Inside Columbia's CEO Fall 2010

THE SPEED OF LIGHT Columbia Companies Get Connected To Fiber-optic Projects p42 A SPECTATOR’S GUIDE To The best seats In The stadium

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WHAT WE HEARD IN THE LUNCHROOM education leaders Talk about Technical Innovations, Tight budgets and The Things That Keep Them awake at night p21

Selling The

University

University Of Missouri President Gary Forsee Leads A Statewide Team Toward A Hopeful Future

CONTENTS

Inside Columbia’s CEO • www.ColumbiaCEO.com • Volume 2, Issue 1

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Opening Bell: The Buzz On CoMo Biz

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The Columbia/Boone County Economic Index

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Picture From The Past

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Inside The Office Of Williams-Keepers The CEO Roundtable: Mid-Missouri Education Leaders Meet Jim Chapdelaine, IBM’s New Service Center Director Mizzou’s Ingolf Gruen Is Making Good Ice Cream That’s Good For You The (Tax) Districts Of Columbia

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Back To School: Higher Education In Columbia

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Gary Forsee Brings Business Acumen To The University Of Missouri

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Tie One On: An Easy-To-Follow Guide For The Neckwear Impaired

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A Fashionable Forecast: Autumn Color

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Tips For Collecting Sports Memorabilia

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A Spectator’s Guide To Sports In Missouri

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Networking

Regional News Round-Up

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Publisher’s Note

The Speed Of Light: MidMissouri Gets Plugged In To Fiber-Optic Projects

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Closing Quotes

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INSIdE COLUmBIa’S CEO

STaff Publisher Fred Parry fred@insidecolumbia.net

MEET OUR EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Associate Publisher Melody Parry melody@insidecolumbia.net Editor-in-Chief Sandy Selby sandy@insidecolumbia.net

TOM ATKINS Chairman and CEO, Atkins Companies

Copy Editor Kathy Casteel kathy@insidecolumbia.net Editorial Assistant Jessica Perkins jessica@insidecolumbia.net Photo Editor L.G. Patterson Design Consultant Katie S. Brooks

GARY DREWING President, Joe Machens Dealerships

RANDY COIL President, Coil Construction

GARY FORSEE President, University of Missouri System

BOB GERDING Partner, Gerding, Korte & Chitwood CPAs

Creative Director Carolyn Preul design@insidecolumbia.net Graphic Designer Katharine Ley katharine@insidecolumbia.net Digital and New Media Projects Designer Jill Hamilton jill@insidecolumbia.net

PAUL LAND Vice President, Plaza Real Estate Services

BYRON HILL President & CEO, ABC Laboratories

DIANNE LYNCH President, Stephens College

GEORGE PFENENGER President & CEO, Socket

Director of Marketing & Business Development Bill Bales bill@insidecolumbia.net Director of Sponsorship Development & Retention Anne Churchill anne@insidecolumbia.net Director of Sales Linda Cleveland linda@insidecolumbia.net

BOB PUGH CEO, MBS Textbook Exchange

MIKE STALOCH Vice President of Operations, State Farm Insurance

GREG STEINHOFF Executive Vice President of Business Development, Boone County National Bank

JERRY TAYLOR President, MFA Oil Co.

Marketing Representatives Gerri Shelton gerri@insidecolumbia.net Ken Brodersen ken@insidecolumbia.net Kyle Gross kyle@insidecolumbia.net Business Development Specialist Quinn Leon quinn@insidecolumbia.net

Please Recycle This Magazine.

Inside Columbia’s CEO magazine 301 W. Broadway • Columbia, MO 65203 • Office: 573-442-1430 • Web: www.ColumbiaCEO.com Inside Columbia’s CEO is published quarterly by OutFront Communications LLC, 301 W. Broadway, Columbia, Mo. 65203, 573-442-1430. Copyright OutFront Communications, 2010. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of any editorial or graphic content without the express written permission of the publisher is prohibited.

Postage paid at Columbia, Mo. The annual subscription rate is $19.95 for four issues.

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Office Manager Brenda Brooks brenda@insidecolumbia.net Distribution Manager John Lapsley Contributing Writers Anita Neal Harrison John Littell Ed Robb

OPENING BELL

the buzz on como biz

Meet The Beetle

Present for the stamp unveiling were (from left to right): Beetle Bailey, David Martin, Richard Wallace and Bill Janocha.

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ostal officials, University of Missouri VIPs and cartoonist Mort Walker’s right-hand man were all in attendance on Aug. 27 to dedicate a new Beetle Bailey postage stamp.

Walker, a Mizzou alumnus and creator of the popular Beetle Bailey comic strip, credits the many hours he spent at The Shack, a campus hangout, as his inspiration for the lackadaisical cartoon soldier. The stamp dedication ceremony took place beside the Beetle Bailey sculpture, near where The Shack once stood.

During the ceremony, MU Chancellor Emeritus Richard Wallace reminisced about postage stamps and the letters they brought to him, particularly those from his serviceman father and the courtship correspondence from the woman who would become his wife. He was given the honor of unveiling the stamp

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alongside Bill Janocha, Mort Walker’s assistant since 1987.

Other dignitaries on hand for the occasion included Peter Millier, director of the Mizzou Botanic Garden; Larry McMullen, president of the Friends of the Mizzou Botanic Garden; Cheryl Hudson, customer relations coordinator for the U.S. Postal Service; Cindy Bolles, acting Columbia postmaster; Linda RussellWhitworth, Boone County Chapter president of the Mizzou Alumni Association; David Martin, district manager of the U.S. Postal Service; and veterans who have participated in the Honor Flight program.

Members of the Mizzou Army ROTC opened the dedication with a flag ceremony and later pulled their caps down over their eyes in an impromptu homage to Beetle.

OPENING BELL

the buzz on como biz

TakE a mayOR TO LUNCh day At the launch party for the summer issue of Inside Columbia’s CEO, we gave away a lunch with Columbia Mayor Bob McDavid. The winner, Jared Reynolds of Wilkerson & Reynolds Wealth Management, and his business partner Carroll Wilkerson, joined McDavid for a good meal and good conversation at Flat Branch Pub & Brewery on July 7. Although the content of their conversation was private, we’re guessing Wilkerson and Reynolds might have been telling a few fish stories about their recent angling adventures in the Amazon for the “Fishing with Roland Martin” television show. But McDavid can still one-up Wilkerson for bringing in the biggest prize because years ago the doc delivered both of Wilkerson’s children.

Jared Reynolds, Bob McDavid and Carroll Wilkerson at lunch.

WALK SAfELY, ChILDREN

B Better Business In Columbia

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olumbia never wants to be known as a B-list town, so now it’s made the move to the BBB list.

The Better Business Bureau recently opened a branch in Columbia in the Buttonwood Business Center. Former Mizzou football star Adrian McBride was tapped to head the new office.

This branch office will serve the Columbia, Jefferson City and Lake of the Ozarks area. The office promises to help BBB-accredited businesses by increasing awareness of the organization. Consumers may contact the BBB for help in finding trustworthy businesses and alerts on scams, as well as to obtain assistance in resolving disputes.

The website address for the Columbia region is stlouis.bbb.org/Columbia.

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oone Hospital showed its support of the local Walking School Bus program by donating more than 200 firstaid kits. Walking School Bus volunteers will carry the kits so they’ll be able to treat minor scrapes and scratches that occur on the way to school. The Walking School Bus program is a project of the PedNet Coalition. Last spring, more than 400 children participated in the program.

Boone Hospital President Dan Rothery says his organization is proud to support this particular program. “It is important that our young people learn the benefits of exercise early in life,” he says. “A great way to start is by participating in a program like the Walking School Bus.”

OPENING BELL

economic index

The Inside Columbia CEO’s

Economic Index Boone County/Columbia Business Conditions Summer Quarter 2010

95.7

94 —

101.6

97.5

96.8

98.6

100.0 97.8

96 —

97.7

99.2

2 0 0 7 Q 3

101.1

2 0 0 7 Q 2

102.5

105.0 101.6

102.9

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98 —

100.9

108.1 106.1 104.3

104.6 101.7

100 —

102.7

102 —

105.0

104 —

106.8

106 —

100.6

108 —

109.4

110 —

92 — 90 — 2 0 0 4 Q 1

2 0 0 4 Q 2

2 0 0 4 Q 3

2 0 0 4 Q 4

2 0 0 5 Q 1

2 0 0 5 Q 2

2 0 0 5 Q 3

2 0 0 5 Q 4

2 0 0 6 Q 1

2 0 0 6 Q 2

2 0 0 6 Q 3

2 0 0 6 Q 4

DATE

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nside Columbia’s CEO Economic Index is a quarterly snapshot of how Columbia’s economy is doing compared to where it was five years ago.

Edward H. Robb and Associates, an economic and governmental consulting firm, prepared this index for Columbia and Boone County by collecting data from the past 18 years for 10 key economic indicators: hotel taxes; deplanements at the Columbia Regional Airport; Boone County total sales tax receipts; Columbia total sales tax receipts; Boone County sales tax receipts

2 0 0 7 Q 1

2 0 0 7 Q 4

2 0 0 8 Q 1

2 0 0 8 Q 2

2 0 0 8 Q 3

2 0 0 8 Q 4

2 0 0 9 Q 1

2 0 0 9 Q 2

2 0 0 9 Q 3

2 0 0 9 Q 4

DATE excluding Columbia; total Boone County building permits; total Boone County single-unit building permits; total Boone County employment; total Columbia employment; and Boone County employment excluding Columbia. After analyzing the data, Robb went a step further and seasonally adjusted the figures to create the most accurate index possible.

The result is a single number that indicates how robust our Columbia/Boone County economy was for a given quarter.

Prepared By E.H. Robb & Associates *The base year for all of the indices is 2000. All indices will average 100 for the 12 months of 2000. **Based on one month of analysis

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2 0 1 0 Q 1

2 0 1 0 Q 2 **

WhEN IN

ROmE

These days, when people pull up to the curb of this Ninth Street building, they’re probably in the mood for some Italian food at The Rome Restaurant. In the first half of the 20th century, though, this location was the place to go when your old jalopy needed a tune-up.

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picture from the past

PHOTO BY L.G. PATTERSON

OPENING BELL

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OPENING BELL

office spaces

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From The Boardroom

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Inside The Office Of

Williams-Keepers

by JESSICA PERKINS photo by L.G. PATTERSON

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he office of Williams-Keepers LLC is polished, yet practical. The accounting firm moved from its longtime home on Ash Street to its current location at Shelter Office Plaza only three years ago, and it still gleams from top to bottom. As Managing Member Russ Starr puts it, the brick building is “a new space to use new technologies, which translates into the highest possible quality service for our clients.” Its of-the-moment office advancements include Smart Boards and motion-activated lights.

Incorporating new technology is just one way the company carries out its mission statement, which is “to provide superior service and creative solutions to exceptional clients,” Starr says. That commitment to each client is also reflected in 18

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the building’s comfortable, armchair-furnished conference rooms and the sleek rows of offices where staff members strive to help each client realize his or her goals.

“When our clients are successful, we are successful,” Starr says. The firm, which was established in 1923, provides tax preparation, accounting, business consulting and auditing services.

Williams-Keepers LLC is dedicated not only to its clients, but also to the community.

It often lends its impressive, 18-seat boardroom to local nonprofit organizations in need of a change of scenery.

Speaking on behalf of both the Columbia and Jefferson City branches, Starr says, “We feel really privileged to be part of two outstanding business communities.”

A motif of squares is repeated throughout the building to echo a series of squares in the company’s logo.

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A Smart Board helps illustrate ideas presented in the Williams-Keepers LLC boardroom.

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The CPA firm and local nonprofits alike make use of the boardroom and its long, 18seat table. Williams-Keepers LLC even hosts receptions and events there, which often spill into the adjoining lobby.

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Managing Member Russ Starr is one of the firm’s 13 owners. The entire staff, which Starr calls “outstanding,” is comprised of about 80 full-time members and associates.

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The boardroom commands a great view of bustling Stadium Boulevard and Crossroads West Shopping Center.

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THE CONFERENCE ROOM

Smart Talk At The Roundtable

Mid-Missouri’s Top Education Leaders Gathered To Discuss The Issues Facing Them All

by SANDY SELBY photos by L.G. PATTERSON

The setting wasn’t all that different from a classroom that had been set up to promote discussion of the week’s assigned reading, but none of these students were making excuses for forgotten homework or covertly tapping out text messages under the table. The people around this table were the top-level administrators for 11 public and private institutions and they were here to talk about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for their schools.

Who Are These Students?

Facilitator and Inside Columbia’s CEO publisher Fred Parry began the roundtable discussion by asking how today’s students differ from those of previous generations, and it was universally agreed that access to technology has created a new environment for learning.

“It has huge implications for us as educators,” said Dianne Lynch, president

of Stephens College. “Our currency, our authority comes from being the ones who know. Increasingly, we will find that our students challenge that as an operating assumption. Authority comes not necessarily from who has it in their head, but who has it in their pocket.”

Scott Gibson, headmaster at Columbia Independent School, sees the same thing happening in his school. “I think the

current environment is healthy because kids are smart and they do have access to information. You’d better be right because a kid will pull out his Blackberry.

We need to be nimble.”

But the technological edge available to many students is not available to all and that is creating a widening gap between the socioeconomic classes. The problem is of particular concern to Chris Belcher, superintendent of Columbia Public Schools.

“In our white population, 24 percent of those students come from poverty, but in our black population, 78 percent of those kids come from povertybased homes,” he said. “In our Latino population, it’s a similar number.” He pointed out that children who have easy access to technology develop vocabulary more quickly and even become more socially sophisticated. “It’s a greater issue than the public schools can solve. It’s a big social issue,” he said.

Lifelong experience with high-tech devices is just one thing that sets this generation of students apart. They also have a reputation, deserved or not, of being self-absorbed.

“I don’t find them lacking in any of the ideals that earlier generations had,” said FALL 2010

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ThE CONfERENCE ROOm Brady Deaton, chancellor of the University of Missouri. “They’re dedicated, they’re driven, they are very, very success-oriented and they are a generation that has had all the entitlement that we have today with the communications. It’s a very profound time for learning, it seems to me. We have a generation that is in our hands that really places an enormous responsibility on college education and in our case, certainly the entire educational system.”

Sherry McCarthy, the vice president and academic dean at William Woods University has observed that for all their strength and independence, today’s students are surprisingly dependent on their parents. “I think they’re a little more connected to their parents than the generation before, but the parents are also much more involved. We’re having to connect with the parents a lot more with this generation.”

CEO Roundtable Roll Call ChRIS BELChER

Superintendent, Columbia Public Schools

President, Moberly Area Community College

GERALD BROuDER

DIANNE LYNCh

President, Columbia College

BRADY DEATON

ShERRY MCCARThY

Chancellor, University of Missouri

GARY fORSEE

LINDA RAWLINGS

SCOTT GIBSON

vICKI SChWINKE

Head of School, Columbia Independent School

MARIANNE INMAN

President, Central Methodist University

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President, Stephens College

Vice President and Academic Dean, William Woods University

President, University of Missouri System

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EvELYN JORGENSON

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Director, Columbia Area Career Center

Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, Linn State Technical College

KATE TRAuTh

Executive Committee Chairperson, Fr. Tolton Catholic High School

Overall, the participants seemed to agree that this is a generation that wants to set a course and arrive at their career destination by the most expeditious route. Lynch borrowed a student’s analogy comparing education to a road trip. “If you think about how we drive when you have a GPS system,” she said, “we go right, we go left, a half mile down the road, but if you ask yourself, ‘Am I heading north?’ it doesn’t matter because — I call her Dorothy — is going to tell me to go right or left.”

That, according to the student, is how his generation sees education, as a series of precise turns and exits. Lynch says her generation thought of education more as “wandering through the blue highways of the landscape, picking up things as we went along and taking the exits as they came, always knowing in general they were heading north. I think students no longer have that perspective about education, which in some ways is a challenge for us.”

University of Missouri System President Gary Forsee said, “I think there’s going to be a lot of pressure in a recessionary time — pressure from students coming in wanting a clear path to the future.”

ADvANCED ECONOMICS The pressure coming from students is just one of the challenges these educators face. Both public and private institutions are struggling to make ends meet as once-generous sources of funding slow to a trickle. Those who attended the recent Governor’s Conference on Education got more bad news.

“I think the governor has been consistent with his support for higher education,” Forsee said. “I think the arrangement we made as public institutions for two years to hold tuition flat in exchange for lessened cuts is a manifestation of that. I think he was very clear last week [at the conference] that he would expect higher education institutions to have to raise tuition given what we’ve done the last two years, obviously encouraging us to be moderate in our approach.”

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THE CONFERENCE ROOM

Brady Deaton, Gerald Brouder, Dianne Lynch, Gary Forsee and Chris Belcher were among the roundtable attendees.

Forsee reported that public universities were warned to expect a 10 to 15 percent cut next year, possibly as high as 20 percent. “Frankly, we don’t know how we can execute against that at this juncture.”

Despite the funding cuts, the governor still has high expectations for Missouri’s schools, colleges and universities, Forsee said. Among them, an increase in the number of degrees produced that’s in line with President Barack Obama’s aim of

“Everyone wears three hats at our school. I think it’s healthy because our kids see that and that is something valuable to take out of the school.”

— Scott Gibson, Head of School, Columbia Independent School seeing 60 percent of citizens with a college degree by 2025. He’s also pushing for more collaboration between institutions.

Deaton, who also attended the conference, was encouraged by the governor’s recognition of the role university research programs play in economic development. “We’ve been recognized for our national excellence as being a university that integrates undergraduate education with our

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research mission, so we have thousands of students engaged in some of the top, cutting-edge research going on around the world.”

State funding cuts don’t faze Gibson.

“The good news is that the cut in government funding for our school last year is zero, and the bad news is that the money coming from the government is zero,” he said with a laugh. The privately funded Columbia Independent School relies on money that comes in from parents and that money is spent as efficiently as possible. “Everyone wears three hats at our school,” said the headmaster/French teacher/skeet and trap coach. “I think it’s healthy because our kids see that and that is something valuable to take out of the school.”

Private colleges such as Columbia College and Central Methodist University aren’t immune to government cutbacks.

“The Access Missouri scholarship will very likely sustain another hit in next year’s budget and as you know, it was virtually cut in half this year,” said Columbia College President Gerald Brouder. “Some students may not be able to come to any school for higher education, let alone a private one. As the institution that was the second highest in the state in receipt of that assistance, we’re being hurt by that.”

“Oh, it’s a very critical issue,” agreed Marianne Inman, president of Central

Methodist University. “If we’re going to attain anywhere near 60 percent having degrees, we’re going to need to service the 747,000 Missourians that have some college but no degree. These are students that are prime candidates to move up through our system and without the availability of student financial assistance to provide that kind of access, it will be extremely difficult.”

Playing Well With Others Kate Trauth, who chairs the executive committee for the under-construction Fr. Tolton Catholic High School, has high hopes of finding a spirit of cooperation among the schools in the community.

“One of the challenges for us will be the importance of sharing resources, particularly here in Columbia. [We hope to] collaborate with the Columbia Public Schools and also with our institutions of higher learning, and make those opportunities available to all our students, even though we’re going to be a small institution.”

Indeed, the leaders at the table agreed that collaboration was an important anchor in weathering the economic storm.

“Our goal in three to five years is to have the best online curriculum of any high school in the state,” Belcher said. “Think about it from an efficiency standpoint. I’ve got a Latin teacher. I think

there are only four in the state of Missouri.

If a student wants to take Latin at the new high school, it may be an online option because the teacher is at Hickman. If the Catholic high school has a limited budget and staffing and want a student to be able to take Latin or other classes, I want to be the vendor. We have absolutely no problem having those talks about being a collaborative environment because I see it as being a community value.”

Brouder is also an enthusiastic advocate of collaboration but warns that some fundamental changes need to take place before collaboration can really take off.

“The first thing that has to happen is to strip away this notion of politics,” Brouder said. “That all has to go away before we sit down and cooperate. I think the way to start that, though, is to pick out a few good pilots, have some early successes and go from there.”

He also suggests the move toward cooperation should start at the faculty or junior officer level. “I think it would be received better than if the presidents sat around and devised this cooperative arrangement. That might not go anywhere.”

Moberly Area Community College President Evelyn Jorgenson was pleased to hear about the larger institutions’ openness to the notion of cooperation.

In the past, community colleges often received a less-than-warm welcome from four-year institutions, but she feels that attitude is changing.

“I think the message we found here in Columbia and hopefully people are beginning to understand is that if we do our jobs well at the community college level, we create college students,” she said. “Many, many times students who come to a community college are first-generation. They’re very hesitant about college in general and need a gentle introduction to higher education.

They need reassurance that they can do college-level coursework and sometimes they can’t, quite honestly, which is why community colleges provide developmental educational to get people up to the college level. Inevitably, when those students get into the associate’s FALL 2010

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THE CONFERENCE ROOM degree program and begin to feel success, they don’t want to stop there. They want to transfer. They want to go on.”

“I think if you looked at Linn State 10 years ago, you would not be able to say they had collaboration with fouryear institutions as well as two-year institutions,” said Vicki Schwinke, dean of academic and student affairs at Linn State Technical College. “But I think there’s a change in the way everyone is looking at things and there’s probably a lot more collaborations going on than we think there are.”

Evelyn Jorgenson of MACC shares her views from the community college perspective.

To Whatever Degree Not every high school student is college bound, but that doesn’t mean they

aren’t bound for satisfying and lucrative careers. Linda Rawlings, the director of the Columbia Area Career Center, said “I think we are leading students to a career path — for example, health or culinary arts or digital media. We’re trying to develop career pathways, just as everyone else is in this room, where there are multiple exit points. If you’re in nursing, maybe it is that CNA you start with so you can then make a wage in order to go on to that R.N. or physical therapist or whatever occupation it might be. We help them discover the career path they’re interested in so they can make a living wage at their destination.”

“I come from a very blue-collar background where being a carpenter or

What Keeps These Educators Up At Night?

Moberly Area Community College’s Evelyn Jorgenson: For me, it’s this passionate desire to have excellent quality because I really feel that as our community college students graduate and go on [to a four-year college], we want more than anyone else for those students to be absolutely successful.

William Woods University’s Sherry McCarthy: As the academic dean, probably the one thing is providing the programming that is going to be relevant to students when they go out for jobs.

Columbia Independent School’s Scott Gibson: When we build a school, that takes capital funds, which are in addition to tuition and in this economy. That’s very challenging. We will get there; the question is when as this process is extended as there’s less money available.

Stephens College’s Dianne Lynch: We certainly spend an enormous amount of time and energy considering how best to prepare the leaders of tomorrow who are women.

Our steadfast commitment to remaining a single-gender institution in the face of a lot of pressure around that question is core to Stephens, our history and our future. I think the marketplace for higher education is changing. I think it’s diversifying. It goes back to students’ interest in their own experience — “I want what I want, I want it now, I want it designed for me.” Actually, that is positive for Stephens.

Central Methodist University’s Marianne Inman: We are both in a growth mode

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and an expansion mode: growth of the individual campuses and expansion in terms of the number of operations we have statewide. I am concerned that we maintain the high level of quality we have right now and a very close sense of personal attention and caring and individual work with individual students. That’s something that comes out of a smaller college atmosphere and, in a growth mode, I do hope that neither of those factors is overlooked or shortchanged.

University of Missouri’s Brady Deaton: Strategic resource allocation is our immediate concern but what drives our passion, I think, is the desire, that absolute commitment to develop the citizens, the leaders of tomorrow.

I think that’s what drives most faculty in higher education.

Columbia Career Center’s Linda Rawlings: If you’ll remember back, we started a skills gap analysis in the Boone County area. I know the surveys went out to businesses and we’ll soon be surveying juniors and seniors in high school. I’m curious to see what those gaps are and how we address them at our institution as well as in the regional area.

Fr. Tolton Catholic High School’s Kate Trauth: When we start the new school, we will do so without a base of graduates and I think that’s important for a school in terms of serving as advocates and offering experiences and support for our students. We’ll be relying on the community to help us with that immediate support base.

Linn Technical College’s Vicki Schwinke: Trying to educate the general public that technical education is a very viable way to go and that students that are graduating are making $60,000 after two years in some of our programs. That is higher education. It’s a college education that people can be very proud of.

Columbia Public School’s Chris Belcher: I worry a lot that we have these kids with increasing poverty and decreasing language abilities coming to public schools and we’re supposed to provide them equal access. I keep thinking there will be clarity of thought and it just doesn’t come.

University of Missouri System’s Gary Forsee: I worry about the lack of understanding about what research institutions do. The laboratories that are required, the time required for those researchers to do their work … the level of understanding about that around the state and nationally is a crisis. It could diminish if we don’t take care of it.

Columbia College’s Gerald Brouder: The potential for terrorist attack, given that we have 35 campuses around the country, 18 of which are on military bases.

We contract with the military for higher education and were there to be an attack, especially on a military base, those gates would be locked to nonessential personnel.

A good-sized chunk of my budget comes from those contracts. That’s what worries me the most.

an electrician or a plumber was a very honorable thing to do,” Deaton said. “It never dawned on me in my growing-up years to think one route was necessarily more knowledgeable than another and I think that ought to be perpetuated in our society. There are people in all walks of life that ought to be part of our knowledge base. It’s the emphasis on learning as something valuable and experiencing life and pursuing knowledge that is important.”

One problem modern students encounter as they move from school to school, collecting credits hither and yon, is getting all those credits organized.

Jorgenson floated a controversial notion she had heard about at a Midwestern Higher Education Compact meeting.

“A really interesting arena they are entering is looking at something like a repository of credits where students who take credits from a community college, a technical college, a four-year, a public, a private … they’ve just been here and there and they would have the opportunity to take that whole collection of credits and deposit them into this repository,” Jorgenson said.

She explained that universities could then review the student’s portfolio of credits and essentially bid by offering the student a plan of action that would culminate in a degree at that university.

Lynch agreed that drastic times call for innovative measures but she is concerned about the long-term implications of emphasizing ease and speed over quality.

“It’s not just about counting the noses of people you can hand a diploma,” she said. “It’s about competitive global advantage. It’s about making sure the quality of higher education in this country maintains some level of excellence relative, frankly, to our global competitors. I would love to see us collaboratively take a stand, developing some kind of program across our institutions to talk about those things. But I do think the larger question is: What are we doing to maintain quality as we collaborate and race to the finish?”

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INTRODUCING

Jim Chapdelaine A New Arrival Sets Up Shop In The IBM Service Center

by KATHY CASTEEL photo by L.G. PATTERSON

There are no mountains in midMissouri, but Jim Chapdelaine thinks he’s going to like it here anyway. The new director of the IBM technology services delivery center here is impressed with the rolling landscape and the trees that dot what he calls “this beautiful, quaint city with the small-town feel.”

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hapdelaine arrived in Columbia in mid-August from IBM’s service delivery center in Boulder, Colo. A lifelong Westerner, this is his first time living in the Midwest, and he says he’s found it to be a pleasant surprise.

“I expected it to be flat here,” he says. “But it’s rolling and there are lots of trees. It’s really beautiful.”

The 44-year-old director is immersed in start-up activities for the IBM center, hiring a leadership team and technology management specialists who will initially staff the center when renovations are complete in the IBM building on LeMone Industrial Boulevard.

When services begin, the team will implement its global delivery framework methodology into the center for clients from around the world.

“There are cross competencies at the center, so we’ll be providing an array of service lines, such as server management, application hosting and database maintenance,” he says.

“We’ll also deliver security risk management and service management with client interface.”

His new duties will be similar to the work he was doing in Boulder, he says. The IBM network of technology services delivery centers includes two transformed facilities in Boulder and East Fishkill, N.Y., plus newly established centers in Lansing, Mich., Dubuque, Iowa, and Columbia.

A native of Orange, Calif., Chapdelaine grew up in Paonia, Colo., a small town on the Western Slope. He holds a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from the University of Colorado and has FALL 2010

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INTRODUCING worked for IBM since 1988. He has held positions as application programmer, project executive and group manager at IBM installations in Boulder and San Jose, Calif., before his most recent assignment as senior manager at IBM’s Boulder center.

Now settled in at their home in southwest Columbia, Chapdelaine says he is struck by the welcome he and his family have received here.

“I love the Midwest hospitality and friendliness,” he says. “We’re integrating quite well.”

“I love the Midwest hospitality and friendliness. We’re integrating quite well.”

Chapdelaine and his wife, Jennifer, have five children, ranging in age from 3 to 14. The entire family is looking forward to exploring Columbia’s culture, starting with Mizzou Tiger football.

