orthopedic surgery at the MU School of Medicine, has been appointed associate member of the Society of American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons. As a member, he will be discussing best practices and present research, and he will serve on the review board for the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery.

The Heart of Missouri United Way The United Way Board of Directors has appointed Dr. Garnett Stokes and Randall Cole as new board members. Stokes is MU’s provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs; Cole is the housing programs supervisor for the City of Columbia. Cole will serve as an ex officio board member for one year, while Stokes will serve for three years.

Daniel Peery Daniel Peery, an appraiser for Mid-America Land Services, has been awarded the Appraisal Institute’s MAI membership designation, which is given to appraisers who are experienced in evaluating commercial, industrial, and residential types of properties and who advise clients on real estate investment decisions.

Marjorie Lewis, shareholder and management committee member of the law firm of Brown Willbrand, was elected as the president of the Boone County Bar Association for 2016-2017. Her previous positions with the group include vice president, secretary, and at-large executive committee member.

Mark Falkowski

Carson Coffman

Katie Carroll

Columbia College has hired Mark Falkowski as the first general counsel. In this position, he will be providing legal guidance to the school.

Falkowski will also be serving as a member of the college’s senior leadership team. He has experience in serving higher education clients from his tenure at Husch Blackwell, a law firm in St. Louis.

The Federation of Internet Solution Providers of the Americas has elected Carson Coffman, co-owner of Socket, to be the group’s treasurer. Using 17 years of experience, he will help small telecommunications companies throughout the country in his role with FISPA.

U.S. Cellular named Katie Carroll the new business area sales manager of the company’s operations across Missouri and central western Illinois. In this position, Carroll will support small and medium sized business customers.

James Smith

Connie Leipard, owner of Quality Drywall Construction, recently became the 62nd president of the National Association of Women in Construction. Leipard has been a member of the NAWIC’s Central Missouri chapter since 1995.

James Smith has joined The Roots N Blues Foundation and Blues in the Schools as a new music educator.

With almost 30 years of experience playing the bass, he will be sharing his knowledge of music with children.

Connie Leipard

PESTLE

Central Bank of Boone County Central Bank of Boone County announced three employee promotions. Lauren Maki was promoted to assistant branch manager, where she will help in the daily management of the branch. The bank’s board of directors named Brooke Berkey assistant vice president of business banking and Bill Costello assistant vice president of relationship banking.

Marjorie Lewis

BARGAS

SMITH

STOKES

COLE

COFFMAN

Dan Fowler Commerce Bank selected Dan Fowler as their new residential real estate originator. He will be responsible for business development and customer service relating to the bank’s mortgage loan products for Columbia. Fowler has 15 years of prior experience in mortgage lending and business development. CBT

LEIPARD

FOWLER

Are you or your employees making waves in the Columbia business community? Send us your news at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com 38 DECEMBER 2016

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40 DECEMBER 2016

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

3. What areas of the city use the

7. How has COMO Connect dealt

public transit the most? Our most

with Columbia’s changing student

used routes are those that service the city

housing landscape? It has been difficult

core, the black route and the gold route.

with limited resources, since the vast majority

These are also the routes most heavily used

of these housing complexes have been built

by students.

miles from campus. As more housing is built

4. How robust is Columbia’s

closer to campus, we anticipate a significant

public transit compared to other

change in student trips.

comparable cities? Our system is

8. What do you most want the

not very robust, primarily due to funding.

public to know about COMO

While the city and federal governments provide adequate funding, the primary

Q&A DALE LYNN Transit Superintendent, City of Columbia

issue is state funding. This year, we will receive about $47,000 from the state. That equates to less than a single hour of service

transit superintendent, I am tasked with the day-to-day management of the bus service for the city. I am involved in planning as well as federal reporting and compliance.

2. Are there any quirks about Columbia that make running a

Connect? That we need their support and input as we plan for the future. Please let us know what you want the future of public transportation to look like.

for our system. For a comparison, Missouri

9. What has been the biggest

spends about $0.56 per capita on public

challenge for COMO Connect since

transportation, while Kansas spends $3.79

reconfiguring the bus routes in

per capita. It’s not acceptable for Kansas to beat us at anything.

1. What does your job entail? As

1 1 QU EST I ON S

2014? The biggest challenge is helping the public adjust to the changes. We understand

5. What are some personal benefits

that adjustment takes time, but we have

someone could see by using public

made and will continue to make changes to

transit? A person that utilizes public

improve the system for Columbia.

transportation will experience the benefits of fuel savings, increased physical activity, and a reduction in traffic congestion. Every dollar spent on bus fare is helping the system expand and improve.

10. COMO Connect has been using a consultant, Olsson Associates, to evaluate the city’s bus system.

What recommendations is Olsson making? We are currently in the

6. This year, Columbia became

visioning phase of the project and expect

the first transit system in Missouri

Columbia is very large geographically for

recommendation alternatives in March or

to use a 100 percent electric bus.

the size of our population, which results

April of 2017.

What’s the latest news on future

in a very low population density. When we

electric buses? We expect delivery

11. If you could have three wishes

look at peer cities, we often see that they

of eight additional battery electric buses

granted for COMO Connect, what

are significantly smaller geographically.

in the next two months. We have also

would they be? Funding, funding,

This results in us having difficulties trying

been awarded a federal Low Emission or

and funding. More funding means more

to reach all of the population who need

No Emission grant that will allow for the

opportunities to meet the demand of current

public transportation.

purchase of three additional buses in 2017.

and future Columbia transit riders. CBT

bus system particularly difficult?

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

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 41

MONEY MATTERS Learn more about some of Columbia's expert tax planners as they share their backgrounds, areas of expertise and company culture.

William s-Keepers LLC • Tam i R. Be n u s, C PA • Acco u n t i n g P l us , I nc .

42 DECEMBER 2016

SPONSORED CONTENT

Williams-Keepers LLC

Pictured: Mark Gingrich, CPA, JD

What is your firm’s area of expertise? WK specializes in helping clients with complex business and personal financial matters make the best decisions they can so they can achieve their definition of success. We sort through the tax, regulatory and planning issues that come into play and, hopefully, make it all seem less complicated and burdensome.

To what do you attribute your firm’s success? Our firm is in its 93rd year of existence, and I believe that longevity is due to our focus on doing what’s right for our clients, our staff and our community.

Why should someone consider your firm over another? We have the depth and breadth of knowledge and resources within our firm to address almost any challenge a business or family will face. And, if a client has a very specialized need, our membership in Allinial Global, an international

association of other public accounting firms, gives us access to expertise in a wide variety of services, industries, and cultures.

What’s an important lesson you’ve learned about this particular line of work? Success as a trusted business advisor requires success as a communicator and an active interest in our clients. My legal training helps in this regard by helping to organize complex ideas in an accessible way and by preparing me to dig to find solutions to problems.

What advice would give to someone needing your expertise? Come ready to think about what you want to accomplish and why. These are frequently the most important questions to understand what problems are important to solve.

What community involvement does your firm support? WK is deeply committed to serving the United Way. We

have achieved Pacesetter status during our employee campaign for several years in a row, and several individuals serve or have served as board members and committee volunteers. We also encourage all of our staff to get involved with partner agencies and serve during the Days of Caring.

What is the most important thing you want people to know about your business? What my colleagues and I enjoy most is getting to know our clients and determining how we can help. Sure, we’re “numbers people,” but building relationships is what really drives us.

Williams-Keepers LLC 2005 West Broadway, Suite 100 Columbia, MO 65203 573-442-6171 Mark Gingrich, CPA, JD

MONEYMATTERS

SPONSORED CONTENT

Tami R. Benus, CPA

Pictured: Tami R. Benus, CPA

How many years have you been in business? I started the company in 1995 as a home-based business. In July 2002, we moved the office out of my home to our current location. I joke about the business just being me and my Basenji, in the beginning; now I have 3-5 staff depending on the time of year.

What’s an important lesson you‘ve learned about this particular line of work? You have to love what you do. Clients expect more and more each year. In order to maintain those demands, keeping current on new laws and technology is imperative in offering a competitive service.

To what do you attribute your firm’s success? The firm’s success is based on my operating the firm on biblical principles, providing excellent customer service and going the extra mile for clients.

What do your clients like most about your firm? My clients appreciate that I am not afraid to tackle the tough questions in order to provide them with the most in depth service possible, while creating a warm atmosphere.

What community involvement do you support? I am on the Better Business Bureau board. I also volunteer at LoveINC as a budget coach and resource

person for them. I also support my local church, Praise Assembly, D and D Farms, The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri, and For His Glory.

Anything else? We work with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community. I became interested in helping/working with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing around 25 years ago. I have taken several classes to improve my signing.

Tami R. Benus, CPA 1808 Monroe St Columbia, MO 65201 573-499-1990 trbcpa.com

MONEYMATTERS 44 DECEMBER 2016

SPONSORED CONTENT

Accounting Plus, Inc.

From left: Tina Marso and Denise Nelson, Owners

What is your firm’s area of expertise? Accounting Plus provides a full range of services; accounting, tax preparation, payroll, QuickBooks training, and consulting services to help your business stay on top of any financial management issues. We pride ourselves that our staff stays current with their financial education, keeping updated on new and changing industry topics.

allowed us to sustain a steady growth. As two strong minded business owners, we plan for the future to keep us educated on our industry.

What advice would you give someone needing your expertise? If you have never used a professional accounting firm, don’t be afraid to try! We can scale our services to meet the needs and the budget of any business or individual!!

What is the most important thing you want people to know about your business? Our business services are designed specifically with the small business owner in mind. We want to relieve the busy business owner of the burden associated with monthly books, paying employees and filing taxes.

What community involvement does your firm support? Accounting Plus is committed to the support of nonprofit organizations, including Missouri Contemporary Ballet and long term community sponsorships, like local youth sports and Hickman’s booster club.

To what do you attribute your firm’s success? Hard work, steady growth and the willingness to adopt new technology has

What is your favorite part about being in this field? We truly love helping business owners run an efficient business, and

saving individuals on their taxes. We like to say that anyone can be a number cruncher, but it takes someone special to crunch numbers and be that friendly, smiling face on the other side of the desk explaining it all.

Why should someone consider your firm over another? We are known for our friendliness, education, empowerment and affordability, so that every business owner or taxpayer can afford professional help. Our team of personnel work very hard to make sure all of our clients are as educated as they can be about their own accounting and taxes.

Accounting Plus, Inc. 1604B Business Loop 70W Columbia, MO 65202 573-445-3805 accountingplusinc.com

MONEYMATTERS COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 45

46 DECEMBER 2016

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

A Return to Academic Leadership

BY A L GERMON D

LAST NOVEMBER, we were frustratingly commiserating in the aftermath of “the time of troubles” that roiled the MU campus here. Now, a year later, we're congratulating the university's Board of Curators for their choice of president over the four campus UM System. The only regret is that 52-year-old Dr. Mun Choi won't start work until March 1, 2017. As a dollop of good news however, Dr. Choi is coming back home, so to speak, to the Midwest; when he was still a boy, his family emigrated from South Korea to Chicago, where they settled in their new land of opportunity.

A solidly credentialed research engineer with an earned doctorate from Princeton University, Dr. Choi, with his accession here, resumes the time-honored tradition of filling university presidencies from the realm of academe. The curators’ announcement and introduction of Dr. Choi was deliberately staged in Jefferson City to emphasize that one of his missions will be to repair and replenish the four campus UM System's relationships among a variety of constituencies across the state.

With a year to think about what happened last November, we see that anointing a so-called “captain of industry” to be the president of the University of Missouri System turned out to be a colossal mistake. As we learn more about the relationship between the deposed president and the equally

deposed former Columbia campus chancellor, it’s probable Mr. Wolfe, in returning to his adopted hometown, was more interested in Loftin’s role than in presiding over the four campus system. It's much more exciting to be the on-campus chancellor of a major university than to be holed up in “Six Flags over Seven Forty” every day fretting about everything from appeasing state legislators to worrying about a cornucopia of financial issues.

Dr. Choi will have a full plate of issues to deal with.

Among the more pressing problems facing Dr. Choi are two organizations that are major pillars of the Academy — the American Association of Universities, or AAU, and the American Association of University Professors, or AAUP. Most of us until recently have never heard of the AAU, but Old Mizzou's 100-plus year membership in this august group of research universities is under threat because research activity here has fallen below what is considered to be an acceptable threshold vis-a-vis the university's peer institutions. Realizing its importance, acting chancellor Dr. Hank Foley has stuck with this one like a junkyard dog. Here's hoping Dr. Choi, with his national research reputation, most recently at UConn–Storrs, can step into the fray and work with Dr. Foley to preserve MU's membership in the AAU.

