Inside Columbia's CEO Spring 2010

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CONTENTS

Inside Columbia’s CEO • www.ColumbiaCEO.com • Volume 1, Issue 3

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Regional News Round-Up

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Expect Delays: Columbia Could Be In For The Mother Of All Traffic Jams By 2035

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Tech Transfer: British Company PetScreen Sets Up Shop In Columbia

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The Roger Wilson Era Kicks In At Missouri Employers Mutual

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Wine Worth Keeping

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CEO At Play: Watercraft

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Collections: Kee Groshong Talks Tractors

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Networking

The Business Of College

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Publisher’s Note

Sensory Perception: A New Look At Aging

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Closing Quotes

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Opening Bell: The Buzz On CoMo Biz The Columbia/Boone County Economic Index

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Picture From The Past

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Required Reading: Historic Downtown Columbia

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Inside Bogdan Susan’s Office

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Economic Development Rules The CEO Roundtable

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Quest To Be The Best: Columbia Forms A Baldrige Performance Excellence Group

35

The Fire And Rescue Training Institute’s Unique Business Model

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INSIdE COLUmBIA’S CEO STAFF Publisher Fred Parry fred@insidecolumbia.net Associate Publisher Melody Parry melody@insidecolumbia.net Editor-in-chief Sandy Selby sandy@insidecolumbia.net

MEET OUR EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Tom ATKinS Chairman and CEO, Atkins Companies

RAndY coiL President, Coil Construction

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

GARY FoRSEE President, University of Missouri System

BoB GERdinG Partner, Gerding, Korte & Chitwood CPAs

BYRon HiLL President & CEO, ABC Laboratories

PAUL LAnd Vice President, Plaza Real Estate Services

diAnnE LYncH President, Stephens College

GEoRGE PFEnEnGER President & CEO, Socket

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.

cARoL VAn GoRP CEO, Columbia Board of Realtors

creative director Carolyn Preul design@insidecolumbia.net Graphic designer Katharine Ley katharine@insidecolumbia.net director of Sales Linda Cleveland linda@insidecolumbia.net director of marketing & Business development Bill Bales bill@insidecolumbia.net marketing Representatives Gerri Shelton gerri@insidecolumbia.net Katie Thrower katie@insidecolumbia.net Nathan Baldwin nathan@insidecolumbia.net Ken Brodersen ken@insidecolumbia.net Business development Specialist Quinn Leon quinn@insidecolumbia.net office manager Brenda Brooks brenda@insidecolumbia.net distribution manager John Lapsley contributing Writers Anne Moeslein, Anita Neal Harrison John Littell, Ed Robb, Whitney Spivey 8

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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.

OPENING BELL

the buzz on como biz

Got An iPhone And A Tee Time?

N

ow you can settle golf course arguments immediately.

The United States Golf Association has launched an official iPhone application for the 2010-2011 editions of The Rules of Golf, Decisions, on The Rules of Golf and Rules of Amateur Status for the iPhone and iPod touch.

The Rules of Golf app can quickly answer questions about every rule, definition and decision. The new technology is the only rules application approved by the USGA. If, even after consulting the rule guides, questions still linger, confused golfers can e-mail the USGA directly from the app. And

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they’ve probably heard it all; the organization answers more than 15,000 rules questions each year.

The iPhone was the ideal initial platform for the application given the vast distribution of iPhone applications. The USGA is also extending the application onto the BlackBerry and Google Android operating systems.

Users can purchase and download the Rules of Golf App in the iTunes store for $3.99. The direct link for users with iTunes, an iPhone or iPod touch is http://iTunes.com/apps/therulesofgolf.

For more information, visit http://www.usga.org/mobile/.

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the buzz on como biz

Desperation By Any Other Name

C

olumbia and Topeka, Kan., are both among the cities campaigning to be the Google Fiber test city, but Topeka has gone to extremes to woo Google. Topeka Mayor William Bunten signed a proclamation asking his citizenry to refer to Topeka as Google, Kan., during all of March 2010. The folks at Google must not be too impressed since Google, Kan., doesn’t show up as an actual place on Google Earth. Here in Columbia, the efforts to secure the ultra-highspeed service are a little less gimmicky with the Como Fiber Web site (www.comofiber.net), the production of a promotional video and a Facebook fan drive.

Kespohl

Dudley

McDavid

Columbia’s Chamber Endorses City Candidates

City Powers Up Incentives For Business

Y

ou could call it a light bulb moment for Columbia’s City Council. On March 1, the council voted unanimously to give big electric consumers — customers that use 10 megawatts of power or more per month — a break on their electric bills. Right now there aren’t any companies in Columbia that use that much power, but community business leaders hope the move will attract data centers and other high-tech companies to town. The new policy would allow companies to purchase power from other sources and rely on Columbia to deliver that power. The city would charge a tax of 7.5 percent on the purchased power with half the tax revenue going to the city and the other half returned to the company to help with infrastructure improvements necessary to handle the massive use of power.

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he Columbia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors recently voted to endorse three candidates on the April 6 ballot: Gary Kespohl for Third Ward City Council, Daryl Dudley for Fourth Ward City Council and Bob McDavid for mayor.

Earlier this year, Chamber Chairman Byron Hill appointed a six-member Endorsement Task Force to study all the City Council and mayoral candidates’ positions and decide who among them would best move the community forward during challenging economic times. The task force recommended these three candidates based on the leadership traits they displayed and their potential to bring the community together.

The chamber has asked its members to encourage their employees to vote for the endorsed candidates, to consider making financial donations and to volunteer for the campaigns.

The chamber has also thrown its support behind Proposition 1, which calls for the installation of surveillance cameras in downtown Columbia.

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economic index

The Inside Columbia CEO’s

Economic Index Boone County/Columbia Business Conditions Fourth Quarter 2009

2 0 0 9 Q 2

94.5

94 — -

96.6

97.8

2 0 0 9 Q 1

95.9

97.7

96 —

100.1

98 —

97.4

2 0 0 7 Q 3

99.0

2 0 0 7 Q 2

101.1

100.1

-

100.1

104.7

105.8

103.7

102.3

101.5

100 —

102.7

-

101.8

102 —

104.1

104.6

104 —

105.1

106 —

106.5

-

108.2

108 —

109.0

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

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 3

DATE 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

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 0 9 Q 4 **

picture from the past

Pride Of Ownership We can only assume the gentleman standing in the doorway of The “Rochester” clothing and furniture store at 911 E. Broadway was the store’s proprietor. We know that Lisa Klenke (pictured on right) is a proud owner of Calhoun’s, which occupies the same space 100 years after the first photo was taken.

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PHOTO BY L.G. PAT

TERSON

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required reading

NOw ANd ThEN New Book Preserves The History Of Downtown Columbia

by WhITNEY SPIVEY photo courtesy of WARREN dALTON JR.

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f two elderly gentlemen zipping around downtown Columbia on a golf cart sounds like something out of a movie, that’s because it is … or it was going to be. Long before Warren Dalton Jr. and David James finished their book, Historic Downtown Columbia, the two planned to narrate The District’s history on the fly.

“Warren has an encyclopedic memory,” James says of his 92-year-old colleague.

“People all over town kept saying to him ‘Why don’t you put everything down on a DVD? The initial idea was for us to get on a golf cart and go up and down the streets.”

The duo planned to narrate the history of Columbia’s oldest buildings as they scooted along in country-club style.

The plan went awry almost immediately. “In the process of getting a DVD together, we had to write a script,” James remembers. “And we said, ‘Hey! This script would make a great book.’ So the book took over and became the major thing; the DVD is secondary.”

Historic Downtown Columbia is a 74-page journey through the heart of Columbia, which begins at Courthouse Square and takes readers on a written tour of Broadway, Walnut and the city’s north-south streets. The book examines the history of each building more than 100 years old — noting past and present tenants, architectural elements and changes over time. Commerce Bank, the Missouri Theatre building and the Niedermeyer Apartments are among Dalton’s favorite passages. Dalton, a longtime Columbia businessman, was the book’s primary author, which means each page is heaving with facts … and the occasional personal anecdote.

“I can go down Broadway and tell you every building, when they were built,” he 18

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says. “I can tell you a story about nearly every building.”

Although Dalton’s voice comes through loud and clear in the text, it was 72-yearold James, a retired University of Missouri professor, who was responsible for much of the behind-the-scenes work.

“He did so much research,” Dalton says.

“I’ve got the smartest partner that you ever could have. I used his research and put it into things I knew. He took pictures and laid out the book.”

Art League, had done an excellent job remodeling. They wanted to help cover the hefty renovation costs through book sales, and educate Columbians in the process.

“Now that the book is finished, it’s a real comfortable feeling to know that we documented all these wonderful edifices,” James says. “After we’re gone, this book will live on and help people understand more about the history of Columbia. That’s really why we did it.”

The book is currently available for purchase at the Missouri Theatre box office, 203 S. Ninth St., and Bluestem Missouri Crafts, 13 S. Ninth St. It comes complete with the DVD that initiated the whole project.

The men decided to forgo the golf cart idea and instead enlisted Columbia native and NASCAR star Carl Edwards to introduce the project. How did they make that connection?

“I work out with him at the gym,” Dalton says casually.

“I can go down Broadway and tell you every building, when they were built.

I can tell you a story about nearly every building.”

— Warren Dalton

Documents from the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Co. record Columbia’s changing floor plan from 1883 to 1951; the 1,283 color-coded maps proved particularly helpful in James’ research.

Historic Downtown Columbia debuted just before Christmas and sold nearly 600 copies in two months. But even at $30 a book, “we’re not making a dime,” James says. “It’s a labor of love.”

The pair decided that the Missouri Symphony Society, which owns the building that houses the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts and the Columbia

Clearly, Dalton has time on his side, both physically and mentally. Perhaps Historic Downtown Columbia is his way of saying thanks. “At my age, the main goal is to preserve history,” he says. “There’s no other book that compares.”

Editor’s note: Dalton and James’ next book will be published in December 2010. Historic Columbia will examine public and private schools, colleges and universities, churches, hotels, cemeteries and other historic locations outside The District.

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OPENING BELL

office spaces

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Bogdan’s Picks

1 Inside The Office Of

Bogdan Susan

by JESSICA PERKINS photos by L.G. PATTERSON

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hen Bogdan Susan was just a child, his scientist father arranged the Susan family’s escape from Romania to the United States under the pretense of doing field research. The Susans left their home country “with nothing but 50 bucks and a couple of suitcases,” Susan says, before becoming American citizens on Feb. 22, 1980.

Around the same time, Susan’s uncle, imprisoned for being an attorney, passed away behind bars in Romania.

More than 30 years later, Susan has come a long way since those desperate beginnings. A successful trial attorney, Susan spends many hours in his new downtown office, a sleek space that juxtaposes frosted glass and cream-colored carpet against repurposed galvanized metal trim and exposed brick walls.

The dark cherry tones of Susan’s office furniture contrast nicely with the industrial feel of small silver light fixtures and silver picture frames, all set against a backdrop of cream-colored walls two shades lighter than the textured carpet.

The room is filled with pieces by notable artists including Luc Luycx, the designer of the euro, “but that’s my favorite artwork,” Susan says, pointing to a bulletin board covered with his stepdaughter’s drawings. The crowning glory of the room — a fabulous view of the courthouse — is framed by a spacious picture window.

Susan’s office is sprinkled with items that, together, tell the story of many milestones in the attorney’s life: his escape from Romania, his U.S. citizenship, his career successes and his love for his family.

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A vase full of flowers commemorates the anniversary of Susan’s American citizenship.

“This year happened to be 30 years and my wife sent me that bouquet,” he says. “I celebrate it like a birthday every year.”

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Except for a few sentimental items from old friends, “I don’t really collect sports memorabilia,” Susan says of a trio of footballs in his office. This one is signed by college friend and former St. Louis Rams football player Mike Jones.

“And my wife was a Rams cheerleader.”

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This equine relief piece was a gift from Gheorghe Constantinescu, a professor at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine and Susan’s father’s childhood friend from Romania.

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During long jury hours at the courthouse, the attorney can simply walk across the street to seek respite in the comfort of his office.

This basketball is a memento of one of Susan’s successes at the Holder Susan Slusher firm.

It is signed by the Mizzou basketball players he represented during the 2004 NCAA investigation.

“None of the kids I represented were suspended or lost their eligibility.”

6 7

“I got engaged in this tie!” Susan says. He and his wife, Amy, were married on Aug. 16, 2008.

When Susan and his father first met Brazilian artist Ernani Silva on a trip to New York City, Silva “sold paintings out of the back of his car.”

Father and son struck up a friendship with the artist, who has since experienced a steep rise in popularity and on occasion sends Susan paintings such as this one.

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CEO ROUNDTABLE

Economic Development Rules The Roundtable

by SANDY SELBY photos by L.G. PATTERSON

E

conomic development is never far from the thoughts of Columbia’s business leaders, but it was the center of attention at the Inside Columbia’s CEO roundtable on Feb. 17.

Fourteen of the city’s top executives met to talk about what Columbia can do to attract new business to town and to support the businesses that are already here.

The Stars Are Aligned Columbia has a lot of competition when it comes to wooing new employers and all present agreed the city can no longer rely solely on its reputation as a nice place to live and work. The good news, however, is that some of the major players in the community have begun to work together to create a hospitable environment for economic development.

“I think we’re in a very unique position today in Columbia,” said Dave Griggs, owner of Flooring America and current chairman of the Regional Economic Development Inc. “The stars are aligned for economic development and those stars 22

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are city government, county government, the business community, the Chamber of Commerce, REDI, the university, etc. I’ve never seen the level of collaboration and interest and commitment on the part of all those plays to really try to get our act together and get the job done. We’re much better prepared with our infrastructure assets, our economic incentive assets, our university assets and our relationships — all those players at the table to address the needs of some significant projects.

