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This month...
...to add to the cover story we spoke with nine St. Louis leaders who happen to be from the Baby Boomer generation. We wanted to get an overall look at the role of boomer leaders in business, banking, communications and life sciences. Find their responses interspersed throughout the next eight pages.
GARY L. RAINWATER
Chairman, President and CEO,
Ameren Corporation
Q. How does/will the growing boomer market affect your business?
A. As long as boomers continue to prosper
and the economy grows, people will use
more energy and we will benefit.
Q. What do you think about this statement: Age 50 is the new 30?
A. At age 30 I could still run! But there is some truth to this statement with today’s advanced healthcare, people are living longer.
Q. How do you stay fit?
A. I bike ride on the Katy Trail when I can and use the stair stepper at home.
Q. Do you own a Harley or have plans to buy one?
A. I would love to own a Harley, but my wife vetoed that! Instead I own an airplane and love to fly.
SHAUN HAYES
President and CEO
National City Bank-Missouri Banking
Q. How does/will the growing boomer market affect your business?
A. The sheer number of boomers and the wealth that they are inheriting is a huge opportunity for the Wealth Management division of National City.
Q. What do you think of this statement: Age 50 is the new 30?
A. I hope so. No, seriously, I think that we take better care of ourselves today and we have benefited from the advances made in medicine.
Q. How do you stay fit?
A. I work out seven days a week and watch what I eat.
Q. Were you ever a hippie? Or a yuppie?
A. Never a hippie, always a yuppie.
LAURNA GODWIN
Partner
Vector Communications Corp.
Q. How does/will the growing boomer market affect your business?
A. Vector Communications is a public engagement and communications consulting firm. As public engagement specialists, we bring citizens together to discuss and resolve public policy issues in areas such as transportation, parks and recreation, education and healthcare. The growing boomer market appears to be socially conscious and concerned with their community, and we will be more involved in issues affecting them and their neighbors. We are hopeful that the services we offer will have a greater impact on communities as more and more people become involved with what is happening in their neighborhood and work to improve them.
Q. What do you think about this statement: Age 50 is the new 30?
A. I agree more as I get closer to age 50! Today people are more health conscious and are open to numerous professional experiences instead of just remaining in one field for decades until retirement. The new attitude that each day brings forth numerous opportunities for growth and development has people thinking healthier and living longer.
Q. How do you stay fit?
A. I stay fit by doing Pilates.
Q. Were you ever a hippie? Or a yuppie?
A. I definitely was never a hippie. As to whether I am a yuppie, that’s hard to say. I am 45-years-old. If a yuppie is a hard working, “middle aged” professional that’s trying to better her community, then I am one.
ANESH KISHORE
Chief Technology Officer
DuPont (Solae)
Q. How does/will the growing boomer market affect your business?
A. I expect the impact to be positive because of the increasing interest in vegetable proteins and their health attributes. This is especially true as we improve on both the functionality and health attributes of soy.
Q. What do you think about this statement: Age 50 is the new 30?
A. I do not know if it is 30, but certainly it is directionally right.
Q. How do you stay fit?
A. Physically by a range of exercises, spiritually through learning and action.
KATHRYN SCHUKAR BADER
Chairman
USBancorp Community Development Corporation
Q. How does/will the growing boomer
market affect your business?
A. As investors in residential projects in urban areas throughout the U.S., we greatly benefit from the “empty nester” baby boomer couples that are increasingly looking at urban environments as new and exciting places to live.
Q. What do you think of this statement:
Age 50 is the new 30?
A. I sure hope so! When I was 18, 50 year olds seemed awfully old to me. Now that 50 is on the not-to-distant horizon for me, I see it as the ideal age where the balance of experience and youth is just right.
Q. How do you stay fit?
A. I have the ideal fitness plan — Have a 15 year old with a driver’s permit and depth perception issues. Driving with him has had my heart rate elevated at the optimal cardiovascular level for months.
Q. Where you ever a hippie? Or a yuppie?
A. My husband tells me that my complex personality defies labeling!
STEVE ROBERTS
President
The Roberts Companies
Q. How does/will the
growing boomer market affect your business?
A. We focus our rental units and condos to a higher-end clientele and should prosper in the boomer market. Our television station, UPN-46, is family- oriented, yet urban chic—it is what Boomers are looking for, not reality
TV with no substance. Finally, with renovation
of The Roberts Mayfair Hotel and The Roberts Orpheum Theatre, we will be catering to a customer who wants the downtown dining experience with quality live entertainment.
Q. What do you think of this statement: Age 50 is the new 30?
A. Yes, it’s true. We have better fitness, are healthier and wiser today.
Q. How do you stay fit?
A. At a place called 20 Minutes to Fitness in Clayton and walking.
Q. Do you own a Harley or have plans to buy one?
A. No motorcycles, maybe a convertible.
Q. Were you ever a hippie? Or a yuppie?
A. I am a Buppie.
(Black Urban Professional)
RICHARD H. MCCLURE
President & Chief Operating Officer
UniGroup Inc.
Q. How does/will the growing boomer market affect your business?
A. We expect an increase in household goods moves for those entering retirement. We are also carefully monitoring “boomer” buying patterns in order to craft services that appeal to that highly demanding market.
Q. What do you think of this statement: Age 50 is the new 30?
A. In an “up” economy, which supports more extravagant buying, there may be some truth to the phrase. But when the inevitable “down” economy arrives, reality sets in — reality in adjusting lifestyle and outlook to accommodate the next stage of life. As life progresses, planning for the future sometimes can be postponed but seldom can be avoided. At 50, life experiences are rich, faith and family grow in importance, and misplaced priorities, which consumed too much of the preceding 20 years, become clearer.
Q. How do you stay fit?
A. 30-45 minute workouts five to six days per week.
Q. Do you own a Harley or have plans to buy one?
A. While I have never wanted a Harley,
I sure wish I had bought Harley stock a few years back.
LAURI TANNER
President and CEO
Ranken Jordan
Q. How does/will the growing boomer market affect your business?
A. As a specialty pediatric hospital, Ranken Jordan is affected by an aging workforce and the nursing shortage that most healthcare facilities are experiencing.
Q. What do you think about this statement: Age 50 is the new 30?
A. I feel younger today at 45 than I did at 30. I’m having more fun, taking better care of myself, love my job, and learning to say no.
Q. How do you stay fit?
A. I use a personal trainer, walk, and love to bike on the Katy
BETSY COHEN
Vice President
Nestlé Purina Petcare Company
Q. How does/will the growing boomer market affect your business?
A. It is wonderful for the pet industry as boomers have the desire, time and money to do more for their pets. This benefits Purina Pro Plan and Purina ONE due to the increased interest in giving your pets the best products for their well-being.
Q. What do you think of the statement: Age 50 is the new 30?
A. My mom, Sue Marcus, says age 70 is the new 50 so this must be right that age 50 is the new 30.
Q. Were you ever a hippie? Or a yuppie?
A. I have a sister who was a hippie and I tried to be a yuppie before our two sons were born.
I never really achieved the urban part of Young Urban Professional so I didn’t quite qualify. |
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