Dick Fleming Plans to Leave RCGA by Year's End; RCGA to Conduct National Search for Successor

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St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA)

Jan 20, 2011, 01:10 ET

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Richard C. D. Fleming, whose leadership as CEO and president has helped transform the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA) into a key driver of the metropolitan area's policy agenda and economic development, plans to leave the organization by the end of 2011, it was announced today.

Fleming will continue to serve as the organization's president and CEO this year until his successor has been recruited, and will assist the Board in the search for his successor, said Bob Reynolds, RCGA Board Chairman and chairman, president and CEO of Graybar.

"Dick Fleming has been indispensable to the St. Louis region for the better part of two decades, and, without question, is one of the top chamber and economic development executives in the country," Reynolds said. "But after countless civic contributions, Dick wants a new challenge in his career. He has our full support."

"I love this job, this organization, and this community, and I'm proud of the outstanding staff team we have developed here," Fleming said. "But after nearly 17 years here at the RCGA and more than 30 years leading economic development organizations, I'm ready for the next chapter of my career."

Reynolds, who has served three years as RCGA chair, will be succeeded tonight by Tom Voss, president and CEO of Ameren Corp., at the RCGA's annual membership meeting. Reynolds said the announcement was being made today because the RCGA's executive committee had approved the transition plan this morning at its regularly scheduled meeting, and the organization wanted to be timely in informing its members.

Voss said a committee would be appointed in the next several weeks to conduct a national search for Fleming's successor.

"Finding a worthy successor to Dick will be challenging, but Dick has in one sense made the job easier for us," Voss said. "He has raised the RCGA's level of performance and reputation, both regionally and nationally, to the point that we expect a robust list of qualified candidates for the position."

Among Fleming's key accomplishments, Reynolds said, have been these:

	Revitalizing the RCGA as an organization – When Fleming joined the organization in 1994, the RCGA had an annual budget of $3 million and no cash reserves. Few if any of the employees had previous chamber experience. Economic development efforts were meager. Today, the organization has a $10 million annual budget and healthy reserves, as well as a highly professional, experienced staff. It conducts a full range of regional economic development and national marketing activities, as well as public policy and infrastructure advocacy, member services and other traditional chamber operations. And it is one of the region's key institutional civic leaders.
	Regionalizing the St. Louis area's economic development efforts – Fleming led the establishment of the Regional Economic Development Network – a group of more than 100 economic development officials , public and private, from throughout the region that mounted the area's first region-wide economic development campaign, from 1995 to 2000. He also negotiated a signed agreement among the Network members to work together instead of competing, as had often been the case in the past.
	The Campaign established a goal of helping to grow the region by 100,000 jobs in the five years from 1995 to 2000. In fact, the region grew during the period by 112,000 jobs. One major success, which grew out of the new cooperative approach, was MasterCard's decision to choose O'Fallon, Mo. over Dallas for a new campus and Global Operations Headquarters.

	Establishing and carrying out an ambitious regional agenda for invigorating the St. Louis region – In 1999, the RCGA adopted a more aggressive regional role by undertaking eight long-term regional initiatives to make St. Louis more economically competitive. Among them were:
	New efforts to revitalize the region's center city, which helped stimulate nearly $5 billion in new downtown area investment. Establishment of Forward Metro St. Louis, a coalition of the RCGA and other area business groups to promote a regional public policy agenda in the Missouri and Illinois legislatures and in Washington, D.C. Development of the region's physical infrastructure, especially in transportation, generating active business community support for projects such as the Highway 40 reconstruction, Page Avenue Bridge, Metro, and the new Mississippi River Bridge. Formation and incubation of the Regional Business Council, to create a greater civic role for mid-sized companies. Refinement of the area's economic development efforts to focus on five distinctive industry clusters – financial services, information technology, advanced manufacturing, transportation and distribution, and the area's previously unrecognized concentration of strengths in the plant and life sciences.
	Carrying out two more economic development campaigns and launching a fourth – Two additional five-year campaigns since 2000 have helped the region achieve many of the eight initiatives launched in 1999, Reynolds said, as well as give St. Louis its first-ever regional economic development brand. Now the region is launching another five-year campaign, building on this foundation, even more targeted than in the past, Reynolds said.

Twice under Fleming's leadership, the RCGA has been named by Site Selection Magazine as one of the Top Ten Economic Development Organizations in North America. In addition, the RCGA's "Perfectly Centered, Remarkably Connected" regional brand won the Public Relations Society of America's top national award for branding among non-profit organizations.

Voss, the new RCGA chairman, added: "Dick has reinvigorated the RCGA and helped reinvigorate the whole region. The RCGA has and continues to play a key role in the effort to establish the region as a cargo hub and commercial center for China. We have major regional initiatives under way in improving our talent base and growing our key industry clusters, including the BioBelt strategy to make St. Louis a center for the plant and life sciences. Thanks in part to Dick's leadership, our region is emerging from the recession with ambitious plans and tremendous momentum."

Fleming, 65, was recruited to St. Louis from Denver, where had been president and CEO of the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce and, earlier, president and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership. Previously, he served in Washington, D.C. at the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington; in an economic development position in Atlanta; and as a developer with The Rouse Company in Baltimore. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of City & Regional Planning, also from Penn. He chairs three national non-profit boards, and serves on a number of others, local and national.

The RCGA is the chamber of commerce and economic development organization for the 16-county, bi-state region. The organization's annual meeting and dinner this evening, being held at the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel, is its 174th. Charles Osgood of CBS News will be a special guest; Mike Bush will emcee; and Walter Metcalfe, Jr. will receive the Right Arm of St. Louis Award.

SOURCE St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA)