NCI NEWS

Legacy Award Recipients

(back l to r) North Park Partners Larry Chapman and Louis Copilebitz, Hazelwood Mayor T.R. Carr,
NCI President Dr. Mark Tranel, NCI Executive Director Rebecca Zoll,
Rotary Club of Florissant President Larry Davis, Dr. Rance Thomas, Bob Porter for Lowell Girardier
(front l to r) Suburban Journal's Carolyn Marty, SSM DePaul's Kim Bakker,
Village of Velda Village Hills Chairwoman Mollie Bradford, Florissant Valley Chamber of Commerce President Diana Weidinger,
St. Louis Community College at Forissant Valley Community and Government Relations Manager Ann Brand

This year, in celebration of NCI's 30th Anniversary several Legacy Awards were presented to a community, civic, business leader or organization, located in the North County area for 30 years or more, involved with NCI, and has a proven record of superior service, which has made or is making a distinctive impact in the advancement of North County.

Lowell Girardier

Girardier has been a resident of North County since 1954, after serving in the Air Force. He is president and owner of Girardier Building and Realty Company, which he founded in 1955. The firm constructs custom homes throughout the St. Louis area, and employees 8 people. He has built more than 150 homes, 15 businesses, 25 churches and collage buildings in the North County area. Some of these include the homes in Trampe Heights in Spanish Lake, and Girardier Old Town Estates, Paul Cerame Ford/Lincoln Mercury auto dealerships, St. Louis Christian College, and Parker Road Baptist Church.

As a founding member of NCI, Girardier attended the first meeting in 1977, and has served in several leadership roles. He actively supports NCI's work and the North County area through his donation of time, talent and financial contributions. He has served on the Board of Directors for the past 18 years and on the Executive Board for the past 10, he has been both NCI's president and secretary during this time. He received the Outstanding Citizen's Award in 1991 and the Elmer Belsha Leadership Award in 2001. 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 been a member since 1973 and has served as a board member, club secretary, and president. He was conference chairman for Rotary District 605 in 1985, Polio Plus Chairman in 1986, helping to raise $75,000, and he is a 13 time Paul Harris Fellow. He also chaired the fund drive for City of Florissant's 200th Anniversary Celebration.

His involvement with organizations serving children include being on the Board of Directors for Marygrove School, were he was named Marygrove's Person of the Year in 1991, the Emerson Family YMCA from 1984-89, and was co-chairman of the Hazelwood School District Committee for the passage of school tax levy in 1991. He has also been the president for Florissant Valley Sheltered Workshop (now Valley Industries) and on their board for the past eight years. Girardier co-founded and now serves on the SSM DePaul Health Foundation Board, serving as chair from 2002-2003, 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 is a member of the Florissant Valley Chamber of Commerce, serving on the Board of Directors and as vice-president in 1991 and president in 1992, a member of the Ferguson-Berkeley (now the North County) Chamber of Commerce, where he was on the Board of Directors for several years and was president in 1985-86. He currently serves on the Board for Citizen's Bank.

Florissant Valley Chamber of Commerce
under the leadership of President Diana Weidinger

The Florissant Valley Chamber of Commerce 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, a connection between business and the general public and services as an area visitor's bureau. 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 an active participant with North County Inc. for more than 20 years, as several past and present board members serve 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

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. Rotary is comprised of 31,000 clubs in more than 165 countries. 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 mostly North County non-profit groups such as 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 the Rotary Foundation, which supports international initiatives such as eye surgeries in India and digging fresh water wells and the eradication of Polio throughout the world.

Elmer Belsha Leadership Award Recipient

The Elmer Belsha Leadership Award, is presented annually to individuals whose long-term commitment to the North County region and NCI has had a positive impact.

Ann Brand

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.