OPI N I ON

Then there’s the AAUP, which is almost certain to censure MU for the way it awkwardly handled former assistant communications Professor Click's otherwise outrageous outbursts during the time of troubles a year ago. Quite a few colleges and universities end up being censured by the AAUP for a variety of reasons, but it’s usually over some incident that the passage of time manages to ameliorate. In this case, we have every confidence Dr. Choi will finesse MU out of the AAUP dungeon.

There's also a labor issue that will involve working with Dr. Foley — the fractious relationship that developed between graduate students and the university administration. More blunders brought this on, so the students organized a union. Maybe Dr. Choi can lead the team to negotiate the differences between the university and its graduate students into an honorable settlement.

Dr. Choi will be the 27th president of the university. Quite a few who preceded him didn't hang around very long, a pace that accelerated starting in 1966, when Dr. John C. Weaver succeeded one of MU's more legendary presidents, Dr. Elmer Ellis.

For the sake of the university, let's hope Dr. Choi “works out” and stays here more than a few years to get Old Mizzou back on the rails again.

In other news: Last month, we noted that, according to Bloomberg News, GateHouse Media paid $18 million for the Columbia Daily Tribune and the Tribune Publishing Company.

More recent information from GateHouse puts the purchase price, including a Rochester, New York business publication, at only $8.5 million.

Backing out the cost of the other publication, the Waters family probably netted about $8 million (or less) for the assets they sold, representing a substantial “haircut” compared to what they would have been offered say ten years ago. Now comes news that GateHouse is looking for new office quarters here with plans to abandon the somewhat iconic Tribune building at 101 N. Walnut St. that was first occupied by the newspaper in December 1973. As an aside: archaeologists may someday compile a list of premises either abandoned or torn down that at one time were occupied by various newspapers, TV, and radio stations. The most recent “scraping,” in December 2014, was of the KFRU premises at 1911 Business Loop 70 E. that headquartered the radio station between 1950 and 1993. CBT Al Germond is the host of the Columbia Business Times Sunday Morning Roundtable at 8:15 a.m. Sundays on KFRU. He can be reached at algermond@businesstimescompany.com.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 47

AUTO UPD After big changes in 2015, Columbia’s dealerships have bucked national trends and grown in the past year.

48 DECEMBER 2016

DATE

BY C HRI STI K ELLY K EMPER A ND B REN NA McDERMOTT P H OTO G RA PHY BY A NTHO N Y J INS ON A ND KEI TH BORGMEYER

BOB MCCOSH ISN’T FOND OF WEARING A SUIT TO WORK. On any given day, he’s probably wearing a button down and a Mizzou baseball cap. If you didn’t know him already, you probably wouldn’t be able to guess he’s the Bob in Bob McCosh Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac.

That’s just the way he likes it.

Since he keeps a low profile, McCosh might grab a cup of coffee and hang out in the customer lounge, just to listen. Are his customers frustrated? Getting good service? Enjoying the coffee?

“I enjoy having that anonymity, that I can fly below the radar a little bit,” McCosh says. “That way we actually have a chance to improve our service and staff and operation.”

There are plenty of improvements happening across the board at Columbia auto dealerships, including McCosh, this year.

2016 Shakeups After a series of ownership changes at several local dealerships last year, the auto sales business in Columbia has had a solid 2016 — even with election-year consumer anxiety in the air.

Gary Drewing and his son, Rusty, the former owners of the Machens dealership group and current owners of the local BMW and Mercedes-Benz dealerships, say Columbia is a great place to be in the car business, offering the past year as proof.

“Business is good. It’s very stable,” Gary says. “The future and sales and prospects are very bright.”

The Arkansas-based McLarty Automotive Group bought the majority of the Joe Machens dealerships across town from the Drewings — except the BMW and Mercedes-Benz stores, which then became part of Drewing Automotive. McLarty also bought out Fletcher Honda, now known as Columbia Honda and managed as part of the Machens group. The Morgan Auto Group, out of Tampa, Florida, acquired Head Kia, now called Kia of Columbia.

Local dealers have reported sales that are either even with 2015 or a little ahead. That puts Columbia in better shape than the industry as a whole, which has nationally seen sales fall just short of projections.

The National Automobile Dealers Association had predicted a record-setting year for auto sales, citing low gas prices, historically low interest rates, and heavy use of dealer incentives. But NADA data from September shows combined sales of cars, light trucks, and SUVs at 17.65 million, a 1.7 percent decline over the same period last year.

Drewing says sales at his BMW and Mercedes locations are up over the same time last year, despite this being an election year, which he believes creates an overall uncertainty that can impact sales. In light of the growth, Drewing has increased staffing by 20 percent across the two dealerships and now has about 80 employees total.

The McLarty Automotive Group, which owns eight Joe Machens dealerships in Columbia and Jefferson City, has seen steady sales this year, says Ford/Lincoln dealership general manager Steve Nagel.

“Most sales are down [nationwide], but we’re flat, which means we’re up,” he says. “I’m calling that a win.”

The group’s Ford and Lincoln dealership in Columbia is the state’s largest dealership by volume, including total sales of both new and used vehicles. Sales totaled 9,442 in 2015 and stood at just over 7,226 as of November 4 of this year.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 49

This hasn’t been the easiest year for the group to maintain a strong sales position. “Transitioning a huge organization like this to different ownership and a different thought process is a huge feat in itself,” Nagel says.

Smaller Brands Still Shine Another local dealership that saw its share of transition this year was Kia of Columbia, which owners Larry Morgan, of Morgan Auto Group, and local owner Dan Kellar bought from Steve and Stuart Head in September 2015.

“We hit the ground running,” says Kellar, who serves as president and general manager.

New vehicle sales are up 25 percent over last year, and used vehicle sales are up 16 percent.

Kia of Columbia has also seen a 45 percent increase in customer repair orders, which Kellar credits to a strong staff of well-trained technicians able to service Kia and many other major brands, including Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus.

The dealership has 35 employees and has more than 100 used and 150 new vehicles in inventory. Kellar says total revenue will exceed $30 million in 2016.

In line with local trends, University Subaru co-owner Dave Armstrong says business has been steady in 2016. He and business partner Dan Burks also own Capitol Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Jefferson City.

“Sales will be up some, but not a lot,” he says of the Subaru dealership. “We’ve had consistent growth and continue to grow.” Numbers are up a bit in new car sales and down a bit in used, he adds. Sales in the Jefferson City dealership are also about even with 2015, but that comes on the heels of a very strong year. “Being off a little bit from our best year is okay,” Armstrong says.

Armstrong says business is different for a smaller store with a brand that doesn’t dominate the industry — Subaru had about 4 percent market share nationally as of September, according to Edmunds, an auto industry research site, compared to 14 percent for Ford and 12 percent each for Toyota and Chevrolet.

Kia is also in the small market share category, coming in at 3 percent.

Customers like buying from people they know, Armstrong says, and turnover isn’t as high among their staff as it is among many dealerships around the country. Armstrong and Burks have owned the dealership for almost 13 years. Of their six salespeople, four have been with the company at least six years, and the others have at least two years each.

50 DECEMBER 2016

“We’ve had the same people in the body shop for 10 years,” Armstrong says. “We’re more like a family than a business.”

Armstrong also echoes the notion that election years can throw a wrench in consumer buying habits. Presidential elections, he says, are especially tough.

“You don’t wake up one morning and say ‘I’m not doing anything today, I’m going to buy a car,’” he says. “You have to feel good about it, and right now there’s a lot of anxiety.”

Plans to Expand With business holding steady in Columbia, several dealerships have expansions in the works.

Anyone who’s driven by I-70 Drive SW has probably seen the early stages of Drewing’s expansion of the BMW and Mercedes dealerships. Construction is underway on a new 32,000-square-foot facility on about 6 acres, expected to be complete by the end of February or early March.

The construction represents a 20 to 25 percent expansion of the entire operation, Gary Drewing says. The BMW and Mercedes buildings will expand, as will pre-owned inventory.

“Everything will go up,” Drewing says.

“Inventories will expand, especially on the pre-owned side, and so will employment.”

Once the expansion is complete, the existing BMW facility will be expanded into a preowned center, and the adjacent property,

which now houses Red Lobster, will become additional parking. The restaurant leases the lot from Drewing, and their lease is up next year. They plan to level the building to make room for additional inventory.

The expansion is designed to take advantage of strong sales and positive local trends — and increase the dealership’s stake in the pre-owned market.

“Our goal is to get a bigger share of the pie that’s out there,” Drewing says. “You either get better or you get worse — you don’t stay the same.”

McCosh’s visibility has increased along I-70, as they demolished two buildings to extend the parking lot. McCosh says that, due to easements and sidewalk regulations, the parking lot takes up less square footage, but it did add 100 parking spaces.

“To have that retail display for 100,000 people a day driving up I-70 and Garth and to have everybody get to see that display of inventory — I think it makes a big difference,” McCosh says.

McCosh built a 15,000-square-foot building on Indiana Avenue to accommodate reconditioning, the detail shop, clean-up, and delivery. Though, McCosh says, they’ll soon run out of space in the Indiana building as well, as they’re adding 20 percent capacity to service and parts operations, increasing the number of service bays. Technicians will again relocate detail and reconditioning. Bob McCosh employs 176 people.

“OUR GOAL IS TO GET A BIGGER SHARE OF THE PIE THAT’S OUT THERE. YOU EITHER GET BETTER OR YOU GET WORSE — YOU DON’T STAY THE SAME.”

Mike Mountjoy, Bob McCosh, Jeff Miller

Jerry Patterson, Steven Nagel, Charles Oglesby, Bob Jacaway, Danny Hammack

McLarty group is also working on an expansion at the Ford and Lincoln store on Bernadette Drive. Nagel says they’re expanding the service department in the facility currently being used for reconditioning work. The new service center will double their service capacity and add focus to quick repairs such as brake work, tires, and oil changes. The expansion is expected to be complete in January.

To meet demand for the additional service offerings, Nagel expects to add 20 to 25 employees to the 250 already there. Machens employs about 1,100 across all eight dealerships. Machens also plans to expand inventory at the Ford campus in Columbia. They recently hired a manager to focus on building the local presence of the Lincoln brand in particular.

“Lincoln does fairly well,” Nagel says, “but it has new products coming that we’re excited about,” including a new Continental.

Machens is also expanding its truck service department and recently hired additional technicians with diesel truck experience to service larger fleet vehicles.

The Ford and Lincoln store in Jefferson City is also undergoing an expansion, including a remodeled showroom and renovation to the service area. A quick-repair area is also being added there, similar to the one on Bernadette, focusing on tires, batteries, oil changes, and the like. The Columbia Ford campus is next in line for a major renovation, most likely in the next two or three years, Nagel says.

While the uptick in hiring points, in part, to the service expansion, it’s also a matter of course in an industry with high turnover, Nagel says.

“About 20 percent float in and out, so we’re always in the need for sales [staff],” he says.

Machens will also continue to build on its strong online presence, which is supported by 10 to 12 salespeople dedicated to internet sales.

In October, the Ford and Lincoln store alone had more than 520 leads, with duplicates and other bad leads screened out.

“We love it,” Nagel says. “When they come to the store, they already have an idea about options, packages, pricing. It streamlines the process immensely.”

Over at Kia, they’re a little more than halfway through a complete remodel of the sales space and an addition to the service reception area.

Kellar anticipates completion in December and has a grand opening planned for March.

In 2017 and beyond, he hopes to “increase our market share and at some point look at expanding into other franchises.”

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 51

Dave Armstrong and Dan Burks

University Subaru doesn’t have any immediate plans for expansion, although they do plan to hire one more salesperson and add some technicians to the current combined staff of 40.

Armstrong says sales have been somewhat reined in due to a lack of Subaru inventory nationwide, but the maker has plans to increase production by 18 percent in 2017.

“In a month where we sell 70, it’s because we have 70 cars,” he says. “More production and inventory will help in 2017.”

The dealership has plenty of room on its property on I-70 Drive SW to expand if and when the time comes, but, for now, it’s business as usual.

“We’re the Steady Eddies in this business and keep doing the same thing year after year,” Armstrong says. “Everything’s going just fine.”

