Kansas City
chamber to unveil 2015 area economic outlook
The 2015 economic outlook for the Kansas City area will be unveiled Tuesday
morning at a Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce event.
Economist Frank Lenk of the Mid-America Regional
Council will present the chamber’s annual forecast. In addition, area economist
Chris Kuehl, of Armada Corporate Intelligence and author of the chamber’s daily
business briefing, will share his views on the outlook for business and the
economy. Read more: Kansas City
Star
Missouri Chamber President Dan Mehan receives Champion of Small Business Award from the National Coalition for Capital
Missouri Chamber of Commerce President Dan Mehan was honored this week with a Champion of Small Business award from the National Coalition for Capital. Dan and 34 fellow legislators and officials from across the nation were recognized for their leadership at the annual National Coalition for Capital Awards Ceremony on August 19th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Champion of Small Business Awards recognize individuals for demonstrating leadership in supporting policies and initiatives designed to promote access to capital for small businesses and entrepreneurs, especially those in economically distressed communities.
“This award recognizes Dan’s important work to preserve and create jobs through access to capital policy that helps Missouri small businesses grow and develop,” said Greg McIlvaine, President of the National Coalition for Capital. “Dan has demonstrated he is a champion of small business, and his efforts will have an enduring positive impact on Missouri.” Read more: Missouri Chamber
Chamber study: Economic impact of University of Missouri athletics estimated at $247.1 million
For Columbia
businesses, University
of Missouri athletic
events play a crucial role in their bottom lines. But the economic impact of MU
sporting events is even broader than that, and the influence seems to be
growing with construction work on venues and visitors pumping money into the
local economy.
At a news conference Friday, University of Missouri MBA students Parker Leppein and Heather Webster presented the results of their economic impact survey of MU athletics in Columbia. The study, which Leppein and Webster conducted with five other students, found that MU athletic events had a total economic impact of just more than $247.1 million last year. The Trulaske College of Business has partnered with the Columbia Chamber of Commerce for five years to conduct the study. Read more: Columbia Daily Tribune
At a news conference Friday, University of Missouri MBA students Parker Leppein and Heather Webster presented the results of their economic impact survey of MU athletics in Columbia. The study, which Leppein and Webster conducted with five other students, found that MU athletic events had a total economic impact of just more than $247.1 million last year. The Trulaske College of Business has partnered with the Columbia Chamber of Commerce for five years to conduct the study. Read more: Columbia Daily Tribune
New Chamber President on Springfield’s Future, Right to Work
The new president and CEO of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce is expected to be in place this fall. On Wednesday, the Chamber announced the appointment of Matt Morrow to the post. KSMU’s Alissa Zhu spoke with the Bolivar native and has this report. Morrow attended college in his home town at Southwest Baptist University. A radio broadcaster in the 1990s, Morrow then expanded his horizons to politics.
He worked as an aid for then-Missouri
Senator John Ashcroft and lived in Washington D.C. for a number of years, returning to Missouri to serve as the
CEO of the Homebuilders Association
of Greater Springfield. Morrow held the position for 12 years before accepting
the position of executive vice president and CEO of the Greater Birmingham
Association of Home Builders. More: KSMU
Ozarks Public Radio
St Louis Regional
Chamber news: STEM jobs to take off in St. Louis: lessons from Workforce Summit
By the year 2022, jobs in the STEM fields — those in
science, technology, engineering and math — will grow by 12.4 percent in St. Louis and 10.2 percent in Missouri. That’s compared with non-STEM
jobs, which will grow by just 9.2 percent in St. Louis
and 8.5 percent in Missouri.
Those numbers were included in this year’s State of St. Louis Workforce,
which focused exclusively on the STEM workforce. The report was prepared by the
Missouri Economic Research and Information
Center (MERIC). Alan
Spell, a research manager for MERIC, said within STEM, IT jobs are the most
in demand. Those are followed by engineering positions. Read more: St
Louis Biz Journals
Chamber Education:
Apply Now for Leadership Missouri 2015!
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is now taking applications
for Leadership Missouri. Founded in 1990, Leadership Missouri aims to identify
current and emerging leaders throughout the state, enhance their leadership
skills, and deepen their knowledge of the state's opportunities and challenges.
In April of each year, the selected participants begin a series of seven
monthly, two-day sessions.
