May 19, 2025
University of Missouri–St. Louis Chancellor Kristin Sobolik was in her office last August when she received a message that Yemi Akande-Bartsch, the president and CEO of FOCUS St. Louis, wanted to chat. “When Yemi wants to chat, you definitely pick up the phone,” Sobolik said as she spoke from the stage last Thursday in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center.. Akande-Bartsch wound up paying Sobolik a visit in Woods Hall a short time later, and they began hatching plans to jointly hold a regional leadership conference focused on innovation and growth for the future of St. Louis. The vision they started laying out last summer came to reality Thursday when nearly 400 professionals from around the area descended on the Touhill for “Start with Leadership: Leading for Growth and Innovation,” a half-day event featuring leaders from across St. Louis discussing strategies for building their organizations, strengthening their teams and ensuring they’re positioned to drive positive change and lasting impact both locally and globally. Sessions were held both in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall and the E. Desmond and Mary Ann Lee Theater, and the conference preceded Thursday evening’s 28th annual What’s Right with the Region Awards presentations, also at the Touhill.
UMSL alumni and faculty and staff members were well represented among the panelists throughout the afternoon, starting with the opening session, “Leading for Impact: Innovation, Growth and Community Leadership.” Alums Lúcia Lohmann, the new president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and Steve O’Loughlin, the president and chief operating officer of Lodging Hospitality Management, took part in that discussion, moderated by Akande-Bartsch. “One of those lessons in life is you might not have the playbook, you might not know the next step, but you reach out to your peers,” said Alaina Macia, president and CEO of MTM, who was also part of that panel. College of Business Administration Dean Shu Schiller moderated another panel, on “Leadership with Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Action.” It featured alumni Orv Kimbrough, the chairman and CEO of Midwest BankCentre; Marcela Manjarrez, the CEO of M Strategic Communications and the retired executive vice president and chief communications officer of Centene Corporation; Sandra Van Trease, the CEO of SVT Strategic Advisors and a retired group president at BJC HealthCare; and Joe Stieven, the president, chairman and CEO of Stieven Capital Advisors. “Everybody’s accountable to somebody,” Kimbrough said. “When you have an environment that suggests that not everybody’s accountable, it erodes trust. And when you erode trust, that’s the very foundation of business, and that’s the very foundation of our way of life.”
