The Better Business Bureau of Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois is opening a mid- Missouri branch at the Buttonwood Business Center in Columbia in mid-August and is interviewing applicants for the manager’s job on June 29 and 30.
This will be the first branch office the BBB’s regional office, based in St. Louis, has opened in its 93-year history, President and CEO Michelle Corey said.
“We had often felt we had not adequately served outlying regions,” Corey said. A feasibility study by an MBA class at the John Cook School of Business at St. Louis University recommended the BBB open a branch office in Columbia. Other factors in the decision were the projected growth in Columbia, the robust media market, the strong Chamber of Commerce and Rotary clubs and the presence of MU, she said.
The Columbia office of the nonprofit organization will serve nine surrounding counties, a region that has 250 BBB-accredited businesses. The BBB is also forming an advisory board for the branch office.
The branch will focus on community outreach and will give mid-Missouri media a local resource for consumer and business stories as well as providing news generated by the BBB.
The website address for the Columbia region is http://stlouis.bbb.org/Columbia/ or http://stlouis.bbb.org/mid-missouri/. The BBB provides objective advice, free business Reliability Reports, dispute resolution services, charity wise-giving reports and educational information on topics affecting marketplace trust.
The Sound of Stillness
Kelsey Winkeljohn