Through the sessions, participants will tour various businesses and hear
from Missouri's
leaders. They will explore the state's opportunities, needs and resources
through these tours, panel discussions, presentations and relationship
building. Leadership Missouri
provides a thought-provoking experience focusing on the attributes of the
state, and what it means to be a leader. By visiting various regions,
participants develop an enhanced view and a new meaning to the word community
that spans the entire state.
For an idea of what to expect in the program, take a look at the 2015 schedule.
Scholarships are available through Leadership Missouri Alumni and Northeast
Power Cooperative.
Leadership Missouri Alumni Scholarship Limited partial scholarships for candidates representing non-profit organizations or agencies. If your participation hinges on availability of such scholarships, please fill out this Leadership Missouri Scholarship application and submit with your Leadership Missouri application. Northeast Missouri Power Cooperative Scholarship Provides one matching scholarship. To view the requirement and fill out the application click here.
Apply now online!
Or, if you know someone who would be a candidate for the program, please invite
them to apply.
Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce releases update to 'Big 5' ideas for growth
The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce says it's making strides toward meeting its top goals for the region. The goals, dubbed the Big 5, were identified nearly three years ago. They include moving the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to a new downtown location. In its latest Big 5 update, the chamber noted that a site adjacent to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts has been selected, and fundraising continues. Read more: The Republic
Chamber volunteers: MO American Water to fund seven major watershed-improvement projects
On Monday, Aug. 5, Missouri American Water announced
that seven local watershed-related projects will receive funding from the
company's annual Environmental Grant Program.
These grants are part of American Water's national Environmental
Grant Program, which began in 2005. The grants support innovative,
community-based environmental projects that improve, restore and/or protect watersheds
and community water supplies through partnerships...Table Rock Lake Community Service, Inc. will restore native trees
and shrubs destroyed during a highway widening project in Kimberling City.
"Replant Kimberling" will use volunteers from the Table Rock Lake
Chamber of Commerce and Kimberling
City Parks
and Recreation. Read more: Water
World
Missouri Chamber applauds 100 Great Ideas for Missouri initiative
Speaker-elect John Diehl has launched an initiative to gather ideas from Missourians to improve our state and government. Diehl has launched a website where constituents can post ideas. The website will be complemented with a statewide legislative tour to communities across the state.“The Missouri Chamber believes the 100 Great Ideas for Missouri initiative is a great way to engage House members with the needs of Missourians,” said Missouri Chamber President and CEO Daniel P. Mehan. “Then best ideas for moving our state forward are not created in the offices of the Capitol, but are born in our communities. Making it easier to deliver these ideas to legislative leaders is a worthwhile effort. We will encourage our employer members to submit ideas.” Read more: Missouri Chamber
Kennett, Mo Chamber
of Commerce tax-free holiday poll goes live online
At last Tuesday's Kennett City Council meeting,
during a discussion as to whether the city should continue to opt out of
Missouri's annual tax-free holidays, the Executive Director of the Kennett
Chamber of Commerce told council members the Chamber would implement a poll for
members to take, expressing their opinions on the issue. Director Melissa Combs
said she would gather the results and report back to the council.
In an e-mail sent to Chamber members on Tuesday,
Combs said, "The Chamber of Commerce is conducting a poll on behalf of the
city council to determine if the public would like to participate in the annual
'Sales Tax Holiday' that the State
of Missouri
hosts each year. Please click the link below to complete a confidential survey
on the subject." The poll is now live, online Read more: The Daily Dunklin Democrat
Great legislative/chamber teamwork! Missouri Chamber priorities become law this week
Each year in Missouri,
on Aug. 28, the majority of bills passed by the general assembly become law.
This year, several priorities of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry
will become effective on Aug. 28, helping Missouri employers better compete.
