Updated at 6:45 p.m. with additional reaction.
Leaders from business groups Civic Progress, the Regional Business Council and the St. Louis Regional Chamber have formed a new private-sector economic development effort to attract and retain businesses, jobs and talent.
The newly formed St. Louis Regional Economic Development Alliance, a subsidiary of the Chamber, will have its own CEO and board, the Chamber announced Thursday. Suzanne Sitherwood, president and CEO of Spire, will serve as board chair for the Alliance. Steve Johnson is being hired as CEO, with a start date expected in March.
Since 2015, Johnson has worked as CEO of the Missouri Partnership, which performs similar functions focused on marketing Missouri, attracting companies looking to locate new facilities and preparing proposals to help current companies expand.
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The new Alliance will concentrate on those economic development functions for the entire St. Louis region, funneling prospects to public-sector economic development organizations such as the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, the Leadership Council Southwest Illinois or the Economic Development Center of St. Charles that craft incentive packages and finalize details.
“We’re the ones who want to lead the concierge level of marketing and response,†Chamber CEO Tom Chulick said. “We want to be able to market the entirety of the St. Louis region.â€
Johnson worked as a vice president of the Chamber’s economic development efforts for a decade before leaving to lead the Missouri Partnership. Initially, the Chamber’s current economic development staff of six or seven people will move to the new organization, which hopes to grow to a staff of about 15 people.
“That’s a very good move,†said Denny Coleman, who led the St. Louis County Economic Council and its successor the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership for 25 years. “Steve (Johnson) is very well respected, and he’s a real pro. ... He’s very familiar with all the players in St. Louis.â€
Economic development isn’t a new function for the Chamber. What’s different now, Chulick said, is that both Civic Progress and the RBC members are on board and that the Alliance’s focus will be only on attraction and retention, which often involves gathering data to respond to business inquiries about workforce, demographics and infrastructure. Regional business leaders have made a multiyear commitment to the new organization to fund a $4 million budget.
“The thing to me that’s been lacking is a coordinated effort on the corporate side for attraction efforts,†Coleman said. “The fact that the three business organizations are getting together to do this is a real plus for the region.â€
The new effort comes amid turmoil in the region’s economic development landscape. The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, a quasi-public economic development agency that represents St. Louis and St. Louis County, ousted CEO Sheila Sweeney a month ago after reports of contracts awarded to political donors of St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger and allegations of staff turnover and low morale.
And Chulick, for instance, took over a year ago at the Chamber after then- CEO Joe Reagan resigned following employee complaints of low morale and a hostile work environment. Chulick shook up the Chamber’s economic development department in April, ousting its director and adding two positions focused on business recruitment.
Chulick said the timing of the new Economic Development Alliance wasn’t related to issues at other economic development organizations. The Chamber’s board and those of the other organizations began exploring how to elevate the private sector’s role in business recruitment back in the spring and summer, he said.
“We’re growing, but our competitors are outpacing us,†Chulick said. “We’ve got to think bigger and bolder than ever before. ... How do we become best in class to compete at a level at which we’ve never competed that has the full support of the business community?â€
The move could give the Chamber and other private sector business groups more visibility after what has seemed a less public role in economic development. A former Chamber executive, Beverly Estes, told the Post-Dispatch last year that in recent years “you hardly saw the Chamber’s name in print.â€
The Alliance will stay out of other economic development functions, such as providing seed capital for entrepreneurs and offering job training and workforce development. The Chamber still has staff who have a hand in those functions, as do public economic development organizations.
“We want to be the lead in business recruitment,†Chulick said of the new Alliance. “We want to be the lead marketer for the region nationally and globally.â€
But in order for the new Alliance to work, there needs to be “good staff on the ground†at the local economic development organizations to take “the handoffs†from the business attraction team and close the deal, Coleman said.
“You do need that coordination, and that would be the only missing piece today, so hopefully (interim Partnership CEO) Rodney Crim will have the freedom and flexibility to staff up the Partnership in an appropriate fashion,†he said.