St. Louis Commerce Magazine

Above: A recent article in the Wall Street Journal cited Missouri’s tax credit program as a national model.

Wall Street Journal Singles out Missouri Historic Tax Credits as National Model

In the December 8, 1999 edition of the Wall Street Journal in the “Property Report,” St. Louis was commended for its “spate of renovation activity since the state of Missouri implemented its historic preservation tax-credit program last year.”

The article explains, “Held out as a national model, the Missouri program provides state income-tax credits for 25 percent of eligible rehabilitation costs of approved historic structures. The credit, which has no cap, applies to both residential and commercial buildings and can be used in conjunction with the 20 percent federal historic tax credit.” The article continues, “In addition, the state credit is transferable: Mercantile Bank has set up the Missouri Tax Credit Clearinghouse to buy and sell credits.”

The Cupples Station renovation is cited as the largest renovation taking place as a result of the credits. Richard D. Baron, president of McCormack Baron & Associates is quoted, saying that this renovation “would never happen without the state historic tax credits,” which are being sold to raise equity for the project. “They make large-scale, historic renovation projects feasible.”

And Cupples Station is just one notable example. “Already, the Missouri credit has given rise to nearly 20 projects in downtown St. Louis.

“A recently completed $1.2 billion investment agenda seeks to capitalize on an array of state-tax incentives designed to lure private investment to older areas.”

The Wall Street Journal was invited to St. Louis by the RCGA to hear about the historic tax credit program firsthand.

Above: Peter Raven, Ph.D., dubbed “Peter the Great” in this profile in Discover Magazine, has received worldwide attention as he lobbies to preserve biodiversity.

Missouri Botanical Garden Director Recognized for Efforts to Preserve Plants, Animals

As director of one of the grandest botanical gardens in the world and an international center of plant research, Peter Raven, Ph.D., was profiled in Discover as “one of the planet’s most passionate advocates of preserving biodiversity, driven by his fear: Earth will lose one-fourth of its species in the next 30 years,” the article states.

“All the critical elements of human life, from growing food to building shelter to curing disease, have their foundation in the study of plant life,” says Raven, who has put the Missouri Botanical Garden on par with The New York Botanical Gardens and London’s Kew Gardens.

Raven’s efforts as he careens from board meetings to lobbying congressmen to making speeches at scientific conventions, has paid off. In his nearly three decades at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the staff has grown from 85 to 350; volunteers have swelled from 300 to 1,200; membership blossomed from fewer than 2,000 to more than 35,000; and the budget has increased from $650,000 to $22 million. In addition, Raven has created one of the world’s most active centers of field botany, with 55 Ph.D. staff scientists, many living overseas where they conduct field research and collaborate with native scientists of South America, Mesoamerica, sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar and China.

“We’re collecting more plants, have more people overseas, more training programs, and more interactivity with other institutions than any other garden,” says Robert Magill, the Garden’s research director. “And we get a lot of grant money from other institutions feeding our research programs, all due to Peter’s personal contacts and vision.”

With a Ph.D. in plant biology from UCLA and a National Science Foundation post-doctorate at The National History Museum, the former hippie from Berkeley has published 500 papers and 19 books, including The Biology of Plants, which has been a standard text for nearly 30 years.

Last year Raven was also featured in Time Magazine as one of several “Heros of the Planet.” Recently, he also was honored by the RCGA, receiving the organization’s top honor, the 1999 Right Arm Award.

Above: Bruce Knobeloch, director of produce, Schnuck Markets, Inc.

Schnucks Director of Produce Named Retailer of the Year

Produce Merchandising named Bruce Knobeloch, director of produce for Schnuck Markets, as the 1999 Retailer of the Year. The national trade monthly chose Knobeloch based on “his leadership role in the industry, for his merchandising excellence and for setting high standards.”

Knobeloch joined Schnuck Markets as a high-schooler in 1974 as a part-time courtesy clerk. He has held various store positions, including produce clerk and produce manager. He was promoted to produce buyer in 1982 and was named senior buyer/category manager in 1985. He was promoted to director of produce in 1990.

Knobeloch currently serves as chairman of the retail board and a member of the board of directors for the Produce Marketing Association, a not-for-profit trade association with more than 2,500 members involved in the production, distribution, retail and food services sectors of the industry.

Above: WAN Technologies is equally owned by its four founders: (left to right) Dennis Clarke, chief operating officer; Christian Larson, director of strategic accounts; Tim Johnson, president; and Mike Noto, executive vice president.

