Ingrams August 2023

Jacqueline Drury Pollvogt Drury Development, Des Peres Drury Development Corp., the develop ment arm of the St. Louis-based hospitality- industry powerhouse, boasts a team of architects, engineers, interior designers and construction managers who drive expansion of the parent company’s hotel kingdom across the nation. But there’s one

Stephen Plaster Evergreen Historic Automobiles Lebanon The late Robert Plaster, the Empire Gas founder whose name adorns business schools on at least five Missouri college campuses, had a love for rare automobiles. And it was catching: his son Stephen caught the bug as a teenager,

more arrow in the quiver, and she has a big role to play: It’s Jacqueline Drury Pollvogt, who serves as vice president and general counsel for that enterprise, handling matters of real-estate, construction and corporate law, finance and other legal disciplines for an enterprise with total revenues that have been estimated as high as $777 million. To those roles, she brings the tenacity and entrepreneurship that have been trademarks of the family since her grandfather started a plastering business to help save the family farm. That eventually morphed into hotel construction with the company founded more than 60 years ago. Pollvogt grew up in Cape Girardeau area, where her father, the late Charles Drury Sr., instilled a sense of business acumen—she’s a co owner of the firm—as well as a commitment to philanthropy. She earned her bachelor’s in arts and sciences, then her law degree, from Saint Louis Univ., and has followed in her father’s footsteps by serving as a member of the university’s board of trustees. In 2020, Missouri Lawyers Media recognized her achievements in business by presenting her with one of its In-House Counsel awards, and she has supported, either financially or with board service, various organizations such as Catholic Charities, Notre Dame Regional High School and Marian Middle School.

Tony Sardella evolve24 St. Louis In business leadership, risks come in threes: From things you know, from things unknown but discoverable, and —riskiest of all—from things you don’t know you don’t know. To push that last group into the second, then the first, one must understand data, what it can tell you, and what it can’t. That’s where Tony Sardella comes in. He’s the founder of evolve24, surfing a monster wave of Big Data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. “I spent decades studying how decisions and behaviors are influenced by our perceptions of risk and developed quantitative methods to measure risk perception and perception gaps that drive action,” says this native of Toronto, Canada. “It has proven highly accurate in anticipating externalities that create business issues and predicting business outcomes for new product adoption so that businesses can shape outcomes.” Trained in pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Toronto, he earned his MBA at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business before founding evolve24, and is now its vice chairman. “What I see in Missouri,” he says, “are companies willing to contract with young entrepreneurs to test, validate and shape their products and services during the commercialization process.” He also sees a startup ecosystem open to partnering with entrepreneurs: “You have a highly supportive state government that invests in innovation and training to ensure companies have the available resources to scale and compete at a national and global level,” he says. helping restore some of those acquisitions. After a few years of doing it the hard way, father and son realized it would be far more efficient—and a terrific investment—to acquire hard-to-find vintage vehicles already restored. Thus was laid the groundwork for one of the most unusual attractions you can find in Missouri, Evergreen Historic Automobiles in the Laclede County seat of Lebanon. There, Stephen Plaster maintains a sprawling car hangar of 150,000 square feet, packed with hundreds of rare vehicles from more than 200 manufacturers around the world—even a full-size replica Batmobile. The Plasters’ varied interests gave this collection its breadth: Robert was attracted to models made in the 1930s and ’40s; Stephen favored the muscle cars from the following two decades. You can find vehicles, the vast majority of them convertibles, from brands you’ve probably never heard of: Auburn, Cord, Checker, and Kelsey, along with the Fords, Chevys, Mercedes, and better-known names, as well as some vintage motorcycles. In addition to being a unique draw with vehicles, the property is a one-of-a-kind venue for charitable events and other gatherings with its Dogwood Room, a 5,000-square-foot banquet facility adjacent to the car barn.

Steve Schnarr Missouri River Relief Columbia

Even though he grew up just a few miles from the banks of the Missouri River in Chesterfield, Missouri, Steve Schnarr wasn’t paying attention to it … yet. “It barely registered in my awareness,” he says. But after leaving Missouri and then resettling

in Boone County, he saw the state’s incredible natural resource with new eyes. “A friend took me on a canoe float on the river, and I was blown away. This massive waterway travels through a beautiful valley lined with impressive bluffs and sandbars.” From there, he was hooked. He joined a river-cleanup crew and volunteered for several years before organizing the efforts himself. Now, the Mizzou alum and Columbia resident serves as director of Missouri River Relief, a non profit dedicated to the “exploration, enjoyment, restoration and care of the river” by using educational programs, recreation, and events. Founded in 2001, the organization has now organized 211 cleanups, collected more than 1,000 tons of trash, and engaged more than 30,000 volunteers. The group is also now one of the organizers (along with RiverMiles) of the MR340 race from Kansas City to St. Charles, the world’s longest non-stop river paddling race. The excitement he’s seen makes perfect sense, he said. “People like the idea of being able to physically help clean up the river or to engage in existing well-developed education programs they can tap into.” I think what keeps them coming back is the very positive, can-do community we’ve fostered around our work. It’s very rewarding work.”

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