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COMMERCE COMMENTS
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I got to know
John Bachmann, managing partner of Edward Jones and subject of this
month’s cover story, through his leadership on the Lambert–St. Louis
International Airport expansion project. From the beginning, I was
impressed by his intellectual clarity and vigor. He studied the
situation from a rigorous and objective viewpoint, gathered evidence
and then concluded that the expansion of the airport is critical
to the future of the region’s economy and that the city’s W-IW proposal
was the correct approach. If it were not for John’s remarkable foresight,
strong leadership and tireless efforts, the airport expansion would
not be moving forward as it is today.
These qualities were certainly recognized by TWA as John was elected
to serve on the airline’s board and more recently by Donald J. Carty,
AMR chairman, president and CEO. Carty asked John to join AMR’s
board of directors. In making his offer, Carty noted, “John is a
man of exceptional accomplishment, strategic vision and drive, evidenced
by a career at Edward Jones. He began as a college intern and continued
to become head of one of the largest retail brokerage firms in the
world. He has led the securities industry nationally during one
of its most challenging times. He has the mettle of someone who
can tackle adversity and prevail—skills that were invaluable to
TWA during its rebuilding years.”
Carty knows of Bachmann’s exceptional track record. During his 20
years at the top, revenue at Jones has grown more than 40-times
and net income more than 28-times.
John’s dedication to civic endeavors goes far beyond the airport,
however. As chairman of the RCGA since January 2000, he leads the
region’s civic champions, working doggedly on the RCGA’s eight core
initiatives. He’s allowed St. Louis to make dramatic strides in
strengthening the region’s economic vitality and ensuring its success
through the 21st century and beyond.
This month’s profile is on Ellen Soeteber, the new editor of the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She has 25-plus years of experience
at a number of respected newspapers, most notably, the Chicago
Daily News, Chicago Today, the Chicago Tribune
and South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Soeteber is only the sixth editor in the 122-year history of the
paper and just the third non-Pulitzer. She is the first woman to
garner the title.
In less than a year, this East St. Louis native has made changes
to restore a sense of stability to the paper, and improve its quality
and consistency.
Finally, an article by Chas Adams, details the Convention and Visitor’s
Commission’s new campaign, Keep Your Meetings at Home, designed
to fill the short-term gap between the booking cycle for convention
groups and the completion of the convention center headquarters
hotel. Our existing capacity of hotels and meeting facilities represents
outstanding bargains to local companies that would normally hold
out-of-town meetings, retreats, seminars, etc. Booking in St. Louis
during 2002 to 2003 will support the region’s second largest industry
as it gets ready to take a major step up in capacity with the completion
of the new Renaissance Grand Hotel St. Louis.
Richard C.D. Fleming
President and Chief Executive Officer
St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association |
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