September 10, 2007                

GOOD DAY!                

This is MONDAYMEMO, the weekly report from the RCGA President to Board members and other key investors. MONDAYMEMO is published by the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, One Metropolitan Square, Suite 1300, St. Louis, MO 63102. To unsubscribe or change your address or method of delivery, reply to mondaymemo@stlrcga.org.


St. Louis Media To Bring Leadership Trip "Alive" To Region: The RCGA Leadership Trip to the Twin Cities this Sunday through next Tuesday will be covered by an impressive group of St. Louis media, with representatives from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, KMOX radio, KWMU radio, and St. Louis Commerce Magazine, each participating in the trip. Scott Schnuck, Chairman and CEO of Schnuck Markets, and immediate-past Chair of the RCGA, is chairing the 2007 Leadership Trip.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch business news columnist David Nicklaus, KMOX radio reporter Brett Blume, and KWMU NPR radio reporter Adam Allington will be filing reports, presenting a unique opportunity to bring the delegate's experiences in Minneapolis-St. Paul to the entire St. Louis region.

Mayor Francis Slay, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann, Hazelwood Mayor T.R. Carr, and over 80 other business and civic leaders in Missouri and Illinois, will fly to the Twin Cities on Sunday morning, September 16th for the 3-day visit.

The 30 featured speakers and panelists include: Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, both of whom will discuss how the community is dealing with the recent tragic bridge collapse; former U.S. Senator David Durenberger (now a national leader in healthcare reform); former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer; former State Senator and former Metropolitan Council Chair Ted Mondale; present Metropolitan Council Chair Peter Bell; nationally recognized, co-author of the 1997 Peirce Report on Greater St. Louis Curt Johnson; and K-12 education policy and charter school national leader Ted Kolderie.

For more information about this, the 10th Annual RCGA Leadership Trip, please contact RCGA Vice President for Membership Services Colin Stahlhut at (314) 444-1145, or e-mail him at cstahlhut@stlrcga.org.

Branding Effort Continues To Score With National Media --- CNBC-TV Airs National Story On Express Scripts: The St. Louis region's ongoing, pro-active regional branding efforts continue to pay dividends. CNBC-TV's "On the Money," national broadcast last Thursday, September 6th, featured Express Scripts. Please click here to view the CNBC broadcast.

This story arose after producers at CNBC read a piece by Wall Street Journal reporter Thaddeus Herrick, entitled, "Campuses, Companies Cozy Up", published on July 11th, featuring Express Scripts' new HQ on the campus of the University of Missouri at St. Louis. Our Fleishman-Hillard national media relations partner pitched, coordinated and staffed Herrick's visit to St. Louis earlier this summer.

This latest national media coverage for St. Louis is the result of a very pro-active media relations strategy by our partners at Fleishman-Hillard and the RCGA's Communications staff. The region's national media relations outreach to hundreds of specific reporters around the country continues to be accompanied by strategic advertising placements in Area Development magazine, Bloomberg Markets, Chief Executive magazine, Fortune magazine and Site Selection magazines, as well as XM satellite radio.

The previous 8 national ads featuring Danforth Plant Science Center President Dr. Roger Beachy; Washington University School of Medicine Department of Surgery Chair Dr. Tim Eberlein; GENCO General Manager Ed Ehrenberger; Coronado Place, The Moolah, and Lindell Towers owners Amy and Amrit Gill; Newberry Group founder and CEO Brenda Newberry; Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Music Director David Robertson; Brown Shoe Co. President Diane Sullivan; and Enterprise Rent-A-Car CEO Andy Taylor, have now been complemented by a new national ad featuring World Wide Technology Chairman David Steward discussing the St. Louis region as an ideal location to start or expand a business; Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant will be featured in a future ad, as well.



Working with Fleishman-Hillard, we continue to pitch and place positive stories about the St. Louis region in national news and business media, focusing on C-level and top-tier publications, broadcast media and wire services. From 2006 through August 2007, coverage by the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Entrepreneur Magazine, the Associated Press and others have generated some 80 million positive impressions of the region.

Earlier this year, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) awarded the St. Louis brand their prestigious Silver Anvil Award, the top branding campaign in the nation by a nonprofit organization. Equally importantly, since the brand was rolled out in late 2005, "deal flow" for the bi-state region has tripled, generating 85 economic development prospects with a new jobs potential exceeding 14,000 and prospective new capital investments of $4.1 billion.

In the coming weeks and months, with the continuing fine work by our colleagues at Fleishman-Hillard, we will work to place stories in the national press about St. Louis' economic momentum and distinctive quality of life attributes.

