NCI NEWS

North County Incorporated (NCI) is pleased to announce our annual Community Development, Business Development, Elmer Belsha Leadership, Legacy and Special Recognition Award recipients for 2007. This year's recipients will be honored at NCI's 30th Annual Breakfast. This year's presenting sponsor is SSM DePaul Health Center. The event will be on Friday, May 4, 2007, at 7:30 a.m. at the St. Louis Airport Marriott. The public is encouraged to attend; tickets are $35 per person. Reservations are required; please call NCI at 895-6241. NCI is also trying to identify all North County businesses that have been located in North County for 30 years or more. We request that these businesses call the office as soon as possible to be included in the event.

This year, in celebration of NCI's 30th Anniversary several Legacy Awards will be presented to a community, civic or business leader or organization, located in the North County area for 30 years or more, involved with NCI, which has made or is making a distinctive impact in the advancement of North County. This year's recipients are Lowell Girardier, the Florissant Valley Chamber of Commerce, under the leadership of Diana Weidinger, and the Florissant Rotary Club.

Lowell Girardier, a resident of North County since 1954, is the president and owner of Girardier Building and Realty Company, which he founded in 1955. The firm constructs custom homes and buildings throughout the St. Louis area. He has built more than 150 homes, 15 businesses, 25 churches and collage buildings in the North County area.

Girardier is a founding member of NCI and has been on the Board of Directors for the past 18 years, the Executive Board for 10 years, and has served as president and secretary during this time. He received NCI's Outstanding Citizen's Award and the Elmer Belsha Leadership Award for his contributions to the organization. Girardier was one of the organizations largest contributors of time and expertise during all of the NCI's office relocations, helping the organization better serve its membership.

Girardier epitomizes community leadership and charitable giving through his long-standing involvement with dozens of North County organizations, including the Florissant Rotary Club, where he has served as a board member, club secretary, and president and is a 13 time Paul Harris Fellow. He also chaired the fund drive for City of Florissant's 200th Anniversary Celebration. His involvement with children's organizations in the past include being a Board member for Marygrove, were he was named Marygrove's Person of the Year in 1991, and for the Emerson Family YMCA. Girardier has also been the president for Florissant Valley Sheltered Workshop (now Valley Industries) and a board member for the past eight years. He co-founded and now serves on the SSM DePaul Health Foundation Board, as well as, a board member for the DePaul Community Advisory Board.

His leadership skills and generosity of time also extends to the betterment of area business growth. He has been a member of and served as president for local Chambers and is currently on the Board for Citizen's Bank.

The Florissant Valley Chamber of Commerce, under the leadership of President Diana Weidinger, will receive a NCI Legacy Award. The Florissant Valley Chamber has fostered a positive business climate in its service area of Black Jack, Florissant, Hazelwood, Spanish Lake and unincorporated North St. Louis County for more than 50 years. President Diana Weidinger has been a guiding force for this chamber for the past 21 years. The Chamber provides members with networking opportunities and a connection between business and the general public. It has made a significant investment with the addition of its new building in Florissant. Through Diana Weidinger, and the Board's work in the community, it is a familiar and active presence in North County.

The Chamber has been involved with NCI for more than 20 years, as several past and present Chamber board members have served on NCI's Board of Directors. Weidinger currently serves on the Executive Board, Board of Directors and as secretary. She is involved in the economic development and the marketing committee. She played an instrumental role in the development of a joint Legislative Reception with NCI and other local chambers.

Diana's role in the community extends way beyond that of the typical Chamber president, she keeps Florissant Valley's name in the forefront by her active participation in many other community events and organizations such as Octoberfest, Old Town Partners, the Hazelwood Ford Taskforce, and others. She is only one of 5 chamber executives to be honored with the Missouri Chamber Excellence Award and has received the Women Making A Difference award from the North County Soroptimists.

The Rotary Club of Florissant will also be a Legacy Award recipient. The Florissant Rotary Club, chartered in 1960 has 72 members that are business and professional leaders who volunteer in their communities to promote world understanding and peace. The 2006-2007 president is Jerry Davis. The Florissant Rotary Club runs the Florissant License Office and donates proceeds back to local charities. These proceeds, along with annual fundraisers, have made it possible over the past 47 years for the club to contribute more than $3.5 million to local charities including Marygrove, Father Dunn's, Valley Industries, St. Vincent's, Pallotine, Emerson YMCA, the SSM DePaul Health Center Foundation and TEAM. They also support civic events, both monetarily and by lending a helping hand when needed. The club has proudly supported NCI, the Valley of Flowers Festival, and the Florissant Valley Chamber of Commerce. In addition to charitable giving, they have also helped the Lambert-Airport Rotary Club get started.

Of the 72 members in the club, there have been 270 Paul Harris Fellows awarded, meaning that members have been honored multiple times for their monetary contribution of $1,000. Those dollars support international initiatives such as eye surgeries in India and digging fresh water wells and the eradication of Polio throughout the world.

Ann Brand has been chosen to receive the prestigious Elmer Belsha Leadership Award, which is presented annually to individuals whose long-term commitment to the North County region and NCI has had a positive impact.

