Tom Schlafly
St. Louis Brewery
“The conventional wisdom seems to be that St. Louis and the rest of Missouri don’t encourage entrepreneurship,” Tom Schlafly observes. “I have to say the conventional wisdom is wrong.” We’ll drink to that: In 1991, Schlafly exercised some of that entrepreneurial zeal to launch the St. Louis Brewery’s Schlafly Tap Room—the state’s first brewpub. That scratched a years-long itch he’d developed as a young lawyer exposed to authentic English ales while studying at Oxford University in 1983. “I figured that someone would be brewing these styles of beer in St. Louis and making a success of the business,” Schlafly says. “Why not us?”
St. Louis Brewery knocks out dozens of varieties over the course of a year, and distributes products in 12 states, from Kansas to New Jersey. You can buy Schlafly ales at Cardinals, Rams, Blues and Billikens games—“Too bad you can’t buy beer at Mizzou games,” he muses—and, of couse, when the St. Louis Blues play—Schlafly is a minority owner.
He still logs time at the large St. Louis law firm of Thompson Coburn, where he’s one of more than 325 lawyers. But now, he says, “I spend more time on beer than on practicing law. And most of my legal work is related to the brewery.” His own success mirrors what’s achievable in Missouri, Schlafly says. Still, he says, “people here need to get over their envy of Silicon Valley and the rest of the West Coast. There are some great success stories right here in our backyard. Twenty-two years ago, lots of people told me that another brewery could never succeed in the shadow of Anheuser-Busch. Our customers proved that we could.”
Roseann Bentley
Greene County Commission, Springfield
Public service has defined Roseann Bentley’s life. Whether it was through serving on the Springfield School Board for nine years, or with a statewide focus, such as her eight years on the State Board of Education and eight more in the state Senate. The common thread? Children. Bentley has long been at the point for legislative and policy changes, something she advocates now, as a member of Greene County Commission. “I’ve always concentrated on families and children, and now, we’re working with the juvenile department on issues involving children removed from homes for abuse, neglect or delinquency.” Her interest in child welfare produced what she considers among her most significant policy contributions, both from her time in the Senate—one led to funding for early-childhood education; the other reduced the state’s contribution to a bureaucracy governing foreign adoptions. “We had three hearings on that adoption bill we moved to a different room three times because of the crowd,” Bentley says. “It was rewarding to see that interest in government.”
At the county level, she’s immersed in a wider range of issues. “The great thing about being on the County Commission is that it’s so varied.” “You can work on highways or the juvenile department, licenses, tax collection or assessments. It’s an intersting environment, and I enjoy that.”
Derek Glanvill
McCarthy Building, St. Louis
South African native Derek Glanvill didn’t get to America until he was 25, but the realization hit him right away: “I learned early on that opportunity would come with long hours as well as the willingness to take on tougher assignments.” Within five years, he was president of a Houston-based company during one of the downturns for which the construction sector is famous, but from it, he says, he gained insights that still inform his executive views today. “I also learned not to settle for reduced-performance expectations in tougher times, but rather to use this to innovate and differentiate our services more.” That’s exactly the kind of talk you’d expect from someone who competes in Ironman competitions and other endurance events.
He’s also heavily involved in civic causes, with a history of service on the Regional Chamber and Growth Association and the board of the Regional Business Council in St. Louis, as well as St. Louis Children’s Hospital Foundation Board, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and fund-raising for organizations that treat traumatic brain injuries in children. “With my desire to make a difference and truly live out God’s purpose for my life,” he says, “I confirm even more that servant-leadership is my passion and calling.” That includes his oversight of the state’s largest construction company, a $3 billion employee-owned firm. “I believe my role is to serve our customers with excellence,” Glanvill says.
Richard Teitelman
Missouri Supreme Court, Jefferson City
Richard Teitelman grew up during the Sputnik era, when math and science were key. That was a break for a young lad in Philadelphia, whose vision was deteriorating so badly he would be legally blind by age 13. “I couldn’t read a lick because I couldn’t see well, so I over-compensated in math,” he says. His mother’s dream was that he would be a doctor, but a difference of opinion over his performance in a third-year college chemistry lab—“They said I almost blew up the lab; I don’t remember it that way,” he says—took him in another direction, to St. Louis, and Washington University’s School of Law. Today, he’s chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, the first legally blind and first Jewish member of the court. An undergraduate degree in math dovetailed nicely with being a lawyer, he says: “It was a degree in solving problems, and what I did with the law was solve problems for my clients.” Even today, Teitelman says, “as a judge, math helps in the process.” A ferocious memory also comes in handy; legal colleagues and counterparts alike marvel at Teitelman’s powers of recall. Before donning robes, he was a legal-aid lawyer for 23 years in St. Louis, and president of the Metropolitan Bar Association.
Terry Hammer
Hermann Hill Vineyard & Inn, Hermann
Terry Hammer was a middle school principal. His wife, Peggy, was a teacher. In addition to an interest in Hermann Ford, they owned some land in town and a stake in a 24-room motel. Outside of the latter, not much about their lives suggested careers in the hospitality sector. Until the Missouri River Flood of ’93. “The flood was a real disaster,” Terry remembers. “The dealership was under water, 56 inches of it in the showroom. My wife, two daughters and I spent two months living in the motel. That was the final straw.”
They opted to move into town and figured the properties they held there would be ideal locations for their next venture: A bed and breakfast. “We never claimed to be smart,” Terry deadpans. “But we researched stuff to death. We go to every professional conference we can, ask questions, hire pros to help us.” That vision thing is overrated, he says, and egos too often get in the way of success for those unwilling to say they don’t need anyone’s expertise. He and Peggy are not among them.
They have built up Hermann Hill Vineyard & Inn on one side of town, and Hermann Hill Village on the other. “It’s kind of ironic,” Terry says. “All my friends who taught with me with are now retired. I’m just really enjoying life, working 100-hour weeks. That’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but I love what I’m doing and feel very, very fortunate.”
Cathy Smith
Grundy County Friends of the Arts, Trenton
“Until there is a way to entice more jobs to our small towns and rural areas,” says Cathy Smith, “it will continue to be hard to ‘keep them down on the farm.’ It is unfortunate but it is just a fact of survival.” She knows whereof she speaks: After the 1993 floods ravaged the family’s grain farm, she and her husband, Troy, decided it was time to diversify. Thus was born Century 21 Smith and Associates in 1994, with expansions that followed in Trenton, Chillicothe and Lawson over the next five years. The farm? They still have it, but “we now have our farmland rented out and work full-time with the real estate offices and other investment properties.” A former teacher, she served 12 years on the Trenton school board and rose to president of the state school board association. Her commitment to education extends beyond K-12; she’s also on the board of governors for Missouri State University. One of her most notable achievements has been with the Grundy County Friends of the Arts. When she became its president 25 years ago, she persuaded others to embrace a more progressive view of the arts and expand its emphasis beyond the classical. “We have brought in all kinds of entertainers since then,” she says.
Gary Forsee
Kansas City
For the most part, he’s out of the headlines, but Gary Forsee certainly is not inactive. The former CEO of Sprint Corp., long the biggest employer in the Kansas City region, and former president of the state’s flagship university system is still making his voice heard in the region’s business affairs with roles on various boards. Since turning over the reins at MU in 2011, he’s also been able to focus on family matters, including three grandchildren in the KC area.
Serving at MU was an exercise in education—his own. “Without question, it was a steep learning curve,” he said. “Expectations were to make a difference based on my 35 years in the corporate environment, yet the platform was about as different as could be imagined.” But he quickly concluded that the chal-lenge was, as always, about the people.
The experience, he said, was illuminating: “I thought I knew a lot about what the U of M does for the state, the country, the world,” he says. “I was stunned most everyday what I learned about our campuses in that regard, and how much we are doing and how much potential we have to do more with more awareness.”
Greg Steinhoff
Veterans United Home Loans, Columbia
You’d have to work pretty hard to find a businessman in Missouri with a keener appreciation than
Greg Steinhoff has for assessing the conditions that make for a successful company. For one, he’s a former director of the State Department of Economic Development, so he has an informed view about how far the public sector can go—or should—in creating jobs. But since leaving that role, in 2008, he’s been in financial services with Boone County National Bank, and since 2010, president of Veterans United Homes Loans—the No. 1 job-creating company in Missouri last year (and No. 29 nationwide), according to Inc. magazine. For Steinhoff, the most recent move was all about fit. “This is a company with a noticeable purpose and a tremendous culture,” he said. “It was a wonderful opportunity and I’m certainly happy with my decision.” His public-sector background tells him that if Missouri wants more job creation, it needs a balanced approach: Creating a favorable business environment with low taxes, strong transportation and communication infrastructure, building a talented work force with a strong education system and work-force training, and providing assistance with capital investments, as with the Missouri Quality Jobs program.
Jim Weddle
Edward Jones, St. Louis
He was a finance major who lived his dream of becoming research analyst when he landed a summer internship at Edward Jones—only to find out, says Jim Weddle, that “my heart wasn’t in research.” Conversations with the firm’s financial advisers led to a career course correction: “It occurred to me that I was on the wrong end of the phone call,” says Weddle, now managing partner of the St. Louis based financial-services firm. “I wanted to be in the field, working as a financial adviser.” He’s done that, working his way up the ranks at 91-year-old Edward Jones, and he became just the fifth managing partner of the firm in 2006. Much of the growth from a regional name to a national brand—and now an international one—in investment advisory services has come during his affiliation with the firm. “We’ve been in St. Louis County more than 30 years,” Weddle said. “We moved into one floor of a building at Dorsett and Interstate 270 in 1972, when we had only 150 branch offices. Today we have nearly 12,000 branch offices across the United States and in Canada and our presence in St. Louis County has greatly expanded.” The firm has nearly 5,000 employees in the St. Louis area, and is a powerful force as a corporate citizen. It’s the largest supporter of the United Way there, and a major benefactor for some of the city’s highest-profile charities.
Mark Schupp
The Schupp Company, St. Louis
Remember that adage about doing something you love and never having to work? Our money says Mark Schupp’s ad agency supplied the creative for that. “I love advertising/marketing and have never felt like it was a job; it is much too much fun,” says the owner of The Schupp Company. That goes back to his first job as a media buyer at Barickman Advertising in his native Kansas City. “I couldn’t believe they actually paid me to do my job,” he says. Four jobs later, it’s always been the same story.
You may not know Schupp by name, but if you’ve been near a TV, you’ve seen his work. Before founding his own firm, he was in marketing for Anheuser-Busch, where he helped give us Spuds McKenzie, that “I Love You, Man” knucklehead and the “Yes, I Am” imposter. “I have had the most enjoyment creating campaigns that are intended to create a buzz in the marketplace and, most importantly, have been successful in not just accomplishing our clients objectives but blowing them out of the water,” Schupp says. He finds much to love about St. Louis, but says his hometown is light years ahead in barbecue. And when it comes to beer, Schupp says one of the most disappointing developments in town came with the sale of A-B in 2008. “Short term, it was devastating for St. Louis, the region and the morale for both,” he says. “Long term, it will be even worse, I’m afraid,” if foreign ownership leads to a decreased commitment to the city.