“I’m a big fan of college sports,” he says.

Chapdelaine already has Oct. 9 circled on his calendar — the Colorado Buffaloes will be in town for their last Big 12 contest against the Tigers.

“And the team colors are the same, too,” he says with a laugh. “I won’t have to switch out all of my gear.”

Biking on the Katy Trail and checking out Columbia’s jazz scene are two other items on Chapdelaine’s must-do CoMo list.

“Moving to Missouri is a new adventure for us. We’re really excited about experiencing Missouri’s heritage and visiting the places we’ve heard so much about — the Katy Trail, Branson and the St. Louis Zoo.” Family excitement aside, Chapdelaine looks at this move to Columbia as the penultimate professional opportunity.

“We’re starting from scratch, building this center from the ground up,” he says.

“I’m really looking forward to introducing employees to the IBM culture as we work to deliver higher quality service to IBM’s clients.”

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99 Years Of IBM q IBM was incorporated in the state of New York on June 16, 1911, as the ComputingTabulating- Recording Co. The company manufactured and sold machinery ranging from commercial scales and industrial time recorders to meat and cheese slicers, along with tabulators and punched cards. q On Feb. 14, 1924, C-T-R officially changed its name to International Business Machines Corp. q IBM formed a major division in 1932 to lead the company’s engineering, research and development efforts. Today, scientists at IBM’s Research and Development labs include five Nobel Laureates, nine U.S. National Medal of Technology winners, five U.S. National Medal of Science winners, six Turing Award winners, 10 inductees into the U.S. National Inventors Hall of Fame and 37 members of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. q In 1944, IBM completed the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, also called the Mark I, after six years of development with Harvard University. The Mark I was the first machine that could execute long computations automatically. q In 1957, IBM introduced FORTRAN (FORmula TRANSlation), a computer language based on algebra, grammar and syntax rules. It became one of the most widely used computer languages for technical work. q On April 7, 1964, IBM introduced the System/360, the first large family of computers to use interchangeable software and peripheral equipment. q In 1973, banks began installing the IBM 3614 Consumer Transaction Facility, an early form of today’s ATMs. q The IBM personal computer debuted in 1981. q In May 1997, Deep Blue, a 32-node IBM RS/6000 SP computer programmed to play chess on a world-class level, defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a sixgame match in New York. Deep Blue could assess 200 million chess moves per second. q IBM received 4,914 U.S. patents in 2009, marking the 17th consecutive year it has topped the list of the world’s most inventive companies. IBM also published almost 4,000 technical inventions in 2009 instead of seeking patent protection, thereby making the inventions freely available to others.

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INVENTIONS

Flavor Meets Function

Mizzou’s Ingolf Gruen Is Making Good Ice Cream That’s Good For You

by SANDY SELBY photos by L.G. PATTERSON

“That really conforms to the current area of general food science research when it comes to product development: functional foods,” he says. “Functional foods mean foods that have functionality beyond just regular nutrition. It not just about what calories and vitamins you get.

Functional foods go more in the direction of giving you something with your food that helps you stay healthy.”

The German-born Gruen had seen the emergence of functional foods as a trend all over the world, with one notable exception.

Functional foods go more in the direction of giving you something with your food that helps you stay healthy.

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lame it on Ben and Jerry. Before those two Vermont ice cream makers came along with their creamy, delicious flavors, healthconscious Americans had been lured into a tasteless world of low-fat, or worse, no-fat ice cream. Ingolf Gruen, an associate professor in Food Science, part of the University of Missouri’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, saw the backlash developing for flavorless, fatless ice creams. What would happen, he wondered, if he made ice cream healthier by putting some good stuff in rather than taking the tasty stuff out?

“The United States is really behind the curve,” he says. “We are now looking into it and now have some stuff on our supermarket shelves, but you can go back 10 years to Europe, Asia — Japan started 25 years ago. We’re really still way behind many parts of the world when it comes to using food as a means to stay healthy.”

Gruen decided to give ice cream a healthy boost by adding four ingredients that would make his ice cream not only functional, but “multifunctional.”

The first ingredient he added was probiotics, which are good bacteria that aid digestion. Probiotics have been showing up more frequently as an additive in dairy products such as milk and yogurt, so it was the first thing that came to mind when Gruen and his team decided to produce functional ice cream.

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INVENTIONS Everybody, even bacteria, needs to eat and the beneficial microbes crave something called prebiotics, a type of dietary fiber that we can’t digest but are nice to have on hand when you’re inviting probiotics over for dessert. According to Gruen, you can’t just dump a whole bunch of prebiotics into ice cream and have them serve double-duty as food for bacteria and dietary fiber for people. That type of dietary fiber, when consumed in excess, can cause diarrhea. Instead, Gruen added just enough of the prebiotics to satisfy the hungry little probiotics without causing the ice-cream consumer any unpleasant side effects. He then added a more colon-friendly type of dietary fiber to his ice cream.

“Probiotics, prebiotics, dietary fiber — we could have stopped there but we decided to go for antioxidants,” he says.

“Instead of just adding antioxidants like Vitamin E or Vitamin A or something like that, we decided to do it naturally.”

Gruen looked to a “superfruit” – the açai berry – to provide the antioxidant component for his ice cream. “We use it not just for flavoring,” he says. “It gives us color, it gives us flavor and it gives us antioxidants. It’s a triple whammy, so to speak.”

From an economic standpoint, the choice of the açai berry as an additive for Gruen’s ice cream makes sense.

“Everything you add costs something,” he points out, “and yes, this [functional ice cream] is more expensive, but we’re trying to save a little bit of money because this one ingredient adds not only functionality but it also adds color and flavor. If you wanted to make, let’s say cherry ice cream, most of those ice creams have flavorings added and they have colors added, two ingredients you need to purchase.”

The only concession Gruen made for the sake of flavor was the addition of vanilla. The açai berry’s flavor is a bit harsher than most people are used to in a sweet dessert. A touch of vanilla helps round out and soften the flavor.

Gruen hopes to begin offering his functional, açai berry ice cream to customers at Buck’s Ice Cream Place on the Mizzou campus by early next year.

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Beyond that, he’s hoping an ice cream manufacturer might be interested in buying the idea for production on a larger scale.

Will the public accept ice cream that has been enhanced with extra ingredients to aid their colon health? Gruen thinks so.

“I don’t think people object to the idea of something being added to their food that is principally considered healthy,” he says. “Yes, they object to the idea of artificial things. Natural things are what the customer now demands.”

The biggest hurdle for Gruen may be getting people who are unfamiliar with the açai berry to give his ice cream a try.

He describes the flavor as “a mixture of a chocolate, nutty and fruit flavor” — although there are no nuts or chocolate in the ice cream. As tasty as that sounds, Gruen is prepared to switch to blueberries to get his flavoring if customers don’t embrace açai.

Blueberry is almost as good as açai when it comes to antioxidant capacity,” he says.

Gruen admits to eating ice cream frequently, so how does this researcher and family man stay fit? He holds a thirddegree black belt in taekwondo.

“I work out of the Hockman’s ATA school on East Broadway,” he says. “I teach occasionally, more helping out than really teaching my own classes. When I’m in my routine, I spend about three to four hours a week on taekwondo.”

His martial arts prowess serves as a conversation-starter and motivator for his students at Mizzou. “It’s a stress-reliever,” he says of his taekwondo workouts. “Because when you’re angry, you can kick somebody over the head and you don’t have to worry because they’re nicely padded.”

So it sounds like the average Joe is safe, even if he’s too devoted to butter pecan to give açai a try. Eventually, even the most skeptical consumer may come around because Gruen’s flavorful, functional ice cream is going to give the old standby flavors some healthy competition.

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FINANCIALS

The (Tax) Districts Of Columbia Making Sense Of The Alphabet Soup Of TIFs, CIDs And TDDs by JOHN LITTELL

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olumbia is home to special tax programs that are designed to promote local development.

Some offer generous credits to encourage, say, historic restorations, and one actually allows developers to receive sales taxes from consumers to improve roads around shopping centers.

This mishmash of laws, each known by acronyms, presents a byzantine picture of just who pays what for what and when.

Here are some of the most important.

Tax Incremental Financing The TIF is a neat method of betting on the come. It is a tool to use projected future gains in taxes to pay for current improvements, which will — it is hoped — create those gains down the road.

When a TIF project begins, the taxable property value is frozen at the pre-project level for a set number of years. As the property improves (and its value increases), the taxes rise incrementally. These additional tax payments, though, go into a fund for use by the property owner to finance the improvements. During the life of the TIF, taxing entities only receive tax revenue from the pre-TIF base value.

Once the project is completed and the TIF expires, taxing entities receive their full share of the higher tax revenues collected on the improved property.

Proponents justify TIF by noting that the improvements — and the increased tax revenues — would not occur if this financing option were not available.

An example of a TIF is the Tiger Hotel in downtown Columbia, the first hotel in town. The grande dame of mid-Missouri hostelries, the Tiger was built in 1928 with 115 rooms on 10 floors. After tortured recent decades, when it served as a retirement home and later as a catering facility, the new owners applied for $8.9 million in tax incremental financing. They want to create a 60-some-odd room “boutique” hotel that will generate loads of tax revenue.

But there has been a delay. What was originally a June 30, 2010, deadline has now been extended to Jan. 31, 2011, and approved by the Columbia City Council.

City Manager Bill Watkins agreed, saying that postponing the cutoff date did not put the city in any financial jeopardy.

TIFs are often used to redevelop “blighted areas” that have the potential of becoming a major source of revenue for local government — if only they could get rid of those slums and have someone build a mall or a housing development.

The New London, Conn., case, in which property was seized by eminent domain and turned over to a private developer, fell within a TIF district. Despite howls of protest, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the city’s actions.

Don Laird, president of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, says he is generally supportive of TIFs. “We’ve never really taken a position on them,” he says.

“We’re interested in jobs and growth.” And if TIFs can help, so much the better.

Mike Brooks, president of Regional Economic Development Inc., says that a TIF “is one tool in the toolbox that a community has to use, but it’s my guess that, as a general rule, they are not going to be used very often.”

An 11-member TIF board advises the City Council with respect to proposals for redevelopment programs.

Community Improvement District Reenacted in 1998, the CID provides for a “public-private partnership” that seeks to empower local property owners to levy special fees, assess taxes and use the proceeds in their own backyards.

CIDs are at work in all 50 states, and have been responsible for the revitalization of parts of St. Louis and Kansas City, as well as helping to clean up Times Square squalor in New York City.

According to Missouri law, CIDs come in two flavors: nonprofit corporations and political subdivisions. The political subdivisions can finance the cost of a project through property taxes, or a sales tax of up to 1 percent, to specifically benefit those business owners within the district.

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FINANCIALS In Columbia, The District applied to the City Council at the beginning of the year to form a CID covering most of its massive 43-block territory downtown and now awaits approval to implement the plan. Carrie Gartner, director of The District, says that the plan has won approval from the owners of 74 percent of assessed value of the area, who are anxious to make the change to CID from Special Business District, a designation that has been around for 30 years. The assessment will remain virtually the same, she says, but will offer property owners much more in the way of expenditures on security, maintenance and marketing.

Transportation Development Districts TDDs are a strange amalgam of various types of development incentives. A TDD proposal is drawn up and must be

districts. Critics point to some of the TDD developers that take the money and use it for paying its lawyers, accountants and engineers, but make no actual road improvements.

There is little oversight to make sure the money is spent on transportation, and the Missouri State Auditor’s office checks the books every three years — not exactly intense scrutiny.

The Stadium Boulevard improvement project, seven years in the making, was finally approved by the Columbia City Council in July. Its goal is to increase traffic flow between Broadway and Interstate 70. The cost is estimated at more than $19 million: an $8.9 million grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation and a state loan of $8.2 million to be repaid with sales tax revenues from the three TDDs currently snarled in traffic.

TIFs are often used to redevelop “blighted areas” that have the potential of becoming a major source of revenue for local government. approved by a Missouri judge, bypassing voters and the city council. By law, the districts can impose up to a 1 percent sales tax (0.5 percent in Columbia) on retail store consumers, the money going directly to the developers of large shopping malls.

Its stated purpose is to help finance road and transportation improvements.

If you’ve ever shopped at the Columbia Mall, or at Walmart, you are paying 8.05 percent sales tax, instead of the usual 7.55 percent, with the extra amount going to the Transportation Development District where the stores are located. There are 13 of these twilight tax zones in town.

Craig Van Matre, an attorney representing seven TDDs in Columbia, says they are an essential part of attracting developers and making Columbia an attractive place to do business. Creating easy access benefits retailers and increases their sales.

But even he admits TDDs could be improved by increasing oversight of the 38

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Since the first TDD was established here in 2002, it is estimated that the developers have spent $30 million widening roads, paving parking lots and even managing storm waters. The life of a TDD is 40 years, so shoppers will be paying the bill for decades to come.

Extra Credit In addition to the special tax districts, there are a slew of laws that mandate tax breaks for those engaged in what the state and federal governments consider desirable behavior. Some of those are: Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentive provides a 20 percent tax credit for the renovation of buildings that are usually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The program, begun in 1976, is jointly administered by the National Park Service and the Internal Revenue Service, in partnership with state preservation offices. So far, tens of thousands of projects have been approved

and represent billions of dollars in private investment.

Many consider this one of the most successful community rehab programs, but there are caveats before embarking on a project. This credit is only for incomeproducing properties. A building where you reside is outside the law unless some portion of the house is used as an office or rental apartment. Then a part of the total renovation expenses may qualify.

Critics contend that the program is vulnerable to fraud and misuse.

Federal Non-Historic Tax Credit is a 10 percent tax credit applied to the renovation of non-historic buildings, but only if they were constructed before 1936 and used for income-producing purposes other than residential rentals. Hotels and B&Bs may qualify.

State Historic Preservation Tax Credit provides up to a 25 percent tax credit for the renovation of approved historical properties all across Missouri.

The state’s Department of Resources administers the program through its State Historic Preservation Office. Since the program was enacted in 1998, the credits have been used to revitalize urban cores, residential neighborhoods and small towns all over Missouri.

“It’s The Economy, Stupid.”

James Carville was probably right about that in 1992. All these special districts and tax breaks would seem to be fairweather instruments of growth. During periods of robust economic expansion, a TIF, for example, is probably a good way of financing certain projects because nobody is expecting hard times to suddenly descend on the country. Optimists are ascendant. In essence, they are confident they can fill a promising inside straight.