RCGA And CMT Presenting I-64 Construction Program For Employers This Wednesday, September 12th: As part of our continuing effort to address the real impacts that will occur with the reconstruction on I-64, the RCGA and Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) jointly held an overflow session in Clayton last Thursday. We are holding a similar session with MoDOT and Gateway Constructors this Wednesday, September 12th, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the Regional Collaboration Center at the RCGA.

This luncheon meeting will feature Development Strategies Inc. President Bob Lewis, Commerce Bank Employee Relations Manager Diane Kroner, and Washington University Assistant Vice Chancellor Steve Hoffner. In addition, St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission (CVC) Chief Marketing Officer Brian Hall will present information on the new "Project Get Around St. Louis", an innovative program to help make sure St. Louis is "open for business" during the construction.

While no one disputes that there will be considerable impact from the upcoming closure, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) and their team have done an extraordinary job in each phase of this project in not only meeting the construction time frames, but exceeding them. Given the realities of the upcoming full closure of I-64, the fact that MoDOT, the local jurisdictions and the business community have actively planned this in a way to minimize the adverse impact, is good news.

The value of the session last Thursday, and the upcoming luncheon this Wednesday, is that we now have some "live" experiences of best-practices examples from major employers and other companies that have responded to this and are sharing their experiences. KMOX radio reporter Brett Blume interviewed RCGA Vice President for Infrastructure Susan Stauder on Thursday morning regarding the session in Clayton; please click on this link to hear this KMOX interview.
http://www.stlrcga.org/media/RCG001-022.mp3

You may register for the September 12th luncheon meeting online at www.cmt-stl.org, or please contact Susan Stauder at (314) 444-1155, or e-mail her at sstauder@stlrcga.org.

Forbes, Inc. CEO Steve Forbes In St. Louis On Tuesday, Sept. 25th For St. Louis Speakers Series: The 2007 season of the St. Louis Speakers Series, presented by Maryville University, continues with Forbes, Inc. and Forbes magazine CEO Steve Forbes on Tuesday evening, September 25th, beginning at 8 p.m. at Powell Symphony Hall.

The full slate of Speakers Series' presenters for the 2007 - 2008 season are: adventurer and author Peter Hillary on November 13th; CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour on November 27th; former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on January 15th; author Salman Rushdie on February 28th; Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt on March 18th; and music and political satire group The Capitol Steps on April 22nd.

The St. Louis Speakers Series is sponsored by the RCGA; Pulaski Bank; Gallop, Johnson & Neuman L.C.; and 90.7 KWMU-FM Public Radio.

By virtue of the RCGA's founding co-sponsorship of this series, RCGA members receive 10% off the non-reserved regular seating ticket price of $275 for the annual 7-part series. In addition, RCGA hosts a pre-lecture reception at the Powell Club for RCGA Leadership Circle members

For more information about the St. Louis Speakers Series and the Leadership Circle Reception, please call RCGA Vice President for Membership Development John Diefenbach at (314) 444-1184, or email him at jdief@stlrcga.org

Inaugural "Tour Of Missouri" Kickoff Is Tomorrow Morning: The RCGA and St. Louis Commerce magazine are pleased to serve as media sponsors of the first-ever professional bicycle race, the Tour of Missouri, being held from border to border beginning tomorrow, September 11th through this Sunday, September 16th, throughout the State.

It is interesting to note that a similar race in Georgia, which has been held for a number of years, generates over $26 million to the State of Georgia.

This 600-mile race from Kansas City to St. Louis is bringing 120 racers from some of the world's best cycling teams -- including Tour de France winner Alberto Contador -- for 6 days through Missouri's most beautiful areas, including the Katy Trail, the Ozarks, wine country and the capitol city, and a grand finale on this Sunday, an 80-mile circuit race around St. Louis.

The Tour of Missouri is patterned after the Tour de Georgia and Amgen Tour of California; the race features teams of 8 from 15 of the world's top professional cycling teams.

St. Louis' Bid For Major League Soccer Could Advance This Evening: St. Louis' bid for a Major League Soccer franchise could take a big step forward this evening if Collinsville Mayor Stan Schaeffer and the Collinsville City Council approve a $400-million soccer stadium proposal. St. Louis Soccer United is headed by St. Louis area attorney Jeff Cooper.

In addition to the 18,500-seat soccer stadium and adjacent retail/office complex of more than 300,000 square feet, this project also includes two 120-room hotels, residential housing, bike path and a versatile stage area to allow other events at the stadium.

A recent economic impact analysis by Economic Research Associates estimates that the construction of the stadium, retail, and youth soccer complex components will support 2,764 jobs, with an indirect impact of 4,843 jobs, for a total employment impact of 7,607 jobs in Madison County and St. Clair County.