TOTAL SALES DATA (NEW AND USED VEHICLES) Missouri Department of Revenue 2015 total sales numbers for the year 2016 sales numbers as of 11/4/16

UNIVERSITY SUBARU 2015: 1,609 | 2016: 1,191

KIA OF COLUMBIA 2015: 406 | 2016: 1,232

MERCEDES-BENZ OF COLUMBIA 2015: 1,080 | 2016: 826

Model Trends Considering the influx of SUVs and crossovers on the road today, it probably comes as no surprise that sedans are losing ground to small SUVs and light- to mid-size trucks. According to industry tracker Autodata, Ford car sales dropped 20.7 percent in September, while the popular Honda Accord went down 19 percent and Toyota Camry was off 11 percent. Local dealers are also seeing evidence of that trend.

“It’s true, and it has a lot to do with gas prices,” Armstrong says. Subaru’s Forester and Outback models fall into the crossover SUV category. “They’re a lot more appealing when gas is $2 a gallon rather than $4.”

At Kia of Columbia, Kellar said they’re seeing consistent growth in all model segments, but they’re especially seeing success with the new Sportage, a compact crossover SUV in the same category as the Ford Escape, Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V. For McCosh, managing four brands under one roof offers some diversity of product. Chevrolet is the largest volume franchise, accounting for 65 percent of business; GMC and Buick combine for 30 percent, and Cadillac fills the rest. McCosh says they’ve increased pre-owned inventory in response to demand.

Gary Drewing says they’re also seeing the SUV trend play out in Columbia.

“A lot of people that used to drive traditional four-door sedans are looking at crossover vehicles and SUVs,” he says. “They’re hot right now, and people love them.”

Drewing has also seen a widening of the market for luxury cars, as their SUV and crossover models have helped bridge the affordability gap.

52 DECEMBER 2016

BMW OF COLUMBIA 2015: 1,142 | 2016: 829

BOB MCCOSH CHEVROLET BUICK GMC CADILLAC 2015: 3,650 | 2016: 2,766

JOE MACHENS DEALERSHIPS Joe Machens Automotive Group (Mazda/Mitsubishi/Fiat) 2015: 2,810 | 2016: 1,961

Ford/Lincoln 2015: 9,442 | 2016: 7,226

Hyundai 2015: 2,849 | 2016: 2,012

Nissan 2015: 4,032 | 2016: 3,209

Toyota-Scion 2015: 5,522 | 2016: 3,154

Volkswagen 2015: 3,062 | 2016: 2,168

Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram 2015: 3,426 | 2016: 2,562

COLUMBIA HONDA 2015: 2,470 | 2016: 2,754

Gary and Rusty Drewing

“People have the perception that luxury vehicles are very expensive, which some of them are,” he says. “But we have a lot of crossovers and SUVs that compete with your domestic products and that people can afford.”

Nagel agrees there’s been a sizable shift away from sedans in recent years.

“Our car sales are up, but there is definitely an increase in SUV interest and sales, as well as trucks in our market,” he says.

Local Draw

Chris and Dan Kellar

Columbia has a lot of factors in its favor for a strong auto business, including MU and Columbia and Stephens colleges, and a relatively stable economy. With the ease of online comparison, mid-Missouri car dealers are competing with those in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield.

“You get a little more shopping that goes on because the majority of people will get on the internet, and that allows you to look at vehicles all over,” Gary Drewing says. But he also thinks local dealers still have an advantage — people prefer to buy from local businesses where they have relationships or can build them. Buying from a dealer where you can also get service is another draw, he says.

McCosh says they compete with dealerships in a 100-mile radius every day. He often gets questions about expanding into more franchises and taking on new projects.

His barometer for making those decisions remains the same.

“As long as we can deliver the ‘wow’ moments and people can enjoy interacting with us, as long as we’re setting the bar with our people and delivering what customers want, as long as we can continue to drive that, the sky’s the limit,” McCosh says.

University Subaru has benefited from local roots and long-standing connections as well.

“I think it helps that we’re local guys,” Armstrong says. “People like that. They see us at the grocery store and out at lunch — we’re part of the community.”

“I’ve said, many times,” Drewing says, “that Columbia is not only a great place to live, it’s a great place to be in the automobile business.”

And when it comes to buying a car, McCosh says, it isn’t always about price: “Local business can’t always be about just price, whether it’s a grocery store, whether it’s clothing, whether it’s any product that people use every day. If everything we do is just about price, then local businesses won’t be able to employ people.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 53

54 DECEMBER 2016

L CAL

LEADERSHIP During a transitional year, local leadership thrives at Joe Machens Dealerships

BY BR E NNA MCDE R MOTT

COLUMBIA HONDA GENERAL MANAGER Danny Hammack, 32, has sold nearly every make of car out there. Ford, Honda, Dodge, Chrysler. You name it, he’s sold it.

“It’s good to be at Honda,” Hammack says.

A Columbia native, Hammack has also worked for many Columbia auto institutions: Frank Fletcher, the Drewings’ Joe Machens, and the Joe Machens Dealerships under the McLarty Automotive Group umbrella. McLarty, out of Little Rock, purchased Columbia Honda, formerly Fletcher Honda, in early 2015 and the Machens automotive group, with the exception of Mercedes-Benz and BMW, in late 2015.

Like many on the Machens leadership team, Hammack is a local guy running a local dealership.

“I think that there’s a common misconception that it’s aloof owners from a different state, and it couldn’t be further from the truth,” Hammack says. “The operators of the stores are local people who live in the market. The players are still the same inside each of the stores.”

The caliber of the local Joe Machens team made the transition an easy one, says McLarty CEO Charles Oglesby.

“The reputation of the Machens group and the Drewings — taking care of customers, taking care of employees — it’s a wonderful foundation for us,” Oglesby says. “We know that what we first analyzed and thought and saw here was the

truth. Great company, great people, and great brands, great facilities, just a great foundation.”

TRANSITIONS With any change of ownership, it’s natural for employees (and, in the case of such a large employer in Columbia, the entire community) to have concerns when looking forward. Many Machens employees viewed the Drewings as family.

“I think that this year they have gotten to know who this organization is, and what we believe is that we’ve created that feeling of safety,” Oglesby says. “That it’s okay.”

Steve Nagel, executive manager for McLarty Automotive Group’s Joe Machens Ford Lincoln in Columbia and Jefferson City, says that, after a year of transition, the local Machens team now feels comfortable under the McLarty umbrella.

“Words are cheap,” Nagel says. “You gotta prove it. We showed it to them, more than anything else.”

McLarty’s director of human resources Krista Swenson is creating new programs to help enhance the experience of the approximately 1,100 McLarty employees in Jefferson City and Columbia. They’re implementing a new HR system with self-service options like printing off pay stubs and managing insurance. They’re offering new internship and

training programs in technical and managerial fields. They’re recruiting strategically with local tech schools and colleges (Columbia College, MACC, and Lin State Technical College, to name a few) to attract the best and brightest.

Swenson says they’ll offer a rotational program for management opportunities – a program to learn every facet of the industry, from sales to finance to accounting.

“We have a great story to tell, and I don’t think a lot of people understand that the career paths that are available to them within these organizations are vast,” Swenson says.

“Depending on what you’re interested in doing, we likely have something that you could do here and grow, stay in your community, and have a great career here.”

Machens hosted a job fair November 17 and interviewed about 60 people — Swenson estimates they’ll hire 20 to 25 of them.

WHATEVER THE MARKETPLACE HOLDS Hammack says the leadership team’s focus is continuing to be a market leader and focusing on customer service. “We continue to be an aggressive operator that wants to provide the best deal in the state of Missouri and beyond,” he says. “We’ve continued to grow this company in a challenging automotive environment.”

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 55

INNOVATING WITH MAG·MA

Joe Machens Dealerships director of marketing Michele Cropp created mag·ma (McLarty Automotive Group Marketing Agency) in 2016.

Machens already had in-house marketing services, but Cropp led the transformation to an in-house marketing agency, a group that would represent all of the McLarty dealerships’ needs, from media buying to

In 2015, Automotive News named Joe Machens Dealerships No. 82 of the 150 dealership groups in the U.S., with 38,669 units sold and a group revenue topping $881 million. Their 2013 ranking was 83.

“It’s our goal to increase our market share,” says Bob Jacaway, executive manager over five of the Machens stores. But there isn’t much that can be done when the market wanes, except to make sure your market share doesn’t decline as much as that of your competitors.”

When the market slows, Jacaway says, it’s important to remember that car sales are just a part of the dealership, which also includes services like body shops. In 2017, a new quick-lane service department will open up at the Machens Ford campus that will service all makes and models.

Ultimately, Oglesby says, the current market is what it is – all you can do is recognize it and attempt to gain more of the market share.

“The market is big enough that, whoever our competitors are, we want to do the best we can do, but we want them to do the best they can do,” Oglesby says. “The market is big enough. The better they do, the better we’re going to do. It’s a positive opportunity for everybody.”

production to coordination.

Mag·ma offers marketing

HONDA THRIVES

services, including in-house

Since the inevitable initial anxiety of ownership changes, Hammack says there’s been a calm under McLarty ownership. McLarty allows him autonomy as a store operator, backing him with support and data.

“But there’s not a playbook and they’re not there to quarterback me, which is really, really refreshing,” Hammack says, “because it doesn’t stamp out my creativity.”

Nor his knowledge and experience in the market. And that’s definitely a good thing.

Columbia Honda is a bright spot in a stagnant vehicle market across mid-Missouri.

According to the Missouri Department of Revenue reports, as of November 4, Columbia Honda had sold 2,754 new and used vehicles, surpassing the entire 2015 sales number of 2,470 with two months left to report.

Hammack’s goal? To become the No. 1 Honda dealership in Missouri.

In 2015, five Honda dealerships sold more vehicles than Columbia Honda: three in St. Louis and two in Kansas City. As of reporting through November 4, only three have sold more vehicles in 2016: Jay Wolfe Honda, in Kansas City; Mungenast St. Louis Honda;

video, blogging, and more. They’ve doubled the marketing team to accommodate this switch in mentalities, and while Cropp says they are not yet large enough to accommodate all the McLarty dealerships, they do work with all the Machens dealerships in Columbia and Jefferson City. It’s not a new concept, but certainly a rare one, Cropp says, as many dealership groups aren’t large enough to warrant all-encompassing in-house marketing. But mag·ma has plenty of room to grow and this system is more efficient for everyone in a dealership group of their size.

56 DECEMBER 2016

CHANGE OF HANDS Confused about the goings on of the Machens brand in the last few years? Here’s a quick guide to keep everything straight.

and Bommarito Honda, in Hazelwood.

Columbia Honda was the only dealership of the top four to have already surpassed its 2015 sales number by November 2016.

Hammack knows the model to make his goal a reality: he saw it first-hand as GM of the Joe Machens Ford Lincoln dealership under the management of the Drewings. That Ford dealership has been No. 1 in Missouri for 19 years running. So how does it beat out dealerships in Kansas City and St. Louis?

“The shiny floors and the pretty buildings don’t sell the cars,” Hammack says. “It’s the people inside the dealership and the relationships that they have taking care of customers. Being able to see that implemented over at Ford and then trying to bring some of that magic back is what we’re trying to do at this store.”

He’s always looking for a competitive edge — what’s going to make the customer experience better, what’s going to lead to more trust and more business?

Embracing new philosophies. Transparency. Honesty. Helping the customer make an educated decision. Calling out, as he calls it, “the gorilla in the room”: that people often don’t really enjoy the car-buying experience.

“We just know we’re on the precipice of trying to provide a different experience,” Hammack says.

It’s working at Honda. They’ve added more staff in every department at the dealership and are solving growth-related problems — the inevitable problems that arise when you double business every month.

The Drewing family sold the Joe Machens Dealerships to McLarty Automotive Group in late 2015.

But the Drewings maintained two dealerships, now named Mercedes-Benz of Columbia and BMW of Columbia.

McLarty had already acquired Fletcher Honda, now called Columbia Honda, in early 2015.

Hammack says having the McLarty leadership empowers him to run his own ship: to explore his ideas and have free rein.

“I’m confident enough in where we’re at that I’m not scared to make a mistake,” Hammack says. “I don’t want to make a mistake — I strive for excellence in everything I do — but I know that if we try something and it doesn’t work, it’s not going to be the end of my career with them.”

McLarty relies on GMs for market feedback and for input. They allow operators to make decisions.