Tax credits are great restoration incentives, but in an era of declining wealth there’s a lot less income to write off and a fear of new investments.

As the economy slouches toward an unknown future, retail sales are falling, making it much more difficult to attract investors through the use of TDDs. Perhaps they, too, are an artifact of better times.

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REGIONAL ROUND-UP

Moberly Lures Sweet New Business Jefferson City Business Secures State Tax Credits

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n July, the Moberly Area Economic Development Corp. announced that multinational company Mamtek International, a Chinese-based company, and its affiliate Mamtek U.S. had chosen Moberly as the site for its new state-ofthe-art manufacturing facility. The new factory will produce a sugar substitute called sucralose. The project will create 612 new local jobs with 312 anticipated to come online within 18 months, and will infuse the Moberly economy with an anticipated initial investment of

$46 million. The facility will produce 300,000-plus kilos of sucralose per annum, with an operational plan in place to expand to between 1.2 million and 1.5 million kilos over the next several years.

Mamtek developed the proprietary technology with which to produce the SweetO brand sucralose. The facility will have the capability to produce up to 100 percent pharmaceuticalgrade sucralose. This will be the only manufacturing operation for any firm anywhere producing sucralose that can be labeled “Made in the U.S.”

he Missouri Department of Economic Development has approved state tax credits for a Jefferson City business under the Enhanced Enterprise Zone program to assist in the creation of new jobs and investment. Midwest Block & Brick has been approved for $62,007 in EEZ tax credits over a five-year period for the creation of 10 new jobs and new investment of $1.5 million for the expansion facility located at 2131 E. McCarty St. The business operation will be a manufacturing facility. The Enhanced Enterprise Zone program began in 2004.

Local governments designate specified geographic areas as enhanced enterprise zones certified by the Department of Economic Development. Zone designation is based on certain demographic criteria, the potential to create sustainable jobs in a targeted industry and a demonstrated impact on local cluster development.

Callaway Energy Centre Earns Certified Site Designation

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issouri Department of Economic Development Director David Kerr visited Fulton in August to officially designate the state’s fifth certified “shovel-ready” development site. The 78.35-acre Callaway Energy Centre, an industrial development consisting of contiguous lots in the site, is owned by Callaway Electric Service Co. LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Callaway Electric Cooperative, and is represented by the Fulton Area Development Corp.

The Certified Site Program was developed through a cooperative effort with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Missouri Economic Development Council, Missouri’s Electric Cooperatives, Empire Electric, Kansas City Power and Light, Ameren Corp. and DED. The program provides consistent standards regarding the availability and development potential of commercial and industrial development sites. Site pre-qualification through the Certified Site process provides a standardized tool by which both development professionals and business prospects can review prospective sites

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for compatibility with their development needs, including the availability of utilities, site access, environmental concerns, land-use conformance and potential development costs.

A review team consisting of up to 10 economic development professionals, including utility and certified community/economic development practitioners, is responsible for reviewing and approving Certified Site Program applications. Certified sites must be at least 10 acres or more in size; be marketed primarily by the community and local economic development organization for business recruitment or business expansion; and contain at a minimum water, sewer and electric infrastructure at the site.

The Callaway site is located in the northwest quadrant of the U.S. 54 and State Highway H intersection, within the city limits of Fulton.

The property is considered “development ready” with access and internal roadways and the availability of a full range of utility support infrastructure.

MID-MISSOuRI GETS PLuGGED IN TO fIBER-OPTIC PROJECTS

The Speed Of Light

by SaNdy SELBy photos by L.G. PaTTERSON

Columbians

are extolling the virtues of fiber and they aren’t talking about bran flakes. The fiber that’s making news these days is fiber-optic cable, a technology that will bring high-speed Internet capabilities to rural areas that have been bogged down with dial-up connections.

The conversation began months ago with the Google Fiber for Communities competition. That program inspired communities all over the country to compete for a chance to serve as a test site for Google’s ultra high-speed broadband network. Everyone from city government officials to Regional Economic Development Inc. to fired-up fans at a Mizzou basketball game made the case for Columbia. Google has promised to announce the winning community or communities by the end of the year.

In the meantime, residents in the Millersburg area and western Callaway County have already hit the jackpot.

In August, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced that Missouri had been awarded $49.1 million in federal stimulus funds to finance broadband projects in central, southeast and southwest Missouri.

Columbia’s own Socket Telecom was awarded $23.7 million to bring cuttingedge technology to some of central Missouri’s most technology-deprived areas.

For Socket, the August announcement was the culmination of years of planning and it marks an exciting new phase for the company, using technology that Carson Coffman, a partner in Socket, describes as “future-proof.”

Fiber-Optics For The Unenlightened The fiber-optic cable that will travel from Socket’s headquarters to individual homes and businesses is actually a bundle of individual optical fibers. Within each hair-thin fiber is a core of pure glass wrapped first in highly reflective cladding, 44

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then in a protective coating.

Anyone who paid attention in gradeschool science class knows that light can only travel in a straight line, but it’s possible to shoot it off in another direction with the use of a mirror. That’s the simple principle behind the highly complex technology of fiber-optics. Light signals travel through the glass tube, bouncing through hills and turns with the help of the mirror-like coating that encases the glass.

Although the glass strand is as optically pure as possible, tiny imperfections will degrade the signal as it travels, so signal regenerators are installed along the route. When the signal reaches its destination, a receiver decodes it to produce the YouTube videos, U2 recordings, and the e-mails from your boss that went zooming through the cable at the speed of light.

“You can push a lot more through fiber,” Coffman says. “That’s why the big backbone connections for the telecommunications industry are through fiber because they have such huge, robust capacities.”

Laying The Groundwork The idea of running fiber-optic cable to underserved areas had been gaining traction at Socket even before earmarked stimulus funds became available. When the governor arrived at Socket’s Columbia headquarters on Aug. 6 to announce that Socket had been awarded a $16.6 million grant and a $7.1 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it didn’t really mark the beginning of the work for

the company — just the important next phase for a project that had been in the works for years.

“We’ve been looking at fiber-optic cable for a long time,” Coffman says. “There was a traditional rural utility service loan program that was in play long before the stimulus program came about, so we were already on our way to preparing an application.”

Part of that preparation was to visit Internet service providers in other states to research their programs and to get their advice on securing this financing.

“It’s been something we’ve always been very interested in because we have so many small communities that we serve that just don’t have the services they want.

We get those calls all the time: ‘You guys are great and I appreciate the service but I wish we had more … wish it was faster … wish it was better.’ ” When American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding became available, Socket decided to pursue some of those dollars. The application paperwork and follow-up took a dozen employees and a group of professional consultants months to prepare. Coffman pulls a thick binder from his bookshelf and sets it on the table with a thud. He explains that it contains only the follow-up information that was submitted in response to the government’s questions about the application. Packed into the binder are environmental studies of the areas where the cable will run, plus detailed information about the company’s finances.

“I’m keeping it here as a memento,” Coffman says of the immense notebook.

“It was some pretty intense paperwork.”

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The federal government set forth some strict criteria for use of the funds.

Socket had to analyze the socioeconomics of the area to be served, its distance from an urban center and the number of residents who already had some form of service versus those who didn’t. All that information was plugged into a complex scoring system and the Millersburg area made the grade.

“Millersburg and that area was a nice fit because we were familiar with it and it’s close to us,” Coffman says. “If you can pick something that’s 15 miles away to start with or you can go 100 miles away, just from a logistics standpoint it’s better to start closer to home.”

This project is by far the largest fiberoptic project Socket has undertaken. The company has run fiber for large businesses or to connect its own buildings, but nothing of this scale. Still, Coffman says, the project is more important in what it represents than in what it will bring to the company in terms of customer numbers.

“It’s not going to double the size of our company or anything close to that, but it’s a starting point for us to start doing more and more services like this.”

The Fundamentals Of Funding In the midst of their celebration over their successful grant proposal, Coffman and his colleagues were hit with some negative publicity over Socket’s acceptance of stimulus money from the federal government. While he says he understands that the much-maligned bailouts of banks and automobile manufacturers have created some public backlash, Coffman is quick to point out that the money Socket received was specifically set aside to provide highspeed Internet service to rural areas and someone was going to be the beneficiary of that. In that case, he asks, why shouldn’t that someone be Socket?

“Our position was that this money had already been allocated,” Coffman says. “It was going to be spent. We didn’t want to see this money go to Pennsylvania or Florida or somewhere else. We wanted to see it come here.

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“We didn’t want to see this money go to Pennsylvania or Florida or somewhere else. We wanted to see it come here.”

—Carson Coffman those kinds of services. We didn’t go lobby the government to get more taxes from people. This was money already set aside to build broadband out and we felt we could do as good a job or better, more efficiently, than anybody else.”

The assistance Socket is receiving for this project is not dissimilar to the types of financial assistance telephone and power companies have received for decades to bring their services to rural areas, he says. If not for hefty amounts of government funding, most of rural America would still be sitting in the dark and longing for the luxury of an eightparty telephone line.

Coffman points out that the oftenoverlooked “universal service fee” on every telephone bill serves the same purpose. “Everybody pays that and it goes into a pool that existing phone companies can pull from to make sure they can get service out to high-cost areas like rural areas, reservations, things like that. People would call us and say, ‘I don’t want to do business with you guys because now you’re taking government money.’ The phone line they just called us on was subsidized by government funds. CenturyTel didn’t go to the bank and borrow $500 million to build a phone system. It got built over time with subsidies and tax dollars in perpetuity.”

One of the caveats of the funding Socket accepted was that the company had to allow other providers access to their fiber-optic network. It was a condition Socket found easy to accept.

“This is an open network,” Coffman says.

“It’s not something Socket has a monopoly over. We actually signed documents claiming we will interconnect with other carriers to let them use this network. This

was a real big issue for a lot of the bigger phone companies, but our position was very clear early on. If we’re going to take government dollars as a loan or as a grant, we feel a responsibility to open this up to anybody.”

Digging In After all those months of planning and paperwork, the day is quickly approaching when the fiber-optic cable will actually go into the ground. Socket estimates the project will provide approximately 65 direct jobs, including work for excavators and in-house technicians, and 460 indirect jobs. Coffman points out that those numbers are only estimates at this point, albeit carefully calculated estimates based on a lengthy study that predicts the number of jobs that will result for this type of high-tech project.

From beginning to end, the construction phase of the project should last about 30 months, but most customers won’t have to wait that long.

“We’ve got some people pretty excited,” Coffman says. “They want to sign up right now. The first house we come to, we’re going to try to get them turned on as soon as we can. The idea behind the network is that when you park the equipment at the end of the night, up to that point you’ve got service.”

Socket will be offering residences and businesses along the fiber-optic route a menu of services that includes Internet, telephone and television. When Socket was founded in 1994, it was basically two guys and a dream of connecting Columbia homes to the World Wide Web. Since then, the company has expanded into a business Internet provider and a local telephone company serving more than 20,000 customers in 400 Missouri towns.

With the development of the fiber-optic network, the company will enter a new realm as a television service provider.

The company has been testing and troubleshooting its television technology for more than a year in an in-house TV lab so the new service will be customerready from Day 1.

The cost to the fiber-optic customers should compare well to what others in the

region are paying for similar packages of services.

“A standard triple-pay package with everything is a little over $100 [a month],” Coffman says. “I think you’ll see we did a lot of analysis with competitors like in the Fulton market. It’s right in line with that, hopefully with better service and better channel selection.”

WhILE yOU’RE IN ThE NEIGhBORhOOd …

The terms of the federal grant and loan don’t allow Socket to stray from the route they’ve laid out for this particular fiber-optic project, but that doesn’t mean private funding couldn’t be used to extend the fiber-optic cable to neighborhoods and businesses that are near the route.

“We’ve already gotten calls,” Coffman says. “There’s a little subdivision out there that less than 24 hours after the announcement was made, the homeowners association called and said,

‘Hey, you’re hitting Callaway County and we’re between you and them. Could you come by and pick us up?’ Now we can get some private funding and not have to pay for that huge run along I-70 — just the little expansion.”

It’s no wonder people are excited.

The difference in speed between their ponderously slow dial-up connections and the new fiber-optic connections will allow customers to access online videos, teleconferencing services and whatever bandwidth-hogging application emerges next. Of the 3,000 homes that will have access to the new fiber-optic network, more than half don’t currently have what the FCC would classify as a broadband connection.

The implications could make a big difference to the economy of the region served by allowing students to access online learning opportunities, senior citizens to consult via high-definition video link with a physician anywhere in

the world, or businesses to establish a sophisticated Web presence.

WhaT aBOUT GOOGLE? What happens if Google comes riding into Columbia like a fiber-optic Santa Claus bearing high-speed gifts? Surely that’s a worst-case scenario for a company like Socket that is just making inroads into the technology.

Not so, says Coffman, who adds he would welcome Google with enthusiasm.

“From what we understand, they’re going to do the same things we’re doing — making their network open-access. That would be fantastic. Our mindset is: what is good for the area is good for Socket, so if Google comes in and says we’re going to lay fiber to everybody’s home, we’re going to say ‘Great! Where do we put Socket on that?’ We would love to have that. We would embrace that. How can you not embrace something that is good for the people that make up your customer base?”

BlueBird flies To Northern missouri

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ust days after Gov. Jay Nixon announced that Socket Telecom had landed a grant to install fiber-optic cable in mid-Missouri, he followed up with more good news: BlueBird Media has secured a $45 million grant from the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration to bring high-speed broadband to northern Missouri.

BlueBird, which is dedicated to serving the northern half of the state, has agreed to provide a cash match of $9.1 million, and the state has kicked in an in-kind match of $10.5 million that includes use of right-of-ways.

It all totals up to approximately $65 million in funding to make broadband services accessible to 600,000 households and 57,000 businesses in 59 counties.

As part of the project, BlueBird will lay 809 miles of fiber-optic cable and build 44 new microwave towers.

Gov. Nixon compares the expansion of

broadband services to the transformation brought about by railroads and interstate highways.

“These projects will help connect much of northern Missouri with the information superhighway of the future,” he says. “They have the potential to connect doctors and patients at the speed of light, open the doors of our colleges and universities to more students, and expand markets for small businesses to not only the rest of the state, but to markets across the globe.”

Otto Maly, a Columbia businessman and a partner in BlueBird Media, says the project will bring high-speed Internet service to areas that have little or no infrastructure to support it currently.