We are highly anticipatory of some announcements shortly.”

The university’s active participation in Columbia’s economic development is a

fairly recent development, and a welcome one according to Boone County National Bank Executive Vice President Greg Steinhoff, who is also a former director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development. “I think when you profile Columbia versus any other community in the state, we have assets that no one else has. If we had realized those assets, and for example, if the legislative person at the university would have gotten his act together a lot earlier in the game, we would have been able to put together a plan that, like a lot of other universities have done across the country, defines certain aspects of great appeal to the private sector. Just being able to get on that 20 years ago would have put us in a better place, but you can’t look back.

You have people who are thinking about how you can pull certain groups together under one umbrella and market the whole of Columbia.”

The University of Missouri’s presence as a significant economic driver here

has left Columbia complacent, said Bob Gerding, a partner with Gerding, Korte & Chitwood CPAs and board member of Missouri CORE Partnership.

“I think we use the university as a stabilizing force for our economy and we just assume that they’re OK,” Gerding said. “We assume that the university has jobs and people working there and they’ll always be an economic driver so we don’t have to work very hard. I think we got into this complacency issue. I do think going forward the university will be the economic driver of the region and the city in particular, and so I think to the extent we can enhance the university side of this, it makes a lot of sense.”

Former University of Missouri System President Elson Floyd expanded the university’s mission to include economic development as one of its cornerstones.

“It was a big step,” said Tom Atkins, CEO of Atkins Cos. and a former University of Missouri curator. “The greatest opportunities are what are happening now.

There are people at the university who want to help. They’re cognizant of what’s going on.”

ABC Labs President and CEO Byron Hill has witnessed changes at the university and agrees MU’s collaboration is critical to the success of an economic development push in Columbia.

“Over the years we’ve had several discussions with the university trying to find ways to work together and they are never more promising than today,” Hill said. “There has been a significant change in the way the university is receptive to doing business. We’ll probably be making some announcement in the not-too-distant future about meaningful opportunities that will take private enterprise and university resources and make significant strides.”

COLUMBIA’S MISSEd OPPORTUNITIES With the benefit of hindsight, those at the roundtable wished the community’s stakeholders had paid more attention to economic development decades ago.

“The greatest missed opportunity in my mind is the atomic reactor,” Atkins said.

“When that thing was put together, nobody

CEO Roundtable Roll Call TOM ATKINS CEO, Atkins Cos.

ChRIS BELChER

Superintendent, Columbia Public Schools

MIKE BROOKS

President, Regional Economic Development Inc.

BRANT BUKOWSKY

Co-Owner, VA Mortgage Center

RANdY COIL

Founder and President, Coil Construction

BOB GERdING

BYRON hILL

President and CEO, ABC Labs

STEVE KNORR

Vice President for Government Relations, University of Missouri System

dON LAIRd

President, Columbia Chamber of Commerce

PAUL LANd

Vice President, Plaza Real Estate Services

MIKE STALOCh

Vice President of Operations, State Farm Insurance Cos.

GREG STEINhOFF

Partner, Gerding, Korte & Chitwood CPAs

Executive Vice President, Boone County National Bank

dAVE GRIGGS

CAROL VAN GORP

Owner, Flooring America

CEO, Columbia Board of Realtors

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CEO ROUNDTABLE had what we had. I don’t know who to blame, but we just blew that.”

“I thought Tom was going to say one of the greatest disappointments was the $85 million the state tried to give us for a $200 million building for medical research,” said Steve Knorr, vice president for government relations for the University of Missouri System, referring to funding for a new Ellis Fischel Cancer Center.

“In my belief, we weren’t organized as a community or really as a university to have all forces working in the same direction and we’ve corrected that in many aspects.

If an opportunity came along like that, I hope we would be better organized as a group, not only as a university but from a business community standpoint, so we could go after those things. It was a huge opportunity that was lost.”

Randy Coil, founder and president of Coil Construction, agrees that Columbia’s business leaders weren’t prepared for the challenges that arose with the Ellis Fischel funding, but he doesn’t just blame the business community.

“Some of these politicians have really torpedoed this city from time to time.”

Chamber of Commerce President Don Laird and Columbia Board of Realtors CEO Carol Van Gorp listen to the lively exchange about economic development in Columbia.

“Columbia has traditionally — until really about the last five or six years — been very complacent,” Griggs said. “Our former city manager used to say, ‘This is a full-service city. We control power; we control water; we control sewer; we control streets; we don’t need to control anything else. Everybody wants to come to Columbia, Missouri.’ But it’s just not that way anymore. Probably our biggest missed opportunity is that we didn’t have these discussions and collaborations and tools in the toolkit 20 years ago. I think if we had done that, we would be in a far different situation financially.”

Using The Tools In Our Toolkit “The other part is we’ve got a change in leadership in terms of who represents us [in the state Legislature],” Coil said.

“We know who was down there then and he has as much to do with us losing that as anything else, and we know who we have down there now and what a difference it makes with Kurt Schaefer and Chris Kelly. The same is true with our city and City Council. We have another opportunity in April to make another big step to change it. Some of these politicians have really torpedoed this city from time to time.”

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Carol Van Gorp, CEO of the Columbia Board of Realtors, asked if Columbia should conduct a formal study to identify its resources and focus its economic development efforts on particular industries, but Steinhoff said much of that work has already been done by the university.

“If you talk to Brian Foster [University of Missouri provost], he would tell you that they have identified the areas they are going to focus on in terms of trying to bring in the private sector that has interest in these areas and putting together the

people and strategies to get that done.”

In addition, there are sites available in Columbia that are ideally suited to one particular industry — the data center.

“Most of you are aware of the data center opportunities,” said Mike Brooks, president of Regional Economic Development Inc. “With certified sites, we have certain attributes that make them very attractive to the kind of companies that need that kind of infrastructure.

There’s a lot of work being done to make that happen.” One of the strategies under consideration, according to Brooks, is a push to make electric rates more attractive for the data center industry.

“I must say that because of the Chapter 100 [tax abatement incentive] policy and some other things, the groundwork is really laid today, particularly in relation to the data center industry,” Griggs said.

“The policy is in place, with a couple of exceptions that are actually on the council agenda already, that we can go to these industries and say here’s what we will do. In today’s world, when a prospect says they’re thinking about coming to Columbia, it’s not ‘Well, we have to rezone the land and we might think about organizing an incentive policy and we might tweak our legislation.’ If you

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CEO ROUNDTABLE

Brant Bukowsky (center), the co-owner of VA Mortgage Center, believes Columbia is fertile ground for entrepreneurs, thanks to an eager and dedicated workforce coming out of the University of Missouri. do that, you’re shot down. You never get the opportunity to talk to that company.

You’ve got to say, ‘This is what we can do and here are the policies in place to do it,’ and we’re virtually there today.”

Recently, a new group formed to address what was a deficiency for Columbia: a lack of properly zoned, shovel-ready industrial sites. That group, the Columbia Area Jobs Foundation, is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to invest in commercial real estate and have it rezoned and ready when a new company wants to put down roots in Columbia.

“I can think of, in a 15-year span, more than 2.5 million square feet of industrial space that got built outside this county,” said Paul Land, vice president of Plaza Real Estate Services and a board member of CAJF. “One of the deficiencies we [CAJF] addressed is to get land that we can control through a private entity, and we have that.

With the county’s participation in helping us gain zoning, we were able to zone 200 acres on the Route Z interchange. The idea is not to compete with private industry. This is land that can be held for large projects.

Someone could take 50 acres that we could deliver at a known price, on a known timetable, with infrastructure. We’ve missed those opportunities in the past. They don’t happen often but when they do happen, we don’t want to miss that opportunity.”

One of Columbia’s best assets is its people, according to Brant Bukowsky, coowner of VA Mortgage Center. “Human 26

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resources are the biggest advantage for us and when we have access to better people coming out of the university, that’s what’s going to be the biggest thing for us more than anything else I could think of.”

The Other Players “We had a brainstorming session at CORE [Connecting Our Regional Economy],” Gerding said. “We had a meeting with a fellow from Austin, Texas, and the issue he brought to the table — which was an eyeopener for me — was that he can find sites and buildings anywhere in the country, but what he’s looking for is what Brant is talking about. He’s looking for a talented workforce. He said what made Austin grow was that people wanted to live there.

I don’t think we should focus just totally on sites and buildings because that’s a level playing field around the country.”

Competition for new employers is fierce and site selectors want that able workforce, and they want something more: incentives. Hill recalled his quest for incentive money from Boone County five years ago, and said mid-Missouri’s competition is coming from some unexpected places.

“You go into a place like Rome, Georgia,” he said, “and they meet you with a band. There’s no hesitation. They’ll tell you what they’ll do for you and they’ve done their homework. They know more about your business than you do when you walk in there. Another one that’s very good

at it is Perryville, Missouri, and that’s two guys in bib overalls. But they stand there with the authority to give you a deal and tie it up on the spot. In Columbia, when I went to the mayor and asked for some help, he said he would bring it to the City Council’s attention. In talking to some of the current members of the City Council, they say ‘Bring us a candidate and we’ll decide if it’s the kind of business we want.’

I’ll tell you, as a candidate, I wouldn’t even give you a second look. I’d just be gone.”

Steinhoff, who traveled the state extensively when he headed up the Missouri Department of Economic Development, shared more examples. “There are certain communities that have leadership that carries their ball further than anyone else’s.

A good example is Joplin. There are a couple of leaders in Joplin who know what they need to add to the community and then they have the ability to go and find the resources or go twist the political arms or do what they need to do to get it done. And there are two guys in Neosho who are in front of the finance board every other month with a major project. They are always trying to find ways to add to their community. What Columbia could use is some solid leadership that is representing some sort of congealed plan. It’s nothing complex; that’s what works around the state.”

Atkins said that one of Columbia’s biggest challenges is a lingering perception in some quarters that the local economy is doing just fine.

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CEO ROUNDTABLE

Dave Griggs (center) is optimistic about Columbia’s economic development potential. “The stars are aligned,” he says.

“If anyone has that attitude and they also have a checkbook, I’ll take them out to an 84,000-square-foot building that I’ve owned for 10 years that’s now empty.

It used to bring in thousands of dollars a month from employee salaries and was the second largest COLT [railroad] purchaser.

[MiTek] had two shifts, 208 employees, and that just kept going down. They ended up moving to their own building in St. Charles, but even at that, St. Charles gave them all kinds of incentives. I guarantee you no one from Columbia went out there to say how much we appreciated them. They rented extra space for storage at times and they used COLT. It was a perfect deal.”

“There’s just this perception that Columbia is not a friendly community to do something like this in,” Griggs said, “and we are racing down the trail, frankly, to try to overcome some of the hurdles.

We really need to do some catch-up work.

We’re making great progress but it’s still a challenge.”

Hits And Misses One of the success stories of things going the right way is the airport,” said Columbia

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Chamber of Commerce President Don Laird. “It’s something that’s important to the whole region. Their numbers are up and they just announced they’re going to all jets.”

Van Gorp shared her experience with the jet service. “I was out of town last weekend and I left on a turboprop and came back on the jet. You go on a jetway in Memphis and get on the plane through a jetway. There were very nice leather seats — two on either side — and bathrooms. It was really very nice.”

No one at the roundtable disputed the University of Missouri’s importance to Columbia’s economic picture. Research alone is bringing in more than $200 million each year in federal grants, according to Knorr.

“Now we have the buildings in place and the equipment, so you can get the really good people and that’s how you begin to take off and hopefully create the jobs that are going to stay here in Columbia,” Knorr said. “I think you have the right president at the university to really drive those things. The average lifespan of a president is about four years, so you’d better make hay while you can.”

Not every business is a big business and the group agreed that economic development efforts must include businesses that are already here and the entrepreneurs with big dreams.

“One of the sexiest parts of economic development is entrepreneurship,” Steinhoff said. “Everybody likes it when somebody from the university or somebody locally comes up with a new business idea and creates buzz and gets investment coming in from the outside.”

“It’s something that people do get excited about, passionate about,” said Bukowsky, a successful entrepreneur himself. “There’s a lot of talk about whether incentives should be provided to attract people here, but fortunately, I don’t think entrepreneurship needs as many resources devoted to it. You need to inspire them as opposed to incentivize them. There are a lot of young people who are interested in working for companies that are a little more exciting. We have a lot of people who work for us full time now that started with us eight years ago. They passed up opportunities for higher-paying jobs with big, brand-name companies to work for us because they liked the atmosphere better. They liked working for a smaller company that was trying to build something big.”

The news isn’t all good, though, and bad news on the front page of the newspaper can be bad news for economic development. Mike Staloch, State Farm’s vice president of operations, said people study a city’s newspaper before moving their families. “It’s an issue with folks coming in: ‘Is your town dangerous? We see these things, we read your paper online, we see what’s going on, and that bothers us because there are communities where this doesn’t happen.’ ”

Election 2010 There was a clear consensus in the room that the April election could be a gamechanger for economic development in Columbia.

“It’s huge,” Coil said. “The biggest opportunity this city is going to have in a long time with regards to the chamber’s interest.”

One person at the table, Columbia Public Schools Superintendent Chris Belcher, is particularly interested in the outcome of the April election because the ballot includes a school bond proposal.

“I think the public schools are a major player in the development of the community,” Belcher said. “I think the new high school is going to be a great, great opportunity for our students, increase participation of students in activities, all those positive things, but at the same time, it will serve as a great driver for potential for economic growth on that side of town.”

“We’ve got to all get behind it [the school bond issue] in our own organizations,” Van Gorp said. We’ve all got to talk about it and be positive. We can’t just let one person carry the ball.”

Connecting With The Community Hill, the current chairman of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, said, “I think one of the things the chamber has done this year is we’re trying to reach out and take the message to the entire community that economic development is your business.

There are a lot of people who don’t connect the dots and think the fat cats run off with all the money.”

“If community-wide we’ve done a poor job of something, we’ve done a really poor job of communicating the real benefits of economic development,” Griggs said. “You can be a smart-growth person and really be pro-economic development. A perfect example: the new high school. Without a new high school, the CAJF project wouldn’t have a new sewer, but because of the activity created by the school board and the foresight of the CAJF board in cooperation with the city, the city agreed to extend the sewer to the CAFJ property.

The average guy in our community does not make the connection that a good job and a nice house enables Chris Belcher to collect property tax to give our students our great education. It enables our city to collect sales tax dollars to pay for fire service, police service and trails. Economic development is not a dirty word. It’s what gives us the quality of life that everyone in Columbia really treasures.”

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EXPLORATION

Quest To Be The Best

Columbia Forms A Baldrige Performance Excellence Group

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by KATHY CASTEEL

othing succeeds like success.

MidwayUSA CEO Larry Potterfield has taken that proverbial adage to heart, using his company’s success to inspire passion for the community success of Columbia.

Flush from MidwayUSA’s triumph last year of winning a Baldrige National Quality Award as the best-run small business in America, Potterfield is moving ahead with plans to form a local group dedicated to excellence in Missouri.

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Group, open to any local business or organization, was formed to improve the quality of life in Columbia by promoting

“The idea of striving for excellence is a common theme with most businesses.”

– Michael Brooks performance excellence in all sectors of the community through regular meetings and an annual conference. The group will use the Baldrige Performance Excellence criteria as a framework for organizations to assess and improve overall performance.

“These criteria are used by thousands of organizations of all kinds for selfassessment and training, and as a tool to develop performance and business processes,” the group states in its member handbook.

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program is an assessment plan that measures performance against seven criteria — leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis

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EXPLOrATION

“Baldridge gives us the discipline to focus on the right things rather than doing the things that are the most fun.” – holly Ketchum and knowledge management; workforce focus; process management; and results.

The criteria have become the world’s standard for performance excellence.

“The idea of striving for excellence is a common theme with most businesses,” says Michael Brooks, president of Regional Economic Development Inc. “The Baldrige program goes beyond quality measurement to put emphasis on the processes necessary to ensure quality and gain a commitment from employees to support quality. The program is open not only to businesses; it is open to organizations like government, schools, hospitals and universities. An Excellence in Columbia Initiative that reflects the Baldrige criteria would make us one of the first communities in the country to create a local initiative.”

The Baldrige evaluation process is considered one of the most valuable, costeffective and comprehensive performance assessments available. The Columbia chapter will encourage local organizations to apply for the Missouri Quality Award and/or the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Key benefits of the application process include accelerated improvement efforts, energized employees, valuable feedback from an outside perspective and a renewed focus on results.

“Baldrige gives us the discipline to focus on the right things rather than doing the things that are the most fun or interesting at the time,” says Holly Ketchum, quality systems manager for MidwayUSA. “Through our strategic planning process, we determine what is most important. We deploy our strategic plan throughout the organization so that everyone works toward common objectives.”

Guided by a steering committee, the group has mapped out a year of monthly gatherings that will feature

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guest speakers presenting Baldrige topics.

Next February the group will host its first annual “Excellence in Columbia” event to generate examiner and applicant interest for the Missouri Quality Award.

“There is great benefit to Columbia/ Boone County and the businesses and organizations here if we embrace the concept of striving for excellence,” says Brooks, a member of the steering committee. “Working to achieve the Missouri Quality Award, and ultimately the Baldrige Award, will help businesses and organizations be more competitive and possibly gain more efficiencies. This could result in greater utilization of resources, provide greater customer service and ultimately make Columbia stand out in the competition for jobs, investment and recognition. It’s an important opportunity that will support our community efforts to increase economic activity in Columbia/ Boone County.”

For fellow steering committee member Don Laird, the effort is a win-

win scenario. “We’re in it to make the community look at how to be better,” says Laird, president of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce. “The chamber is very supportive of Larry Potterfield and his passion to make this a better community.

His goal is a community of excellence. It’s a terrific thought. We could be the model for other communities.”

The group’s first meeting is at noon on March 23 in the Piccadilly’s Room of the Holiday Inn Select Executive Center, 2200 I-70 Drive S.W. The one-hour lunch meeting will include a presentation by Larry Potterfield on the chapter vision of Columbia as a community of excellence.

For additional information on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Group, contact Quality Management Systems at MidwayUSA by e-mailing qms@midwayusa.com or call 573445-6363 extension 2009. Check out MidwayUSA’s Baldrige Award story at www.midwayusa.com/baldrige.

BALdRiGE PERFoRmAncE ExcELLEncE GRoUP – coLUmBiA cHAPTER (Meets the fourth Tuesday of each month) STEERinG commiTTEE • Larry Potterfield, MidwayUSA • Don Laird, Columbia Chamber of Commerce • Lorah Steiner, Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau • Mike Brooks, REDI • Byron Hill, ABC Labs • Steve Erdel, Boone County National Bank • Fred Parry, Inside Columbia magazine • Dianne Lynch, Stephens College • Kat Cunningham, Moresource

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INNOVATORS

All Fired Up

The Fire And Rescue Training Institute Finds Success Through A Unique Business Model

by JESSICA PERKINS photos courtesy of UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI EXTENSION FIRE AND RESCUE TRAINING INSTITUTE

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he University of Missouri Extension’s Fire and Rescue Training Institute has a history of adaptability. An evolving business model and an eagerness to employ cutting-edge technology has helped it climb to the top rung of the nation’s fire training schools, bringing a bonanza of out-of-town dollars to Columbia every February for its annual winter training conference.

When distance education boomed, the Fire and Rescue Training Institute began webcasting training courses to reach out-of-town emergency personnel. When firefighters increasingly sought EMT and paramedic certification, the institute responded by partnering with University Hospital’s EMS Program to develop the necessary training courses. And after the Sept. 11 attack, MU FRTI implemented new programs to meet modern needs, such as the Hazardous Materials and Counter-Terrorism programs.

This adaptability has been the key to MU FRTI’s success. First established in 1933 as the Missouri State Fire College, the institute is now among the top 10 fire training programs in the nation, based on SPRING 2010

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INNOVATORS student numbers and instructional hours.

Last fiscal year, the institute reached 19,999 emergency personnel from 113 of the 114 Missouri counties and 44 other states. It logged a whopping 257,713 instructional hours in training, which ranges from educational courses to handson activities and simulations. Training areas include emergency management, aircraft rescue firefighting, and industrial and business safety.

“We’re very proud of the education and training the institute has been able to provide our state’s fire and emergency service first-responders,” Director Dave Hedrick says.

Although the institute operates as an extension outreach program that offers training throughout the state, the Winter Fire School here attracts thousands to Columbia for a weekend of learning and networking; the annual conference includes the Midwest’s largest fire and rescue equipment exposition.

“In that one weekend we estimate the event brought in about half a million dollars to the community,” Hedrick says of the 2009 Winter Fire School. Nearly 1,200 students and many of their families sought lodging, food and entertainment in Columbia during that time. Hedrick estimates that Summer Fire School in Jefferson City pulled in nearly the same amount of money, though there were fewer students attending a longer conference. For two single events, the Fire Schools boast remarkable economic impact to their surrounding communities.

Emergency service students and their families spent plenty of dollars in Columbia and Jefferson City during conferences, but their pocketbooks caught a break when it came to MU FRTI’s tuition. Although the institute’s operational costs have increased along with its enrollment, tuition fees remain minimal and many students even receive training at no cost through state and federal funding sources.

Hedrick acknowledges that the institute operates on a business model “in terms of self-generating revenue required to meet the operational costs to deliver training. This training produces 36

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Top: Emergency responders engage in high angle rope work training. Below: Firefighters brief each other before fighting a structural fire. safe, competent firefighters, which leads to safer citizens and safer communities.”

Only 19 percent of MU FRTI’s budget comes from the University of Missouri Extension; the rest is self-generated through contracts, grants and fees.

So how does MU FRTI manage to do it all with a budget of $1.9 million, an amount that breaks down to just $7.49 per student instructional hour?

“We’re really hustling,” Hedrick says of his hard-working staff. The 12 fulltime and 15 part-time employees, plus some 200 adjunct instructors “are really dedicated people,” he says.

Together they operate an elegant, costeffective model. Missouri’s rural quality is well-suited for an outreach program such as MU FRTI. SPRING 2010

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INNOVATORS “Missouri is very rural, so we have a lot of fire departments spread out across the state,” Hedrick says. The institute’s field extension program allows fire departments and emergency personnel to train with their own equipment in the setting where they would actually respond to crises. This proves beneficial for the fire service personnel who experience the most realistic simulations possible. It’s also less expensive for MU FRTI, whose instructors and specialized props are mobile.

To ensure the institute is meeting the needs of fire departments across Missouri, MU FRTI divides the state into the same regions used by the state police and assigns one or two regional coordinators to each area. These coordinators act as liaisons between the institute and organizations interested in training, such as career and volunteer fire departments, industrial fire brigades and local emergency management groups.

Good relationships with numerous agencies and organizations also aid MU FRTI in reaching the maximum number of emergency personnel. The institute’s partnerships with the Missouri Division of Fire Safety, Missouri Department of Transportation, University of Missouri Extension and others help sustain the Columbia-based program. “The state agencies and divisions we work with are very supportive of us and work with us on training initiatives,” Hedrick says. Columbia College, another MU FRTI partner, offers an associate’s degree in fire service administration that can be completed by taking courses both at Columbia College and through MU FRTI. Courses presented are nontraditional by necessity. Because the vast majority of firefighters are volunteers who hold regular jobs in addition to their fire service work, MU FRTI holds many of its courses on nights and weekends when students are more likely to be free.

The institute’s webcast courses are growing rapidly in popularity, experiencing a 23 percent increase from 2008 to 2009. In fact, cutting-edge technology plays an enormous role in every aspect of the institute’s workings, 38

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Top: Students implement the vehicle extrication techniques learned in class. Below: Instructor John Sachen performs a demonstration on fireextinguishing agents. affecting the way the institute relays information and allowing for better training gear and changing scenarios faced by citizens and firefighters. These technological advances provide better quality training to more students.

As Hedrick points out, MU FRTI is unique. One of very few state fire training programs affiliated with a university, it operates a little differently from any other program. Hedrick would know; he was the director of the Fire Service Program in Bell Buckle, Tenn., before taking his post in Columbia.

“Each area is a bit different,” he says, “but the fire service is pretty much the same. It’s full of dedicated, driven people eager to learn no matter where you go in the U.S.” SPRING 2010

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THE BUSINESS OF COLLEGE Conference Connects Researchers With Entrepreneurs Pacemakers, acid-reducing drugs, cars that use soybean oil as fuel, and novel cancer therapies for both animals and humans are just some of the groundbreaking discoveries made by university researchers. Scientists often face hurdles, however, when moving these discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace and eventually to the consumer. This year, participants at the Missouri Regional Life Sciences Summit in Kansas City came together to identify partnerships between researchers and entrepreneurs that could lead to new private sector investments, job creation and commercialization of these discoveries.

“This is a unique opportunity for us to bring together the best minds in research and industry to discuss and discover new partnerships that will benefit those in the Kansas City/Missouri region and ultimately the nation,” University of Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton says.

“The goal of the summit is to accelerate the movement of new ideas from the lab to the marketplace. Our region must emerge as a world leader in bioscience research and job creation; the economy depends on it.”

The University of Missouri led the March summit in conjunction with the Kansas City Area Development Council on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus. Business leaders met with scientists from MU’s Columbia campus and those from the University of MissouriKansas City, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Missouri University of Science and Technology, University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Washington University, St. Louis University, Iowa State University, the KU Medical Center and the University of Saskatchewan, in an effort to identify innovations that will lead to private-sector investments, job creation and discoveries.

Speakers at the summit included William H. Danforth, chancellor emeritus of Washington University; U.S. Sen. Kit Bond; U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill; Scott Peterson, director of Functional Genomics and Research Technology and professor

MU Radiology Researcher Developing Oral Cancer Drug

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University of Missouri researcher is developing a way to improve treatment for patients with the most common form of oral cancer — squamous cell carcinoma. With a new $590,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Michael Giblin will expand his study of a drug designed to weaken a cancer cell’s protective armor against existing treatments “This grant will allow us to continue our development of a new type of agent that could help make other cancer treatments more effective in fighting tumors,” Giblin says. “Our ultimate goal is to improve the survival rates for those who have this type of cancer.

The American Cancer Society estimates that about 28,500 new cases of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer are diagnosed each year in the United States, and an estimated 6,100 Americans die of the cancers annually.

Giblin, an assistant professor in the MU School of Medicine Department of Radiology, is collaborating with Jeffrey Smith, associate professor of radiology, and Sharon Stack, professor of pathology and anatomical sciences and Margaret Proctor Mulligan Distinguished Professor in Medical Research at the MU School of Medicine. The team is evaluating a process that uses nanoparticles containing small interfering ribonucleic acids (siRNAs) to target a gene known to promote tumor growth.

“There are a variety of nanoparticles that can be can be customized out of a variety of ingredients. In our case, we are researching a specific nanoparticle and siRNA combination capable of reducing expression of a gene that helps cancer cells survive radiotherapy and chemotherapy,” Giblin says.

Giblin’s team is studying tumors in mice. The researchers are able to track how the nanoparticles are distributed to the tumor by using a positron-emission tomography device at the Truman Veterans Hospital. A fluorescent material illuminates the siRNA component of the treatment, so its effectiveness in the tumor can be seen under a microscope in the lab.

at the J. Craig Venter Institute; Tom Melzer, managing director and co-founder of RiverVest; and David W. Kemper, chairman of the board and president and CEO of Commerce Bancshares Inc. and Commerce Bank, N.A.

Stephens College Lecture Series Promotes Civic Involvement With support from its Alumnae Association Board, Stephens College has launched the Women in Civic Leadership lecture series to highlight alumnae with careers in federal, state or local government, international relations or military service.

Stephens College has a long history of training students for careers in civic leadership, and this lecture series offers

some of those alumnae the opportunity to share their experiences. The new lecture series, planned to last five years, is funded through a gift from Stephens alumna Mary Josie Cain Blanchard. Blanchard’s involvement in civic leadership includes former positions in Texas state government, as well as several roles in the U.S. Department of the Interior, including her current position as deputy director, Environmental Policy and Compliance, Office of the Secretary.

The first lecture in the series featured a couple of state legislators: Michigan House Speaker Pro Tempore Pam Byrnes and North Dakota state Rep. Kathy Hawken. Byrnes is serving her third term in the Michigan House of Representatives.

As chair of the House Transportation Committee, Byrnes focuses on Michigan’s infrastructure.

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COLLEGE Hawken was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives in 1996 and currently serves on the Appropriations Committee.

William Woods Professor Co-Authors Article On Genomics William Woods University biology professor Mary Spratt has published an article summarizing the early outcomes, both for students and for science, of the Genomic Education Partnership project.

The article, published in the Spring 2010 issue of the American Society for Cell Biology’s online journal Cell Biology Education — Life Science Education, is based on Spratt’s professional research for the Genomics Education Partnership. “The Genomics Education Partnership: Successful Integration of Research into Laboratory Classes at a Diverse Group of Undergraduate Institutions” was co-authored by 53 participants in the project and is accessible at www.lifescied.org.

The GEP gives undergraduate students the opportunity to study genetic codes and genes in living organisms and to make substantive contributions to the published data in genomics. The project involves a consortium of 61 colleges and universities throughout the United States, working together with the biology department and the Genome Sequencing Center of Washington University.

Spratt, the Cox Distinguished Professor of Science at William Woods, and her students have been working with the Genomics Education Partnership since 2007, the second year of the project.

Genomics is a recent scientific discipline that strives to define and characterize the complete genetic makeup of an organism. Its primary approaches are to determine the entire sequence and structure of an organism’s DNA (its genome) and then to determine how that DNA is arranged into genes.

“I found the GEP Web site when I was looking around for a research project that could involve a lot of our upper-division biology majors,” Spratt says.

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She contacted the organizer at Washington University in St. Louis, and William Woods was accepted into the project. Since then, the number of participating schools has grown by about 15 per year.

“The purpose is to provide primarily undergraduate students with a chance to participate in genomic research,” Spratt says. “Students ‘claim’ a certain part of a target organism, which has been initially sequenced at the Genome Center in St. Louis. It is their job to improve that data by carefully examining it, making corrections, and even calling for the Genome Center to re-sequence parts of their project.”

Once students have read the genetic sequences, they then perform annotation.

“They find the genes in the sequence, compare them to similar genes in other species and see what genes are coded for by these proteins,” Spratt says.

Students then compile a report, present it to the class for peer review, and submit it to the GEP. “Students have to hone their own critical thinking and organization skills in order to organize and prepare written and oral reports as well as provide evidence for their decisions,” Spratt says. “While the initial learning curve is rather steep in learning to use the tools and data bases, these skills are very marketable later on and impressive on an undergraduate resume.”

Central Methodist Staffer Wins National Recognition Mark Stone, Central Methodist University’s director of student activities, was awarded the 2009 Campus Event Planner of the Year by the professional entertainment-booking agency Power Performers Inc. Stone, who has served in his present capacity since July 2007, is responsible for booking professional groups and individuals for campus entertainment for students. Working with professional booking agencies, he brings more than 20 entertainment shows a year to the CMU campus in Fayette.

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INVENTIONS

Sensory Perception

Marjorie Skubic And An Interdisplinary Team Of Researchers Take A New Look At Aging

by SANDY SELBY photo by JANICE WIESE-FALES

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ging, it turns out, isn’t a downhill slide. According to Marjorie Skubic, a University of Missouri engineering professor, aging is a series of stairsteps.

“The nurses tell us the typical trajectory at which people age is a stairstep pattern, so that they go along for while on some plateau, then something significant happens — a fall, a bad infection — something happens that drops them down to the next level until the next big thing happens that drops them down further,” Skubic says as she illustrates the pattern on the whiteboard in her office.

Her goal is to make the plateaus longer and the steps down shorter. She and a team of MU nurses and engineers are using tools as simple as motion sensors and as sophisticated as 3-D imaging to achieve results. The research is focused on a group of residents at TigerPlace, a senior housing facility that is affiliated with MU’s Sinclair School of Nursing.

“This all started because Marilyn Rantz [a professor in the School of Nursing] and her colleagues were starting to collaborate with Americare, the company that built and operates TigerPlace,” Skubic says. “She knew they wanted technology but she didn’t know what form that was going to take so she came over to the College of Engineering.”

Skubic, who has joint appointments in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science, was among the faculty members who listened to Rantz’s presentation back in 2002, and she was intrigued by the possibilities.

Within four years, Skubic’s team had developed a wireless, computerized sensor network that enabled caregivers to monitor the movements of TigerPlace residents who volunteered for the research program. Some of the volunteers have participated in the program almost from the beginning; one has been monitored continuously for 50 months.

The sensors currently in place are simple motion detectors. “The same kind you’d use to turn on your lights for security reasons,” Skubic says. Her team placed sensors throughout each volunteer’s apartment — in every room, inside the refrigerator, in the kitchen cabinets, over SPRING 2010

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INVENTIONS the shower, in the laundry closet. With these sensors, “you can get general motion in a room and, depending on where you put it, you can also get this sort of finely grained information, like if they’re taking a shower as opposed to just being in the bathroom.”

The number of hits the sensors receive is translated into a density number. That number equates to the resident’s activity level and tells caregivers if that resident is active or sedentary. The beds are also equipped with sensors that can detect restlessness and measure respiratory and pulse rates.

The computer and other equipment needed to operate the sensor network in each apartment are housed in a cabinet above the refrigerator, completely out of the way of the resident. Skubic says that after about a month, the residents tend to forget the sensors are even there.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the

“It’s a huge help to nurses and doctors and physical therapists, all health care givers, to family members and to the older adults themselves because they can actually visualize how well they’re moving around and how active they are,” Rantz says. “We can look for early indicators of illness so they can deal with illness when it’s so much easier to treat.”

The next generation of sensors will be imaging sensors, but Skubic avoids the use of the term “video” because the image these sensors create is nothing like a video image.

“We’ve been really careful about addressing the privacy concerns,” Skubic says. “We’ve been extracting silhouettes, and part of the rationale for this is we want to be able to capture information that we can’t get from other sensors, in particular things like gait information and posture. Falls are a big deal with older

Caregivers can detect subtle changes in behavior that may portend significant changes in health. research has been the team’s realization that, with the kind of detailed information provided by the sensors, caregivers can detect subtle changes in behavior that may portend significant changes in health.

“This has been done as a research study,” Skubic says, “so initially we were using a retrospective approach where we collected sensor data, had all the medical records for these people, and we were going back and trying to connect the sensor data with changes in the medical records. We got a new grant last fall and we’re getting ready to start a prospective study where the nurses and other clinicians will be looking at the sensor data in more or less real time and trying to identify changes that occur.

If changes are detected in the sensor data patterns, they will look more closely for possible health problems. The goal is to address these small health issues before major problems develop.”

From Rantz’s perspective on the nursing side of the research, this technology could revolutionize the way senior adults receive medical treatment.

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people so what we’ve been looking at is how we can assess the risk of falling and be able to measure that automatically, using continuous monitoring.”

Skubic explains that pixels provide a twodimensional image like a television picture.

But her team is using voxels, or volume pixels, that give the image a 3-D quality.

“Imagine that I took this whole room and I filled it up with cubes and I’d have an X, Y and Z position for each of those cubes. We project the silhouettes into this voxel space and wherever they intersect, that becomes what we call ‘voxel person.’ That gives us a 3-D representation of a person and we can see how they walk in 3-D space. For example, we can extract their footsteps.”

With the silhouette images, caregivers can easily identify risk factors associated with falls.

“We now have this to the point where we can capture gait, walking speed, step length and step time,” Skubic says. But unlike a video image, the silhouette or “voxel person” doesn’t reveal body details.

“It doesn’t matter what your hair looks

like that day because you can’t see that.”

Skubic says. “It doesn’t matter if you have makeup on and it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing because you can’t see any of that.”

The monitoring system is still in the research phase, but Skubic believes there is great commercial potential in what the MU nurses and engineers have created.

“I see it in people’s homes, absolutely,” Skubic says. “There’s actually been quite a bit of interest in doing monitoring systems in the home for the elderly and there are several companies now that have commercial products. Most of them are centered around the idea of safety. I think that’s important for keeping people in their own homes but what we’re trying to do is take it to the next level with this idea of proactive health and catching conditions that are early indicators of declining health.

That’s what makes our work unique. I think we are getting very close to moving this into the home environment.”

Skubic says she and the others involved in the research toyed with the idea of launching a company to market the technology, but have decided to concentrate on the research side and work with other companies that will incorporate the technology into existing systems.

“We’ve been talking with one company that’s interested in taking what we’ve done and merging it with their monitoring system,” she says. “If we’re going to get this into the hands of people who need it, then it has to be commercialized.”

Skubic and Rantz are quick to praise to large team of engineers, nurses, students and staff members who have pulled together to create this beneficial monitoring system, and they are particularly grateful to the senior citizens who have volunteered to live with the technology.

“This is such a great opportunity,” Skubic says of her role in the research. “You really feel good about doing this. You feel like you have an opportunity to help somebody.

“I love this work. It’s compelling.

Absolutely compelling.”

Learn more about the University of Missouri’s research on technology and aging, and meet the team that has made it possible, at www.eldertech.missouri.edu.

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REGIONAL ROUND-UP

Corn Growers Convene In Jefferson City

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orn farmers, industry leaders and guests from across the state gathered in Jefferson City in February for the Missouri Corn Growers Association annual meeting. The group recognized a number of individuals for their work in the support and promotion of the corn industry. Those recognized included President’s Award winners Missouri Corn CEO Gary Marshall and Ashley McCarty, Missouri Corn director of public policy; Lifetime Member Award recipient Terry Hilgedick of Hartsburg, a farmer and retiring Missouri Corn board member; Outstanding Partner Award winner Justin Sexten, MU Extension beef specialist; Appreciation Award winner Jon Hagler, director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture; and Environmental Stewardship Award winner Rex Martin of Syngenta.

Four members of Missouri’s congressional delegation received Public Servant Awards: U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt.

Friend of Corn Growers Award winners were state Rep. Allen Icet (R-Wildwood); state Rep. Chris Kelly (D-Columbia); state Rep. Steve Hobbs (R-Mexico); state Rep. Brian Munzlinger (R-Williamstown); state Sen. Frank Barnitz (D-Lake Spring); state Sen. Dan Clemens (R-Marshfield) and state Sen. Rob Mayer (R-Dexter).

“This meeting demonstrated the strong grassroots of Missouri corn farmers,” says MCGA President Keith Witt, a grain farmer from Warrenton. “Legislators are still talking about the corn flakes we handed out during last year’s Lobby Day. We do make a difference.

When growers come to the Capitol, our senators and representatives take notice and listen.”

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Central Methodist University Sets Spring Enrollment Record

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he spring 2010 semester enrollment of 1,002 students at Central Methodist University in Fayette marks a significant increase over January 2009, and represents the highest number of students ever to be on campus for the traditional second semester.

“We are absolutely delighted to see the record enrollment of students during our recent fall semesters continuing to hold true for the spring semesters,” says CMU President Marianne Inman. “This enrollment trend has now occurred for the third consecutive school year. We believe it clearly shows that people throughout Missouri and elsewhere are recognizing Central Methodist University’s high quality, highly personalized educational opportunities.”

The 2010 spring semester enrollment includes 924 returning students and 78 new students. “A spring enrollment that is 95.2 percent of the fall enrollment of 1,052 is outstanding,” says Richard Davis, interim vice president for campus life and dean of students. “This represents a continual increase in retention as well as in enrollment of new students.”

The 2009 fall semester enrollment of 1,052 on the main campus was 11 percent higher than the previous fall and is the

highest in the school’s history. The January 2010 enrollment represents a 6.5 percent increase over January 2009. The 2007-08 through 2009-10 school year main campus increases in enrollment mirror a trend at CMU’s Extended Studies program facilities throughout the state. CMU has six regional campuses, in addition to a Columbia campus in the Forum Shopping Center, where afternoon and evening classes are offered, and extended studies programs at several regional medical facilities for the RN to BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) and Master of Science in Nursing programs.

CMU also offers dual credit to students at 95 high schools throughout the state, which allows academically qualified juniors and seniors to take college-level courses. During each of the past two school years, more than 2,300 high school students have enrolled in CMU’s dual credit program.

Marketing initiatives and recruiting and retention efforts have helped drive the major increase in CMU enrollment, Inman says. Other factors in CMU’s success include significant campus improvements in recent years, such as major upgrades to all of the university’s athletic facilities.

Audrain Medical Center Honored Among Nation’s Top Hospitals

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udrain Medical Center has been recognized with a 2009-2010 Hospital Value Index: Best in Value Award, as a result of the study conducted by Data Advantage LLC, the nation’s leader in measuring health care value.

AMC ranked among the top tier of all hospitals nationwide, achieving high marks in quality, affordability, efficiency and patient satisfaction.

Specifically, the Hospital Value Index recognized AMC as Best in State and Best in Region.

“We are proud of this honor as it reinforces our commitment to providing quality care affordably,” says David Neuendorf, president/CEO of Audrain Medical Center. “Our physicians, nurses, support staff and volunteers strive each day to make our hospital the leader in quality care, and this award stands as a testament to their dedication and achievement of their goals.”

The Hospital Value Index is the first and only performance indicator to focus on the value hospitals provide to their community and utilizes the latest publicly available data, including Hospital Compare from July 2009, to recognize these accomplishments.

EXPECT dELAyS

If projections Hold Up, Columbia Could Be In For The Mother of all trafямБc Jams By 2035

By John Littell with additional reporting by sandy selby

maps courtesy of U.s. DEpArTMEnT OF TrAnspOrTATIOn, FEDErAL HIgHWAY ADMInIsTrATIOn

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nterstate 70 is Missouri’s main artery, pumping the lifeblood of commerce from St. Louis to Kansas City and back, with an important stop in Columbia. Originally built in 1956 as part of the national defense highway system, it was detailed to move men and war materials quickly and efficiently all across the country. Along with duck-and-cover, this was going to save us from the threat posed by the Soviet Union. It was designed to last for 20 years.

The Problem Fifty-four years later, the Soviets are gone, and the highway is still here, but this is one clogged artery. That’s why the Missouri Department of Transportation has spent 10 years studying the problem, making recommendations, and submitting thousands of pages of environmental impact statements. If the economy holds up, and the Feds still have a few bucks left, all the time and expense may well be worth it.

As the most important route in the state, and one that extends into Illinois, Ohio and Indiana, I-70 has traditionally been the engine of economic growth.

That’s a stupendous amount of concrete and white paint, but anyone who has ever driven on it will tell you about the decaying roadway, the poorly designed interchanges and the delays, delays, delays. MoDOT studies project that by 2030, all segments are expected to operate at unacceptable levels of service. That means unstable traffic flows, stop-and-go conditions and traffic volumes beyond the roadway’s capacity.

Big Rigs Although private vehicle traffic has increased, commercial truck traffic — hauling goods, commodities and raw materials — has skyrocketed. In 2007, about 35 percent of the traffic consisted of trucks — that’s 10,000 a day. By 2030, that number will double.

Because of their weight, trucks are harder on the infrastructure than the family car. Worse, according to MoDOT, trucks are involved in 28 percent of accidents on I-70 and account for 40 percent of the fatalities.

On the positive side, trucks on I-70 generate $4.3 billion in general revenue and transport $89.9 billion of the state’s gross domestic product The 36,000 tractor-trailer trucks in Missouri purchase 900 million gallons of fuel in the state annually. That’s a lot of sales tax. In 2007, they hauled 880 million tons of freight, which is estimated to rise to 1.1 billion tons in 2035.

Locally, Columbia is located on what MoDOT calls section 4 of I-70. But the department isn’t happy about it because on this 18-mile stretch of road, the volume of traffic exceeds the current capacity. Three of the four interchanges classified as urban are operating at “unacceptable levels of service, resulting in traffic slow-downs and stoppages,” MoDOT says. And the crash rate is higher than the statewide average.

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TRUCK VOLUMES AND PERCENTAGES AADTT < 10,000 & AADTT/AADT < 0.25 AADTT < 10,000 & AADTT/AADT >= 0.25 AADTT >= 10,000 & AADTT/AADT < 0.25 AADTT >= 10,000 & AADTT/AADT >= 0.25

Major Truck Routes On The National Highway System In 2002 This map depicts the average truck traffic plus other vehicle traffic on federal highways in 2002. It’s a combination of average annual daily truck traffic (AADTT), which includes all freight-hauling and other trucks with six or more tires, and average annual daily traffic (AADT), which counts all vehicles on the road. In 2002, St. Louis and Kansas City had areas of extremely heavy traffic but traffic was relatively light on I-70 in between. The exception was Columbia, which shows up on the map as a very small stretch of moderately heavy traffic.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Freight Management and Operations, Freight Analysis Framework, version 2.2, 2007.

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TRUCK VOLUMES AND PERCENTAGES AADTT < 10,000 & AADTT/AADT < 0.25 AADTT < 10,000 & AADTT/AADT >= 0.25 AADTT >= 10,000 & AADTT/AADT < 0.25 AADTT >= 10,000 & AADTT/AADT >= 0.25

Major Truck Routes On The National Highway System In 2035 The U.S. Department of Transportation predicts that by 2035, Columbia, and in fact, all of I-70 through Missouri, will be a bottleneck. Interestingly, the flow of traffic through the major interchanges in St. Louis and Kansas City isn’t expected to deteriorate much beyond the moderately heavy 2002 levels.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Freight Management and Operations, Freight Analysis Framework, version 2.2, 2007.

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Here’s a snapshot of truck traffic in the last decade and where it’s heading, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration.

A Modest Proposal I-70 can be said to be the key to Missouri’s economic future because nearly 60 percent of the population and 23 percent of the jobs are found along the corridor. The Missouri Department of Transportation estimates that 87 percent of Missouri communities are dependent on trucks to deliver products to the vast number of stores, restaurants, factories and farms along the way.

Despite their overwhelming usefulness to the economy, trucks take a heavy toll on the roadway and can scare the bejesus out of everyday motorists tooling along in their Honda Civics.

One modest proposal proffered by MoDOT is the idea of discreet truck lanes. These would be used by qualified vehicles, and be separated from the other lanes by a grass median or barriers. Such a solution would take much of the stress off other lanes, and end the nightmare of being squashed under a fully laden tandem trailer traveling at 75 miles per hour. Expensive to build, perhaps, but priceless in safety and efficiency.

2010 will be the year when MoDOT’s plans ripen into fruition, or be dashed on the rocky reality of the national economy.

Average Daily Long-Haul Freight Truck Traffic On The National Highway System In 2002 This map only takes into account long-haul trucks, those on trips of 50 miles or more.

In 2002, I-70 through Missouri was already a heavily traveled artery.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Freight Management and Operations, Freight Analysis Framework, version 2.2, 2007.

National Highway System Routes Interstate Non-interstate faf truck volume/Day 50,000

25,000

12,500

Average Daily Long-Haul Freight Truck Traffic On The National Highway System In 2035 Long-haul truck traffic through Columbia is expected to double by 2035.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Freight Management and Operations, Freight Analysis Framework, version 2.2, 2007.

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TECH TrAnsFEr British Company petscreen sets Up shop In Columbia

by KATHY CASTEEL • photos by L.G. PATTERSON

IF Tariq Shah ever forgets how far he and his company have journeyed in the past few months, he has a reminder close at hand.

A set of unusual cuff links adorns his sleeves, a Christmas gift from his wife, Audrey. Each cuff link depicts a map — one of Boone County with Columbia prominently marked and the other of Cheshire, Shah’s home county in England.

“The cufflinks serve as a reminder of where I have come from and where my roots are,” Shah says, “and where I am now laying down new roots, for myself of course, but also for Audrey and our daughter Isabella.”

The 39-year-old’s international fashion statement is more than a style choice or a treasured memento — the chic accessories symbolize the itinerary of Columbia’s extensive reach into the life sciences industry, a bold stretch that has grabbed a laboratory in Nottingham, England, and plunked it down in the middle of the American Heartland.

Shah is the commercial director — and first Columbia employee — of PetScreen Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of British veterinary diagnostics company PetScreen Ltd. Since his mid-December arrival in Columbia, Shah has worked at a whirlwind pace setting up PetScreen’s U.S. headquarters in the University of Missouri Life Science Business Incubator.

“The quietest day is the first day on the job,” Shah says. “Since then, we’ve been running — there’s no walking — to set up this company here.”

PetScreen offers disease-detection and treatment tools for veterinarians to combat illnesses in cats and dogs. The 58

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company currently markets a cancerscreening product for lymphoma, the most common malignancy that affects dogs — and one of the more treatable, if caught early. PetScreen’s blood test utilizes proteomics technology to detect biomarkers that indicate a high likelihood of the disease. The test can be used to diagnose lymphoma or as a routine screen in high-risk breeds such as golden retrievers, boxers, German shepherds and terriers. The company claims its canine lymphoma blood test may also lead to better treatment success rates by providing an assessment of remission in dogs undergoing cancer treatment, as well as an early indication of relapse that could lead to timelier retreatment efforts.

Available only through a veterinarian, the blood test requires just 1 milliliter (about a fifth of a teaspoon) of patient blood, and is a minimally invasive alternative to fine-needle tumor aspiration. Results are available in two to four days.

“The beauty of this test,” Shah begins, and then quickly adds, “Well, no test is perfect. But if the vet suspects a dog has lymphoma, even though there are no discernable lumps yet, a simple blood test is the easiest diagnostic tool. It’s common sense and it saves time for treatment.”

PetScreen also provides a directed chemotherapy assay for dogs and cats diagnosed with any type of cancer.

The assay highlights drug sensitivity or resistance of individual tumors and identifies the most likely effective treatments. The service, which requires a tumor biopsy, uses cell culture techniques to measure the relative efficacy of different chemotherapy agents. Results are available in about a week.

Cancer kills one in four dogs, Shah notes. PetScreen is working on development of several other diagnostic tests to use in the battle to keep pets healthy.

“We’re already developing a feline lymphoma test,” he says, “and several others will hopefully follow.”

Those others that the company aims to develop include biomarker tests for canine osteosarcoma, canine mast cell tumors (skin cancer), canine renal disease, and a heartworm test for dogs and cats that can detect the parasite at a younger stage, allowing diagnosis and treatment up to six months earlier.

The tests will be developed and

performed in PetScreen’s Columbia lab, in keeping with the company’s plans to move its research and development headquarters here.

As the lab is outfitted, and technicians and researchers join Shah, he expects 10 people to be working in the incubator soon. PetScreen is negotiating with a large U.S. diagnostic company he couldn’t name yet for marketing the tests and processing some of the lab work, an arrangement that would free up space and time to concentrate on R&D developments. The company also expects to collaborate with the University of Missouri’s College of Veterinary Medicine and the Life Sciences Center, as well as other animal health companies located in the so-called animal health corridor that runs from Manhattan, Kan., through Kansas City and east to Columbia.

PetScreen’s journey across the Atlantic began with an American veterinarian’s stroll through a British science expo and a blunt demand. Helped along

by Summerfest serendipity and even

Tariq Shah, PetScreen’s commercial director, joined the company in 2008 after several years in pharmaceutical sales. He has a degree in marine biology from the University of Liverpool and a postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies.

Wikipedia, a few economic development incentives sweetened the pot.

Carolyn Henry, a University of Missouri professor of veterinary oncology, had fielded enough inquiries from veterinarians and students about PetScreen’s blood test that when she got the chance to investigate, she did. While lecturing at the British Small Animal Veterinary Association Congress in Birmingham, England, she happened upon PetScreen’s booth in the convention’s exhibitor hall. She talked with several company representatives and CEO Kevin Slater, and didn’t hide her doubts.

“I suggested to them that if they really wanted their test to take off in the U.S., they needed to start working with the board-certified veterinary oncologists here to validate their research findings,” Henry recalls. “In retrospect, I was pretty rude and I’m surprised Kevin made the effort to forge a collaboration with me after that.”

Shah says that initial encounter was a colloquial introduction to Midwestern bluntness.

“Basically, she told them, ‘I’m from the Show-Me State and you’ve got to show me.’ ” Apparently, it was just the opening

Slater was seeking.

“Their experience with trying to get the European veterinary oncologists on board had been less than satisfactory and I think the mere suggestion that we’d consider working with PetScreen in an open-minded fashion was intriguing,” Henry says.

Slater scheduled a visit to Columbia and Henry paved the way by telling officials at Regional Economic Development Inc. that PetScreen would be a good fit for Columbia.

“And she was right,” says REDI executive vice president Bernie Andrews.

“It ties in perfectly with our life sciences interest.”

Slater liked what he saw when he visited here, and it didn’t hurt that he shared the same music taste with Henry.

After dinner at Boone Tavern one evening, Henry squired Slater around downtown, trying to hide her disappointment that she was missing the Little Feat Summerfest concert a few blocks away.

“I rolled down the car window and asked him if he minded because I really wanted to hear a little bit of this music,” she says. “He turned to me and asked, ‘Is that Little Feat?’ Turns out it’s one of his

favorite bands, so we stayed for the concert and he started taking pictures with his cell phone and sending them back to England to prove he was at a Little Feat concert in Columbia. That’s when I really started to think he was looking seriously at us as a place to move his company.”

Shah’s opportunity to locate in Columbia came courtesy of the Internet.

Married to an American from upstate New York, Shah was working for PetScreen in England but ready to try living in the States. His plan was to locate the commercial arm of the company on the East Coast, perhaps near Boston.

“In discussion with Kevin, we agreed that it made sense to have everything run from Columbia. I called Audrey and asked, ‘What do you think about the Midwest?

We’re moving to a town called Columbia.

It’s in Missouri.’

“She just said ‘no,’ refusing to consider anywhere but the East Coast. But then she looked up Columbia on Wikipedia and fell in love with the town based on the writeup there. So she called me and said, ‘Yes, we’re moving to Columbia.’ ” A visit by the two of them later in the year cinched it, he says. “Wikipedia saved us!”

CoMo ambience strikes again.

“Columbia pretty much sold itself,” says Henry. “Kevin and I and our colleagues forged not only a partnership, but genuine friendship, and the business incubator provided the opportunities that sealed the deal.”