But Hammack felt autonomy with the Drewings, too, so it was scary to go into a new situation with little information. “Who are these guys, where do they come from?” he remembers thinking. “Are they going to throw a playbook at me that is completely counter to what we know is successful in this market? But that didn’t happen.”

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT Oglesby says one of McLarty’s main challenges was to retain Machens’ reputation in the community — as stewards of one of Columbia’s largest employers and contributors to local causes.

“Whenever I am in the market, I’ve been able to meet with a lot of community leaders and other people as well,” Oglesby says. “They’ve been excited about us being here and have really opened up what we expected as open arms. I’m still experiencing that today, which tells me that what we’re doing is still working.”

Michele Cropp, director of marketing at Machens, says this year Machens has given more than $250,000 to charities and community events in mid-Missouri.

To mirror that dedication, Swenson says, in 2017 Machens will provide some matching dollars for employees to put towards community programs and nonprofits of their choosing.

“The goal was to take all the great things about what was here, not just operationally, but culturally, and continue with those things and make them better,” Swenson says.

Most of the leadership team has Columbia ties. Nagel is from the area and moved back in 2015 when McLarty purchased Columbia Honda. Originally from St. Louis, Jerry Patterson, general manager at Joe Machens Toyota Scion, is new to Columbia, and recently purchased a house here. “They didn’t know who we were,” Patterson says. “We had big shoes to fill, and we’re trying to do the best we can to fill them.”

Oglesby is quick to shine a light on the Columbia-based leadership team as the faces of the organization.

“If there were any misconceptions about us, it would be that we’re from the outside,” Oglesby says. “But you see that we are really local people. Even though I don’t live here, our organization does. They’re in the community, we give to the community, and we support the community. So we really are a blend of this environment.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 57

Flight P 58 DECEMBER 2016

Plan

After a half-year full of new

activity and change, Columbia Regional Airport collects

itself for long-term growth.

THE EARLIEST A NEW TERMINAL will open at Columbia Regional Airport is 2020. Four years or so, assuming everything goes according to plan.

That’s after $10 million in lodging tax revenue trickles in, after the airport makes its promised (and paid for) runway improvements, after the City’s economic development department coaxes the state and the Federal Aviation Administration for matching funds. After more planning, approval, construction. After more waiting in, and with, the current terminal.

This can be a jarring timeline to consider given the momentum that COU has quickly built up over the second half of 2016. In early August, the city passed a one percent increase in the lodging tax by a tidy margin — two to one — to help fund the new terminal. Shortly after, they hired a new airport manager who came with high praise from her predecessor, longtime airport employee Don Elliot. The City met with the FAA about future project funding. They moved the airport from the domain of public works to the Department of Economic Development, signaling their bigger plans for the facility. They dissolved the airport advisory board, restructuring the group to include more economic development stakeholders. Stacey Button, the city’s director of economic development,

BY M AT T PATSTO N PHOTO GRAPHY BY ANT HO NY J I NSO N

gave a report to members of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce touting record passenger numbers in November. It all moved fast.

But 2020 (or later) isn’t particularly jarring when you consider how far the airport has had to come in the last decade, and how far it still needs to go. “The airport almost was shut down in 2008,” City Manager Mike Matthes says. “In fact, there were two or three months where it was dark. There were no flights, or no commercial flights.” The city staved off closure by cutting a deal with Northwest Airlines for a nonstop flight to Memphis; after Northwest was absorbed by Delta, they added nonstop service to Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport.

It was a strange time — the middle of a recession — to be growing in air service. The airline industry had already been in decline, but the economic downturn proved especially challenging. After the City heard Delta was cutting its relationships with smaller airports, they began shopping COU around to other carriers, eventually reaching an agreement with American Airlines for service to Chicago and Dallas–Fort Worth. For a few weeks, it looked like COU would have access to four hubs; it would have been a remarkably fast ascension for the airport, which, again, nearly closed four years earlier.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 59

But Delta took offense to the City’s offer of a $3 million revenue guarantee to American, which it found out about through media reports. Matthes says communication between the city and Delta was never good, and that Delta was on its way out anyway, but adding a competing airline hastened their exit.

Delta’s departure was a setback, but the City responded strongly. They brought in more passengers, filled up bigger planes, organized improvement projects, hired a planning consultant, and did everything they could to flood the airport with enough demand to prove that it was ready to grow.

That brings us to today. A $38 million terminal to build, and all eyes on COU.

MAKING SPACE The current terminal was built in the mid-’60s, and it looks the part: quaint, dark-bricked, boxy.

The main terminal area is dominated by security screening equipment, which pushes nearly to the main entrance, with skinny corridors on either side (one holds the line for rental cars; the other has a modest snack bar, a recent addition).

The passenger holding area is a trailer the airport bought from Columbia Public Schools, who used it as an overflow classroom. The hallway that leads past ticketing to baggage claim has a short ceiling mostly covered by fluorescent lights. The walls are decorated with welcome posters that seem — whether due to the posters themselves or the setting they’re in — dated.

The airport stands mostly by itself on land outside of Ashland, the result of a compromise between Columbia and Jefferson City, who, in the early ’60s, were comparably sized and both wanted to be the site of mid-Missouri’s airport. For a long time, the airport worked great.

A smallish airport for smallish towns, with a good-enough terminal and runways to support the general aviation traffic and small passenger planes that used it.

But in the early 2000s, the airport, like many other vestiges of Columbia’s small town heritage, chafed against the city’s rapid growth. The airport seemed fitting for a town for 60,000. It seemed out-of-place in a city of 100,000.

Matt Jenne, co-owner of Addison’s and Sophia’s restaurants, has been fascinated with Columbia’s airport since childhood. Before going into the restaurant business, he graduated from MU with a degree in civil engineering, and he nearly decided to become an airline pilot. As he opened his businesses and the city grew, COU made less and less sense to him.

60 DECEMBER 2016

“I think my opinion was pretty much like everyone else’s: it wasn’t going the way we wanted it to go,” Jenne says. “I specifically felt, because of the changing landscape of the airline industry, going to St. Louis and Kansas City for a short flight on a puddle jumper didn’t suit our needs, and that’s what we were doing at the time. . . . we still had some holdovers where we were flying these prop planes from Columbia to St. Louis, and I can tell you it didn’t make any sense as a consumer.”

Jenne, who was a longtime member of the airport advisory board before its dissolution this fall, had a close view of the supply–demand discord that led to the airport nearly closing in 2008.

Because the region had changed so much and so quickly, COU faced a catch-22: the airport would need to be improved before people could use it effectively, but people needed to use it before the city could justify making improvements.

“I felt like we needed to figure out a way to get nonstop service to a major hub,” Jenne says. “That was my goal with joining the airport board, and, believe me, it was shared by everyone on the board.”

The city, led by John Glascock, director of public works, set about recruiting legitimate commercial air service to COU, and they found it in Northwest, later to become Delta — all while keeping the long term goal in mind. “Yes, the terminal is old and undersized,” Matthes says, “but we shouldn’t build a new terminal if the service isn’t there. And now we’re, what, six times the volume? And we can’t take in anymore volume.

We literally have people parking in the grass. So we have to build a new terminal.”

In 2015, City management and the city council began making plans for COU’s next phase. Led by former mayor and ardent airport ambassador Bob McDavid, the City generated support for a new terminal. They just had to find the best way to get the money. The City issued a public survey to gauge their chances of success on a preferred option, one that had been discussed in 2012: raising the city’s lodging tax by one percent and dedicating the revenue to airport improvement.

The survey results looked good for the City — 67 percent of respondents said they’d vote for the tax.

NO PLAN, NO TAX “I know a lot of people who you’ll hear say, ‘Perception is reality when you get into politics,’” Matthes says. “So you can say the sky is purple polka dots, but, in this city government, no it isn’t. There’s a knowable fact about that, and we make decisions based on facts.”

Columbia’s city government is nominally apolitical: even elected council members can’t run on a political party. Still, the airport lodging tax vote became a marquee political event this summer, thanks to vociferous opposition from the Columbia Hospitality Association, a group representing the city’s hoteliers.

Glyn Laverick, CHA president and owner of The Tiger Hotel, criticized the City for not being sufficiently transparent about the business plan for the new terminal.

“I probably spend two to two-and-a-half months a year on the road, traveling to hotels and different airports,” Laverick says. “As a passenger, Columbia Regional is not much different than a lot of small community airports. The real difference in Columbia is the price of tickets and then the destinations offered, and that’s the problem as a passenger. I’ve always found it easy to go through security — and sure, it’s not a great building. And part of that is: do you need to replace the whole terminal? Probably not. Do you need a better holding area than a double-wide that used to be a classroom? Probably you do. But is the cost of that $40 million or $3 million?”

The CHA campaigned heavily against the tax.

They made up lawn signs reading, “No Plan, No Tax,” and they created a TV ad and a website, noplannotax.com, to voice their concerns. The Missouri Hotel and Lodging Association also sent a stern letter to City staff and elected officials asserting that Columbia “has likely misused funds that were required to be used narrowly for tourism promotion, but instead, have been diverted to an airport infrastructure project.”

The CHA questioned why the city would collect $10 million from the hotel tax without ensuring they could cover the rest of the cost of the terminal. FAA funding was a particular concern, since the City will be relying on an FAA grant to cover about half the cost of the project.

Airport representatives repeatedly said the FAA would only help with funding if Columbia could show it was serious about getting revenue for the project — and passing the tax would do that. Matthes and Button both cite the airport’s work with the FAA on the current runway improvement projects as a sign of good faith between the two organizations.

“You heard the rhetoric — no plan, no tax.

Well we had enough plans to choke a pig,” Matthes says. “The master plan was three inches thick. So our response is always, ‘What plan do you want? You want the floor plan, there it is. You want the artist renderings, there they are. You want the master plan, there that is. And we’re

always in a planning process — we’re in this planning process with the FAA to fund the terminal — but we’ve been talking about this for decades.”

The City released a point-by-point response to the CHA’s questions, and, just before the election, the City-backed PAC supporting the tax, the Foundation for Columbia’s Future, filed an ethics complaint about the CHA’s expenditures. Voters didn’t appear to be affected by the back-and-forth — the tax passed with almost the exact margin that the City’s survey predicted it would. There are also conflicting reports about how many of the town’s hoteliers were really in opposition. Dave Parmley, owner of The Broadway hotel, which hosted an election party for tax supporters, was quoted in the Columbia Daily Tribune saying that opposition came from a small group. Laverick says all but one hotel owner — Parmley, presumably — was either against the tax or neutral about it.

Laverick also says the CHA couldn’t get a meeting with the City until just before the election, and he says members of the CHA felt uncomfortable about their place in the town’s business community, which

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 61

AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD: OLD AND NEW

largely supported the tax. Matthes says the City will be inclusive with hoteliers as the terminal A quick look at some of the changes to the City’s Airport Advisory Board develops, saying, “We’re going to work pretty closely with them as we progress and keep them in the loop so they feel like they know what’s going on.”

Old Board New Board Laverick has yet to feel invited: “I don’t think [the relationship] has changed dramatically.

Total members: 13 12 Gary Ward [MU’s vice chancellor of operations and member of the Foundation for Columbia’s Voting members: 11 9 Future] was gracious enough to set up a couple meetings with the city manager, and there was a lot of productive conversation, but there was no follow up. And that’s disheartening, but I don’t Previous voting member Designated seats eliminated: think it was unexpected.” requisites: registered voter, Ashland appointee, The CHA levied perhaps the heaviest critiinterested and familiar Fulton appointee cism of the City’s lack of transparency about with aviation the airport, but not the only one. Some critDesignated seats added: icized how the city handled its relationship New voting member requisites: Columbia Chamber of with Delta, although no critic was louder than One representative from the Commerce appointee, Delta. The City was also cagey when, in November, the recently hired airport manager, Tamara aviation industry, one from the Convention and Visitors Bureau Pitts, unexpectedly resigned. (The City said hotel or motel industry, one appointee, airport manager they didn’t release details at Pitts’ request.) The from an educational institution, representative City also rankled some by dissolving the existone from a major employer, one ing advisory board in favor of a new one. Ashland citizen-at-large interested in mayor Gene Rhorer, who had a seat on the old aviation and travel. board, says: “It wasn’t a really neighborly thing to do. Doesn’t instill future good feelings.”