“The state of Missouri has joined with the federal government and private companies to ensure all Missourians have access to an affordable and high-capacity Internet service,” he says. “We’re proud to be a part of it.”

From left to right: Troy D. Paino, Truman State University president; Chris Martin, owner of BlueBird Media; Kelvin Simmons, Missouri Director of Economic Development; Eric Barber, Northeast Regional Medical Center CEO; Gov. Jay Nixon; State Sen. Wes Shoemeyer; State Rep. Rebecca McClanahan; Otto Maly, BlueBird Media owner

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by KATHY CASTEEL

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Collegetown USA Columbia has proudly borne its educated nickname for more than 150 years, but never has it been more apt than in the 21st century. With six colleges doing business here, attracting more than 40,000 to their campuses in the city and employing thousands more, higher education accounts for nearly a third of the city’s economic output.

The college leaders at the helm of this economic engine are navigating a course through a rapidly changing landscape. They sit on the cusp of changes in the delivery of educational services in a marketplace transformed by technology.

Read on to learn how Columbia’s institutes of higher learning are growing and evolving to meet the workforce needs of Columbia and the world.

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Chancellor, University of Missouri

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hancellor Brady Deaton likes to compare the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus to a small city.

“Similar to a city of about 50,000, Mizzou operates major human and animal hospitals, multiple housing and dining services, a community newspaper, radio and television stations, a police force, a power plant, a nuclear reactor, 19 colleges and schools, performing arts venues, libraries, research facilities, a sports complex, a botanic garden and the business functions that support these enterprises,” he says.

“My background and training in economics has related to the decline in ratings of the university in a number definitely been a tremendous asset in recognizing tradeoffs of areas, due principally to the reduced state funding that the and the ability to see a significant return on investment.” university has suffered,” he notes. “This point has not been Deaton, 68, has been the chief executive officer of Mizzou well understood by the public. On most qualitative measures, for six years, stepping into the chancellor’s role after serving we have gone forward and improved the condition of this as provost and deputy chancellor. The Kentucky native arrived university. The growth of our students and the reputation of in Columbia in 1989 to teach agricultural economics after the university attest to that success.” previous faculty stints at Virginia Tech, the University of Mizzou’s success feeds a symbiotic relationship with Minnesota and the University of Tennessee; he even taught the Columbia community. “Research and innovation, vocational agriculture in Thailand as a stimulating entrepreneurship, smallPeace Corps volunteer. business development and other He describes his leadership style as continuing education efforts enable Mizzou At A Glance “participatory with a clear endpoint in the University of Missouri to be a Founding year: 1839 mind, harmonizing and streamlining key contributor to the economic Total enrollment: 32,009 decision-making processes, so that development of Columbia,” Deaton Columbia traditional day decisions are made without undue delay, says. “It also plays a key role in helping campus enrollment: 30,019 but with appropriate consideration of attract companies to Missouri through Average tuition cost: alternative viewpoints. We have sought to its research, workforce development and Resident $8,500/year engage actively with the community and faculty expertise.”

Number of Columbia the state. I want to emphasize the frontier The Columbia campus produces 80 employees: 19,000 nature of our university as we look to a percent of the university system’s total (including hospital) future where explorations of spirit and research and enrolls more than half of the Size of facilities: 1,360 acres intellectual growth are vital to all that we system’s students. A significant contributor with more than 200 buildings do in society.” to the community, the campus creates The past six years have brought a period nearly $481 million in economic activity. of tremendous growth for the university’s Columbia campus, “MU is educating the citizens and leadership of Deaton says. “Mizzou’s research ranking is second among all tomorrow,” Deaton says. “Certainly this contributes to public members of the American Association of Universities Columbia’s workforce, but we are only one of many entities and second in the growth rate of federal funding,” he says. “The that contribute. We partner actively with other four-year growth of student enrollment (12 percent), with increasing institutions and community colleges to ensure effective diversity has been another high point.” New programs include workforce training. MU adapts educational offerings to meet a master’s degree in public health and a Ph.D. in informatics. the changing needs of employers with a highly qualified Deaton lays recent disappointments at the feet of declining workforce. Our mission is to develop leaders of tomorrow in state funding, but still takes pride in the university doing diverse arenas and the success of our graduates, faculty and more with less. “The low points have been fundamentally staff around the world demonstrates this.”

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olumbia College has evolved so much in the past 159 years, it’s hard to put a label on it.

And that’s just fine with college President Gerald Brouder. If you’re stuck, he’ll offer you his take: “We are very much a hybrid program.”

The college has always found its niche in responding to the market.

Chartered in 1851 to educate women because they weren’t allowed to attend Missouri Hall the University of Missouri, Christian Female College offered a two-year junior college program for nearly 120 years. In The campus boasts some new 1970, a major revamping brought about and renovated building projects for a name change, coeducation and a fourstudent services and athletic facilities. year program offering baccalaureate Groundbreaking on a $13 million science degrees. When Brouder became the 16th building is slated for 2011. president of Columbia College nearly Evaluation and quality assessment 16 years ago, the hybridization began in keep Columbia College relevant in the Columbia College earnest. marketplace, Brouder says. “We’re taking At A Glance Today the campus on Columbia’s the lead in improving our product and Founding year: 1851 north side serves as headquarters of a rolling out new ones, such as a new Total enrollment: 29,475 far-flung operation that offers associate’s, master’s degree in military history that Columbia enrollment: 1,200 bachelor’s and master’s degrees in we’ll be offering soon.” (traditional day campus) Columbia and 34 other nationwide The 67-year-old college president’s Average tuition cost: $7,798 locales, an evening program and online leadership style is one of working toward per semester courses. Students find flexibility in consensus.

Columbia employees: 450 the convenience of either traditional “I don’t suffer fools easily,” he says. “It’s not Campus size: 30 acres semesters or eight-week programs. And totally democratic. I hire the very best people with 18 nationwide campuses located on I can. I make the charge very clear and then military bases, thousands of service members are fitting get out of the way and let them do what they do best. My role is to higher education into their lives, earning degrees with the provide the necessary resources to let them succeed.

Columbia College brand.

“We do that rather well.”

“We’re on the cutting edge of delivery of education services,” The college measures its success by looking at its strategic Brouder says. “Our vision is to become a model for hybrid plan and gauging how it meshes with the transitional review institutions like us.” process Brouder has started. Every five years, all processes — Admittedly, the college’s phenomenal growth and expansion academic and administrative — are reviewed by an outside was not on the horizon when Brouder arrived on campus evaluator. Feedback gives the college leadership a reality check, from across town where he had spent years as a University Brouder says, and opens the way for decisions on program of Missouri administrator. He found a physical plant in poor enhancement or elimination. repair, a victim of deferred maintenance that Brouder felt As Columbia College grows its brand and improves its could no longer be deferred. offerings, it helps the community, Brouder says, beyond the “I’d call that the low point of my time here,” he says. “We economic impact of its $100 million operating budget and embarked on a program of repair and rebuilding. We now $150 million in assets. have no deferred maintenance and we’re debt-free, thank “We are attracting companies and people to Columbia,” he goodness.” says. “Keep your eye on us. We’re growing.”

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President, Stephens College

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ianne Lynch was accustomed to being on the “questioning” end of interviews — until she moved to Columbia. A journalist and an academic, she arrived in this media-saturated college town a year ago to assume the presidency of Stephens College, and discovered what it was like to often end up on the “answering” end of those media conversations.

“It has been very different to have such a high public profile, to be recognized everywhere I go,” she says. “But I have loved every minute of it, and I remain so glad — and so grateful — to be a part of Stephens.”

The 54-year-old college president revels in the uniqueness of Stephens, the oldest women’s college west of the Mississippi.

“Stephens is a very special institution, a college that knows exactly what it is, who it serves, and how it can be the very best at what it does and is,” she says. “We don’t pretend nor aspire to be all things to all students; we are Stephens: a small, private, residential women’s college with programs of true distinction that celebrate and excel in the creative and liberal arts.”

The past year has brought some early accomplishments to Lynch’s administration: a balanced budget, a strategic planning process and creation of an Office of Innovation and New Initiatives. Stephens also improved the academic profile of incoming students, reduced its discount rate significantly, and has drawn repeated positive attention in the national media.

Stephens College “All in all, it was a good first year,” she says.

At A Glance In a few months, Lynch expects to work Founding year: 1833 with the Stephens community to update Total enrollment: 1,000 the college’s mission statement to include more specific language about lifelong Average tuition cost: $25,400 (traditional residential); learning, intellectual rigor, creative $355 per graduate credit expression, public service and global hour; $295 per Graduate citizenship. “The core mission of Stephens & Continuing Studies will remain the same,” she says, “but we undergraduate credit hour are focused on becoming a teaching and Columbia employees: 200 learning institution for the 21st century; (excluding adjunct faculty) as our students’ needs and learning styles Size of facilities: 86 acres; change, so, too, will Stephens change to 34 buildings meet them.”

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The most recent change in course offerings is the digital filmmaking major, added about five years ago. Since then, Stephens has enhanced its equestrian majors and achieved accreditation for its business programs through the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education, The education program’s Children’s School (preschool to fifth grade) is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year. In Graduate and Continuing Studies, a relatively new master’s degree in strategic leadership has proven to be very popular.

Lynch describes her leadership style as a collegial, collaborative manager and leader. “My personal style is informal and accessible, and I think sometimes my candor takes people by surprise,” she says. “But I believe in transparency, in accountability, and in communicating as much and as often as possible.”

Stephens bring its unique focus to the Columbia workforce — and to the higher education marketplace, Lynch says. “It is a focus on women’s education, on women’s leadership, on women’s creative energy and talents. Stephens has been at the heart of Columbia since 1833; the city emerged and evolved around the campus over the past 177 years, and we continue to provide that creative spark, that rich tradition and that fabulous style that is uniquely Stephens.”

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ahnae Barnett doesn’t fear change; she embraces it.

“As a product of rural Missouri and Mississippi, I was aware that not everyone had the encouragement, support and opportunity to continue their education as I did,” she says. “Early in my presidency, access to education became a priority to me, and I was inspired to find a way to deliver educational opportunities to working adults who otherwise might never have had of nearly 440, the university flexes its the chance to complete a degree or to earn WWU At A Glance economic impact in mid-Missouri where an advanced degree.” three of WWU’s five permanent facilities Founding year: 1870 (Fulton); That inspiration evolved into an 1992 (Columbia) are located. More than 4,000 William ambitious expansion program for the Woods University alumni reside within Total enrollment: 3,800 former women’s college in Fulton over a 50-mile radius of Columbia. Barnett the past 20 years. Under Barnett’s Columbia enrollment: 188 currently (programs vary in points to a 2009 study that pegged watch, William Woods has moved up enrollment and start times) WWU’s total tangible economic impact at from a college to a university, begun Average tuition cost: $17,500 nearly $95 million. a Graduate and Professional Studies (undergraduate, traditional); The university is a supporting partner program, opened its enrollment to male Graduate and Professional with Regional Economic Development students, expanded into 150 locations Studies range from $7,605 to Inc. and is providing IBM with training across Missouri and Arkansas and online, $12,960 space and technology at WWU’s Columbia and quintupled its overall enrollment.

Number of Columbia site on Falling Leaf Court as the company The unique programs WWU offers have employees: 36 prepares to open its new technology built its niche, such as the MBA with Size of Columbia facility: services delivery center. agribusiness emphasis, the M.Ed. in 13,700 square feet “This is a prime example of how WWU (11 classrooms, 1 study room athletic administration, the B.S. degreeand commons area) works together with community leaders on completion program in paralegal studies education and professional development and the specialist of education in school delivery,” Barnett says. administration program. New this fall The 63-year-old leader terms her is the school’s first doctoral degree, in leadership style as forward-thinking, education. valuing the past and concentrating on One of the university’s best-known the future. “This approach attracts those and respected programs delivered who like to get things accomplished and at its Columbia facility is the MBA move forward,” she says. “In part, this has program, taught by qualified, working been why we have been able to make so professionals in the community. “Our many innovative improvements and have emphasis is on providing an engaging experienced such healthy growth in the environment from which to collaborate last two decades.” and develop discussion that applies Barnett has spent nearly four decades theoretical academic content to realat William Woods, celebrating the midworld issues and situations,” Barnett Missouri community’s strong support says. “WWU believes in providing access of education and the opportunities so to higher education that is convenient, many educational facilities offer within a affordable and accelerated.” relatively small geographic area.

Expansion has been good for the “After serving this university for almost university’s bottom line as well. WWU has 40 years, I don’t view it as a job, or even a position,” she says. operated in the black since 2001; annual giving is up 15.8 “It is my life’s work.” percent. With a budget topping $25 million and a workforce FALL 2010

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President, Central Methodist University

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n today’s world of ever-narrowing specialization, Marianne Inman likes to pull out a startling statistic as she makes the case for a liberal arts education.

“Students in college right now are looking at five to seven job changes in their lifetime,” she says. “Not just changing employers or switching companies, but doing completely different kinds of work. Five to seven different kinds of work.”

That prospect, she says, is the strength of a liberal arts education and “the core of a CMU education.”

Inman, the 63-year-old president of Central Methodist University, is committed to extending access to that higher education core throughout Missouri. In addition to its main campus in Fayette, CMU operates nine regional campuses at CMU At A Glance Columbia, Sedalia, Clinton, Lake of the Founding year: 1854 (Fayette); Ozarks, Union, Park Hills, Poplar Bluff, 2002 (Columbia) St. Louis and Macon, as well as a number Total enrollment: 5,000 of extended studies sites and a dual-credit Columbia enrollment: 600 program with nearly 130 Missouri high Average tuition cost: $18,060 schools. per year (traditional); $190– “We have made it our mission to bring $355 per credit hour (College educational opportunities to learners, of Graduate & Extended Studies and online) wherever they happen to be,” Inman says.

Columbia employees: 23 “The distance between home and school is at Columbia campus; an decreasing all the time.” additional 50 Columbians Expansion and outreach have gone work at the Fayette campus hand-in-hand with CMU’s growth during Size of Columbia facility: Inman’s 15-year administration. Enrollment 5,500 square feet; 7 classrooms is at record levels on the Fayette campus and in the College of Graduate & Extended Studies. CMU opened its Columbia campus in 2002 on the Rock Bridge High School campus. In 2007, it moved to its current location at the Forum Shopping Center and offered programs in business, humanities, psychology, foreign language and nursing.

