PERSPECTIVE: What’s Next?

Date Posted: December 19, 2024

Posted In: Discussion, Ideas,

by Tom Finan, Executive Director & Co-Founder, Construction Forum

The year 2024 has been a stranger-than-fiction year, both in our region and in our nation.

Against that backdrop a little escapism has been welcome. Since shortly after Nov. 5th our household has been binge-watching the television show The West Wing. 

The West Wing is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, through May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where the Oval Office and offices of presidential senior personnel are located, during the fictional two-term Democratic administration of President Josiah Bartlet, who was portrayed by actor Martin Sheen.

Topics which the imaginary Bartlet administration struggles, succeeds, and stumbles on include abortion, Israeli/Palestinian relations, terrorism, education, gun control, public health, and immigration. It’s more than a little daunting to realize that the show is a quarter-century old but the issues are au courant.

In conjunction with the West Wing’s 25th anniversary a behind-the-scenes book has been published. It takes its title from the question Josiah Bartlet asks immediately after his team addresses any issue, be the outcome good bad or indifferent, “What’s Next“. The book title turns the question into a statement.

What’s Next Indeed?

“What’s next?” would appear to be the question (or the statement) of the hour. In this column I’m staying away from the third rails of national and state issues — we’ve got more than enough going on in our region. So let’s focus on where we’ve come from, and what’s next.

This past year has been fraught and dramatic, to say the least — whether we’re talking about the St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County, St. Louis Public Schools, or the departure of Jason Hall from Greater St. Louis Inc.. We have taken some small steps forward, experienced many struggles, and taken a number of stumbles.

We have observed the passing of some great construction leaders from my generation and my fathers’ in the last year, such as:

• Visionary developers Tee Baur and Dale Perkinson.
• Jim Frey and Tom Heeger, both exemplars of all that is right and equitable in the contracting world.
• Neil Porterfield who helped build HOK into a worldwide powerhouse.
• Terry Briggs, a passionate advocate for the region and the industry.
• Bob Miller who brought IBEW Local 1 into the information age.

The New Generation

At the same time time we are encouraged by the entry of new faces and ideas into the leadership of our region’s industry. Just this week we had the opportunity to meet Jose Garcia the new president of Alberici Constructors. He’s a first-generation immigrant from Nicaragua and a graduate of West Point, Stanford, and MIT. In the course of a half-hour discussion he demonstrated an analytical mind that recognizes the value of systems change while displaying the heart of a servant leader.

We met, and were reintroduced to many next-gen innovators and future leaders of our industry in the past year, including:

• Lindsey Hermes has moved back to St. Louis after years as a successful entrepreneur in Hong Kong to take BioSpan the bio-friendly pavement repair products invented by her Dad to the next level.
• Michael Cox, a carpenter whose StepStuds™ system to minimize flood damage to drywall won an Arch Grant and is getting international attention.
• Luke Schuette, a Staunton, IL native who chairs the committee for global standards on structural bamboo, which he is manufacturing and marketing in St. Louis from plants he grows in Colombia.
• Dan Wies, a third-generation contractor and co-founder of the Forum’s Emerging Leaders. He just recently stood up a 100K-sq.-ft. plant to manufacture modularized interior stud systems.

These innovators, and many more not named here, are ready to take the lead in our industry. We must encourage new thinking as they lead us into new spaces.

I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize the efforts of our Construction Forum Team, our partners, supporters, sponsors and major donors. They enable the Forum to be an integral part of those new directions.

The Next Chapter?

On December 5th the Forum hosted its third iteration of a panel discussion “St. Louis vs. Anywhere Else.” Our panel explored why successful St. Louis construction firms do most of their volume outside the region. We talked about what they loved and respected about our Region and what they feel needs to change. (The complete video of the program is below.)

Our panelists were:

• Jeff Cook, CEO and Co-Founder, ARCO, largest Design/Build construction firm in the United States
• Mary Lamie, EVP, Bi-State Development (St. Louis Freightway)
• Todd Weaver, CEO, TW Constructors
• Matt Stack, president, Russell St. Louis
• Kyle Anderson, Executive Director, Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois
• Maggie Kost, chief business attraction officer, Greater St. Louis, Inc.

In their discussion, and in a lead-in video, the point was repeatedly made that in cities such as Detroit and Kansas City, whose successes St. Louis hopes to emulate, success is measured not in big, home run projects, but in consistent, focused efforts over time. Their triumphs have been a matter of systemic change — of struggles, stumbles, and successes — iterated and measured.

It’s time for us to write the next chapter for the St. Louis Region. So here’s the question: What’s next?