All these minor controversies could be chalked up to how the airport’s role in the comMURR a wider reach for the isotopes, which have short munity has changed in the last decade — how it has gone to being half-lives. The airport has also been an important factor in a competent, if limited, public works project to a key piece of the the city’s nascent medical tourism exploration — people City’s economic development plan, a more outward-facing role. would be more likely to come to Columbia for health care And while the city may be apolitical, a little political tact in that if they could fly right in, the logic goes. Expansion would transition wouldn’t hurt. likely reap benefits in smaller mid-Missouri communities, like Ashland, which has been annexing land near the MOVING PEOPLE airport, anticipating future travel-related development. “I The City’s hiring of Button, who oversaw Flagstaff, Arizona’s airdon’t see it as anything but positive,” Rhorer, the Ashland port in her previous job leading that city’s economic vitality mayor, says about the airport. department, has invigorated the airport’s pivot to economic devel“When visitors come to a community, air transportaopment. As Matthes says: “We’ve got Stacey Button in economic tion is one of the modes to get there,” Button says. “And development now. She knows more about airports than I ever will, visitors get there, they fall in love with it, they become so why waste the opportunity when you have that talent?” residents. And as they become residents, they bring their Button says she didn’t take her job because of the airport — businesses there, and those businesses bring visitors to it was still a public works operation when she was hired — but the community. It’s this full circle.” she’s certainly embraced it. “It’s exciting!” she says. “And that’s Matthes says the move to economic development — probably cliché, to say that talking about airports is exciting, but I and the shuffling of the advisory board to include more love talking about airports. I bleed jet fuel.” economic development stakeholders — is about shifted Economic studies have shown a positive correlation between perspectives. “We didn’t build an airport for the purairport activity and economic growth, though the cause-and-efpose of running an airport,” he says. “There’s a reason you fect relationship isn’t entirely clear. Business recruitment probbuild an airport, and it’s economic development. It’s an ably plays a role, since companies like to invest in places they can investment in the business activity in the community.” access easily. In Columbia specifically, the airport has been linked Button praises the job that public works has done in to the medical isotopes produced at the MU Research Reactor.

Having a nearby airport with more service options would give bringing the airport back from the dead and for starting 62 DECEMBER 2016

the capital improvements projects that will lead up to the new terminal. The City’s focus is now on two tracks: securing the rest of the funding for the terminal and expanding air service. Button feels confident in both, given the sustained support the airport has enjoyed both from the people who use it and from the people who hope to use it someday. “I think they’ve found value in flying out of COU and the convenience and the ease, and that really sets the stage for opportunities to grow the airport and [ justify] how they value it in the future,” she says.

When the new terminal is built, it will have four gates.

It will have jetways. It won’t have trailers. It will be a pleasant, modern shape: a gently arched roof swooping up and then down over a wall of glass on the front of the building. It will stand a little bit taller among the hills and open fields and trees on the land around Ashland. It will have longer runways for bigger planes, hopefully going more places. The interior will be airy, but sparse — dignified. One of the artist’s renderings includes a small tree near the front glass. There will be plenty of room for waiting passengers. It will be accommodating for people with disabilities. “It is going to be, I would say, a very Missouri terminal,” Matthes says.

“Utilitarian. We’re going to put a little bit into aesthetics, but it won’t be much. The key is to make it useful.”

Button says the greatest challenge for the City moving forward is managing expectations: reminding people that expanding the airport is a long process, and a complex one.

But eventually, the airport will catch up to the city that built it, and people will be waiting.

“This community has rallied behind that airport,” Button says, “and they support it by flying, they supported it through the passage of Prop 1, and they support it through engagement. A day doesn’t go by — an hour doesn’t go by — where there’s not a question about the airport.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 63

64 DECEMBER 2016

Destination Co l u m b i a ex p lores what i t woul d t a ke to b e co m e a l ea der in medi c a l touri sm.

BY DAV ID M OR R ISON

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 65

Oh, and MU Health Care (which includes the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center and the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute, home to the BioJoint Center), Boone Hospital Center, and the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital.

Rochester, a place with a less than ideal climate and not much of a tourism hook, became an internationally renowned locus of medical treatment and research.

At the end of August, Columbia Mayor Brian Treece convened a nine-member task force on medical tourism to delve into a simple question: Could Columbia be Rochester?

“We think we’re all sitting on a little bit of a gold mine,” says Guy Collier, an attorney specializing in nonprofit hospitals and health systems and chair of the mayor’s task force.

“We’re sitting on just an abundance of health care services and health care providers.”

FOLLOWING THE LEADERS ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA IS A CITY of about 112,000 people, about 90 miles southeast of Minneapolis, where the average high temperature sits at 42 degrees or below for five months of the year. It is home to the University of Minnesota-Rochester, and home to one of the largest IBM facilities in the country.

Oh, and also the Mayo Clinic, which only employs more than 36,000 people, brings more than two million people a year to the community, and boasts an annual economic impact of $9.6 billion in the state, according to a 2010 study.

In 1986, the Mayo Clinic, Rochester Methodist Hospital, and Saint Mary’s Hospital combined their services under one governing body. Since 1980, Rochester’s population has nearly doubled, growing by 94 percent and running laps around the population growth rate for the state of Minnesota as a whole (35 percent). “Basically, Rochester is Mayo,” says Dr. James Cook, director of operations at the Mizzou BioJoint Center. “It has created tons of jobs there and tons of income from travel.”

Columbia is a city of about 120,000 people, about 120 miles from both St. Louis and Kansas City, where the average high temperature dips below 53 only three months out of the year. It is home to the University of Missouri-Columbia and sizable Shelter Insurance and State Farm operations.

66 DECEMBER 2016

In the early stages, the medical tourism task force has been studying how other locations have made medical tourism work and what Columbia needs in order to follow suit.

That means looking at Mayo, the Cleveland Clinic, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, as well as places with large universities and sizable medical campuses such as Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Madison, Wisconsin; Iowa City, Iowa; Gainesville, Florida; and Lawrence, Kansas.

Yes, Kansas.

“You’ll notice it on our nightly news — we get the University of Kansas trying to lure people there to do surgeries. Right in our backyard,” says Dave Parmley, task force member and owner of Chesterfield Hotels, which runs The Broadway hotel and the Columbia Hampton Inn & Suites. “You’re not trying to create a new industry in town, like we’re going to get into the widget business all of a sudden. We’re refining and honing this and branding and marketing it.”

Rochester itself is in the midst of a new round of consolidation, construction, and innovation on the medical tourism front, in the form of a 20-year, $6.5 billion project with the Mayo Clinic and the city’s other providers at the center, which it hopes will add around 40,000 jobs to the community. Columbia would be wise to follow suit, Boone Hospital’s Brian Whorley says.

“In 10 or 15 years, there’s a demographic wave coming behind us, a silver tsunami

of folks who are going to need health care regionally,” Whorley says. “We know that the older folks use health care more than when they were younger. Health care is a vibrant and vital part of our local economy.

Anything we can do to improve how health care works in Columbia and make it known in Missouri and beyond Missouri’s borders is going to help our health care here and be a good thing for our region going forward.”

By itself, MU Health had an economic impact of $2.4 billion in 2011, according to a self-study. But apart from a few exceptions — an article on the BioJoint Center in the January 2016 issue of Delta Airlines’ SKY magazine being a notable one — Columbia’s health care providers allocate the bulk of their marketing efforts regionally. At the beginning at least, the City’s focus will be on making Columbia what MU Health CEO Mitch Wasden refers to as a “hub” for patients in the Midwest, not simply a “spoke” feeding into a larger city.

But task force members are already thinking about a national profile, which they think is within reach. After all, in Rochester the city built up around Mayo; Columbia is already established.

“We’re looking at a vibrant community, being a key part of it and marketing that,” says Kate Pitzer, task force member and in-house legal counsel for Boone Hospital.

“We’re setting ourselves up to be sort of a unique area where people can come, get the services they need, and live a reasonable lifestyle at a reasonable cost.”

COORDINATING THE PROVIDERS Treece won part of the battle before the task force even convened for its first meeting. The mayor, who referred comment for this story to task force members, managed to convince representatives from MU Health, Boone Hospital, Columbia Orthopaedic Group, the BioJoint Center, Ellis Fischel, and the VA hospital to take seats on the committee.

Some collaborators, some competitors.

All, now, committed to turning Columbia into a destination medical center.

“There was some concern about one provider being promoted more than another, but, so far, it’s been very collaborative,” Pitzer says. “And the idea is really to promote the community.”

"THERE WAS SOME CONCERN ABOUT ONE PROVIDER BEING PROMOTED MORE THAN ANOTHER, BUT, SO FAR, IT’S BEEN VERY COLLABORATIVE AND THE IDEA IS REALLY TO PROMOTE THE COMMUNITY." - KATE PITZER COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 67

On their own, each of the major players has something valuable to offer. Boone Hospital serves a 26-county area and, Pitzer says, has earned a reputation of quality health care at an affordable price. It also has name recognition by, for now, being affiliated with BJC HealthCare, of St. Louis. The VA Hospital serves more than 38,000 veterans and draws mainly from 43 counties in Missouri and Pike County, Illinois and was, until recently, the only VA Hospital in a four-state area to offer open-heart surgery. MU Health houses both Ellis Fischel, which is the state-designated cancer center and has earned certification from the world-renowned MD Anderson, and the BioJoint Center, which has drawn patients from as far away as Japan and Brazil.

There is some overlap in services. There are some competing interests at play. Yet all the stakeholders realize that coming together serves a greater purpose than controlling their own fiefdoms.

“I’ve seen a lot of ebb and flow of those relationships,” says L. Stephen Gaither, public affairs officer at the VA hospital. “Historically, we’ve benefited a great deal from services we’ve received from both the university and Boone. There is a sense of working together. But it still comes down to individual facilities making sure they pay attention to the bottom line and continue to survive. I think that the potential is there. It’s going to take a lot of hard work.”

Gaither says that, even if the spirit of cooperation is a given, the logistics of transferring services between providers sometimes bogs down the quality of health care a community can provide. Mayo, he says, is a thoroughly integrated lifeform. For Columbia to duplicate that system, or at least custom fit it to this city, the health care providers would have to get in lockstep when it comes to operations such as referrals, billing, and insurance.

“Becoming a destination medical community is not an event. It’s a process,” Wasden says. “Today, we stand up a few programs and start to see patients coming in. What happens is it kind of builds. Success breeds success. Part of what we want to try to do is make it so once you build two or three reputable programs, there’s almost this cascade that makes it easier to get the next program.”

Cook, from the BioJoint Center, recently came back from a trip to Thailand in which he observed how the Bumrungrad Interna68 DECEMBER 2016

tional Hospital coordinated its 45-hospital system. He noticed the premium they put on ease of access: how someone was there to meet patients as soon as they stepped off the plane to take them to their hotels or whichever hospital they were heading for, which, in turn, had separate check-in centers for patients of different nationalities.

Cook couldn’t take notes fast enough.

or nine last-minute reservations in one night for unexpected hospital stays.

“You don’t want to drive clear across town,” Parmley says. “You want to be close, able to get back quick if you need to.”

For as much time and energy as the task force devotes to enhancing and marketing Columbia’s medical services to a wider geographic scope, it also has to consider the

LOCAL BUSINESS

“It’s got to be easy and you’ve got to hold their hand every step of the way,” Cook says.

“It’s just like, ‘How can we make this easy and comfortable so you’re comfortable?’ Any medical thing is not a comfortable situation.”

COORDINATING THE COMMUNITY Parmley has gained an appreciation for the difficulties that families can face when one of their loved ones has to check into the hospital for an overnight visit. His Columbia Hampton Inn & Suites is just across Stadium Boulevard from the VA Hospital and only about a half-mile from the MU Health campus. He says the hotel sometimes gets eight

city’s infrastructure needs if it is going to accommodate a new stream of visitors.

Megan McConachie, strategic communications manager at the Convention and Visitors Bureau, says her organization has been anticipating this sort of push for a while now. With the mayor on board and a working group assigned, the CVB is eager to do what they can to make it a reality.

“A lot of the foundation is already in place.

Each of our medical facilities has a way they already approach this to help place people who are from out of town and try to make their time here easier,” McConachie says. “What we want to do is make that a little bit more cohesive and really exchange ideas and find out how the

CVB can get involved, because there are definitely ways we can capitalize and expand on what they’re already offering.”