“Each year, it seems like new challenges emerge that
threaten our state’s businesses and their ability to grow and create jobs. If it’s
not a national recession or the threat of increased federal regulations, it’s
the many state issues we saw emerge recently including fraudulent unemployment
claims, massive unemployment insurance debts and patent troll scams,” said Dan
Mehan, Missouri Chamber President/CEO. “We thank the leaders in our General
Assembly for staying current and continuing to address these problems as they
arise.” Read more: Missouri
Chamber
Supreme Court takes
another bite out of Missouri
tort reforms
With a new ruling that bypasses Missouri’s limit on punitive damages, the
state’s Supreme Court continues to erode a successful 2005 reform law. In their
decision, released on Sept. 9, the Supreme Court reinstated a $1 million
judgment against a used car dealer who defrauded a customer. The court’s ruling
uses centuries’ old legal language to sidestep the clear, current 2005 statute
limiting punitive damages at $500,000. The decision comes two years after the
Supreme Court similarly overturned Missouri’s
2005 cap on medical malpractice lawsuits.
“Less than 10 years ago, our state was a haven for
frivolous lawsuits, outrageous judgments and skyrocketing litigation insurance
premiums. In 2005, we fixed it. Lawsuits declined dramatically and premiums
decreased. With this ruling, we’re seeing a trend where the Missouri Supreme
Court is working to undo our progress and open the flood gates once again,”
said Daniel P. Mehan, Missouri Chamber President and CEO. “If we want Missouri to compete in a global economy, we can’t have a
rampant litigation climate and we can’t have a judicial system that bypasses
current reforms in favor of language that was written before the State of Missouri even existed.
This continues to be an urgent matter that our state must address.” Read more: Missouri
Chamber
Tweet of the Day: St. Louis Regional Chamber
The most valuable resource is information. As
distribution costs move to 0, the best for one becomes available to all. @BlairLevin
#FiberSTL
Training funds and tax fairness legislation returned to Missouri employers
The Missouri General Assembly has voted to protect Missouri employers, returning
vital training funds and protections for employers in tax court. Lawmakers
voted to override Gov. Nixon’s veto of more than 50 line items in the state
budget, including $900,000 to the Missouri Works job-training program.
Missouri Works provides customized training resources and assistance to
existing businesses and start-ups through a partnership with Missouri Community
Colleges and other local educational agencies.
The Missouri Chamber strongly supported returning
these funds to our employers,” said Missouri Chamber President and CEO Daniel
P. Mehan. “These are proven programs and vitally important to the
employers that depend upon this training.” Read more: Missouri
Chamber
Chamber Vision:
Forces gather behind new plan to remake slice of KC’s urban core
Don’t go thinking this could be easy. The pieces in a
proposed Kansas City
urban renewal plan certainly look as promising as any seen yet by some Warren
Buffett-backed consultants who have seen real neighborhood transformation work.
“This is as exciting as they come,” Greg Giornelli told the Kansas City school board this week.
Giornelli, president of the Atlanta-based Purpose Built Communities, is helping
Kansas City’s
Urban Neighborhood Initiative foster plans to remake the heart of the city’s
urban core. The initiative, one of the “Big 5” ideas in the Greater Kansas City
Chamber of Commerce’s 2011 vision for prosperity, has a lot of advantages over
other cities’ renewal projects, he said. Read more: Kansas City
Star
St Louis Regional Chamber holds Regional Broadband Summit Sept. 11. 2014
Access to high-speed broadband is an increasingly
important factor for companies choosing where to launch, locate, or expand. It
figures in more and more personal location decisions, as well. This summit will
be the launching point to bring high-speed broadband to a competitive level in St. Louis and support the effort to make St.
Louis a Top Ten region. Your voice and your input are an important part of this
effort.
Please join us in the auditorium at Centene Corporate
Plaza for an in-depth
overview of high-speed broadband and its game-changing attributes for
businesses, and the communities in which they reside. Our lineup of speakers
includes the former director of the National Broadband Plan,the CEO of a
Cleveland-based organization focused on broadband since 2003, and a leader in Chattanooga’s city-wide
rollout of Gigabit broadband in 2011. We’ll also take an in-depth look at our
existing fiber infrastructure throughout the region with a focus on challenges
and opportunities for quick wins. Read more: St
Louis Regional Chamber
Missouri Export Finance Program Workshops
On September
30, October 2 and October 7, 2014 Bob Newman, Senior
Area Manager, and John Blum, Regional Manager International Trade
Programs, with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
will provide a presentation on SBA’s export finance programs in Cape
Girardeau, Farmington and Jefferson City, respectively. They
will discuss export finance and how to reduce the risks banks and small
businesses take when they finance the preparation, creation and sale of
Missouri-made goods and services to buyers outside the United States. They will be
joined by SBA’s Bill Vickery at the Cape & Farmington presentations.