The PetScreen recruitment is a good example of cooperation among economic development agencies, says Andrews. “The Department of Economic Development, REDI, Missouri Technology Corp. and Missouri Innovation Center all worked together to help bring this company here,” he says.

Incentives included a $250,000 lowinterest loan from Missouri Technology to help with PetScreen’s operating costs.

REDI offered the company a $25,000 forgivable loan to use toward rent at the incubator and MIC used part of a Boone County Industrial Development Authority grant to customize lab space for PetScreen.

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COMING TO AMERICA

Cuff links to and fro

Anyone who thinks entrepreneurs have to jump through a lot of hoops to start a business in America should try doing it in a foreign country. That’s what Tariq Shah has been working on; although for him, that “foreign country” is the good ol’ USA. “I’m slowly making this transition from being an Englishman in America to being an American,” he says.

Shah, the commercial director of PetScreen, began preparing for his move to Columbia a year ago, right after the British company announced its location plans. He arrived here last December with his wife and daughter and six bags. He soon acquired the typical American possessions — a house, a car, a cell phone — but outfitting his office in the University of Missouri Life Science Business Incubator necessitated some unexpected shopping trips.

“Everything is different here,” Shah says. “We’re setting up a whole new company with banking, payroll, accountancy, computers — and all while in a foreign country. It took three weeks just to get a form reformatted and ready for printing.

Even the paper is a different size here …

“I’ve gone shopping so often, I feel like a stimulus plan,” he says with a laugh. “It’s as if I’m personally paying off the national debt.”

MU Life Science Business Incubator

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threshold of at least 10 employees, additional incentives will kick in from the Missouri Quality Jobs Program, providing tax credits and allowing the company to retain a percentage of state income tax withholding on those employees.

PetScreen was the second recipient of REDI’s flexible incentive program, Andrews says, and well worth it.

“This has opened up some doors for us in the U.K. — we’ve sent several people over to Nottingham and set up talks with BioCity, the business incubator there,” Andrews says. “We’re creating the perception of Columbia as a viable relocation site from the U.K. We’ve had some leads and have established a working relationship with the health science industry there.”

Completion of the incubator last year has ramped up economic development efforts in the life science and technology fields.

“This is really the kind of economic development we’re heading to,” Andrews says. “Every success brings another company here. It’s a testament to the business environment of Columbia.”

Henry is looking forward to collaboration opportunities that overlap in academia and business.

“I would love to see the PetScreen lab become a training ground for our graduate students who are considering careers in biotechnology-related fields,” she says. “The combination of academic opportunities, laboratory experience, and real-life business management and marketing training afforded by interactions between PetScreen and the comparative oncology group on campus will be a truly unique feature of our training program.”

The mindset changes afforded by such a partnership are transforming the face of scientific research, Henry notes.

“This is precisely the type of partnership that is needed to more efficiently advance the field of medicine in a benchtop-to-bedside/cageside manner, where new findings in the lab can be evaluated in animal models, both for the benefit of veterinary patients and for the potential discoveries that could be translatable to human medicine,” she says. “For years, the academic mindset has been that we are to pursue “pure science” through funding sources such as the National Institutes of Health, whereas collaboration with biotech and

pharmaceutical companies has been, at the very least, viewed as less prestigious and at the very worst, discouraged. To some degree, both the economy and the information explosion made possible by the World Wide Web and bioinformatics have forced us to rethink this stance.

As a clinician/scientist in an academic institution, I find this very exciting because it means we can actually see tangible evidence within the span of our careers that our work has truly made a difference. In other words, there is an end product beyond grant dollars and publications, and that end product is innovation.”

Science and technology-related startups make up about one-third of the activity REDI deals with — small companies that Andrews calls seeds. “We need more of those seeds planted every year,” he says.

And in this historically agricultural area, everyone knows that seeds grow into something much bigger.

“If we could get just four or five companies from outside the area to come to Columbia each year,” Andrews says, “just think of the potential.”

Limitless potential is what strikes Shah every day as he bustles about his adopted hometown.

“America is can-do,” he says. “In England, they say ‘it’s new, therefore it doesn’t work.’ Here, they say ‘it’s new; let’s try it.’ The possibilities are endless!”

Those possibilities may mean a corporate role reversal should PetScreen eventually move its world headquarters to Columbia while maintaining the Nottingham office as a European subsidiary.

“It’s not just getting that big break,” Shah says. “It’s making the most of that break.

PetScreen is not a new company — it has been around since 2004. Kevin Slater and Graeme Radcliffe founded it in Nottingham, which is home to a veterinary school and other biotech companies.”

In fact, Shah adds, Nottingham is famous for more than Robin Hood stories — it is the place where ibuprofen was developed.

“Maybe someday,” he muses, “people will point to Columbia in the same way and say, ‘Columbia — that’s the place where PetScreen started.’ ”

The Animal Health Corridor For years, economic development boosters in Missouri have pointed with pride to the life sciences corridor along Interstate 70 that has given rise to technology startups and science innovations from St. Louis to Kansas City.

Columbia has eagerly worked its niche within that trajectory.

Now comes a new biotech cluster — the animal health corridor, radiating out from its epicenter in Kansas City west to Manhattan, Kan., and east to Columbia.

The concentration of animal health companies in Kansas City is such that nearly 32 percent of total sales in the $19 billion global animal health market originates there. With proximity to the veterinary and agriculture colleges at the University of Missouri and Kansas State University, the area claims a national leadership role in animal health and nutrition research, innovation, business functions and production.

The industry concentration has led to the Kansas City Animal Health Initiative, pooling resources from the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, KansasBio, Midwest Research Institute and MissouriBIO, as well as forging an alliance with institutions and companies in St. Joseph and Topeka, MU, Kansas State, and a slew of other companies and organizations.

Real-world collaboration and cooperation offer a realm of exciting possibilities, says University of Missouri professor of veterinary oncology Carolyn Henry.

“The bigger benefit is that it creates an atmosphere that is infused with new perspectives, enthusiasm, and incredibly unique training opportunities,” Henry says. “Our students and trainees can see biomedical science from several different angles and decide which of those angles best suits their career goals.”

The corridor offers opportunities for networking, education, research collaboration, business incentives and legislative advocacy. For more information, visit the Web site www.kcanimalhealth.com.

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Risk

Management The Roger Wilson Era Kicks In At Missouri Employers Mutual

by KAT H

Y CAST

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EEL ph otos by

L.G. PAT

TERSON

Roger Wilson gazes out

on the captivating view from the executive office of Missouri Employers Mutual. A panoramic vista of the city he loves spreads out beyond U.S. 63, the picture of a metropolitan enclave teeming with business activity and entrepreneurial spirit. Below his blufftop office perch, vehicles speed down the busy thoroughfare that leads to the capital 30 miles to the south, another city where Wilson has spent so much of his professional life and where he helped create the job he now holds.

The view would be distracting if Wilson had more time to enjoy it. But as the CEO of Missouri’s largest workers’ compensation insurance provider turns away from the window, he breaks into the same engaging smile that cracked many a legislative impasse in the old days down in Jefferson City.

“Truthfully,” he quips, “I thought the insurance business was a little more sedentary.”

Wilson hasn’t had much time for sedentary window-gazing since he took the reigns at Missouri Employers Mutual. After eight months of fill-in duty as acting president and CEO, the 61-year-old former governor was named to the permanent post in January. He took over a company facing challenges from an unstable investment market and increased competition for policies.

Diminishing revenues forced MEM to cut 13 percent of its statewide workforce in late 2008, four years after a restructuring eliminated a similar number of jobs. As CEO, Wilson has focused his energies on companywide expense reductions, lowering rates for policyholders and technology upgrades to increase efficiency.

“Sometimes you have to make painful decisions,” he says, “hopefully the result is good for Missouri and good for Missouri Employers Mutual.”

Faced with the need to cut next year’s budget, Wilson drew on experience gleaned from his days in the state Senate and trimmed $3 million. He enacted a hiring freeze and worked with his executive team to develop a strategic plan for the next five years.

“It was a little bit awkward with the staff when I first got here,” Wilson concedes. “Obviously, everyone had on their ‘Sunday clothes’ for those first few weeks and we were all on our best behavior. But you know what … nobody changed.”

The new strategic plan — extended to five years from three — includes goals that Wilson says would test the company.

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“With these targets, you could get halfway there and be successful,” he says. “But if you want to be the market leader, you have to hit all of them. And we want to be the best.”

Wilson can tick off the company’s short but ambitious list of goals as easy as 1-2-3: • Grow to $200 million in premiums • Maintain an expense ratio of less than 30 percent • Be the market leader

“Roger has re-energized the corporate culture throughout the entire organization,” says Tim Jackman, MEM’s vice president of claims, compliance and legal services. “A prime example is the strategic planning process in which all the managers assumed a greater role and ownership, and provided direction for the company for the upcoming five-year period. Those strategic planning sessions solidified our focus on small accounts.”

Those small accounts claimed center stage in MEM’s focus as the economy has continued to drag. Hoping to kick-start a little recovery of its own, the company offered its version of a stimulus plan to small business, granting a 15 percent rate cute for small policyholders with annual premiums of $3,500 or less.

“When you see what’s happening to our policyholders, a rate cut just makes sense,” Wilson says. “In this economy, we have seen shrinkage in the workers’ compensation market; our premium and policy count has gone down.

Business is down — construction has shrunk. We can’t touch everything in this economy, but we can help Missouri employers. And when the recovery does come, small business is going to hire most of the new employees. We’ll be there to insure them.”

With few exceptions, workers’ compensation insurance is mandatory in Missouri. Employers may opt to purchase insurance from a private insurer or they can self-insure as an individual business or member of a selfinsured group. Since 1994, insurers have been able to set rates without state approval. Companies generally base their rates on loss data for each job classification code as compiled by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, and can adjust premiums according to the unique characteristics of a workplace operation.

“Workers’ comp is not going to win any popularity contests,” Wilson says. “Missouri Employers Mutual was set up by the state 15 years ago to create competition in the marketplace and show you can serve business profitably.”

Wilson was serving as Missouri’s lieutenant governor when the state Legislature created Missouri Employers Mutual as part of the 1993 workers’ compensation reform bill. Headed by first CEO Dennis Smith, a former state senator from Springfield, the company opened its doors in Columbia on March 1, 1995, with 90 employees. Workers’ compensation rates in Missouri, which had been rising about 15 percent a year, fell 20 to 25 percent that year, Wilson says.

Although created by the state, the company has shed most of its governmental ties, except for a bylaw requirement that the governor approve some appointments to the board of directors. MEM paid back a $5 million startup loan to the state in 1999. As a mutual insurance company, it is owned by its policyholders. The company celebrated its first decade in business by moving into its $11.4 million headquarters on Keene Street in late 2005.

Today, MEM employs 206 people in four locations (Columbia, St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield); 145 of those employees work in Columbia. The company serves 12,000 policyholders and holds a 14.5 percent market

share. By law, the businesses that insure with MEM must operate almost entirely within Missouri; policyholders are predominantly small businesses.

When Smith announced his retirement last May, Wilson had reduced his time commitment to the St. Louis financial management firm of Rockwood Capital Advisors as he prepared to join MEM’s board of directors. Tapped for the interim job on May 27, Wilson formally joined the board on June 11 and served double-duty for seven months. When he accepted the permanent leadership post in January, he resigned as a director. Smith, who had remained with MEM on a consultant basis, left the company Dec. 31.

With the administrative challenges behind him now, Wilson garners praise for the way he has guided the company over the past few rocky months.

“Since Roger joined MEM last June, the company has successfully managed its way through a number of significant strategic and operational challenges,” says chairman of the board Jim Jura. “During this time, Roger has demonstrated excellent leadership and team-building qualities within the organization, and has established SPRING 2010

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credibility with insurance agents across the state as well as with other key constituencies, such as our regulators.”

Initially, Jura says, Wilson told the board he wasn’t interested in the permanent job of running the insurance firm. “Both Roger and the board’s perception changed over time as we worked through the company’s challenges,” he says. “As he worked through some very difficult issues, he came to appreciate the importance of the company’s work and its many internal strengths, especially our management team and workforce. The board was impressed with his judgment and how quickly he established credibility inside and outside the company.”

People know their jobs and they’re dedicated to the importance of callers hearing the smile in their voice over the phone.”

Wilson left no doubt during MEM’s 2009 Customer Service Week kickoff, says Customer Service Manager Rhonda Colley. “Roger, without hesitation, stood in front of the department wearing a ‘smile’ costume while giving an inspirational speech in which he recognized their efforts and the importance of customer service. Of course, he ended his speech by thanking the staff for always having a smile on their face when answering the calls of our customers.”

Wilson describes his management style as “naturally inclusive.” Noting “Roger Wilson is not an insurance expert,” when he took the interim post last year, he has learned from the expertise of his senior management team.

“I gain more confidence as I gain more knowledge,” he says. “I’m smart enough to know I don’t know everything.

One thing I learned teaching fifth-grade science: on a good day, you can never be smarter than 30 fifth-graders.

There’s no telling how long the honeymoon will

last at 101 N. Keene St. So far, the new CEO with all the right connections has made some strong moves to position the company for business expansion when the economy presents the right opportunities.

“One of the first things I learned in this economy was that people want only one thing — value,” Wilson says.

“If we do our job right, the employers can reduce their premiums for workers’ compensation insurance while they improve workplace safety.”

The company fights an aggressive battle “Roger reminds me of a quote I recently discovered,” against insurance fraud and has placed says Underwriting Manager Tami Gessling. “In Inside a renewed emphasis on workplace safety through its WorkSAFE program to raise U.S.A., John Gunther wrote: ‘Missouri has the reflexes awareness about safety as well as safety of its own celebrated mules; this is a state with a kick.’ seminars and occupational safety training.

