Once a month, in the dewy early-morning glow, men and a smattering of women gather at the Bogey Club—or in the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center, at Washington University’s Olin School of Business—to determine which St. Louis endeavors will fly with assistance and which will fall as a result of neglect.
One is the veteran and somewhat venerable Civic Progress; the other is the upstart, enthusiastic, far more diverse Regional Business Council. Both organizations com-prise chief executive officers with kitties funded by their well-endowed corporations. Hear enough about what goes on, and the image is that of a many-limbed money tree—which used to be the case, according to Kathy Osborn, executive director of the Regional Business Council. But eight years ago Civic Progress revamped its approach and, says Osborn, decided to eschew its “funder” ways.
Insiders scoff that the Civic Progress of today pales in comparison to earlier incarnations, when the executive-committee letterhead bore such names as Andy Craig of Boatmen’s Bancshares, Chuck Knight of Emerson and Ed Whitacre of Southwestern Bell—back when Boatmen’s wasn’t Bank of America, when Southwestern Bell wasn’t the San Antonio–based SBC, when McDonnell-Douglas wasn’t Boeing, when Ralston wasn’t a subsidiary of the Swiss Nestlé S.A.
“Does Cindy Brinkley [president of AT&T Missouri] carry the same bat Ed Whitacre does? Absolutely not,” one civic leader says. “What drove Civic Progress in the past was that singular executive leadership.”
Whereas Civic Progress represents the biggest business fish in town, the RBC consists of midcap companies, and, says RBC member Steve Roberts, the power has shifted from the old guard (Civic Progress) to the new (RBC).
“Civic Progress guys wouldn’t be it,” Roberts says when asked about where the power lies. “Today, the movers and shakers are not the heads of those companies. They’re just corporate operators. Where is the economic power? Have you looked at the RBC? Their passion is improving the community.”
Frank Jacobs, one of the founding members of the RBC, points out that the group has been made up, since its inception, “of men and women, black and white ... We all live here. Most of us were born here.”
David Steward, chairman of World Wide Technology, is a member of both groups. (He is also the first person of color in Civic Progress—one of many changes which could help shush the complaint that the group is “just a bunch of old white Christian men who don’t do anything.”)
Civic Progress and RBC “have the same mission, which is to improve the quality of life—infrastructure, politics, the education of our children,” Steward says. Both invest in the community—be it the RBC’s adopting Dunbar Elementary School for four years (“We put $750,000 in the school,” Osborn says) or Civic Progress’ bankrolling the St. Louis Sports Commission and, now, Chouteau Pond.
“The investment is huge not only in terms of money but also in the time of these executives, who are running huge organizations,” Steward says. “And it’s well worth it, because, at the end of the day, so goes the community, so go the companies that we represent.”