Brand is the Community and Government Relations Manager for St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley and has over 30 years of experience at the Florissant Valley campus. She is responsible for the campus community relations and marketing department and has district-level responsibility for outreach and government relations.

Since nearly NCI's inception, she has been active in helping shape the services the organization provides into what is best for the community. She has been on the Board of Directors since 1981, serving as secretary, vice-president and president. Her involvement includes assisting with multiple strategic planning processes, addressing healthcare, work force development, economic development issues and many transportation improvement studies for the North County area. She advises NCI and other civic organizations on legislative matters that affect our region.

Brand was a board member of the Florissant Valley Chamber of Commerce and is a members of all three area Chambers. She is also involved with multiple other regional advancement groups and local and national educational associations. She was honored with a Communicator of the Year award from the National Council of Marketing and Public Relations.

NCI's Business Development Awards are presented to those whose efforts go beyond their normal duties and positively affect the economic development and business climate for North County. This year the City of Hazelwood, under the leadership of Mayor T.R. Carr and NorthPark Partners will receive Business Development Awards.

The City of Hazelwood, under the leadership of Mayor T.R. Carr, will receive one of this year's Business Development Awards. Since becoming mayor of Hazelwood in 2000, Carr has been one of North County's strongest proponents for economic development, actively working to improve the area's business climate, retain and attract employers that create family-supporting jobs and make critical capital investment in our region. Hazelwood has experienced growth of more than an incredible 3 million square feet of new commercial business space since 2000. New investment has taken place at St. Louis Mills, the neighboring Park 370 Business Park, development of Lambert Pointe, conversion of the Village Square Shopping Center to a successful mixed-use development, development of Hazelwood Commerce Center and gained over four hundred fifty new homes. Hazelwood's Council has advanced business growth further with their efforts to secure a new economic development sales tax and actively planning for its use.

Hazelwood's leadership is actively involved with NCI; Carr serves on the Board of Directors for the organization and Asst. City Manager Dan Mears, CEcD is the Chairman of NCI's Economic Development Committee. Carr also plays an active role in regional Municipal League and East-West Gateway Coordinating Council. City representatives worked to secure a new Enterprise Zone and state business retention incentives, as well as, participating on a countywide comprehensive economic development study; activities also supported by NCI.

In addition, Carr, through his leadership on the Ford Hazelwood Task Force, was instrumental in extending the operation of the Ford Plant for more than two years beyond its projected shutdown date, providing workers and their families with a much smoother employment transition.

A Business Development Award will be given to NorthPark Partners-McEagle and Clayco, this partnership presented the winning plan for development of the 600 acre parcel located at the northeast corner of Interstate 70 and 170. St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley has dubbed this, "the greatest reinvestment project in the history of St. Louis County." This $400 million development, located in the cities of Kinloch, Berkeley and Ferguson is expected to be complete in 2020 and estimated to have a $7 billion impact on the community, creating approximately 12,000 new jobs. When complete this development will accommodate more than 5 million square feet of office, retail and light industrial space.

NorthPark is a striking example of what can happen when forward-thinking business and government entities work together for the economic betterment of the community. Signs of NorthPark's positive economic development are already prevalent with the building of the Express Scripts headquarters, a Fortune 500 company that provides pharmacy-benefit management in North America. Vatterott College is also relocating its national headquarters to NorthPark this fall, creating approximately 150 new jobs and should attract an estimated 500 students to the area.

McEagle is a full-service real estate development, property management and brokerage firm. Clayco is one of the nation's largest privately owned real estate, architecture and engineering, design/build and construction firms. Both focus on developing large scale business parks and are working on multiple projects in the North County area. Both corporations are members of North County Inc.

NCI's Community Development Awards are presented to those whose efforts positively benefit youth, residents, civic organizations, or others through selfless acts. Kim Bakker of SSM DePaul Health Center, Carolyn Marty of North County Suburban Journals and Dr. Rance Thomas of North County Churches Uniting will be this year's Community Development Award recipients.

Kim Bakker is the Community and Business Relations Manager for SSM DePaul, a position that was created five years ago to strengthen and build collaborative relationships between the health center and community leadership. She has been chosen for going beyond her job expectations by getting involved with many of the area's community organizations and supporting their work to improve North County's quality of life.

Bakker is a member of NCI's Executive Board, Board of Directors, healthcare taskforce, marketing committee, and works with NCI on legislative, membership and fundraising initiatives. She serves on the board of directors for the Northwest Chamber of Commerce, chairing their education committee, the Maryland Heights Chamber of Commerce, and was Chairman of the board in 2005, Valley Industries, the Emerson Family YMCA, the Soroptimists-North St. Louis County, and she is a member of the legislative committee for the Florissant Valley Chamber.

In addition, she is a member of the Lambert-Airport Rotary Club, and chaired the 2006 auction for the Florissant Rotary Club, helping raise $56,000 for local charities. Bakker is also a commissioner of the Maryland Heights Cultural Arts Commission.

Bakker's work, on behalf of these organizations, has made a great impact on their sustainability and ability to serve the community at an even greater extent than usual. In just a few short years, she has become a well-respected community leader and great example of what true community service is all about.