Now, I’m not saying Roger is a mule, but I am saying “MEM has its boots on the ground,” he has quite a kick, which is perfect for MEM!” Wilson says. “Our customers want quick claim service, good rates and rate reductions that reward safety. We’re trying to answer those But in education, politics or business, it’s fun to test new demands.” theories and look at new policies. I’m working in the He is pushing efficiencies through technology — largest positive-attitude atmosphere I’ve ever been in. The videoconferencing to save on travel and a new useremployees here are amazing.” friendly Web site to streamline many policyholder and Wilson has had an invigorating effect, says agent exchanges. A $7 million software upgrade is in the Underwriting Manager Tami Gessling. “It’s refreshing works for the policy and billing system that would allow to work with someone at his level who is dedicated to MEM to reconfigure rate tables for those businesses communicating with the front-line workers on a regular that want to assume some of the insurance risk basis,” she says. “It’s a common occurrence to see Roger themselves through larger deductibles and retrospective walking among cubicles and talking to employees. He policies. pursues knowledge by talking directly with the employees Once the company gets its surplus up, Wilson hopes who have the experience and information to answer his MEM can start paying a dividend. questions, regardless of their job level.”

“We’re working on these product enhancements now A relaxed workplace culture generates a caring staff, so we can offer them in a better economy down the road,” Wilson says. “The customer service reps get enough stress Wilson says. “We figure we’ve got 18 to 24 months left over the phone,” he says. “We don’t crack the whip or before things start looking up in the economy. But when it punch a clock here. Everyone at MEM knows we have a happens, we want to be ready.” different assignment than any other insurance company.

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The Accidental Politician

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When Missouri Employers Mutual hired Roger Wilson

as CEO, the company put one of the most recognizable names in Boone County on its executive nameplate.

The moniker is familiar to anyone who drives east on Ash Street downtown, where the Roger B. Wilson County Government Center stands. The building was rededicated in 2001 to honor the former county collector, state senator, lieutenant governor and governor.

Despite the long political pedigree, Wilson’s entry into politics was dictated more by circumstance than design.

Wilson’s roots run deep in Boone County. Raised on a farm near Midway, he grew up in a family of elected public servants — his paternal grandfather Roger Isaac Wilson was a Boone County sheriff killed in the line of duty in 1933; maternal grandfather Ned Gibbs was recorder of deeds. His father, Woodrow, served as Boone County Collector for 25 years.

The younger Wilson idolized his father, but he wasn’t interested in extending the family tradition for another generation.

“I told Dad when I was 17 that there was absolutely no way I was ever going into politics,” he says. Wilson went off to study education at Central Methodist College and later earned a master’s degree from the University of Missouri. He began his teaching career at Russell Boulevard Elementary School, where he also served as assistant principal. The school is where he met his wife, Pat. “That was the best job at Russell Boulevard — it doesn’t get any better than that,” he says. “One of the neatest events in my life — outside of the births of our kids — was the day we came back to school after our two-day honeymoon. The entire school threw a wedding shower for us. They gave us boxes of canned goods, dishes, towels … and it was all appreciated.”

When Wilson’s father died in 1976, Gov. Kit Bond appointed Republican George Parker to fill out the collector’s term. Parker’s criticism of his predecessor rankled Wilson so much, he ran against Parker for his father’s old office and won.

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“I’m a sentimental fool and Dad’s the greatest man I ever knew,” he says.

Wilson served as collector for three years, until state Sen. Warren Welliver was appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court. Wilson won the special election to replace him and spent 22 years in that chamber, rising to chairman of the Budget Committee.

“These job changes always meant a pay cut,” he says, shaking his head. “My economic judgment in those early years should be seriously questioned.”

In 1991, Wilson announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor. After nearly two terms as Missouri’s second in command, his term turned

tragic on Oct. 18, 2000, after the death of Gov. Mel Carnahan. Wilson served 84 days until Bob Holden was inaugurated Jan. 8.

A shadow passes over Wilson’s face when talk turns to those painful days. “A sage senator once told me, ‘When you’re going through hell, keep going.’ As governor, my most important mission was to try to make sure that our state and its citizens could go through that time without any silly distractions and show the nation what style and grace Missouri had.”

Wilson left the political arena in 2007 after serving a three-year stint as chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party. He doesn’t miss it.

“There isn’t a time in my life I haven’t enjoyed,” he says, “and nothing I wouldn’t want to do again.”

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emerge and can overwhelm you with its stupendous taste and smell.

There’s a purpose in sniffing wine first, Durk says. “The idea is to let the taste catch up to the nose, and careful storage will allow that to happen.”

Sleepless In Columbia “If a wine has just been released and comes into Columbia on an 18-wheeler, it’s been shaken and jostled every which way. You pull the cork and say, ‘Man, this smells great.’ But when you taste it, you say, ‘What’s wrong with this stuff?’ ” Durk says.

The problem is you’ve got agitated wine in your hands and it needs to rest.

“What you want to do is put that wine back to sleep,” says Durk, who admits to looking a lot younger than he really is.

“It has to be in the dark and away from ultraviolet light.” After it has calmed down, continuous storage will help it mature.

Corked!

Wine Storage The Gift That Keeps On Giving

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by JOHN LITTELL

any people grab some wine off the shelf, open it that night and turn the empty container into a quaint candleholder for their next Halloween party. Hey, Boone’s Farm does make a cute bottle.

But even serious wine drinkers sometimes forget the virtues of storing the good stuff. Contrary to the old stock market adage, they buy high, drink high and probably get high. But it’s only a short time until the buzz wears off; then it’s back to the store only to discover that yesterday’s Cabernet Sauvignon is now $20 more expensive.

Proper wine storage is a gift that keeps on giving, creates memories and can produce a sizeable return on your investment — if you know what you’re doing.

Light, heat, air seepage and low humidity are wine’s worst enemies. They will suck the flavor out of even the finest vintage. If you plan to keep the wine asleep for years, you had better be careful how you handle it. But you don’t have to be completely paranoid.

“Wine will take abuse for a year or so before it goes bad,” Durk says. “If you put a bottle on a shelf and forget about it for a while, it will be all right. But long-term storage takes a lot of care.”

The danger is that a bottle of wine will cork. “When it does, it will smell like an old, wet basement: corky. If it’s been too hot, it will smell burned because the sugars in it will turn to caramel,” he adds.

Drinking Good Buy Low, Sell High “There a couple of reasons to store good wine,” says Floyd Durk, liquor department manager of Patricia’s Foods in Columbia. “When you taste a wine that is good right now, but you think that in 10 years it will be phenomenal, that’s the time to store it because 10 years from now you’re not going to be able to get that particular vintage, and certainly not at today’s prices.

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“That’s the second reason — everybody likes a bargain.”

Durk, who has been in the wine and liquor business for more than 30 years, is a proponent of domestic product.

“I’m an American type of guy,” he says, and he likes the Cabernet Sauvignon grape because it’s robust and has a lot of varied flavors in it. That kind of complex wine is perfect for laying down for the future. Over time, all the subtle flavors

Durk, who has lived in the Columbia area all his life, enjoys cooking and likes to pair the right food with the right wine. “If you look at me, you’d think I drink an awful lot. I do not. But what I do drink, I drink good.

“My philosophy is that there are no bad wines, only a whole lot that’s better than others,” he says.

And he has one more important piece of advice for budding oenophiles: “All wines should be consumed with your best friend.”

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EXPErT rECOmmEnDaTiOns

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ssuming you are already well stocked with investmentgrade bottles of Premiers Cru — Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Château Latour, Château Margaux, Château Haut-Brion and Château Mouton Rothschild — you might want to expand your taste horizons with a few cases of young American and Australian wines.

Floyd Durk, liquor department manager at Patricia’s Foods in Columbia, offers a selection that will only improve with age if properly stored.

peNfoLdS rwT SHiraZ 2005: This Aussie red will store for 15 to 20 years, but will be spectacular in 10.

A robust wine with heavy blackberry and raspberry notes, it also has a dose of tannin. It’s good right now, but will mellow with age when the taste will catch up to the nose. It’s just under the

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Penfolds Grange, which is currently selling for about $400 a bottle. ($89.69)

SiLver oakS CaBerNeT SauvigNoN 2005 Napa vaLLey: One of Durk’s absolute favorites, this California is not quite balanced, he says, but in five years will be great. It has a little Merlot and Cabernet Franc in the mix. ($99.99) He also recommends the Silver Oaks 2007 Alexander Valley, which is a big, rich and chewy wine with hints of purple plum, blackberry, and even some cedar. ($69.99)

far NieNTe CaBerNeT SauvigNoN 2006: A burst of berry flavor, including hints of cherry, blackberries and allspice, characterize this big California cab. The wine will get better and better the longer it ages. ($129.90)

aficionado

Kistler Sonoma Chardonnay 2007: This is a California white wine that is quite drinkable now, but will be even better in five or six years if stored properly.

It’s great by itself and with seafood, pasta with cream sauce or butter, and it pairs well with a good, firm cheese. Durk is excited to be able to secure this wine because until recently, it was most often found in expensive restaurants where it cost upward of $200 a bottle. ($64.99) The Cabernet Sauvignons and the Shiraz go exceedingly well with big, thick steaks, barbecue and, surprisingly, according to Durk, with chocolate. Paired with a deep, rich chocolate dessert, “it’s just heavenly,” he says. Try these wines with bleu cheese, too.

Prices above are per bottle at Patricia’s Foods.

Chill Out On Chilling White Wine

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f you insist on putting ice cubes in your white wine or keep the bottle in the refrigerator for a couple of days to get it nice and cold, you are missing out on a lot of flavor, says Floyd Durk.

“When you chill a nice bottle of white wine like the Kistler Sonoma Chardonnay, you cover up a ton of flavor,” he says. “You don’t get the oakiness, the butteriness or the hints of vanilla that are there.

“The Europeans know this. I don’t think you can get a Coke over there that’s cold. We need to take a small lesson from those people, I think. They’ve been making and drinking wine for thousands of years.”

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Catch Your Own Wave Speed Into Warm Weather Aboard A New Watercraft

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ummer is fast approaching, which means it’s time to start planning your weekends away from the office. Regional watercraft dealers are stocking plenty of new models, and these suggestions from the trend-watching experts will make plenty of waves with envious friends.

When it comes to looking for a new boat, bigger is better, says Randy Kelly, owner of Kelly’s Port in Osage Beach. Summer weekends can get crowded, so you’ll need something that can handle the rough waters. “Buy as large a boat as you can afford,” Kelly says. “You’ll enjoy the lake more.”

The wave runner market also offers exhilarating options that incorporate the latest technology and innovation. Mark Niedergerke, sales manager at Glencove Marine at Lake of the Ozarks, recommends SeaDoo’s newest models. Sea-Doo wave runners “have revolutionized the PWC [personal watercraft] industry,” he says. “The company constantly strives to develop new and exciting features, and its latest products offer comfort, speed and a lot of get-upand-go.”

Jessica Martin of Surdyke Yamaha in Osage Beach points to the success of Yamaha’s wave runner sales as an indicator of the brand’s high quality and consistency. Roomy, storagefriendly and fuel-efficient, “the VX line is the most reliable on the market,” she says.

This season’s fresh array of boats and personal watercraft is faster, smoother and better looking than ever. With so many top-notch options available, it can be tough to choose a boat or wave runner. These shakers and movers can handle even the busiest days on the lake.

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by ANNA MOESLEIN

Yamaha VX Cruiser

From $8,999 This wave runner has been a best-seller since the first model came out in 2005. According to Martin, it’s the product of choice for 75 percent of wave runner rental companies. The best part? It’s the most fuel-efficient model to date.

Yamaha FZR

From $13,199 This brand-new wave runner from Yamaha is made for racing enthusiasts. Engineered to be nimble and lightweight, it can still outrace wave runners with higher horsepower.

Vroom! Vroom!

Formula 310 Bowrider

From $200,000 Get creative! Now you can “build your Formula” on the company’s Web site to create the boat of your dreams. No matter how you customize it, this boat is fantastic for a long day out on the lake, Niedergerke says.

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ceo at play

Sea-Doo 230 Wake Jet Boat

“When it comes to looking for a new boat, bigger is better.” ­— Randy Kelly

Yamaha 242 Limited S

From $47,599 The Yamaha 242 Limited S has won awards for its outstanding design. The luxury boat was made to maximize comfort and to allow ample room for multiple riders. Stylish yet practical, its design marries function and fashion.

Bennington 2550 RCW

From $38,999 Kelly recommends Bennington’s triple-log pontoon boat for the Lake of the Ozarks. The family-friendly watercraft can hold 10 to 12 people comfortably and still handle the choppiest weekend waters with ease. Party on!

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From $78,990 Looking for something especially thrilling? This sporty watercraft from Sea-Doo is among the most high-powered on the market, Niedergerke says. It’s your best bet for wakeboarding and racing on those Ozark waters.

Sea-Doo GTX Limited iS 260

From $16,499 This award-winning personal watercraft is among the best available.

Hot new features include an advanced brake system and built-in suspension to provide cushion in tempestuous water, making this one of the safest options.

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Talking Tractors Kee Groshong Transforms Rusted Relics Into Collectible Treasures by SANDY SELBY photos by L.G. PATTERSON

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t doesn’t seem plausible that a man who looks as if he were born to wear blue jeans and a feed store cap is equally at ease in the halls of academia wearing a suit and tie. And it doesn’t seem possible that the tractor-filled barn he’s standing in could be located in the very heart of the city. Kee Groshong, who retired as the University of Missouri’s vice chancellor of administrative services in 2002, has traded in his executive chair for a tractor seat and his office for a metal building. He seems content with the exchange.

