Chancellor Kristin Sobolik (center) speaks during a panel discussion on “Leading Through Turbulent Times” during the 2026 Start with Leadership Conference last Thursday at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)
University of Missouri–St. Louis Chancellor Kristin Sobolik and FOCUS St. Louis President and CEO Yemi Akande-Bartsch stood together on stage, gazing out over the audience in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall Thursday afternoon at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center.
Looking back at them were some 300 professionals from across the St. Louis region, eager to kick off the second annual Start with Leadership Conference.
The half-day event, hosted jointly by FOCUS St. Louis and UMSL, was designed as an opportunity to help leaders at all levels foster personal leadership growth while promoting regional collaboration and development.
UMSL Chancellor Kristin Sobolik and FOCUS St. Louis President and CEO Yemi Akande-Bartsch welcome attendees to the 2026 Start with Leadership Conference
“We’re so glad that you’ve taken the time out of your busy schedule for your own personal development, and we have a lineup of wonderful St. Louis leaders taking part in the program,” Sobolik said during her welcoming remarks.
“What excites me most about today are the possibilities, the conversations, the education and also the action,” Akande-Bartsch added. “And if it’s just one action that you are going to take after listening to our speakers today, it’s about building an ecosystem. It’s about the ecosystem where leadership is accessible, leadership is collaborative and it is rooted in the future of our region. That’s why we’re here today, and I’m really excited.”
Matt Herzberg opened the event with a plenary presentation on “The Power of Creating Vision and Opportunity.” Herzberg, who serves as co-founder and managing partner of Principled Transformation, described how leaders must combine vision with action.
He shared the story of his late wife, who redesigned the yard of their home overlooking the Mississippi River with a tree at the center. About a week after they completed the work of the redesign, a storm swept in and damaged the tree. Rather than lament its destruction, his wife saw the moment as an opportunity to make the yard even better and went to work selecting a new tree to plant at the center of the space. She also showed patience when that tree didn’t bloom as hoped for several years and others might have been tempted to replace it.
“The reason I tell that story is because I think it’s a wonderful metaphor for how we can think about what we do as leaders, to have that vision and to understand the impact of that vision,” said Herzberg, who displayed a photo from early last week of the tree in full bloom. “Because it’s not just about us as leaders. It impacts everyone else around us, that vision and how we realize that vision to make the world a better place.”
Herzberg also used his time to discuss the concept of “confident vulnerability,” with which leaders balance confidence with humility and openness as they work to drive high performance from their teams.
The next two hours featured breakout sessions held in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall as well as the E. Desmond and Mary Ann Lee Theater and Whitaker Hall. They were designed to offer something for everyone, and UMSL was well-represented among the featured speakers.
Alum Joseph Blanner, a past president of the UMSL Alumni Association Governing Board and a partner at McCarthy, Leonard and Kaemmerer, moderated a panel titled “Innovation Across Sectors – Breaking Silos for Regional Progress.” He shared the stage with Missouri Partnership CEO Subash Alias, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis President and CEO Martha Garcia Kampen, PGAV Chairman and Principal Mike Konzen, Asian American Chamber of Commerce President Dio Maranan and St. Louis Sports Commission President Marc Schreiber, and they discussed ways to increase collaboration to spur progress.
Cindy Goodwin-Sak, an assistant teaching professor and director of executive education in the Ed G. Smith College of Business, moderated a panel titled “Future-Ready Leadership – Navigating AI, Climate and Workforce Transformation.”
Alum Charli Cooksey, the founder and CEO of WEPOWER, led another discussion titled “Next-Gen Leaderhsip Voices – Shaping the Vision for Tomorrow.” Fellow alum Sam Moore, the managing director of public history at the Missouri Historical Society, also took part in that conversation.
UMSL political science major Kaine Koehler, recently elected president of the Student Government Association, served as a panelist for “The Next 250: How Young Leaders Define Civic Leadership, Belonging and Responsibility.” He joined Washington University law student John Yeldham and Ismail Botchway, the founder of Community St. Louis, in discussing what has kept them in the region and how they want to go about strengthening its future.
“When I think to the future of St. Louis, what I see is a city that’s finally taking the time to break down the separations that we’ve had,” Koehler said. “But I also see a city that is pushing forward with development. During my time here at UMSL, I’ve been very involved with our Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center’s Anchor Accelerator, which helps accelerate small businesses here in St. Louis. Bringing more business and commerce back to St. Louis is so important, but I think that really starts with supporting small businesses. I took a lot of pride in the work I did there, and I’d love to see more of that, because I feel that’s where the future of our city lies.”
Sobolik returned to the stage for the closing session as one of four panelists in conversation titled “Leading Through Turbulent Times.” Kathy O’Neill, the former first vice president and chief operating officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and now the president and CEO of O’Neill Advisers, LLC, moderated the panel, which also included SSM Health Chief Community Health Officer Dr. Alexander Garza, United Way of Greater St. Louis President and CEO Michelle Tucker and The St. Louis American Executive Editor Rod Hicks.
When facing crises, Sobolik stressed the importance of keeping calm and empowering the team around you.
“It’s not going to be good for me as a leader to have my hair on fire, running up and down the aisles,” she said. “You need to have that team around you and trust that they know what they’re doing. It’s important to have the right people around you so that you are a full functioning group leadership team, and then you have to trust those people when things are happening.”
That was just one of the many valuable insights attendees could take away from the afternoon.
Following the conference, FOCUS St. Louis again hosted its annual What’s Right with the Region Awards Thursday evening at the Touhill.
