The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry celebrated the completion of the Leadership Missouri program’s 30th year with 26 graduates from organizations statewide.
The program was founded in 1990 to cultivate new state leaders from a pool of nonprofit, government agencies, for-profit, and manufacturing candidates.
“Our state is so diverse so we want to be able to help people be educated about Missouri overall,” said Tammy Long, director of the Missouri Chamber Federation. “It's not just about St. Louis or Kansas City. When our leaders are well educated in all of our areas, whether it be the medical field, the agriculture field, or manufacturing, it gives them a better opportunity to lead whatever position they choose to go for.”
Gaye Suggett, a 2007 graduate of Leadership Missouri, was given the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award at the Lake of the Ozarks graduation ceremony inside the Regalia Hotel & Spa. Suggett is a manager of regulatory affairs with Ameren.
"Gaye has been a mentor to many people across the state in talking about Leadership Missouri and what it can do to further their skills," Long told the St. Louis Record. "She's just a phenomenal leader overall at Ameren. She has led our Leadership Missouri Alumni Foundation for the last two years as chairman of the board and led it during COVID, which was obviously a challenge."
The class traveled across the state for seven months to network with peers and explore various regions.
“They learn about the state and what issues each community is facing,” Long said. “When we were in Chillicothe, they learned about agriculture and all the industries that surround the agricultural businesses in that area. A lot of people had never been to Hamilton, Missouri, or even knew it existed in Missouri, and all they are bringing in economic development-wise for our state. It’s in the billions of dollars.”
The program was expanded this year to include a capstone project.
“They do a deeper dive into issues such as workforce,” Long said. “We all know that we have a workforce shortage. What they've learned along the way they present to members of the governor's cabinet and members of our senior leadership of businesses. That's probably the biggest change.”
Last year, the program was canceled due to the pandemic.
“This year was a little bit different with all the COVID protocols and everything we went through with that,” Long added. “Usually we like to have around 35 to 40 class members but with COVID we couldn't, you know, with the bus and everything we tried to do, we couldn't do that large of a class this year, so we're lucky to have our 26 graduates.”