The infrastructure component breaks down into three main categories: getting to Columbia, finding a place to stay, and getting around once you get here. Right now, Columbia Regional Airport offers two daily round-trip flights to Dallas and Chicago. Any potential patients who couldn’t make those flights would have fly into St. Louis or Kansas City, then make the two-hour trip down the highway. With the August passage of Proposition 1, raising the city’s lodging tax to fund improvements at COU, the hope is for a new airport terminal to encourage more flights to come into Columbia and make it easier for out-of-town patients to get here.

But regardless of airport improvements in Columbia, Cook says Columbia’s medical community could benefit from a system like he saw in Thailand, with representatives ready to meet patients and accompany them to their final destinations as soon as they step off the plane, no matter where the flight is landing.

“You don’t want to make them do four, five connections. A check-in place at St. Louis or Kansas City and a specific shuttle service would be really helpful if they couldn’t get into Columbia,” Cook says.

“Right when they get off the plane, as soon as they have a choice of where to go, they’re identified so they can go to the right place.”

Kevin Staveley-O’Carroll, Ellis Fischel director and a task force member, is already investing in a program of “nurse navigators” who serve as a support structure for patients from diagnosis onward. It’s their job to lend emotional guidance to patients, but also practical guidance in coordinating trips between their local health care provider and Columbia, where they have to undergo their more involved procedures.

It’s fully integrated care to go along with the set programs for nutrition, palliative care, and physical therapy that will serve as part of each patient’s regimen — the sort of thing that Columbia could make commonplace as a medical destination.

“Once you say we want to be a destination and start working together as a team, you make sure you’re offering comprehensive services in a seamless, well-navigated process,” Staveley-O’Carroll says.

“We want to set up the navigators working

in a seamless way with the local hotel owners to bring the patients in from all over the state and beyond for their procedures and clinical trials. Of all the things we’re doing, that’s one of the most important things that fits in this collaboration with the city.”

Parmley and Vivek Puri, vice president and general counsel for the Hilton Garden Inn and Holiday Inn Express, form the hospitality component of the task force. Guy Collier says he envisions the city’s hotels collaborating on a “central repository” for online booking of rooms that lets potential patients know what’s available at different price points. Again, that would be competitors working together, but Collier says it hasn’t been an issue for the hotels. He and McConachie both see expansions of bus service and shuttles between the airport, hotels, and hospitals as key points to consider.

“Once you get people coming to Columbia, we’ve got to make it userfriendly,” Collier says. “The worst thing would be if all our services bring people in and they have a lousy experience with lodging and transportation.”

There’s no set timeframe on the task force’s recommendations; Collier expects the information-gathering phase of the project to run through the first quarter of next year. After that, it’s up to the civic leaders to decide whether Columbia has a legitimate shot at expanding its medical tourism draw and determine what steps the city needs to take.

Cook feels like all the pieces are there.

He’s had a knee surgery patient from Poland coming in for a procedure. Some Polish members of the Columbia community pitched in to communicate with the patient and brought her comfort food to help make her stay as positive as it could be. Her boyfriend even flew in to propose to her. “We said she had to come back for her anniversary,” Cook says.

With health care, hospitality, and government leaders all pulling in the same direction, Cook thinks that’s an experience Columbia can duplicate many times over.

“I hope the community doesn’t see it as medical people trying to make more money.

It really is about enhancing the whole community,” Cook says. “I hope people don’t try to look for some underlying goal, because the goal is to enhance everybody.” CBT

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COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 69

THE

COLUMBIA OF THE FUTURE After three years of Columbia Chamber of Commerce leadership visits, community leaders are ready to take action.

BY JE N N IFE R T R U E SDA LE

70 DECEMBER 2016

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 71

O

n the surface, you might not think that three cities in such geographically diverse states as Tennessee, Florida, and Colorado would have much in common with each other, let alone with Columbia. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find that these four cities — Knoxville, Gainesville, Fort Collins, and Columbia — share similar community makeup, values, goals for community growth, and challenges in meeting those goals.

In 2013, the Columbia Chamber of Commerce explored the idea of convening leadership visits to cities like Columbia that could provide a model for what Columbia education, commerce, tourism, and transportation could aspire to in coming years. The chamber came away with a model after visiting Lexington, Kentucky, whose chamber first championed such a program 77 years ago.

The chamber then launched a pilot leadership visit program, taking its delegation of chamber members from all facets of education, business, city government, civil services, and the nonprofit sector on three-day October visits to Knoxville in 2014, Gainesville in 2015, and Fort Collins in 2016.

“Our board of directors decided this would be a value-added program and would position the chamber as a convener for idea-sharing among various entities,” says Jolyn Sattizahn, vice president of community affairs for the chamber, who coordinates the trips.

“The board initially gave us a three-year trial of the program. [2016] was our third year, and they recently approved to make it a permanent program in our scope of work. It's good to see we’re headed in the right direction.”

Sattizahn says the trips, which are open to all chamber members, are about getting the right mix of community leaders together who might not normally collaborate in addressing local issues. “Our goal is to have a diverse mix of decision-makers at the table who can take action on some of the items learned,” says Sattizahn.

With the 2016 Fort Collins trip taking a delegation of 58, attendance on the trips has grown each year, as has their popularity for helping leaders network, collaborate, and strategize together.

With three leadership visits under their belts, these well-traveled community leaders are now ready to take what they’ve learned from the model cities and put their ideas into motion to benefit Columbia.

72 DECEMBER 2016

TOURISM For Amy Schneider, director of the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau, attending all three trips with an eye on tourism has been eye-opening.

“I make it a priority to attend this trip because of the relationships that are formed, and because I get to see a [different] community from my perspective,” Schneider says.

She toured a hotel and conference center located directly on the University of Tennessee campus during the Knoxville trip, and she saw the positive results of public-private partnership on tourism in Fort Collins.

Schneider also noticed that where Columbia tourism attracts people to stay and play in Columbia for the duration of their trip, Fort Collins takes a different approach.

“Fort Collins focuses on having people spend the night in Fort Collins and then sends them to other communities to do whitewater rafting and hiking,” she says. “They have a very vibrant downtown. They have lots for people to do during the nighttime, and then they send them out during the day.”

The Fort Collins experience also gave her a greater appreciation for Columbia’s Department of Parks and Recreation, which she says

KE Y TAKE AWAYS from the 2016 Fort Collins trip to initiate in Columbia

• Create a “futures committee” to anticipate and plan for Columbia’s needs 15 to 30 years from now

• Explore transportation solutions and rapid bus transit

• Replicate the Fix North I-25 Business Alliance to address issues impacting I-70

• Advocate for state laws that allow for the one-to-one transfer of college credit earned in public high schools to Missouri public undergraduate programs

“Fort Collins seems to have a lot of money that we don't have to put toward quality of life,” says Schneider. “If they need something, they just tax it and the city passes it. There's a lot of money that goes to the arts.”

Schneider, along with the rest of the delegation, toured the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, a science and culture museum partly run by the city, as a successful example of public-private collaboration. Voters passed a tax package in 2005 to help fund the museum.

boasts a more collaborative partnership with the CVB than their Fort Collins counterparts.

“I came away appreciating our parks and recreation department so much more because they work so well with the Convention and Visitors Bureau,” she says. “I knew we had a great relationship, but this confirmed it.”

Schneider also thinks a larger regional airport, like the ones that allowed the delegation to fly directly into Knoxville and Gainesville, is good for tourism, including medical tourism.

In August 2016, Mayor Brian Treece introduced a task force on medical tourism to determine Columbia’s capacity to be a health care destination, offering an opportunity for competing health providers to collaborate in boosting Columbia’s economy.

“At the university’s research reactor, they are making these breakthrough isotopes [for treatments], and they're flying them out every day,” she says.

“Wouldn't it be great if we could fly people in instead?”

TRANSPORTATION

Cly de Ruffin and Susan Har t

ville!

es to Gain ip r T 2015 mber's

ha The C

Transportation is an issue for which Columbia consistently seeks innovative strategies, including public bus transit and, most recently, expanding Columbia Regional Airport. Eric Morrison, senior vice president and Columbia market president of Providence Bank, went on all three leadership visits and was inspired by the transportation solutions each city had created.

Morrison shares Schneider’s sentiments that a larger regional airport could help the city grow. He says that while the Knoxville regional airport was well-developed, the more modest Gainesville counterpart offered a better model for Columbia and spurred the conversation to expand Columbia’s airport with the addition of a new terminal.

“We started to have some discussion about what it looks like to get a new terminal going,” says Morrison. “What are the finances behind it? What can we realistically do?”

In August, Columbia voters passed a one percent increase in the hotel tax, from four to five percent, to help fund improvements to the regional airport, including an additional terminal, which is in the planning stages.

Morrison was also struck by the Fort Collins public bus system. Facing downtown traffic concerns similar to Columbia’s, Fort Collins responded with a rapid transit system called the MAX Bus. “It’s mass transit on rubber wheels. It's like a subway, but it's a bus,” explains Morrison. “It has 12 stops on a dedicated lane, and it moves an incredible amount of people. It's been very successful.”

Morrison also thought that Fort Collins’ statewide leadership efforts to improve Interstate 25, a major artery for tourism and commerce, could provide an innovative model for Columbia to take on necessary upgrades to I-70.

The Fix North I-25 Business Alliance is an advocacy group of various businesses and industries that raises funds to improve I-25 rather than relying on state or federal appropriations.

“Fort Collins took the lead statewide on getting appropriations for making upgrades to I-25,” says Morrison. “There is no viable fix for I-70, but there's a model for us to follow.”

POLICE AND CRIME

Ian T homas ,

Rust y Strod and N tman, ancy Traylo r

For Toni Messina, civic relations officer for the City of Columbia, Fort Collins was her first leadership visit. She attended a community policing and crime panel led by Fort Collins Police Lt. Jeremy Yonce. Fort Collins has a large police force, around half of which is dedicated to community outreach; the city’s crime rate hit an all time low in 2015.

“It appears that, because FCPD has more staff and perhaps more resources, they're able to allow more of their officers to have outreach time, as opposed to what we do locally: six officers assigned to neighborhoods and the rest regularly responding to calls,” says Messina.

Messina notes that while the Columbia Outreach Unit is considerably smaller than Fort Collins’, the work of those six officers is effective and important.

“In my opinion, our COU officers are not only police but neighborhood connectors and advocates,” she says. “These officers are continuing, reliable presences in the neighborhoods.”

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 73

Columbia, Missouri

Fort Collins, Colorado

Gainesville, Florida

Knoxville, Tennessee

2 015

2 01 5

2 01 4 - 2 01 5

2013-2014

Population

1 1 9,1 08

1 61 ,1 75

1 28 , 4 6 0

183 ,270

Median age

26.6

29. 3

25

34

55.9%

51.6%

4 3 . 2%

3 0. 2 %

3. 9 %

3.4%

5%

7.7%

Median household income

$ 4 3,7 76

$ 53 ,775

$ 3 2, 492

$3 2 ,191

Median housing price

$ 1 7 1 ,9 00

$ 253 , 20 0

$ 1 9 0,0 0 0

$147,3 05

Sales tax

7. 975 %

Bachelor's degree + Unemployment

2011

Like in Columbia, FCPD has community events where officers go into neighborhoods to better connect with the residents they serve.

And just as CPD partners with university police to help patrol campus, FCPD and Colorado State University police also collaborate.

FCPD also stands out as the first force in Colorado to make body cameras mandatory and utilizes Nextdoor, a neighborhood-based social networking app, to connect police districts and to help inform residents of suspicious activity.

Yonce noted that morale on the force is high.

Messina says she gained a lot from the trip beyond what she learned about the Fort Collins police department. For her, it was also about networking and finding new ways to be engaged in her community back home in Columbia.

“If you want to expand your network or universe, if you want to discover new allies, partners, and friends, if you want to deepen your local understanding and touch your community in new ways, take the next trip,” she says.

74 DECEMBER 2016

7. 4 %

BRINGING IT BACK HOME About a month after the October 2016 trip to Fort Collins, 27 members of the delegation reconvened to discuss their top takeaways and to strategize an action plan to be implemented by community members. There was much to discuss, too, as K-12 education, affordable housing, and the university’s role in the city’s marketplace were highlighted on all three leadership visits as well.

The group agreed on several key takeaways from the Fort Collins trip that they hope to advance as a group of now well-connected community members. Among those takeaways are considering an interstate improvement alliance; assessing the ability to apply Fort Collins mass transit principles to Columbia; and creating a standing “futures committee” whose task is to anticipate Columbia’s needs 15 to 30 years down the road. And they look forward to the

6.9%

9. 2 5%

October 2017 trip, whose destination will be announced in January.