Brand's service extends beyond her role at the Community College. 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 in 1990, vice-president in 1991 and 1992, and president in 1993-1994. 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 involved with the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, the Missouri Community College Association, the American Association of Community Colleges, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, National Association of State and Land Grant Universities and Colleges, and the American Council on Education for Policy Analysis. She was honored with a Communicator of the Year award from the National Council of Marketing and Public Relations.

Business Development Award Recipients

NCI's Business Development Awards are presented to individuals or organizations whose efforts go beyond their normal duties and positively affect the economic development and business climate for the North County.

City of Hazelwood
under the leadership of Mayor T.R. Carr

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 and its new outdoor sporting goods destination, Cabela's, the neighboring Park 370 Business Park, development of Lambert Pointe, conversion of the Village Square Shopping Center to a successful mixed-use development, an improved streetscape along Lindbergh Boulevard, development of Hazelwood Commerce Center, and gained over four hundred fifty new homes. The City of 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.

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, and giving North County communities and businesses time to adjust to the loss of this major employer.

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; all activities were supported by NCI. Carr strongly advocated each of these initiatives by meeting with his peers and the media, conducting public forums and testifying before House and Senate Committees on behalf of Hazelwood and NCI's Board of Directors.

NorthPark Partners (McEagle & 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. It will include a number of public infrastructure improvements including a new MetroLink station. 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 throughout North County with the building of one of the developments cornerstones on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus, the Express Scripts headquarters, a 320,000 square foot facility with more than 1,100 employees. Express Scripts is 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 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.

Community Development Award Recipients

NCI's Community Development Awards are presented to those whose efforts go beyond their normal duties and positively benefit youth, residents, civic organizations, or others through selfless acts.

Kim Bakker

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 excelling at this and 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 known for commenting that she has the greatest job because of the privilege to work closely with those who care passionately about bettering the quality of life in our community.

Bakker is a member of North County Inc.'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, were she chaired their 2006 Making a Difference Award campaign, 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; she serves on the 2007 auction committee for the Florissant Rotary Club and has helped 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, Kim Bakker has become a well-respected community leader and great example of what true community service is all about.

Carolyn Marty

Marty 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. Her involvement with local Chambers include helping to raise funds to support education scholarships.

Marty 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.

Marty is a life-long resident of North County. She grew up in the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors, attended Rosary High School (now Trinity Catholic High School) and is currently a resident of Florissant. Marty has been involved with Trinity High School for about ten years, serving on its Ambassador committee and supporting their annual awards/dinner event.

Dr. Rance Thomas

Thomas is the cofounder and president of North County Churches Uniting for Racial Harmony and Justice (NCCU). This organization, formed in 1998, 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 in 2003-2004 and as the Healthcare Taskforce chair from 2002 to 2006. 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. He also serves on NCI's marketing committee, actively participates in fundraising efforts and advises organization on matters of inclusion and diversity.

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. Thomas is an elder of John Knox Presbyterian Church and serves on its governing body, is Moderator Elect of the Senate of Mid-America for the Presbyterian Church and is a recipient of the Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery's Peacemaker of the Year Award. In 2001, he served as 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.

His outstanding leadership and work is reflected the many honors he has received including the Human and Civil Rights Award from IL Education Assoc., 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 Outstanding Education Award from the NAACP, and the MLK Drum Major Award from the Bellefontaine Fountain Neighbors Ecumenical Ministers Alliance.

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 programs that helped minority students excel, such as founding the Minority Mentoring Program, establishing the Minority Affairs Committee, serving as president of the college's Faculty Association for six years and receiving the Faculty of the Year Award. He has had leadership roles in dozens of other educational boards and alumni associations.

Special Recognition Awards Recipients

Special Recognition Awards are given for a persons commitment through business or service, as well as their long-standing involvement with civic and/or charitable organizations in North County.

Village of Velda Village Hills
under the leadership of Chairwoman Mollie Bradford

Velda Village Hills and Bradford were 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 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 the 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 leadership will make a big difference in their community for years to come.

Charles Henson

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. Henson involvement and leadership is making a difference throughout the North County area.

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