Bob
Newman states, “While fiscal year 2014 is shaping up to be a record year
for 7(a) loans, 504 and export loans lag expectations. To increase awareness
and use of the export programs, John and Bob are going on the
road to talk about SBA's International
Trade Loan, Export
Express & Export
Working Capital Program and to answer questions. We hope
our efforts will result in more loans being made during fiscal
year 2015.” He adds,
“During fiscal year 2013, SBA guaranteed 474 loans across
eastern Missouri;
yet by the end of August 2014 SBA had guaranteed 481 loans over the
same area, with the entire month of September left to book loans!”
The
dates, times and locations of these three events are as follows:
• Tuesday,
September 30, 2014 – 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m,. Cape
Girardeau Civic Center (Osage Centre), 1625 North
Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau,
Missouri
• Thursday,
October 2, 2014 - 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Farmington Civic Center, 2 Black Knight Drive, Farmington, Missouri
• Tuesday,
October 7, 2014 - 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Jefferson City Chamber
of Commerce, 213 Adams Street, Jefferson City, Missouri
These
three workshops are sponsored by RMI, an SBA Certified Development Company that
originates 100% SBA-guaranteed 504 loans. Please contact Mindy Murray
with RMI if you have questions about these events. Mindy can be reached
at 573-634-0557 or mindy@rmiinc.org.
If
you are a lender located in Cape Girardeau, Farmington or Jefferson
City, and would like to schedule a meeting with Bob
and John while they're in town, please contact Bob at 636-358-5941
or robert.newman@sba.gov.
Chamber Executive Ongoing Education Weekly
New Idea: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead - by Sheryl Sandberg,
CEO Facebook
Thirty years after women became 50 percent of the
college graduates in the United
States, men still hold the vast majority of
leadership positions in government and industry. This means that women’s voices
are still not heard equally in the decisions that most affect our lives. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg examines why
women’s progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root
causes, and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to
achieve their full potential.
Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook
and is ranked on Fortune’s list
of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the
World. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TEDTalk in which she described how
women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which became a phenomenon and has been
viewed more than two million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,”
seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto.
In Lean In,
Sandberg digs deeper into these issues, combining personal anecdotes, hard
data, and compelling research to cut through the layers of ambiguity and bias
surrounding the lives and choices of working women. She recounts her own
decisions, mistakes, and daily struggles to make the right choices for herself,
her career, and her family. She provides practical advice on negotiation
techniques, mentorship, and building a satisfying career, urging women to set
boundaries and to abandon the myth of “having it all.” She describes
specific steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal
fulfillment and demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women in the
workplace and at home.
Written with both humor and wisdom, Sandberg’s book is an inspiring call to
action and a blueprint for individual growth. Lean
In is destined to change the conversation from what women can’t do
to what they can.
Missouri
Chamber Policy Councils gearing up for 2015 session
Chiefs, KC business community celebrate new season
About 800 people showed up at this year's Kansas
City Chiefs Kickoff Luncheon, hosted by the Greater
Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, the biggest turnout ever.
The event is designed to give the local business
community an opportunity to show appreciation for the Kansas City Chiefs, and
for the team to thank the business community for its support over the past 50 years.
Read more: Kansas
City Business Journal
St Louis Regional
Chamber Public Policy Speaker Series features Tom Schweich, Missouri State
Auditor
St. Louis Regional Chamber Public Policy Speaker
Series features Missouri State Auditor
Tom Schweich on Tuesday, September 16th - 11:30
a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Chamber's Regional Collaboration Center
located at One Metropolitan Square - 13th Floor 211 N. Broadway St. Louis,
MO 63102
Chamber business:
Goldman Sachs is looking to help 10,000 small businesses with a $500 MILLION
investment
The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program is
a $500 million investment to help small businesses create jobs and economic
opportunity by providing them with greater access to business education,
financial capital, and business support services. 10,000 Small Businesses is
designed for business owners with limited resources who have a business poised
for growth. Applicants must demonstrate a commitment to growing their business
and creating jobs within their community. Learn more about this program and
eligibility requirements. Further information: 10,000
Small Businesses
Famous Chamber of
Commerce Quotation (Education)
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