SBA St. Louis Emerging Leaders off to Strong Start

Front Row (L-R): Cory Elliott, CMT Roofing, LLC (Alternate); Abram Whitehead, Fenton Family Dentistry; John Antone, Hawk iSolutions Group, Inc.; Peter Barg, Z Animation; David Mixon, Trusty Maid Service; Brian Schraut, R.F. Schraut Heating & Cooling, LLC. Back Row (L-R): Charles Moore, Alliance Certified Restoration, LLC; Floyd Simms, Simms Building Group; Amy Streff, Great Strides Behavioral Consulting, Inc.; Carolyn Green, Professional Environmental Engineers, Inc.; Michelle Sherod, Accounting Legal & Logistics Solutions, Inc.; Amy Narishkin, St. Louis Sail and Paddle; Mark Briguglio, CCI Environmental, Inc.; Edith James, Comfort Shoe Specialists; Gretchen Curry, StaffLink; Venkat Pulumati, NVision IT, LLC

ST. LOUIS, MO – Emerging Leaders Initiative (formerly e200) and its MBA-style program kicked off with a strong start Tuesday, April 16, 2013, at Webster University.

The program is available to eastern Missouri small businesses for the third year. Dennis Melton, SBA St. Louis District Director, stated, “This program gets more robust every year. We have an especially strong group of participants this year. I look forward to seeing their growth and development, both individually and as a group. This is an executive development program compressed into just a few months and the participants will come out with invaluable knowledge and life-long business contacts, mentors, and friends.”

The 2013 participants, who were selected from over 40 candidates, are Abram Whitehead of Fenton Family Dentistry; John Antone of Hawk iSolutions Group, Inc.; Peter Barg of Z Animation; David Mixon of Trusty Maid Service; Brian Schraut of R.F. Schraut Heating & Cooling, LLC; Charles Moore of Alliance Certified Restoration, LLC; Floyd Simms of Simms Building Group; Amy Streff of Great Strides Behavioral Consulting, Inc.; Carolyn Green of Professional Environmental Engineers, Inc.; Michelle Sherod of Accounting Legal & Logistics Solutions, Inc.; Amy Narishkin of St. Louis Sail and Paddle; Mark Briguglio of CCI Environmental, Inc.; Edith James of Comfort Shoe Specialists; Gretchen Curry of StaffLink; Venkat Pulumati of NVision IT, LLC; and Cory Elliott of CMT Roofing, LLC (Alternate). All participants are “C” level (CEO, COO, CFO, etc.) executives.

Co-sponsors for 2013 are Grace Hill Women’s Business Center, Veterans Business Resource Center, Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Center, SCORE Chapter 21, Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Center, Commerce Bank, Midwest Regional Bank, and St. Louis Development Corporation.

Emerging Leaders is a free seven-month course which includes approximately 40 hours of classroom time and per participant and provides the opportunity for small business owners to work with experienced mentors, attend workshops, and develop connections with their peers, city leaders and financial communities. Participants in the program will graduate with a personalized, three-year strategic plan for long term growth and strategies to achieve size and scale.

The Emerging Leaders initiative incorporates a curriculum that is research-based, enabling participating businesses to engage in focused development and expansion strategies, including options for accessing new capital and securing government contracts. Specialized areas of training include growth strategy plans, financing and access to capital, government contracting, and CEO mentoring.

The training is provided free of charge to eligible participants. Participants must commit to attend all sessions and to do the required out-of-class work.