“There’s a huge amount of professional and personal trust that comes out of these visits,” says Morrison. “So when we go to follow up on these things, it's not 30 strangers in a room — it's people who you know much better and have a little more appreciation for.

It lends itself to much more collaborative decision making.”

Schneider agrees with Morrison that the value of the leadership visits goes far beyond what is learned on those three short days away from Columbia.

“Each trip has brought community members together, and I think that's a really important part that can’t be overlooked,” says Schneider. “All of these people from different sectors come together, and they realize that everybody has the same goal, and that's to make Columbia the best place to live, work, and play.” CBT

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

who is and does. We have so many local companies and services available in Columbia who know how to do this: SCORE, the Small Business and Technology Development Centers, and many consultants for hire. If you’re just getting started, the Missouri Women’s Business Center holds a six-week entrepreneurship class, LaunchU, directed towards guiding you through your business plan. Friedrichs explains: “A business plan is basically your strategic plan. It gives you something to refer back to when making decisions and benchmark performance against.” If you’re a DIY person, read a book — “The E-Myth” is a great one — or just Google it! Marketing is momentum helping you go where you plan to end up. It’s not a road map on how to get there.

M ARKET I NG

Five Problems Marketing Can’t Fix

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

IT’S THE PLANNING TIME OF YEAR. Which, for me, means RFPs and lots of conversations with organizations and businesses attempting to change. Some people have their ducks in a row: they know who they are and where they’re going and have a strategy in place to get there. Others are looking for a solution from me that I can’t provide.

Some businesses think marketing is the fix for all their problems, but many issues go far deeper. A lot of companies combine business consulting and marketing, but the process always starts with consulting. And no consultant worth their salt would throw a marketing Band-Aid at a problem that marketing can’t fix.

Here are five examples:

1. Wishy-washy competitive advantage. Wishy-washy language frequently comes from new businesses, my pie in the sky-ers and those who’ve been around for a long time but haven’t taken an honest look at what’s kept them going. They tell me, “we’re just better.”

Unfortunately, that’s not actually an advantage — it’s the outcome of an advantage. If you haven’t dug deep enough to discover what makes you better, how can you expect a mar76 DECEMBER 2016

M AR KET I N G

keter to represent you? Jaime Friedrichs, director of the Missouri Women's Business Center, says: “Your business is not about what you want to do. It’s about solving your customer’s needs.

Work to reframe your business idea through that lens.”

Look to yourself for what you do well, learn to articulate it, and know why you do it that way.

2. Poor sales process. Marketing drives business, but the sales process is your closer.

The best marketing in the world can’t close a sale. Undereducated sales representatives, ones that love to hear their own voice, super smart sales reps talking down to prospects, or lazy employees who don’t want to interact with clients are a staffing and management problem — not a marketing problem. Cultivating leads for a sales crew who can’t field the opportunities doesn’t help your bottom line, and it ruins the positive reputation you currently have.

3. Lack of vision. Marketing is not a pinch hitter for lack of vision. Start with strategic planning and goal setting, and then build a marketing plan to match it. If you’re not good at it or don’t know where to start, work with someone

4. Inability to change. Just like my kids love their blankets unconditionally, some people love their logos unconditionally, no matter how frayed or worn down they are. I’m not suggesting you change your logo just to change your logo, and a full rebrand is a whole other can of worms. I’m suggesting, as a business or organization, it’s your responsibility to take an adult look at what you’re holding on to with an emotional attachment that could be holding you back. Jumping on Facebook isn’t going to reach the millennial audience you seek, but shedding your outdated beliefs about interacting with your customers just might. Doing it “just because it’s always been done that way” isn’t a good enough reason. You need a reason fueling the why — reasons you can back up with your values and vision.

5. Cultural bankruptcy. People who work in a bad culture know what I’m talking about.

Your officemates, your boss, even work itself can become your energy vampires, sucking the life out of you. There are many prescriptions for cultural problems within a company. None of them are quick, they’re not easy, and they’re certainly not included in your marketing plan.

If you or your employees don’t believe in what you do and don’t have a passion for your jobs and respect for one another, it’s poison. Poison seeps out into your work and damages your business reputation in a way marketing can’t fix. Culture is healed from within, and you can dress it up in fancy marketing clothes, but any ugliness still shines through. Fix your culture first, and then move on to your marketing message and all the benefits it can hold. CBT

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

ASK AN N E

Q

A SK A N N E

Insuring Essential Employees

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

Q I have an employee who has been with my company a long time. She is one of the most important assets I have. If something happened to her, the business would be in big trouble — perhaps, even, big enough trouble to close down. Is there a way to protect the business if this key person passes away?

• The company purchases a life insurance policy on the key employee and pays all the premiums. The company is the beneficiary.

• If the employee dies, the cash benefit will help cover the expense of hiring a replacement and cover any other expenses needed to keep the business running smoothly.

• In the worst case scenario — when the business must close — the cash makes it possible to pay debt, severance to employees, and possibly cash to shareholders.

All owners should make plans to protect their business. Companies generally have some sort of insurance that covers the hard assets of the company but rarely have one covering the key players of the business. The key player in a business might be the owner or a person with special skills, or anyone else who is highly instrumental in your success.

Key person insurance, often referred to as “key man insurance,” is a life insurance policy on a key employee. It is meant to protect a company from collapsing when something horrific happens, like a death. Here’s how it works:

Key person insurance is especially a good idea when the success of the business is dependent on one or two employees. It gives your creditors and shareholders peace of mind knowing that the business will be able to continue operating if the key person is not there. Knowledgeable customers may also feel assured that you’re in business for the long haul. The insurance payout is generally free of federal income tax, so you know ahead of time exactly what you’ll have to work with if something happens. Last but not least, if the key person does not pass away but decides to retire, the company may opt to give her or him the cash surrender value of the policy. Now that’s a perk they wouldn’t expect!

My company is doing some hiring, and I’ve had a few people call to schedule interviews.

I asked one if he could come in Wednesday.

He said he would check with his friend about getting a ride and call back. I asked if he was going to be able to get to work every day if he did not have reliable transportation, and he said, “I’ll get there one way or another.”

It keeps running through my mind that I would be setting this guy up to fail if I hire him when I know he has spotty or unreliable transportation. His shift is a night shift, so no public transportation will be available. Is it legal for me to deny someone employment based on them not having reliable transportation?

States have different laws, but, from my understanding, in most states you cannot discriminate against someone based on how they will be getting to work. Do you know how everyone else in your company gets to work? I don’t.

What is legal, however, is to have requirements that employees report to work on time, regardless of the location or the shift they work.

This person may not be someone I would be thrilled to interview or hire based on his response of having to check with someone on getting to a meeting. When job hunting, people should know when they are available, when transportation is available, and when they can start a new job. It would have been fine for this person to say: “I am not available Wednesday, but I could come in on Thursday or Friday. Does that work for you?” He would then have time to make arrangements, and you wouldn’t know he didn’t have transportation.

A step you might consider in the future is to write your job application question with some explanation. In your case, you might say: “This job requires employees to work from midnight to 7:30 a.m. in a location not served by public transportation (six miles outside of city limits).

Lack of attendance and tardiness are grounds for termination. Do you have reliable transportation?” Use a yes or no check box and you’ll have that answer on record. CBT Anne Williams is not an attorney. All content in this column is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality and is not to be construed as legal advice.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 77

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

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

When others admit mistakes, put the past in the past rather than hold a grudge.

Thank the person for taking responsibility and work with him or her to move forward.

High performing leaders control their minds when their minds want them to dwell on negative people and events. Dwelling is an energy drainer and a waste of time. Leaders who can authentically forgive and move on build more trust and get better results.

When your professional relationship with another person is weakened, ask how you’ve contributed to the situation before

ORGA N I Z AT IONAL H E ALTH

Avoiding the Plateau Trap

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

blaming the other person. It's always a little sad when relationships end, and typically both parties had some part to play in it. When you proactively examine your own role in the situation, sometimes you can be the bigger person and save what may be a very valuable relationship down the road. You gain nothing by putting all the blame on the other person.

When a situation gets tense, assert yourself appropriately. Do not avoid conflict

AS 2016 COMES TO A CLOSE, OUR thoughts turn to a new year approaching. My holiday hope for you is that 2016 was one of your best performance years: you hit the majority of your goals and you made new strides. If that’s the case for you, you have to watch out for one of the biggest traps leaders fall into: the plateau trap. If you’ve been a leader for very long, I’m sure you have experienced it.

Hitting a plateau is a perfectly natural phenomenon that occurs in many different forms and in all phases of our lives. But landing on a plateau doesn’t have to mean failure — we can see it as a new challenge. Peaking can be an opportunity to renew ourselves, increase our learning, practice self-acceptance, reaffirm our values, and take a run at an enduring and lasting kind of success.

When we hit plateaus in our work or life, we are encountering resistance or blockage, often coming in the form of conflict, between the stage we are currently in and the stage where we would like to be. This could be a promotion, a pay raise, or some other form of growth we desire. We start looking for paths that will lead us to the next stage. But those paths leading beyond the plateau are typically long, sometimes rocky, with no quick gratification, so instead we start taking paths of least resistance. The smart, high per78 DECEMBER 2016

forming leaders challenge themselves and hit resistance head-on.

Here are some suggestions you might consider for managing resistance and avoiding a plateau in 2017: If you don't have your intended impact when communicating with someone, try another approach before assuming the other person is flawed. Great leaders challenge themselves in every way possible. They understand that most of their time is going to be spent in people issues and relationship building. Continuing to challenge yourself on your communication methods will keep your skills sharp. Don't get caught in the trap of trying to communicate with everyone in the same way. Relentlessly search for the method that works best.

In times of conflict, take responsibility for your actions before asking the other person to take responsibility for his or her actions.

Resist the urge to attack or blame others.

When situations get tense or emotional, we get caught in fight mode rather than flight mode.

Having the emotional control to back out of situations and examine your own responsibility for the conflict is a real strength in a leader.

to protect the relationship. Deception can be the path of least resistance when two people have a conflict or disagree. You tell yourself it takes less energy and effort than facing the issues and risking a weakened relationship.

The problem is that every time you stuff that emotion down, it will keep building until you will, at some point, have to let it out. It usually isn't pretty, and it usually stops growth. Catch conflicts in the early stages and resolve them quickly before they escalate. Be diplomatic with the other person, but never lie or deceive.

When people do not meet your expectations, apply pressure to the expectation and make sure the pressure matches the situation. Separating performance from the person can be very difficult for many leaders.

Frankly, it’s just too easy to become a persecutor of the person. You have to stay out of that trap and make sure to hold your standards and expectations high. Challenge the person to meet the standards and expectations. Assume the best of a person and, at the same time, be honest and transparent about the performance — then both the employee and your company will be free to grow.

Happy holidays to you, and here's to an even better 2017! CBT

Office Retail Restaurant Starr Properties

Old HawtHOrne Plaza

n Ow l easing

573-447-2414 | office@starrproperties.com

We k now m id - MO.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 79

80 DECEMBER 2016

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 COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 81

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82 DECEMBER 2016

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

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

New Business Licenses DECEMBER 2016

Gold Leaf

Elite Spa

Dirt Cheap

Therapeutic Massage

1307 Grand Ave.

3305 Clark Ln.

510 E. Green Meadows Rd.

Massage spa

Liquor store

FEATURED LISTING

Massage therapy Honey Darling

Providence Home

Massage by Serena

Company

Care LLC

1512 W. Business Loop 70

1707 Trellis Ln.

203 N. Providence Rd.

Massage therapy

Online T-shirt apparel

Non-medical home care

Ashley Joy

LifeAlchemy

Photography

Massage Therapy

5330 Godas Cir.

510 E. Green Meadows Rd.

Photography —

Massage therapy office

Bear Creek Housing Development

1109 Elleta Blvd.

Property management

weddings, portraits, etc.

Downtown Dogs Lisa Hine Consulting

23 S. Eighth St.

604 Upland Creek Rd.

Mobile food vendor

Consulting Tennyson Art Falafel Café

Needlework

2300 Bernadette Dr.

3605 Grant Ct.

Restaurant

Needlepoint canvasses and supplies

PRICE REDUCED TO $570,000

Midwest Clearance Centers

1812 Vandiver Dr. Mattress sales

Patriot Place

Hwy 63 & Stadium Columbia, MO 65201

Price: Type: Acreage: Price:

$570,000 Land 1.25 $10.47/SF

Ideal highway retail location, large factory nearby employing thousands. Holiday Inn Express has 121 rooms. Close proximity to Domain Student Housing with an average of 680 students. All utilities available to the site.