Space expanded in 2008 as programs grew. Degree programs in Columbia include Bachelor of Accountancy, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and one graduate degree: Master of Science in Nursing. The campus offers day and evening classes in 16-week sessions.

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the face of recession, CMU has had no layoffs and has continued to grant salary increases.

“We have a philosophy of budgeting conservatively and managing money prudently,” Inman says.

Her leadership style is inclusive.

“I believe in involving all relevant persons,” she says. “I rely on the senior administrative staff and the wisdom in Central’s community. We all have a stake in CMU’s future. Everybody is important to accomplish the goal.”

To keep CMU’s offerings relevant, Inman revived the concept of program review about a dozen years ago.

“Keeping up with the times is essential,” she says. “We are always cognizant of market forces and always reviewing academic programs.”

The mission of the university, Inman says, is to prepare students to make a difference in the world by emphasizing academic and professional excellence, ethical leadership and social responsibility.

“That mission extends to all, not just traditional students,” she adds. “Any time students are involved in higher education, they are progressing toward a higher goal of betterment.”

Providing access to that higher goal is what drives CMU’s commitment to growth and extended outreach, she says. “It’s a perfect mix.”

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velyn Jorgenson’s introduction to higher education came from a community college. Her classes at State Fair Community College opened up the world to her and she used it as a springboard to continue her education, earning a bachelor’s degree from Columbia College and both a master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. She has become the most enthusiastic booster of open-admission community colleges and the impact they bring to people’s lives and livelihoods.

“My parents weren’t even high school graduates,” Jorgenson says. “What were the odds that I would become a college president, or even go to college?”

Jorgenson has been president of Moberly Area Community College for the past 14 years. In that time, the that I have. Good people, all working in the same direction, for 58-year-old leader has overseen the expansion of MACC the same great purpose can accomplish wonderful things.” throughout its 16-county service area, chalking up a 300 She demands respect for the percent enrollment growth, development accomplishments community colleges of six off-campus sites (including are achieving in workforce readiness Columbia) and facilities construction. and cites a 2009 study by the Missouri MACC partners with the University of Department of Economic Development Missouri in an Entrepreneurship and that declared “middle skills” occupations Business Development Center, offers employ the majority of Missouri’s labor new Internet courses and an online A.A. force and support the necessary high-skill degree, and has expanded career and occupations. technical programs, as well as those in “The workforce of tomorrow needs nursing and allied health, and business not only life-science researchers, but and industry. In July, the college’s four to five lab technicians to support Columbia campus moved to its new each researcher,” Jorgenson says. “The facility in the renovated Parkade Center workforce of tomorrow needs not only on Business Loop 70. doctors and four-year-degree nurses, but She credits many factors in the college’s med lab techs, pharmacy techs, medical growth, particularly in Columbia: open assistants, occupational therapy assistants, admission; small class sizes; flexibility; emergency med techs, physical therapy and instructors and professors who assistants, LPNs and RNs, etc. — all careers love to teach. Lower tuition has also requiring an associate’s degree or less. The fueled enrollment, spurred on by the A+ MACC At A Glance workforce of tomorrow needs not only fourprogram in high schools. She also notes Founding year: 1927 (Moberly); year degree computer engineers, but also the attractiveness of MACC’s rich learning 1999 (Columbia) general computer techs, networking techs, environments due to the broad crossTotal enrollment: 5,000 programming techs, computer installers section of students.

Columbia enrollment: 2,062 and software techs. Community colleges, Jorgenson is a passionate leader and Average tuition cost: $2,500 a including MACC, provide the education expects others around her to be passionate year for these occupations. Columbia, as a as well. “I empower others and encourage Columbia employees: 133 community, is better than it was 21 years them, and to the extent I can, I provide (full-time/part-time/adjuncts) ago about understanding the need for them everything they need to be successful,” Size of Columbia facilities: associate degrees, and career and technical she says. “I listen, I guide, I support. I am 37,000 square feet education.” truly blessed to have the faculty and staff FALL 2010

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University Of Missouri President

Gary Forsee Brings Business Acumen To A Team That’s Shaping The System’s Future

Market position

by KATHY CASTEEL photos by L.G. PATTERSON

WHen the University of Missouri Board of Curators hired former Sprint Nextel Chairman and CEO Gary Forsee as the 22nd president of the four-campus system, it raised more than a few eyebrows. Forsee’s background in business, not academia — his highest academic degree is a bachelor’s degree — sparked a big-picture debate between Old Guard purists and visionary strategists. Less than three years later, Forsee is calmly captaining the university system through one of the rockiest economic periods in its history, bringing stability and common-sense practicality to the state’s premier university system as he spreads his enthusiasm for its future throughout the Show-Me State.

And he’s making the curators look like geniuses.

“Gary’s business background as a leader of complex organizations was one of the elements the board felt was important in the search process,” says curator Bo Fraser, former CEO of Boone County National Bank who joined the board in 2007. “He definitely knows how to get from Point A to Point B in an efficient and effective way.”

Forsee’s navigation to Point B and beyond is a work in progress for the university system, an exercise in efficiency that would challenge the best business mind. He has set the system on a path to reposition the university in the marketplace, committed, he says, “to be not merely an observer of the recovery

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process, but part of the solution to Missouri’s growing economic challenges.”

The solution, Forsee says, calls for a focus on research, commercialization of intellectual property, workforce and job development, access and affordability while maintaining quality in a streamlined, efficient model that uses best practices as its underpinning.

That’s a tall order, but the initiatives have poured forth. Faced with sharply declining state support, Forsee has urged the system’s faculty and staff to “become masters of our own fate” by seeking new sources of revenue through partnerships with the private sector. Last year the university teamed up with Cerner Corp., a Kansas City electronic medical records developer, to form the Tiger Institute for Health Innovation in Columbia, opening an infusion of funds, technology and global expertise to MU Health Care for upgrading health information technology. Forsee expects to form more such partnerships as public money wanes.

Research expenditures are at their highest level ever: $321 million, with $308 million of that coming from external sources. Investment in those researchers and their ability to move innovations to the marketplace kicked into high gear last January with the formation of the three-year Enterprise Investment Program, which will provide up to $5 million in seed capital for start-up companies that locate in Missouri and work to commercialize intellectual property created on a University of Missouri campus.

Development and expansion of research parks in Columbia, Rolla, Fort Leonard Wood and St. Charles County are expected to create a cumulative economic impact of nearly $5 billion.

Partnerships have established additional research facilities and incubators in Columbia, St. Louis and Mexico, Mo., with two more on the drawing board for the Kansas City area.

Faculty invention disclosures are at an all-time high of 161 and the system holds 110 patent filings. Licensing revenue from commercialized intellectual property hit $10 million in

2009; the goal is $50 million by 2014, a threshold Forsee says could ultimately have a $1 billion annual impact on the global marketplace.

Enrollment has swelled to about 70,000, reaching record or near-record levels on all campuses. “We’ve got to feel pretty good that so many students want to come here,” he says. “Our brand is very strong right now.”

Born in kansas City, Forsee has lived and worked all over Missouri — St. Louis, Springfield, Rolla, Cape Girardeau, Hannibal, Charleston, St. Joseph, Joplin and Moberly. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1972 and went to work for Southwestern Bell, serving in various positions in operations. In 1987, he jumped to AT&T as vice president of service operations; two years later he landed at Sprint, where he worked his way up the corporate ladder as general manager, senior vice president, interim CEO of the wireless division, and then president and CEO of the long-distance division. He left Sprint to serve a one-year stint as Global One’s president and CEO, followed by similarly brief executive stays at BellSouth Corp., BellSouth International, Cingular Wireless, and back to BellSouth again in 2002.

He returned to Sprint in 2003 as chief executive officer and chairman of the board, where he remained until 2007. When the curators came calling, he and his wife, Sherry, added Columbia to their list of Missouri hometowns in early 2008. Daughters Melanie and Kara are both graduates of the university’s Columbia campus.

So why, after 3½ decades in the telecommunications business, would a veteran of the boardroom take on the management challenges of the proverbial ivory tower?

“I was asked,” he says, as if that explains it all. “I had been helping the curators with the search already — I made some calls on their behalf. They were looking for a non-traditional candidate.

The job certainly wasn’t on my career path, but it came at an opportune time, coming as it did after my departure from Sprint.

“Sometimes,” he says with a smile, “life’s road takes some interesting twists and turns.”

Forsee’s background in business prepared the 60-year-old executive well for the twisted road the university system has traveled the past three years.

“It prepared me to be a learner,” he says. “You’re constantly learning in the business world; now I had to learn about the university. And it taught me to be flexible. Over 36 years, there hadn’t been many situations I hadn’t encountered at Sprint.”

The learner was a quick study, and he credits exiting Interim President Gordon Lamb’s helpful assistance with bringing him up to speed on the system’s status.

“Then I hit the road,” Forsee says. “Town hall meetings, testing issues … I quickly felt I had to have something to say in support of our faculty, staff and students. I wanted to debunk the myth that it was all about the system. There had been this lengthy period of uncertainty, and then someone showed up. We had to get back into a routine, a rhythm. It was time for stability.”

As he traveled the state, building relationships and exploring the system he was now leading, one conclusion became clear: “Our campuses had done a good job in the face of declining revenue,” Forsee says. “I could compliment as opposed to critique.”

Declining state support has proven to be the hairiest twist in the road for Forsee and company, throwing a hairpin curve to campus coffers. In 2001, the state’s financial support for the university’s operating budget was 55 percent. “Now, that figure is down to around 37 percent,” he says.

“I don’t want us to end up like Michigan,” he says, noting that university’s state funding level is at 6 to 7 percent over its total budget. He takes to heart the lament of former University of Michigan President Jim Duderstadt, who often describes the past

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um or mu?

there’s A difference university of missouri president gary Forsee wants to make one thing perfectly clear: He doesn’t run the Columbia campus. that job goes to Chancellor brady deaton, who serves as the chief executive officer of the university system’s flagship campus, located in the same city as the system’s headquarters.

Forsee likens the arrangement to a holding company. “the campuses are the units,” he says. “each unit runs its business and the things that go on at the holding company are overhead. We have to be careful in resources spent at the holding company. We don’t want duplication.”

Forsee’s role, as head of this 25,000-employee holding company, is that of a multiplying factor in gauging the impact of the units. “the chancellors at each campus may spend five days advocating in Jefferson City, for example; i’ll spend 25,” he says. “We’re all involved in the same plan. the system provides leverage for each campus.” that frees up chancellors to go about the business of their campuses, leaving Forsee to set the overall picture. it’s a division of duties that sits well with mizzou’s deaton, who is charged with management and decision making for the Columbia campus, including athletics, extension, health affairs and mu’s $1.82 billion budget. “president Forsee and i work very well collaboratively on educational policy issues across the state,” deaton says. “i have principal responsibility for ensuring collaboration between mu and the Columbia community.”

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30 years of Michigan funding as evolving from “a state-supported to a state-assisted to a state-related to a state-located university.”

To combat that trend, Forsee has taken an active role in advocating for the university among state legislators, building relationships and promising accountability. It is what the curators were banking on when they hired him, Fraser says, “Building relationships has been key in his past successes and is key to his success at this university,” Fraser says. “Difficult times require strong leaders.”

Early on, Forsee says, he realized a big part of his learning curve would require an understanding of the Missouri General Assembly. He concedes he may have been overly critical without a base knowledge of the body’s machinations.

“Legislators have a very difficult job,” he notes. “I appreciate what they do. I’ve had to learn the nuances, which calls for me to be very practical in leading our approach.”

He has found legislators to be willing listeners. “It becomes incumbent upon us to make our case,” he says. “We have to focus on what we can do for Missourians by encouraging economic development and improving the human condition. We have to focus on helping the state create and retain jobs. The state is dependent on economic growth, and that’s our sweet spot. We understand our role as a pipeline for commerce and investment. In return, we have to hold our costs down — we can’t keep putting it on the backs of students — and protect our quality. That places a premium on being flexible in finding new approaches to fulfill our mission.

“I haven’t found any Missouri citizen who doesn’t value the University of Missouri,” he adds. “We have to make the case in Jefferson City to maintain support while not shying from our need to be the loudest advocates for what we do.”

His advocate role brings kudos from legislators.

“Gary is a perfect fit for the university system, especially now in the most difficult budget times Missouri has ever seen,” observes state Sen. Kurt Schaefer. “He has the intellect and understanding of higher education necessary to be successful. But his greatest asset is his ability to exude fiscal responsibility and accountability to the Jefferson City budget axes looking for lambs to slaughter.

It’s his business acumen that makes him no lamb.”

Forsee has coaxed cooperation from legislators and state officials by promising accountability and efficiency. Campuses are held accountable against their peer groups (for Columbia, that’s the American Association of Universities; St. Louis and Kansas City are measured against the Urban 21; Rolla compares itself to a group of 15 similar technological institutions). Efficiencies will come from the Shared Services Initiative, a move to consolidate common back-office activities such as payroll, benefits and information technology.

“We’re focusing on outcomes, not just processes,” he says. “We have to have results — have to have a scorecard.”

He has instituted an accountability measurement system, a compilation of 80 accountability measures that encompass all facets of the university’s mission of teaching, research, service and economic development. Forsee says the scorecard produced will track meaningful assessment of progress in key areas, compare accomplishments to peer and benchmark institutions, and identify priorities for improvement. It is a companion piece to the system’s

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strategic plan Forsee issued in October 2008. That plan plots a roadmap Forsee and the four campus chancellors will use to strengthen and enhance all that the university does as it sharpens its focus on stimulating and developing Missouri’s economy.

The goals detailed in A Strategic Direction for the University of Missouri System seek to achieve these objectives: • Increasing access and affordability • Providing nationally recognized leadership in selected areas consistent with each unique campus • Achieving national recognition for university and community outreach through service and outreach to local communities and the state, nation and world • Promoting innovation and economic development through cutting-edge research that improves people’s lives

The strategic plan is a template for excellence at all four campuses, Forsee says.

“We have the ability, at the system level, to bring the best minds in the state to bear. The system’s scale and scope carries leverage,” he adds. “Our role in the state’s recovery is vital, particularly in this economy — how do we help Missouri? There’s something I call ‘bandwidth.’ Since there are only so many hours in the day, we pool our resources across the system. Sometimes it does take a village.”

