University of Missouri–St. Louis alums Orv Kimbrough, Marcela Manjarrez, Joe Stieven and Sandra Van Trease participated in a panel discussion moderated by Ed G. Smith College of Business Dean Shu Schiller on leading with integrity at the inaugural Start With Leadership Conference last May. UMSL and FOCUS St. Louis are once again partnering to host the conference on May 7 at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)
The University of Missouri–St. Louis is teaming up with FOCUS St. Louis and will again serve as the host site for the second annual Start With Leadership Conference on May 7 at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center.
The half-day conference is designed to foster personal leadership growth and regional development. It will bring together both high-potential emerging leaders and C-suite executives from different sectors across the St. Louis region for an afternoon of discussions on topics such as innovation, accountability, collaboration, AI, growth mindset and more.
“The University of Missouri–St. Louis is excited to host the Start With Leadership Conference and to work with our partners at FOCUS St. Louis to bring together leaders open to learning and collaboration and committed to regional development,” UMSL Chancellor Kristin Sobolik said. “The conference will provide opportunities for aspiring and established leaders to share knowledge, challenge ourselves and our assumptions, and work together to shape a stronger future for our region.”
Start With Leadership will run from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on May 7 and will precede the 29th Annual FOCUS What’s Right with the Region Awards later that evening at the Touhill.
The conference is open to anyone in the community, and more than 350 people attended the inaugural conference last May. Tickets for this year are $125, and registration is now open at focus-stl.org/focus-events/start-with-leadership-conference.
The conference will open with a keynote session facilitated by Principled Transformation Co-Founder and Managing Partner Matt Herzberg titled “The Power of Creating Vision and Opportunity.”
Other sessions include:
- Future-Ready Leadership: Navigating AI, Climate and Workforce Transformation
- Innovation Across Sectors: Breaking Silos for Regional Progress
- Next-Gen Leadership Voices: Shaping the Vision for Tomorrow
- The Behaviors of a Cohesive and Successful City: Lessons from America’s Emerging Regions
- The Next 250: How Young Leaders Define Civic Leadership, Belonging, and Responsibility
- Cultivating a Growth Mindset for St. Louis
The conference will end with a closing panel discussion titled “Leading Through Turbulent Times” that will bring together experienced leaders who have navigated organizations through crisis, transformation and ambiguity.
Start With Leadership is part of a larger partnership between UMSL and FOCUS St. Louis. The organizations are collaborating on leadership training initiatives for early- and mid-career adults already in the workforce as well as future leaders from the ranks of high school and college students.
“FOCUS St. Louis and the University of Missouri–St. Louis have developed a partnership focused on bringing real discussion, real growth and real change that will transform the St. Louis community,” FOCUS President and CEO Yemi Akande-Bartsch said. “Together, we are building the leadership pipeline for the region and beyond.”
UMSL’s Advanced Workforce Center is providing noncredit certificates and digital badges for participants in FOCUS St. Louis’ signature and custom leadership programs as well as the Start with Leadership Conference. The university and FOCUS St. Louis are also working together to provide programming for the Youth Leadership St. Louis Program for area high school students and college students in the NextGen Leaders program, which was piloted last semester with 14 students in UMSL’s Pierre Laclede Honors College.