Apartments

2112 E. Business Loop 70 Property management

Barred Owl Butcher and Table

Who’s Next

47 E. Broadway

Photo Booth

Marco Technologies

Retail butcher shop,

805 Park De Ville Pl.

2515 Bernadette Dr.

restaurant, bar

Photo booth rental

Tech sales and services

Chinese Massage

America’s Mattress

Crossfit Fringe

601 E. Business Loop 70

1413 Grindstone Plaza Dr.

901 N. Old 63

Massage therapy

Bedding retail

Fitness CBT

GINA RENDE

314-477-4462 gina@malyrealty.com

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 83

A little green Betz Jewelers bag under the tree this holiday season is sure to delight. Select the perfect gift from a wide range of styles and price points. We’ll even gift wrap your choices for free! Come see us today.

6 01 E. B ro a d way, S u ite 3 03 , Co l u m b i a • B e t z J ewe l e r s.co m • 573 - 4 49 -1070

84 DECEMBER 2016

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

Deeds of Trust WORTH MORE THAN $640,000

$16,572,000

$1,147,500

$718,190

MO Azzurri LLC Wells Fargo Bank LT 1 Sterling University Plat No 1

Eagle Plaza LLC Providence Bank LT 325 Columbia

COMO Rentals LLC Hawthorn Bank LT 256 El Chaparral Plat 5

$1,043,284

$682,500

Pompie LLC The Callaway Bank LT 1-A Colonies Plat 1-A The

BCKP LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT 11 Nifong Village Plat 3

$873,000

$680,000

Drake Maupin LLC & Vineyards Columbia LLC FCS Financial STR 16-49-11 /NE/NW SUR BK/PG: 1284/41 AC 33.01 FF PT Tract 1/ TR 1 SUR 4604-124

Bridgeman, Jay T & Pauline Midwest Bankcentre LT 4B Bearfield Valley Plat No 2

$2,606,000

Nursery Heights Development Group LLC Hawthorn Bank STR 9-47-13 /SW/SW SUR BK/PG: 1777/268 AC 25.07 FF Tract 2A $2,562,750

Columbia South Real Estate LLC The Callaway Bank LT 2C Village of Cherry Hill Plat 3 The

$860,000

Orscheln Properties CO LLC Hawthorn Bank LT 9 Keene Estates Plat 4

Boone County Equipment LLC Mid America Bank LT 201 BOCOMO Industrial Park Plat 1

$1,432,500

$835,000

Millard Family Investments LLC The Central Trust Bank LT 14 PT FF JA Stewarts Sub

Nextech LLC First State Community Bank LT 6 Eastport Plat 1

$1,450,000

$1,400,000

Douglas, Craig Allen Heritage State Bank STR 23-50-14 //N FF W/ Exceptions

$825,000

$1,297,040

$800,000

Larson, Russell & Lucinda; Stewart, Doug & Anne Quad City Bank & Trust Co LT 83 PT Mikel Sub

On the 9th LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT D1 On the Ninth at Old Hawthorne Plat No 1

HWGA Rentals LLC Smithton, Clifford R Trust LT 18 Weymeyer Sub #2

$1,200,000

SCMO Development Group LLC Centennial Bank LT 1 PT Broadway Marketplace – Plat 2

$675,000

Sterchi, Ronald G & Theresa C The Missouri Bank II STR 7-48-12 SW/NE/ SUR BK/ PG: 335/605 $662,095

Smarr, Merle N JR & Charlotte Hawthorn Bank STR 5-48-12//S $660,000

Brown Station and Paris Road SIZE

+/- 25.29 Acres PUD-12 +/- 15.4 Acres C-P

ZONING

Commercial and PUD-12

PRICE

$0.59 per sq ft for PUD-12 Ground $1.94 per sq ft for C-P Ground Ground available in North Columbia.

Property offers close proximity to local schools, major employers and Highway 63. Property can be divided and is priced to sell.

MD Storage of Columbia LLC Commerce Bank LT 4 BL 1 Shalimar Gardens $640,315

Rental Solution LLC Hawthorn Bank LT 1 Off Broadway Sub PL 1 $640,000

63/70 LLC First State Community Bank LT 1 Off Broadway Sub Pl CBT

$788,000

Zerrer, Jason & Lana Landmark Bank LT 23 PT Westwood Add

FEATURED LISTING

617 deeds of trust were issued between 10/03 and 10/28.

MEL ZELENAK

573-999-3131 mel@malyrealty.com

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 85

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

Member SIPC

Economic Index

Mark Richardson, CFP® Financial Advisor

LABOR

Value of commercial building

September 2016 -

permits: $14,561,782

Columbia

Commercial additions and

Labor force: 69,834

alterations: 8

Employment: 67,522

Value of commercial

Unemployment: 2,312

additions and alterations:

Rate: 3.3 percent

$4,300,004

September 2016 –

HOUSING

Boone County

Labor force: 103,202 Employment: 99,707 Unemployment: 3,495

Change doesn’t

always have to be hard.

Sometimes it’s smart.

Rate: 3.4 percent September 2016 – Missouri

Labor force: 3,152,310 Employment: 3,005,215 Unemployment: 147,095

Single-family homes sales: 156 Single-family active listings on market: 663 Single-family homes average sold price: $220,159 Single-family home median sold price: $256,867 Single-family homes average days on market: 49 Single-family pending listings on market: 126

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.

Rate: 4.7 percent

Labor force: 159,636,000

October 2016: 48,854

Your personal needs and preferences are always at the center of our relationship.

Employment: 151,977,000

October 2015: 47,936

Unemployment: 7,658,000

Change #: 918

Rate: 4.8 percent

Change %: 1.915 percent

September 2016 – United States

UTILITIES Water

Number of customers

CONSTRUCTION:

receiving service on

September 2016

November 1, 2016: 48,522

Residential building

Mark Richardson ,CFP® 2415 Carter Ln Suite #104 Columbia, MO 65201 573.442.1276 mark.richardson@edwardjones.com 86 DECEMBER 2016

permits: 94

Electric

Value of residential building

October 2016: 49,405

permits: $16,855,011

October 2015: 48,479

Detached single-family

Change #: 926

homes: 68

Change %: 1.91 percent

Value of detached single-

Number of customers

family homes: $14,884,742

receiving service on

Commercial building

November 1, 2016:

permits: 17

48,992 CBT

FEATURED LISTING PRICE REDUCED

2010 Chapel Plaza Ct Columbia, MO 65203

Price: Type: Zoning: SQ FT:

$15/SF Retail C-P 1,500-4,032

Rent is currently $15 per sq ft on NNN basis. Landlord will contribute up to $15/SF Tenant Improvement Allowance for a 5+ year term. Prime location in South Columbia with high traffic counts for increasing exposure.

Signage available on front of suite as well as on South Forum Blvd. Ample electrical output, parking, 2 large utility rooms and 2 ADA restrooms. Landlord will divide for smaller footprint.

GINA RENDE

314-477-4462 gina@malyrealty.com

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 87

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

BY T H E N U M BER S

CBT'S AWESO M E YE A R I N R E V I EW

7

21%

New Business Times Company staff members we’ve added in 2016

20 UNDER 40 NOMINATIONS 2015

2 016

150 301 Number of times we’ve used By the Numbers to pat ourselves on the back.

88 DECEMBER 2016

growth in web traffic

157%

growth in newsletter subscribers

544

TOP OF THE TOWN 2016

new likes on Facebook

79,065

516,225

total votes cast

impressions on Twitter

ADVERTISER INDEX 43TC............................................................................................................................ 6 ACCOUNTING PLUS................................................................................. 45 & 91 AFFINITY OFFICE FURNITURE......................................................................24 ANNABELLE EVENTS & RENTALS...............................................................24 ANTHONY JINSON PHOTOGRAPHY............................................................15 BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES............................................... 10 BETZ JEWELERS................................................................................................ 84 CARPET ONE.........................................................................................................39 CENTRAL TRUST COMPANY............................................................................ 5 CHIMAERIC..............................................................................................................12 CHRISTIAN CHAPEL ACADEMY....................................................................57 CITY OF COLUMBIA WATER & LIGHT........................................................... 8 COLUMBIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.................................................... 20 EDWARD JONES................................................................................................. 86 FULL RIDE SPORTS COMPLEX......................................................................75 GFI DIGITAL............................................................................................................. 9 GREAT CIRCLE.................................................................................................... 46 H&P CONSULTANTS............................................................................................16 HAWTHORN BANK.............................................................................................92 JENNING'S PREMIUM MEATS.........................................................................82 JOBFINDERS.........................................................................................................87 JOE MACHENS FORD/LINCOLN....................................................................17 JOE MACHENS LINCOLN...................................................................................4 JOE MACHENS NISSAN....................................................................................28 JOE MACHENS TOYOTA.................................................................................. 80

JOHNSTON PAINT & DECORATING DIRECT............................................75 LANDMARK BANK................................................................................................ 2 LES BOURGEIOS...................................................................................................13 MALY COMMERCIAL REALTY....................................................... 83, 85 & 87 MASSAGE ENVY...................................................................................................89 MAYECREATE WEB DESIGN............................................................................18 MIDWEST COMPUTECH....................................................................................39 MISSOURI ORTHOPAEDIC INSTITUTE.......................................................... 3 MORESOURCE INC............................................................................................... 7 NATHAN JONES LAW....................................................................................... 69 NAUGHT NAUGHT INSURANCE AGENCY.................................................87 SOCKET...................................................................................................................22 STANGE LAW FIRM............................................................................................ 84 STARR PROPERTIES...........................................................................................79 STATE FARM INSURANCE - STEPHANIE WILMSMEYER.....................82 STUDIO HOME..................................................................................................... 40 TAMI R BENUS, CPA.......................................................................................... 44 TIGER SCHOLARSHIP FUND............................................................................14 TONY RICHARDS.................................................................................................79 WEICHERT REALTY: DENISE PAYNE...........................................................22 WILLIAMS KEEPERS.......................................................................................... 43 WILSON'S FITNESS..............................................................................................11 WOMEN'S NETWORK........................................................................................39 WORKING SPACES.............................................................................................82

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 89

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Stewart Road/Stewart Bridge STORY A N D P HOTOG R A P HY BY G R AC E VA NC E

THE STEWART ROAD BRIDGE WAS BUILT in 1920. The bridge, at the time called Stewart Bridge, crossed Flat Branch Creek and the MKT Railroad. During a time when racial segregation was prominent in Columbia, the steel and concrete structure connected a white, middle-class neighborhood that could use electricity, gas, and water to the MU campus, just beyond the southernmost part of Columbia’s black community that often did not have those commodities.

In 1923, a white 14-year-old named Regina Almstedt, daughter of MU German professor Hermann Almstedt, was assaulted by an African American man near Stewart Bridge. Regina Almstedt identified James Scott, a janitor at the MU School of Medicine and a respected member of the city’s black community, as her attacker. Despite details from her testimony that didn’t support Scott’s guilt, he was still charged with rape.

While Scott was in jail, a mob consisting of over a thousand university students and Columbia residents broke into the jail and took Scott from his cell. They then proceeded to drag him to the site of the alleged crime.

Despite the objections of Hermann Almstedt and the case’s prosecuting attorney, and despite Scott’s continued pleas of innocence, the mob hanged him. No members of the mob were convicted of the crime.

In the past decade, Scott’s death has received increased attention — so much so that individuals like Scott Wilson, a Columbia filmmaker, and the Boone County medical examiner’s office successfully got state officials to amend the official cause of death on Scott’s death certificate in November 2010. The cause of death is now listed as “asphyxia due to hanging by lynching by assailants,” and the phrase “committed rape” has been changed to read, “never tried or convicted of rape.”

Other groups, such as MU’s Association of Black Graduate and Professional Students, have used Scott’s lynching as a way to highlight race relations in the community today and to commemorate those who suffered discrimination. In Fall 2016, the community memorialized Scott with a historical marker close to the site of the lynching.

Today, Stewart Bridge is gone, along with the railroad tracks that ran underneath it.

Where the bridge used to be is now Stewart Road, near the MKT trail entrance and Flat Branch Creek. A culvert underneath the road still harbors some pieces of the concrete bridge supports. CBT

Stewart Bridge/ Stewart Road and Providence Road Postcard from Boone County Historical Society

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

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