Forsee says his leadership style is one of visibility and communication. “In my heart of hearts, I’m an operating person,” he says. “I’ve spent my entire career in operations. Leaders cast a shadow that the organization can see, so as the system leader I have to be visible and communicate clearly our challenges and opportunities.”

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He’s a good listener, says Columbia Chancellor Brady Deaton.

“He continually learns and weighs issues as he goes; he does not jump to conclusions. He also works tirelessly to inform a multitude of stakeholders and constituents about the tremendous benefit the University of Missouri system brings to our state. His leadership is above all notable for his commitment to public higher education in Missouri and his willingness to fight for its future.”

One of the favorite parts of his job, Forsee says, is an all-day visit to each campus every quarter.

“On one recent visit to the MU campus, I got a chance to visit with faculty and students, spend time with extension units and meet the small businesses we’re working with to provide a statewide resource. It’s all a part of my learning curve — it’s ongoing.”

He’s also looking at the learning curve of the students and the role of technology in their education. “I felt we were behind in e-learning,” he says. “It’s a game changer that creates opportunities.”

Graduation rates concern him. “We looked at degreecompletion rates at the St. Louis campus and found there were 700 students enrolled within the past five years with more than 100 credits who are no longer enrolled and have no degree.

How do we get to the finish line?”

He proposes a paradigm shift in the way higher education operates. Options include making university resources available to other institutions to aid in degree completion; requirements for e-learning; hybrid learning through classrooms, e-learning and distance learning; three-year accelerated degrees; year-round class schedules; clearer pathways from high school to college; and greater clarity in credit-hour requirements for degrees.

Forsee has also set up task forces to examine the university’s impact on business needs and workforce readiness. The P20 task force is looking at teacher training for early childhood to 12th grade. “Are we helping the education pipeline?” he wants to know. The Outside In task force is concerned with workforce preparation. “Do businesses have to do remedial work when a University of Missouri graduate gets there?” Forsee wonders.

“We may have to consider the interdisciplinary approach to meet the needs of this economy,” he says. “Businesses expect employees with multiple skills. There’s a great mismatch out there in the job market right now. We have high unemployment yet a high number of open positions due to a mismatch in skill levels.

We have to address that mismatch.”

“We’ve put a lot of changes into the works,” Forsee says as he describes efforts to position the University of Missouri system in the marketplace. “You don’t just wake up one day and there’s a new university model ready to roll out, like an iPhone. There’s a number of working parts in higher education. When we look back we will see that the path of change has been a gradual reshaping.”

He sees this process as essential to maintaining his vision for the university and all its many working parts.

“We have an incredible national and statewide resource in the four campuses,” he says. “We want to be as relevant in the next 170 years as we have been in the past. The university is one of the top research institutions in the world. We’re unique in Missouri. But we can’t take that for granted.”

DIVIDENDS

dress for success

Tie One On

neCk WrAp 1

an easy-to-follow guide for the neckwear Impaired

by JeSSiCA perkinS photos by lAuren FriSCH men’s neckwear provided by bingHAmS

What is it about that little piece of fabric at the throat that elevates an outfit from pedestrian to refined? Neckties, bowties and silk scarves lend a touch of effortless class to almost any ensemble, so tie on an accessory to dress up your look for work or a special night out. Feeling a little uncertain about all that folding and tying? This step-by-step guide will help you get spiffed up in no time.

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tHe SQuAre Silk SCArF

Throw on a square, silk scarf with anything from a tailored suit to a summery top and jeans to add a bit of extra elegance. It’s also a great way to stay a bit warmer in the fall and infuse your wardrobe with some color and pattern.

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1. Lay the scarf out on a flat surface.

2. Fold two of the opposite corners so the scarf forms one wide strip instead of a square.

3. Fold the strip in half to make it narrower; then fold in half again.

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4. If desired, twist the scarf.

5. Drape the scarf around your neck and double knot.

6. Pull knot to one side.

7. Arrange free ends as desired.

1. Fold the scarf in half diagonally so it forms a triangle.

2. Drape the triangle around the front of your neck.

3. Bring the left and right end behind your neck.

4. Tie by using the simple overunder technique you’d use when beginning to tie your shoes.

Double-knot if desired.

5. Bring the ends back to the front and either leave loose or tuck behind the rest of the fabric.

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dress for success

tHe bOWtie

The bowtie is actually meant to look imperfect — slight asymmetry indicates the bowtie is not a ready-tied version but has instead been tied by hand. Bowties, often worn with tuxedos, are appropriate for very formal occasions such as black-tie weddings.

1. Drape the bowtie around your neck so the end on the left hangs about 2 inches lower than the end on the right.

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2. Cross the longer end over the shorter end. Bring the longer end behind the bowtie and up toward your face. (It’s OK to toss the long end over your shoulder for now to keep it out of the way.)

3. Double up the shorter, hanging end to form the front loop of the bow. The fold should be on your right side and the end should be on your left. Hold this front loop with the left hand.

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4. Use the right hand to drop the long end over the front of the half-bow you’ve just made.

5. Bring the long end behind the bow and toward your right. Push the remaining tail through the loop you’ve just created (where your left thumb is holding the first half-bow). You should be pushing the fold through from your right to your left.

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6. Tug the bowtie ends to adjust, and then straighten the center knot.

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dress for success

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tHe FOur-in-HAnd

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The four-in-hand knot is a popular, classic tie knot. Small and slightly asymmetrical, the four-in-hand is easier to master than the Windsor or Half-Windsor knots and is appropriate for most occasions. It’s a better companion to shirts with smaller collar openings than those with wide collars.

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1. Drape the tie around your neck so the wide end of the tie hangs on your left side and the narrow end hangs on your right side. The wide end should be about a foot longer than the narrow end.

2. Cross the wide end over and under the narrow end. After completing this step, the wide end of the tie should once again be on your left side.

3. Cross the wide end over the narrow end again and bring the wide end behind the tie and up toward your face.

4. Bring the wide end down and through the loop you’ve created in the front of the tie.

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5. Tighten the tie by holding the narrow end and sliding the knot up until it is snug against the center of the collar.

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TIED UP IN KNOTS? Try watching neckwear how-to videos on www.YouTube.com.

Once you become familiar with the first few steps, it will become much easier to focus on what’s going wrong with the more complicated steps.

DIVIDENDS

dress for success

A fASHIONAbLE fORECAST Warm up to autumn’s Color palettes

by JeSSiCA perkinS photos by lAuren FriSCH

Welcome autumnal hues into your everyday work wear for a wardrobe that will keep you cozy and stylish well into the winter.

A rich, warm combination of rust, peach and aubergine livens up a staid pinstripe suit, while a dress in jewel-tone purple set against deep silver and black takes you from day to evening with ease.

FoR HeR: A floral dress in deeper hues is fall-ready: purple and gray floral dress, available at Girl Boutique ($185). A fitted blazer tops party dresses for an easy day-to-evening look: Gianni Bini blazer, available at Dillard’s ($138).

Statement jewelry is as bright and cheery at the office as it is during cocktail hour: black chain and purple bead necklace, available at Girl Boutique ($38). Black accessories work hard from 9 to 5 and beyond: Nine West pumps, available at Macy’s ($69); Michael Kors handbag, available at Dillard’s (on sale for $243.60).

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dress for success

FoR HIm: A charcoal suit looks great for almost any occasion: Perry Ellis suit with blue pinstripes, available at Men’s Wearhouse ($499). Deep oranges and plums complement a lighter shade of peach: paisley necktie, available at Binghams ($75); peach checkered dress shirt, available at Binghams ($84.50). Black and silver accessories keep the look polished: black belt with interchangeable silver or gold hardware, available at Binghams ($65); black Rockport dress shoes, available at Men’s Wearhouse ($129.99); stainless steel Tissot watch, available at KT Diamond Jewelers ($365).

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Stepping Out

How do you go from the office to cocktails without making a timeconsuming trip home? These tips will help you dress for the office and after hours.

Details: Choose items with interesting details that will stand out after the workday ends. Saturated jewel tones, a hint of sheen or special-feeling fabrics such as brocades or silk transition well from day to night. If you’re wearing dress pants to work, a beaded or similarly detailed top may be all you need to create an evening look.

Cut: To pull off the day-to-evening transformation without changing clothes, it’s important to choose items cut modestly enough for the office. Skirts and dresses should fall at the knee, and bare shoulders can be covered with smart blazers that are both flattering and work-appropriate. After hours, replace the blazer with a wrap or cardigan or ditch the cover-up altogether.

Accessory swap: At the end of the day, trade your stud earrings for dramatic chandeliers or a chunky necklace and a cocktail ring to add some sparkle. Wear shoes with a moderate heel or select a lower-heeled pair for work and a more adventurous pair for play. If you carry a large daytime handbag, stash a small party clutch inside it for your after-work plans.

It Suits You

Selecting a well-fitting suit needn’t be a daunting task. Men’s Wearhouse Assistant Manager Mike Wells walks you through the process.

Occasion: What is the occasion?

“While many suits are appropriate for most occasions, the general rule of thumb is the darker the suit, the more formal it is,” Wells says. “Black suits are the norm for weddings and funerals, while lighter suits — tans, light gray, light blue — are appropriate for more 74

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dress for success

The general rule: the darker the suit, the more formal it is. relaxed occasions such as graduations, parties or less formal business attire.”

Dressy suits are made of wool; those made of silk, cotton or linen are “not appropriate for formal occasions and are exclusively summer wear,” he says.

Style: Are you looking for something traditional or fashion-forward? “If everyday business wear is what you’re shopping for, traditional styling may be the way to go: two-button, notch-lapelled and center-vented,” Wells says. “If the gentleman is more of a GQ kind of guy, something very trimly fitted with side vents and narrow lapels is definitely appropriate.”

Fit: How can you be sure a suit fits properly? Lean on an expert, Wells says. A consultant trained in suit fitting can “take proper measurements and try different cuts and styles” to help you find something that makes you look great. To find the right jacket, the consultant should take measurements of your arms, chest, waist and hips.

“The jacket should adequately cover a gentleman’s seat, his knuckles should hit approximately the same place on the body that the jacket does and the belly button should be in the general vicinity of the middle-most button,” Wells says. “The jacket should feel comfortable across the shoulders and through the middle when the gentleman is in a relaxed position.” To find the right pants, a consultant might first try a pair with a waist measurement that’s 6 inches smaller than the shoulder measurement.

Tailoring: “It’s important to remember that most gentlemen will need to have a tailor adjust a few things on their suit. Adjustments to sleeve length, waist and pant length are common,” Wells says.

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DIVIDENDS

collections

A Grown-Up Treasure Hunt tips for Collecting sports memorabilia

by AnitA neAl HArriSOn

For generations, kids have had a ball collecting sports memorabilia, and this is one pastime no one has to outgrow. Adults can also have a great time collecting memorabilia from past and present sports favorites and can even score some nice investments — giving a childhood hobby a real grown-up spin. Gordon Craig, a dealer at Itchy’s Flea Market, has some advice on how to put together a winning collection.

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pICk an Interest.

You might choose to focus on a team, a player, a year or an event (such as the 1980 Summer Olympics), but having a focus will let you educate yourself better and could make your collection more valuable. start readIng. Reference material on sports collecting abounds. Craig likes Tuff Stuff ’s Sports Collectors Monthly, a multisport collectibles magazine offering expert advice and pricing information; publications from Beckett Media (www.beckett.com) are also helpful.

CultIvate a relatIonshIp. “Find a local dealer and establish a relationship with that dealer,” Craig says.

“Dealers love to help clients fill holes in their collections.” be savvY on the Internet.

The Internet is a great research tool, but purchasing from online sellers can be risky, especially if the seller is not a known, reputable dealer. ask for doCumentatIon. When purchasing autographs, make sure it comes with a certificate of authenticity, or COA. COAs from certain companies carry more weight, so do a little research to know how much the COA is worth. have patIenCe. In the 1970s, Craig decided he would like to have a set of Topps baseball cards from his birth year. His first step was to 78

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take out an advertisement in his local paper, which scored him a partial set in good condition. Over the next 15 to 20 years, he searched the old-fashioned way at card shops and shows, adding a card here and a card there until he completed the set. “I didn’t want to buy a completed set, stick it on the shelf and say, ‘I have a complete set,’ ” he says. “The whole fun is in the process of putting it together. There’s a lot of personal enjoyment and pride in being able to accomplish that goal.”

Be a big kid.

When it comes to collecting sports memorabilia, much of the appeal is the chance to relive one’s childhood, Craig says, so “have fun with it. Collect what you like, and don’t be as concerned with the value as the enjoyment you get out of it.”

Preserving Your Collection As with most collectibles, condition determines the value of sports memorabilia, but it’s not much fun to have a collection that’s stowed away in some inaccessible, climate-controlled place. Great Hang-Ups co-owner Mark Nichols offers tips on how to preserve collectibles and showcase them at the same time: For cards and other paper-based products, make sure whatever touches them — mattes, album pages, mounts, etc. — is acid-free.

When using frames, always use a glazing material (such as glass or Plexiglas) that offers added UV protection.

Limit light exposure. Even when the collectible is behind protective glass, a minimum amount of ultraviolet light will get through, so it’s best to position the frame out of direct sunlight. Avoid spotlights and other harsh interior lighting as well.

Get the help of a pro. If you are dealing with something valuable — or something you hope will be valuable in the future — enlist the help of a preservation professional.

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DIVIDENDS

ceo at play

You’ve Got Game The Savvy Spectator’s Guide To Sports In Missouri

by ANITA NEAL HARRISON

Just as watching a sporting event on TV cannot compare to watching a sporting event in person, there are different levels of experiences fans can have at the game. Imagine how impressed clients or business associates would be if you provided them with the ultimate game-day experience.

Whether you are a Cardinals, Royals, Chiefs, Rams or Missouri Tigers fan, this spectator’s guide to Missouri sports supplies the tips you need to deliver an unforgettable day at the ballpark, stadium or dome.

Featured seating options are limited but available on a single-game basis; areas restricted to season passes are not included, except for the hometown Tigers.

St. Louis Cardinals

Kansas City Royals Best Seats in the Stadium: Dugout Suites Located next to both dugouts, the Dugout Suites offer on-field seating, a climatecontrolled party area, a private restroom and a wet bar with television. That’s in addition to the standard benefits in all suites: included food and beverage package options, parking passes, game programs, wait staff service, multiple color TV monitors and a group welcome on the LED board.

The Dugout Suites can host 20 guests, plus standing-room tickets; combining both adjoining sides allows the party to expand to 40–60 people.