Carolyn Marty, a life-long resident of North County, is the managing editor of the North County Suburban Journals. She has been with the Journal for 23 years. She oversees the newsroom and local coverage of municipalities, people, events, and issues. She consistently looks for stories that highlight the positive benefits, and amazing people in this community.

She is actively involved in supporting regional quality of life issues and business growth in North County through her involvement with NCI's marketing committee. The Journal has been an active member of NCI for more than 20 years. Marty is a former board member of the Florissant Valley Chamber of Commerce and serves on their partners in education committee. She serves on the Board of Directors, education and marketing committees for the Northwest Chamber of Commerce and is on the Board for Valley Industries and an Ambassador for Trinity Catholic High School. She also helps raise funds to support local education scholarships. She has been honored with the St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley's Alumni Award and the Rosary High School Ambassador's Award, as well as numerous professional awards for her excellence in journalism.

Dr. Rance Thomas is the cofounder and president of North County Churches Uniting for Racial Harmony and Justice (NCCU). This organization consists of 20 churches of various denominations that promote racial understanding and harmony within North County. NCCU has become a major partner with several of St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley's community outreach activities including, co-sponsoring the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, the Oratory Essay Contest and many conferences on diversity.

Thomas is a long-time board member of NCI, serving as vice-president and Healthcare Taskforce chair. As such, he serves on the SSM DePaul Health Care Advisory Board, attends Christian Hospital's Community Leader meetings, and is on the St. Louis Regional Health Commission's Taskforce on Health Literacy.

Thomas serves on the Trinity Catholic High School Advisory Board and on Councils to close the education gap between the races for both Ferguson-Florissant School District and Hazelwood School District. In 2001, he served as a racial profiling consultant to Florissant's Police Department. Thomas was founder and president of the National Minority Caucus in Higher Education to the National Council of Higher Education and is currently President Emeritus. He is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology/Criminal Justice at Lewis and Clark Community College. While he was at Lewis and Clark, he was instrumental in developing mentoring programs that helped minority students excel and served on multiple educational boards and alumni associations.

Thomas's outstanding leadership and work is reflected the many honors he has received including the Living Legend Award from 100 Black Men Assoc., Citizen of the Year Award from Old Jamestown Assoc., Leadership Award from Hazelwood School District, Outstanding Leadership Award from North County CARES, the Human and Civil Rights Award from IL Education Assoc., the Outstanding Education Award from the NAACP and the MLK Drum Major Award from the Bellefontaine Neighbors Ecumenical Ministers Alliance.

The Village of Velda Village Hills, under the leadership of Chairwoman Mollie Bradford, and Charles Henson will receive NCI's 2007 Special Recognition Awards for their long-standing involvement with community, civic and charitable organizations in North County.

The Village of Velda Village Hills, under the leadership of Chairwoman Mollie Bradford, has been chosen for their resolve to give the children in their community a safe place to play. When Bradford recognized that the children of her community did not have a safe place to play and heard about two children being hit by a car while riding their bikes in the village, she immediately set about finding a way to fix this problem. After a great deal of effort, negotiating for land and applying for and receiving a St. Louis County Municipal League park grant for $241,000, she was able to build a park. Then, she secured the remaining funds through other grants to add biking and walking trails, a basketball court and a pavilion for family gatherings. The efforts of the Velda Village Hills leadership will make a big difference to the families in their community for years to come.

Charles Henson was raised in North County and graduated from the Ferguson-Florissant School District. After getting a degree in architecture, he opened a business in Ferguson called Design Alternatives, Inc.

Henson has dedicated himself to serving his community with involvement in many community organizations, including PAKT, a food pantry, utility assistance and an after-school program. He is on the Board of the Ferguson-Florissant School District, member of and the Ferguson Business District, chairman of the PROUD committee, whose goal is to exchange ideas and develop actions that will celebrate our diversity, stabilize our neighborhoods and make North County the community of choice. Henson founded All of Us, which strengthens relationships across such boundaries as race, culture, religion or age. He is also a Birchgate Neighborhood Trustee.

NCI's 30th Annual Breakfast is made possible by our generous sponsors: Presenting Sponsor is SSM DePaul Health Center. Corporate sponsors include Clayco Construction Company, McEagle Properties, Negwer Materials, North County Suburban Journals, St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, St. Louis County Economic Council, U.S. Bank and University of Missouri-St. Louis. Supporting sponsors include AT&T Missouri, the City of Ferguson, Commerce Bank, Emerson, Ferguson-Florissant School District, Girardier Building & Realty Company, Hazelwood School District, Independent News, Lindenwood University, Lutheran High School North, North County Churches United for Racial Harmony and Justice, Pattonville School District, Paul Cerame Ford/Lincoln-Mercury, Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 562, Public Policy Research Center, Serenity Women's Healthcare, Inc., St. Johns Bank, St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, St. Louis Mills, Trinity Catholic High School and www.HazelwoodDining.com.

North County Incorporated is a regional development organization, which acts as a catalyst to define and advocate economic and community development for North St. Louis County. NCI was established in 1977. The Board is composed of community leaders and business owners. Dr. Mark Tranel is the current president.