Inc. Magazine Features St. Louis-Based Companies

WAN Technologies, a network systems integrator headquartered in St. Louis, was recently featured by Inc. Magazine as one of America’s fastest-growing private companies and ranked 96 on the Inc. 500 annual exclusive report on companies and CEOs who are changing the face of American business today. The ranking is based on a company’s percent increase in sales from 1994 through 1998. WAN Technologies reported an increase of 2,039 percent, exceeding this year’s combined average ranking of 1,715 percent.

Also, on the prestigious list were other St. Louis-based companies Helga Designs (144), T.R. Hughes (178), Security Leasing Partners (205), Workforce (207), Solutech (377), Software Architects (383) and Windows on Washington (422).

Company president Tim Johnson attributes WAN Technologies’ success to the development of strategic business partners in the world of data communications. WAN Technologies is a national reseller and service provider of networking equipment manufactured by high-tech companies such as Cisco Systems, Motorola and Lucent Technologies.

“Our engineering expertise and partnerships with technology leaders in the equipment industry offers our customers many choices that other Value Added Resellers can’t provide,” Johnson says. “We provide our customers with a complete end-to-end solution including network management and a variety of applications to meet their business objectives. With the explosion of the global Internet economy WAN will soon offer a unique e-business solution to support our customers and strategic partners.”

WAN Technologies was founded in 1994 and is expecting sales revenues of about $16 million for 1999. With 40 employees at its St. Louis headquarters and in its Houston office, WAN Technologies continues to expand with plans to open 10 to 15 new offices in 2000.

Above: Andy Trivers, president and founder of Trivers Associates

Trivers’ Architectural Expertise Featured in National Magazine

Andy Trivers, president and founder of Trivers Associates, was featured in the national publication Fund Raising Management, in an article entitled “Advancing Your Mission? What do Your Bricks and Mortar Say?” The article describes the importance of creating a setting that supports an organization’s mission.

Since its publication, Trivers now writes a bimonthly column entitled “Smart Facilities,” which addresses building, design and space issues. Trivers Associates is an award-winning architecture, planning interiors and urban design firm that has earned a national reputation for expertise in all aspects of project planning, design and project management.

Also featured in the publication were local organizations, including The American Cancer Society, Solomon Schechter Day School, the Missouri Forest Heritage Center, Central Reform Congregation Synagogue, St. Louis Holocaust Museum, Doorways and Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.

PC Week Ranks 10 St. Louis Companies in its Fast-Track 500

Ten St. Louis companies made PC Week’s third annual Fast-Track 500. The companies on the list are selected because they “demonstrate a consistent willingness to invest in the innovative technologies that will be the foundation of successful e-business deployments.”

Those St. Louis companies that made the list are: Martiz (13), Kellwood (19), Mercantile (22), GenAmerica (77), The May Company (147), Emerson Electric Co. (223), Furniture Brands International (307), Graybar Electric Co. (384), Mallinckrodt Inc. (407) and Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. (445).

In selecting and ranking Fast-Track 500 enterprises, PC Week “looked for companies that have deployed virtual private networks, Web-based collaboration tools, advanced intranet applications and, of course, lots of networking bandwidth. We weren’t looking just for the largest IT shops or even the most well-known and well-publicized. We were looking for companies that have deployed innovative technologies critical to e-business in every corner of the enterprise. These are the companies that are most prepared to make the leap.”

Above: From the Masks: Faces of Culture exhibit at the Saint Louis Art Museum, (left) Field Armor in the ‘Maximilian’ style, 1510-25, and Lakisi Initiation Mask, 19th century.

Saint Louis Art Museum’s Mask Exhibit Attracted National Media Attention

After an aggressive marketing campaign, the recent showing of “Masks: Faces of Culture” received national attention from The New York Times, Life Magazine, Mirabella and other media.

Cara McCarty, the museum’s curator of decorative arts and design, and John Nunley, curator of the arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, selected 146 masks from 50 countries on six continents. The masks, from prehistoric times to the present, range from images from the Lascaux caves in southern France to Darth Vader. After its showing at the Saint Louis Art Museum, the exhibit traveled to The Field Museum in Chicago and Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Sending this show on the road is a potential revenue generator for the St. Louis museum.

“Marketing a particular show goes a long way in exposing the museum to new audiences, so it has the potential for building attendance at the museum,” says Edward Able, president and chief executive officer of the American Association of Museums.

For the Saint Louis Art Museum, “national attention also enhances its ability to attract major sponsors, to secure major loans from museums for upcoming exhibitions and to be seen as a viable partner on shows by other museums,” explains Brent Benjamin, director of the Saint Louis Art Museum. “We need to be seen nationally—and internationally—as an institution that has a snap to it, a story to tell. You want to become known as a place where people say, ‘If St. Louis is doing it, it must be good.’”