Want More?

Go for the All Access Tour.

The All Access Tour takes Royals fans onto the field, into the broadcast booth and inside other behind-the-scenes areas.

Available for groups of up to eight, the stadium tour also includes a private guided tour of the Royals Hall of Fame, a Diamond Club Box Seat, $20 preloaded on the ticket for food and beverages, autographed keepsakes and more.

One More Tip …

Those who purchase tickets before game day can buy advanced parking at a discount.

Kauffman Trivia q Kauffman Stadium’s Crown Vision is the largest highdefinition video board in Major League Baseball. q The stadium features the largest privately funded fountain in the world, “a 322-foot-wide water spectacular.”

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Best Seats in the Stadium: Commissioner’s Box Seats The “most exclusive seats in the stadium,” Commissioner’s Box Seats are next to the Cardinals dugout and offer the park’s best field-level views. The all-inclusive ticket provides access to on-field viewing of batting practice, a photo op in the Cardinals dugout, complimentary in-seat food and beverage service, VIP parking and, of course, cushy stadiumstyle seats.

Want More? Use Cards Cash.

New in 2010 is “Cards Cash,” which lets fans load money into the barcode of their tickets and use the funds at any register in the ballpark, including kiosks and the Team Store. It’s a great enhancement for tickets given as gifts or used to entertain clients.

One More Tip …

All-inclusive tickets for the 2011 season go on sale in December and sell out quickly.

Busch Stadium Trivia q In 2009, the Cardinals drew 3.343 million fans, with 49 sellout games, to rank fourth in MLB in terms of ticket sales q The team has reduced its energy use by 14.1 percent since the new stadium opened.

ceo at play

Mizzou Tiger Football Best Seats in the Stadium: Touchdown Terrace New in 2010, Memorial Stadium’s Touchdown Terrace offers premium, seasonpass, field-level seating beside the team locker room entrance in the south end zone.

For $600 for the season, fans get to watch the game from padded seats with an excellent view of the video board and have access to a climate-controlled private tent with all-youcan-eat food and beverages (no alcohol, as it’s not allowed in the stadium), as well as private bathrooms. Touchdown Terrace ticketholders also have the option to purchase a reserved parking pass in an exclusive lot.

Want More? Become a Tiger Scholarship Fund Club Member TSF Club membership comes with a variety of benefits, from exclusive invitations to TSF

events to a VIP Sideline Experience. Better parking options are much appreciated, and of course there’s the pride and satisfaction of supporting Mizzou! A chart showing benefits available at each sponsorship level is at www.mutigers.com/boosters.

One More Tip …

Get all the information you need for the smoothest game day possible at www.mizzougameday.com. Tabs include FAQs, parking information, traffic flow, tailgating, fan guide and much more.

Memorial Stadium Trivia q The landmark rock “M” debuted on Oct. 1, 1927. q Legend has it that during initial blasting for the stadium, a rock crusher and truck were buried and still remain under the field.

St. Louis Rams Best Seats in the Dome: Single Game Suites Packages for these all-inclusive box suites include a complete catering package with a choice of two menu options, pre-game field passes, parking passes, complimentary lowerlevel tickets to a future game, in-suite visits upon request by Rams alumni players or Rams cheerleaders, full access to the exclusive newly renovated Rams Club and other benefits. Corporate hospitality packages are available for a minimum of 10 fans, up to 50.

Want More? Tailgate at Baer Park.

At the Bud Light Tailgate Party at Baer Park, you’ll find activities for the whole family, including top local bands, a Kids Club area and plenty of food and beverages to kick off your game-day experience.

You’ll also have the chance to meet Rams cheerleaders, Rams alumni and mascot Rampage. Activities start three hours prior to kickoff.

One More Tip …

Fans can talk with a ticket representative at 314-RAMS-TIX to create a customized game day experience.

Edward Jones Dome Trivia q The dome roof covers 12.5 acres. q At full capacity, the dome can be evacuated in 11 minutes, without the use of escalators and elevators. q There are a total of 1,142 toilets in the dome, 968 of which are public.

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kansas city chiefs Best Seats in the Stadium: Sideline Select Suites These field-level luxury suites place fans close to the action.

Each suite is climate-controlled, accommodates up to 30 guests and includes two high-definition TVs, a private restroom, an enclosed seating area with operable windows and access to Club Level lounges.

Want More?

Take a Private Tour.

Private tours of Arrowhead are available for groups of 10 or more. Chiefs fans get an on-theground look at the field and may explore the stadium’s club level, penthouse level, broadcast booth, press box, locker rooms and more behind-the-scenes areas. Also included is a guided tour of the Hall of Honor.

One More Tip …

Construction has changed parking and traffic patterns. Check out www.kcchiefs.com/arrowhead/ parking-and-tailgating.html for new information.

Arrowhead Trivia q The 2010-11 season is the first in the “New Arrowhead Stadium,” following a $375 million renovation. q Arrowhead hosted the first Border Showdown between the Tigers and Jayhawks in 2007, a game that drew 80,537 fans — the second-largest crowd the stadium has seen.

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Countdown To Kickoff 2010 The annual Countdown to Kickoff was held in the Tiger Lounge at Faurot Field on Aug. 17 to benefit the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Columbia. Key sponsors of the evening were Joe Machens Automotive Group, DeSpain Dermatology, Miller’s Professional Imaging, Boone County National Bank, VA Mortgage Center and the Columbia Insurance Group. They, along with Coach Gary Pinkel, dozens of volunteers and scores of donors made the evening a great success. (Photos by Wally Pfeffer, mizzouwally@compuserve.com)

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1. Gary Drewing and Bill Schulz 2. Brenda and Bob Wagner with Gene and Shelly Devore 3. Mary Jo Henry and Ben Galloway 4. Jo Behymer and Rockie Alden 5. Elizabeth and Bill Hervey 6. Lisa Eimers and Gary Pinkel 7. Dave and Marcia Machens with Joe Priesmeyer 8. Sallie and Doug Schwandt

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Chamber of Commerce New Member Welcome The membership committee of the Chamber of Commerce hosted a New Member Welcome at Whiskey Wild Saloon on Aug. 25. The Ambassadors and the chamber’s leadership joined the scores of new members to welcome them and provide insights into becoming active in the chamber. (Photos by Wally Pfeffer, mizzouwally@compuserve.com) 1. Vicki, Russell, Trista Hedrick and Linda Hayes 2. Tom Trabue and Jon Signaigo 3. Erik Morse and Kristi Ray 4. Rhonda Lightfoot, Ruth Stone and Ashley Cunningham 5. Liz Tesar and Sidney Neate 6. Kate and Jonathan Miller 7. John Beverstein, Gary Tatlow, Darlene Johnson and Dan Scotten

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ADVERTISING INDEX Accent Dental....................................................................... 84 Allison, Dant-Allstate...........................................................35 Alpine Park & Gardens..........................................................31 American Family Insurance............................................... 20 Boone County National Bank............................................... 3 Bright City Lights...................................................................23 The Callaway Bank................................................................73 Cancer Research Center..................................................... 84 Central Trust...........................................................................36 City of Columbia Water & Light........................................39 Coil Construction..................................................................67 Columbia Insurance Group.................................................79 Columbia Regional Airport.................................................77 Columbia Turf........................................................................... 5 Commerce Bank......................................................................9 CORE........................................................................................ 41 Courtyard Marriott.............................................................. 30 Creative Surroundings......................................................... 28 D&M Sound..............................................................................4 Debby Cook Interiors........................................................... 17 Farm Bureau Insurance, Jeff Kebert.................................. 71 Ford, Parshall & Baker...........................................................39 Foundation for a Higher Good............................................ 81 Gary B. Robinson Jewelers..................................................65 GFI Digital............................................................................... 61 Graystone............................................................................... 88 Grizzly Bear Lawn Care....................................................... 86 Grossmann Promotional Products....................................65 Harper, Evans, Wade & Netemeyer..................................65 Hawthorn Bank......................................................................92 House of Brokers.................................................................... 11 Job Point, Local Celebrity Apprentice...............................13 Johnston Paint........................................................................78 King, Paul D.D.S. ................................................................... 71 Kleithermes Homes..............................................................73 Landmark Bank......................................................................25 Line-X....................................................................................... 71 Lon BrockmeierRaymond James Financial Services...............................63 Maher, Jack-Maly Commercial Realty.............................35 Mail & More............................................................................39 MayeCreate............................................................................32 McAdams’ Ltd....................................................................... 44 Missouri Cotton Exchange................................................. 84 Moneta Group........................................................................75 Moresource..............................................................................31 MU Health Care..................................................................... 91 Peachtree Banquet Center.................................................. 17 Phat Guys Open.....................................................................83 Providence Bank................................................................... 69 Radman, Sheri-RE/MAX.....................................................32 Riverview Technologies........................................................23 Sandler Training.................................................................... 20 Schuster, BettyPrinciple Financial Group................................................ 30 Shelter Office Plaza.................................................................6 Simon Oswald Associates.................................................. 17 Smart Business Products.....................................................23 Smith & Moore...................................................................... 86 Southside Liquors................................................................. 34 Starr Properties...................................................................... 19 State Farm Insurance............................................................ 61 Steve Twitchell Productions................................................67 Stifel Nicholas....................................................................... 34 Suit Yourself............................................................................36 Swan Lake............................................................................... 88 Tiger Court Reporting........................................................... 19 Tiger Mobile Advertising.....................................................32 UMB Bank............................................................................... 15 United Country......................................................................74 University Club.......................................................................27 Vicky Shy Realty....................................................................79 Wobig, Lynn-Allstate............................................................77 Whitworth Law......................................................................77 Vintage Falls............................................................................27 Waddell & Reed.....................................................................78 Wilkerson & Reynolds.......................................................... 19 William Woods University.................................................... 2 Williams Keepers................................................................. 28 88

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Government Largess Is Driving Voter Discontent

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ost of the small-business sense that most taxpayers are tired of owners I know scratch this type of governance and I suspect their heads when they we’ll see the signs of their discontent in ponder the mess that our upcoming elections — both locally and city, state and federal governments have nationally. gotten themselves into in recent years.

In just two short months, voters will Faced with mountains of debt, deficit be headed to the polls in large numbers. spending, insolvency and shocking levels Election Day 2010 will not only be a of waste and inefficiency, wake-up call for Congress the growth of government and the majority party would make you think that currently rules the bureaucrats are oblivious House and Senate, but to today’s economic it could be remembered realities. as the day that voters While the struggling demanded a return to economy has forced good old-fashioned most business owners to common sense in tighten their belts and government. make extraordinarily The failed initiatives of tough decisions, most the Obama administration governmental entities and the record deficit When times seem unfazed as if they spending by Congress were exempt from the have taken their toll on get really tough, devastating impact of businesses and all working public agencies the financial crisis that Americans. Government simply spend has rocked so many bailouts, broken promises reserves, take on businesses. Imagine what and the worst economic more debt and government might look pass their toughest downturn in modern like today if it were forced history will be the lasting problems on to to play from the same legacy that will haunt future generations. future generations. I believe rulebook and realities as – Fred Parry that of small-business Americans will flock to owners. the polls to say they’ve had In the last two years, enough of the nonsense. we’ve seen a lot of businesses close In Missouri, the most recent their doors. We’ve seen widespread sign of voter discontent came in the staff reductions and once-market August primary election when 71 leaders vanish into thin air. Compare percent of Missourians voted in favor and contrast this behavior to what’s of Proposition C, a symbolic measure happening in local, state and federal designed to send a message to federal government. Government only gets officials that the proposed health care bigger, never smaller. When times get legislation is not passing the “stink test” really tough, public agencies simply in Middle America. This may have been spend reserves, take on more debt the first shot fired in what will become a and pass their toughest problems on firestorm of voter discontent throughout to future generations. I have a strong this country.

It’s possible that we’ll also experience a record turnout in Columbia where citizens are just about fed up with a different kind of nonsense. The ballot issue that will likely draw the largest crowds will no doubt be the initiative intended to ban police officers from using Tasers as a nonlethal means of subduing criminals. I hope right-minded, law-abiding citizens will turn out in full force to vote down this issue with a mindset that we should give police officers whatever tools they need to fight crime in our community.

If discontent truly influences voter turnout, don’t be surprised if voters also cast a vote against the proposed parks sales tax that is projected to generate yet another $12 million to buy more parkland and maintain the more than 3,000 acres of existing parks in Columbia. A sales tax that was once tolerable in good times is less likely to look attractive in challenging economic times. Many citizens will find it hard to believe that buying more parkland ranks anywhere near the top of what our city’s spending priorities should be. These voters will favor more police and firefighters and support improved infrastructure over adding more parks to a city that has easy access to nearly 10,000 acres of public land.

Don’t rule out the possibility that some voters will vote against the parks sales tax simply because they want Columbia to lower its tax rate so they can put the money back into their own pockets.

Anything can happen when voters feel as disenfranchised as they do now.

The bottom line is that citizens want to send elected officials a message of “learn to live with less … the same way we’ve had to do in recent years.” Campaign season is just about the only time when a message like this doesn’t fall on deaf ears. For our sake and the sake of future generations, let’s hope that someone is listening.

FALL 2010

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CLOSING QUOTES

What Columbia’s Business People And Community Leaders Are Saying “It’s going to give people the ability to stay in these smaller communities.

There are going to be things they can do with this they couldn’t do before.”

“I don’t think anything is accomplished with talking, because anybody can talk.

It is all about how you play.”

— Socket’s Carson Coffman on the economic impact fiber-optic cable will have on rural communities.

— Mizzou Defensive End Aldon Smith in a preseason interview with The Kansas City Star.

“I’d rather read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo than look at this budget document.”

— Mayor Bob McDavid on the 600+ page city budget, during an Aug. 1 radio interview with David Lyle on KFRU

“It’s a real blow to our efforts to reorganize, reenergize and professionalize the theater’s operations, and to our hopes that our community would come to recognize that this is a public treasure worth saving.”

— Missouri Symphony Society Board President Christina George in reaction to an arbitration judge’s ruling that the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts must pay Huebert Builders $386,000 to cover construction change orders made during the theater’s renovation.

“Sometimes people think I don’t think outside the box, and sometimes I think I don’t even know where the box is.”

— Stephens College President Dianne Lynch during the CEO Roundtable Luncheon

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Inside Columbia’s ceo OutFront Communications, LLC 301 W. Broadway Columbia, MO 65203

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