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Kee Groshong has an affinity for John Deere tractors because that was the brand used on the family farm during his childhood. But he doesn’t let that stop him from collecting other interesting models, including a rare Universal, a Minneapolis-Moline and a Rumely.

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Groshong shows off a collection within his collection: antique crawler tractors.

Groshong’s interest in farm machinery began during childhood. “I was raised on a farm and I never liked the farming as well as I liked the mechanical pieces of the farming,” he says. “And I’ve never gotten over that part. I really enjoy tinkering.

This was a nice diversion from what I did for a living and I’ve enjoyed it as a hobby since I retired.”

One of his most ambitious “tinkering” projects towers above all the other equipment in the building. The 1910 Universal tractor is one of the earliest gasoline-powered tractors made and a rare find for today’s collectors. What Groshong found when he bought his Universal was, to the untrained eye, some rusty scraps of metal. He saw the potential, however, and with a little help from his friends and family set out on a 15-year restoration project.

“This one came out of Edmonton, Alberta,” Groshong says, and explains that many Universal tractors were shipped to Canada from the Stillwater, Minn., factory where they were built. “A friend of mine had one of these that he’d bought in a pile, just completely disassembled, but he had all the parts. So between his pile and what I had and a pile of odds-and-ends parts he bought in Canada, he had enough to put his together and I had enough to get started.”

The rest of the missing parts for Groshong’s tractor came from far-flung places across North America. “Some of 82

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the parts came out of Canada, some out of Kansas, some out of North Dakota,” he says. “The machine work was done in Fargo, North Dakota.”

Groshong knows this tractor down to its minute details and is eager to share the story of how old parts were preserved and new parts made. The radiator alone is a masterpiece with its 141 brass tubes, each painstakingly drilled and reamed to a perfect and functional fit. The decals on the front are also flawless reproductions — the work of an Iowa artist who recreated the lettering and logo from an old photograph.

Tractor restoration is not an easy task to accomplish alone and Groshong is fortunate to have a willing assistant right in his own family: his son Reese. Father and son often traveled to tractor shows together when Reese was a youngster, but Groshong worried his son’s interest would wane. “Sometimes you burn your kids out on your hobby and they get to where they don’t like it,” Groshong says, “But he did. He’s kept it up. That’s been a lot of fun because he and I still travel to shows.”

Groshong opens the door to another, larger barn, revealing restored tractors that stand as a testament to years of father-son bonding. There are early John Deeres, a John Deere precursor called a Waterloo Boy, Rumelys, a Caterpillar, a Clark Airborne Dozer and a gleaming Minneapolis-Moline. This particular Minneapolis-Moline is the featured tractor for March in the 2010 Classic Tractor calendar.

Groshong makes regular rounds of some of the biggest tractor and steam engine shows in the Midwest, including the Missouri River Valley Steam Engine Association show near Boonville every September. He enjoys spending time with others who speak the language of tractors and hear the music in the putt-putt rumble of old engines.

In a weak moment, he might say he has too many tractors, but too many is never enough when the next rare find shows up at an auction or forgotten in a farm field, begging for rescue and restoration.

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AIA Mid-Missouri 2009 Design Awards A cocktail reception was held at PS:Gallery on Feb. 20 for chapter members, guests and award recipients of the American Institute of Architects Mid-Missouriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biennial architectural design competition. The competition recognizes and encourages those individuals, firms and projects that elevate the quality of architecture, demonstrates a level of excellence, and informs the profession and public of their distinguished work. Seth Evans AIA Emeritus, a founding member of the 1970 group that formed the mid-Missouri Chapter, spoke about the early days of the organization. (Photos courtesy of Robbie Price and

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Bob Unrath) 1. Bob and Kathy Unrath with RuthTofle 2. Chris Belcher, Tom Rose and Chris Davis 3. Chris Belcher, Tom Stone and Nick Peckham 4. Heiddi Davis and Brandon Dake 5. Jennifer Hedrick and Andrew Wells 6. Dianne Brandhorst, Kim Trabue, Kate Medin and Rich Wiles 7. Seth Evans, Clarissa Easton and Nick Peckham 8. Bill Oswald and Robbie Price

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Rootin’ Tootin’ Chili Cookoff More than 1,200 hungry folks attended the 5th annual Rootin’ Tootin’ Chili Cookoff to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Columbia on Feb. 13 at the Holiday Inn EXPO Center. The chili champions, from among 50-plus entries, were Forum Christian Church (1st place), Mid-America Wireless (2nd place) and Columbia College (3rd place). The cookoff raised more than $46,000 to benefit local children.

(Photos by Wally Pfeffer)

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1. Jason Philips, Sarah Smith, Lacey Perez, Melissa Wassmann, Danielle Smith and Jamie Oliver 2. Margaret McDermott, Lisa and Tim Reed, Ed Guinn, John Pratt and Jim Taylor 3. Kyle Hayward, J.C. Collier, Adam Stanek, Brian Heydn, Nathan Griggs, Mike Baker and Evan Hutchcraft 4. Mike Messer, Mike Pitts, James Samorian and Lyle Johnson 5. Brad Duncan, Franco Puetz, Brad Lumia, Mike Lumia and Jordan Barton 6. Barbara Trachsel, Shelia Winter, Neal Wilkinson, Susan Wilkerson, Brie Burnett, Ellen Dent and Rachel Humlicek 7. Steve Tuchschmidt Jr., Amy Christian, Steve Tuchschmidt and Tom Bradley 8. Becky Lee, Jeremy Wardenburg, Bryan Gann and Tim Carr

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ADVERTISING INDEX Ad Purpose..............................................................................75 Arthur Ratliff........................................................................... 81 Allison, Dant-Allstate...........................................................37 Alpine Park & Gardens.........................................................82 American Family Insurance................................................25 Boone County National Bank............................................... 3 Binghams................................................................................. 81 Bright City Lights...................................................................39 Callahan & Galloway............................................................74 The Callaway Bank...............................................................40 Cancer Research Center......................................................39 Cartridge World.................................................................... 30 Central Trust...........................................................................83 Citizens for Bob McDavid.....................................................4 City of Columbia Water & Light........................................36 Coil Construction.................................................................. 21 Columbia Insurance Group.................................................47 Columbia Regional Airport................................................ 30 Columbia Turf........................................................................ 84 CORE....................................................................................... 49 Creative Surroundings......................................................... 44 D&M Sound..............................................................................9 Dale Carnegie........................................................................... 2 David the Salon...................................................................... 19 Debby Cook Interiors...........................................................38 Econsultants...........................................................................27 EyeDentity...............................................................................82 Farm Bureau Insurance....................................................... 44 Ford, Parshall & Baker.......................................................... 88 Gary B. Robinson Jewelers.................................................. 17 Gibbs Company.................................................................... 43 Grizzly Bear Lawn Care........................................................33 Grossmann Promotional Products................................... 88 Harper, Evans, Wade & Netemeyer.................................. 17 Hawthorn Bank......................................................................92 Inside Columbia’s CEO.......................................................15,25 Inside Columbia Wine & Food Festival........................ 70,71 Jack Maher, Maly..................................................................37 Johnston Paint........................................................................25 King, Paul.................................................................................77 Kleithermes Homes..............................................................79 Landmark Bank......................................................................29 Line-X.......................................................................................47 Lon BrockmeierRaymond James Financial Services.............................. 69 Mackenzie’s Prime................................................................ 21 Mail & More............................................................................ 19 MayeCreate............................................................................38 Missouri Cotton Exchange..................................................67 Moresource.............................................................................75 MU Health Care..................................................................... 91 Old Hawthorne Plaza........................................................... 17 Peachtree Banquet Center................................................. 86 R.Anthony................................................................................27 Rickman Conference Center..............................................40 Riverview Technologies........................................................77 Sandler Training.....................................................................73 Sappington’s Carpet Care.................................................. 43 Schuster, BettyPrinciple Financial Group................................................ 84 Security Now.......................................................................... 81 Sheri Radman........................................................................ 84 Smart Business Products....................................................40 Smith & Moore...................................................................... 86 Snapshots Photo Booths......................................................77 Southside Liquors................................................................. 42 Shelter Office Plaza................................................................. 5 Speaking of Women’s Health..............................................13 State Farm Insurance............................................................33 Stifel Nicholas........................................................................67 Suit Yourself............................................................................47 Swan Lake................................................................................ 19 Tiger Court Reporting.......................................................... 34 Tradewind Park.......................................................................79 True Confessions of a High-Heeled Leader......................6 UMB Bank................................................................................ 11 United Country...................................................................... 21 University Club...................................................................... 34 Vicky Shy Realty....................................................................67 Wobig, Lynn-Allstate........................................................... 34 Whitworth Law......................................................................36 Vintage Falls........................................................................... 42 Wilkerson & Reynolds......................................................... 30 Williams Keepers..................................................................73 88

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

MIXING BUSINESS WITH POLITICS

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ixing business and politics may be considered taboo in today’s corporate culture, but there comes a time when the impact of public policy on business conditions is so profound that the two worlds ultimately collide. I believe we are living in such a time. Decisions by elected officials on federal, state and local levels are dramatically affecting economic activity and the way we run our businesses. Admittedly, without the benefit of expensive lobbyists and powerful coalitions, there’s little we can do to foster change in our federal and state governments. On a local level, however, the potential for affecting change is considerably more promising.

Columbia’s municipal elections next month present some unique opportunities. For the first time in its 104-year history, the Columbia Chamber of Commerce has endorsed a slate of candidates in Columbia’s City Council races.

Fortunately, there seems to be a greater awareness of how actions — and in some cases, a lack of action — by certain City Council members have impacted the business climate in Columbia. One only has to study the voting patterns on issues like Landmark Hospital and the McGuire Boulevard extension to get a feel for the anti-business sentiment repeatedly expressed by some members of our City Council. Even more disturbing was the lack of action when Minnesota-based 3M announced major workforce reductions in Columbia.

The ground has never been more fertile for local CEOs and the business community at large to effect change in our

local government by participating in the upcoming April elections. Here’s what you can do to help:

1. Create A Dialogue With Your Employees. Talk with your employees about the importance of voting in the April elections and how public policy decisions often impact the local business climate and ultimately their livelihoods.

Let them tell you what’s on their minds,

It’s time for a change on Columbia’s City Council.

– Fred Parry and offer them feedback and perspective on those issues. Make sure your employees understand the cause-and-effect nature of inappropriate public policy decisions.

2. Bring The Election To Your Employees. Invite local candidates to visit your business for a tour and let these candidates engage your employees in a Q&A session. Let your employees discuss the issues that are important to them.

Whether it’s crime, economic conditions, streets and sidewalks or the quality of our schools, giving your employees this unique opportunity to discuss these issues will likely make them more engaged in their community and in their workplace.

3. Give Your Employees An Hour Off To Vote. The No. 1 reason people gave for not voting in the last election is that they were too busy or they simply

ran out of time. During the November 2008 general election, CEOs nationwide launched an important initiative called “The Vote Hour Project.” Business leaders across the country gave their employees one hour off on Election Day to go vote.

It sends a powerful message to elected officials that business does vote and it empowers your employees to be a part of this important process. Whether you close your business an hour early or simply give your employees two hours for lunch, doing so will increase the likelihood that your employees actually vote. For more information on this project, visit www.VoteHour.org.

During this most recent economic downturn, Boone County lost more than 5,000 jobs. A healthy economic climate in Columbia has a lot to do with public policy and whether a community chooses to take a proactive stance toward economic development. The individuals we elect to our City Council heavily influence how well our city fares during challenging economic times and how we fare in the quality of our lives. It should be clear to most of us, that it’s time for a change on Columbia’s City Council.

Just in case you missed it, the Columbia Chamber of Commerce has endorsed these candidates for City Council positions: Robert McDavid for Mayor of Columbia Gary Kespohl for Third Ward City Council Darryl Dudley for Fourth Ward City Council The chamber staff and volunteers spent dozens of hours painstakingly analyzing all of the candidates in April’s election. I applaud their courage and commitment to the process. I think they’ve made some good choices and hope you agree.

See you at the polls on Tuesday, April 6.

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CLOSING QUOTES

What Columbia’s Business People And Community Leaders Are Saying

“I think the only time a community needs incentives is when it’s got deficiencies, and incentives just follow deficiencies.

If you’re not deficient you don’t need the incentives.”

— Paul Land, vice president of Plaza Real Estate Services, at the CEO Roundtable discussion about economic development

“To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, ask not what the university can do for you, but what you can do for the university.”

— Tom Atkins, CEO of Atkins Cos., on the advantages of working with the University of Missouri to achieve Columbia’s economic development goals

“My experience with the state Legislature is that the bill will be decorated with so many amendments it will look like a Christmas tree when it is sent to the governor.”

— Mayoral candidate Sid Sullivan on the chances there will be no exemptions to the proposed “Fair Tax” bill

“How long can we keep selling each other sneakers and sandwiches?”

— Mayoral candidate Paul Love on the need to diversify Columbia’s economy

“I was in school here at the university with a fellow from Iowa. He’s a farmer up there and he’s a [tractor] collector. We didn’t either one have that interest at the time we were in college; we were mostly interested in girls.”

— Kee Groshong on the interest that preceded his tractor-collecting hobby

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Inside Columbia’s CEO

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SPRING 2010

“There’s no box to check ‘English’ on the immigration form; either you’re ‘American’ or ‘trouble.’ ”

— PetScreen commercial director Tariq Shah on the challenges he’s encountered as a British émigré in the United States

“It has rules … and if you get caught they enforce them.”

— Roger Wilson, president and CEO of Missouri Employers Mutual, on the “discipline” of rugby, a game he played until he was 38 years old

Inside Columbiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ceo OutFront Communications, LLC 301 W. Broadway Columbia, MO 65203

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