The Power of the Ask: Getting What You Deserve
Have you ever wanted something, whether in your personal or professional life, but never made it happen because you were too afraid to ask? Have you ever wanted to ask for that raise, advice from someone else who has been in your shoes, some extra amenity while staying at that hotel? Ever needed something desperately […]
The State of COU
175,860 passengers flew out of Columbia Regional Airport last year on scheduled airliners serving Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, and now Denver. That’s a far cry from the handful that boarded the first Ozark Airlines flights to St. Louis and Springfield from the old Municipal Airport when service began on September 4, 1952. For this year, estimates […]
Transformations: From Couch Potato to Powerlifter
Beth Van Hove sheds the pounds and gains a world record. Beth Van Hove is fairly easy to spot in the weight lifting area of the sprawling Wilson’s Fitness facility on Forum Boulevard. She’s 54, so many of the patrons are half her age, and they’re predominantly male. And of all those pumping, lifting, and […]
CYSK: Brandon & Michele Spry
High school sweethearts Brandon and Michele Spry navigate life and business. How did you meet? Michele: We met at Hickman High School during our junior year. How long have you been together? M: We started dating on November 4, 1992. This year, we’ve been together 26 years and will be married 21 years on September […]
Strong Woman: Valerie Shaw
Local retiree dedicates herself to giving back to the community. After 36 years with Commerce Bank, Valerie Shaw spends her retirement volunteering, traveling, and working towards closing the racial disparity gap in Columbia. Age: 68 years old. Years in Columbia: 28 Years. Family: My son Garrett and his wife, Tilita, live in Nashville; my son […]
Jessie Yankee, Executive Director, Missouri Women's Business Center
What’s your background? I graduated from MU with a BSBA and followed with an MBA from William Woods. While I was in school, I worked full-time at the Small Business and Technology Development Center’s state office where I was first introduced to the world of entrepreneurship. After five years there, I recognized a need for […]
"Ignorance" Is No Excuse for Violating The Sunshine Law
It has now been 45 years since Missouri adopted its Sunshine Law, which obligates government agencies and officers to give the public access to most public records and public meetings. No government official can legitimately claim to be ignorant that the Sunshine Law imposes this obligation. And yet when Missouri’s state auditor, Nicole Galloway, recently […]
A Capitol Conversation: Amid Scandal, Greitens Touts Tax Plan
While delayed briefly by the need to deal with his personal scandal, Governor Eric Greitens refocused on politics in late January with a two-day state tour to announce his plan to cut individual and corporate tax rates by an estimated (by his office) $800 million. “This tax plan puts working families first, and it’s a […]
Unbound Book Festival Puts Columbia on the Literary Map
“If you had told me 25 years ago, when I was still working as a corporate lawyer in London, that I would be living in the middle of Missouri running a book festival, well my first question would’ve been ‘Where’s Missouri?’” laughs Alex George. But by 2003, George’s path led him to set up an […]
Boxes, Bans, and Hiring on the Books
Nearly one in three American adults has a criminal record listed in the FBI’s master criminal database. And a criminal record can prevent someone from obtaining employment. This pricey problem affects everyone. But the hiring is already too onerous, so adding more laws for employers to comply with is not the solution. Instead, we should […]
Conducting the City's Business
There are two things in the administration of Columbia’s city government that never should be allowed to happen again. No more marathon seven-hour city council meetings. No more uncontested races for mayor and city council positions. City council meetings have become the vexingly cumbersome theater of frustration, complication, bloviation, and angst. No wonder fewer and […]
Shon Aguero, Executive Vice President, Retail Banking, Landmark Bank
1. What does your typical day look like? Oh, I wish there was such a thing! With hundreds of bankers across three states running three very different lines of business, every day is different from the one before it. I consider my job to be like that of an orchestra conductor: I don’t play the […]