People You Should Know: Gary Laffoon

Gary Laffoon
Executive Director, Missouri CORE Partnership

AGE: 43 YEARS LIVED IN MID-MISSOURI: Off and on for more than the past 30 years
JOB DESCRIPTION: I oversee a 12-county economic development organization, where we work to recruit new companies as well as partner with local economic developers to not only retain but also grow existing industry in the region. Additionally, we work on special projects that will have an overall regional benefit, such as the addition of a second reactor at the power plant in Callaway County and the development of Columbia Regional Airport and the land around it. I work with a skilled list of professional economic developers in the area who work hard every day to help the region grow and prosper.
ORIGINAL HOMETOWN: Having traveled around a lot growing up, I never really had a hometown, merely the town where my parents happened to live at the time. My father spent a lengthy career with MODOT, so we shuffled from district to district a lot. I guess the majority of my time has been spent in the Jefferson City area.
EDUCATION: I graduated from Sikeston High School, then attended one year at MU before transferring to Missouri State University (SMSU at the time). I graduated in 1992 with a B.S. in communications. I’m also a graduate of the Economic Development Institute located at the University of Oklahoma.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Co-chair and officer, Missourians for a Balanced Energy Future; Clean and Safe Energy Coalition; Boone County Workforce Development Study Committee; Central Missouri P-20 Council; Columbia Regional Airport Advisory Board; Mid-Missouri Regional Planning Commission; University of Missouri Business Attraction Committee; Missouri Transportation Alliance
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND: I worked as a national marketing specialist for the Missouri Department of Economic Development for about three years. Of the successful locations during that time, I managed to land two Walmart distribution centers in St. James and Harrisonville, Mo. The company that represented Walmart in the search was Carter Burgess out of Fort Worth, Texas. This company lured me to Texas to further represent not only Walmart but also many other companies as they worked to locate new facilities all over the country. I worked for Carter Burgess for about three years when Walmart recruited me to its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., to create a new Distribution Center Real Estate Department. I worked in Bentonville for more than seven years, then left Walmart in early 2009 and started my own site selection firm. Although the company was going fairly well for a startup, I had the opportunity to return to central Missouri by taking over at Missouri CORE.
A COLUMBIA BUSINESSPERSON I ADMIRE AND WHY: Rather than one individual, I would prefer to identify several who have influenced me and stood out among the community: Dave Griggs, for his passionate pursuit of improvements to not only Boone County but also the entire CORE region while balancing a successful flooring company and seemingly endless list of committees, boards and volunteer groups; Greg Steinhoff of VA Mortgage Center.com, for his leadership and understanding of the “big picture” as it pertains to regional economic development. His former role as the state’s economic development director is vital to getting things done in the entire CORE region. Bernie Andrews at Columbia REDI might be the person I admire the most. Bernie has been a mentor of mine for many years as I have come up through the economic development world. He and REDI have been involved in some of the most successful projects in the state, as indicated by the recent IBM announcement. Bernie recently won the director’s Career Service Award for Economic Development from the Missouri Department of Economic Development. It’s a tremendous honor for Bernie; of course, he plays it down.
WHY I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT MY JOB: I love Missouri. I was raised here and want to grow old here. I’ve been fortunate to have lived in several other states, so I’ve had a chance to compare our state to others firsthand. Although other states might have one or two factors that stand out, Missouri offers more of the overall qualities that I want in a home. I look at this position as having the chance to positively impact the state and area I love not only for me but also for my children and hopefully my children’s children. That, and once you’re a Tiger, you’re always a Tiger!
IF I WEREN’T DOING THIS FOR A LIVING, I WOULD: I have always envisioned myself as an architect; I have always had a passion for design and construction projects. While at Carter Burgess, my interests were even more amplified as I worked closely with all their architects and engineers on our various site selection projects.
BIGGEST CAREER OBSTACLE I’VE OVERCOME AND HOW: I’ve been very fortunate in my life so far. I guess the most challenging obstacle is the competitiveness of the economic development industry itself. With so many communities and organizations fighting to land just a small list of new projects in the United States each year, the competition can be brutal. You continually have to be looking for alternative means of getting the company’s attention as well as different ways to pitch the deal. It’s difficult to be unique in this industry, but that is exactly what the successful organizations are.
A FAVORITE RECENT PROJECT: Without a doubt my favorite recent project was the IBM service center recently opening in Columbia. I was very proud to see how well the city, county, REDI, the University of Missouri, the Department of Economic Development, the Missouri Partnership and the Governor’s office worked together to land this mega project. Up until just a few years ago, I don’t think this would have happened. Columbia set the standard for the country in how to succeed during a down economy. As a matter of fact, this project was awarded the Silver Medal from Business Facilities Magazine as the second-best project in the country for 2010. I am very proud of all my partners who worked so hard for this project.
WHAT PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS PROFESSION: The concept of regionalism is hard for people to fully grasp. My organization works to unite our 12 counties to gain greater exposure to companies and site consultants. All too often, communities are battling against one other for projects, but realistically, those companies don’t care about city or county boundaries. They are looking to draw people from a region. By pooling our efforts, we can do three things: gain greater exposure as a whole; help to market smaller regions that otherwise might not have any budget to do so on their own; and use the “weight” of the region, almost 500,000 population, to help enact legislation that further improves our quality of place in central Missouri.
WHAT I DO FOR FUN: When I’m away from work, I enjoy spending time with my wife and boys first and foremost. I also enjoy home remodeling and woodworking projects. I get great satisfaction out of creating something and ultimately hearing people say: “You made that? Wow!” In my line of work, projects sometimes take many years to see the end results, when you can get the feeling of actually accomplishing something. With a woodworking project, you can actually see the end result in shorter time; it’s closure, if you will.
FAMILY: I found my wife, Gretchen, in the state of Washington more than 10 years ago while working on a project. We started dating long-distance, and I jokingly say that I had to propose to her because I ran out of frequent flyer miles. We have been married for more than six years now and have two fantastic boys: Jackson, 4 ½, and Austin, 2 ½ . Cute as they are, it’s like wrestle mania around our house most days. One’s not happy unless he is assaulting the other one. I guess that’s boys for you, though.
FAVORITE PLACE IN COLUMBIA: Anywhere on MU campus. I spend a lot of time on campus these days. I am fortunate to interact with Provost Brian Foster and several others on a daily basis as we work to improve the entire region. Just walking on campus and being around the university atmosphere brings back so many fond memories of my time there. I didn’t realize how much I missed the environment around sporting events. I have always followed the Tigers football program from wherever I was living at the time, however a lot of times the games were not broadcast, so I spent hours huddled around my computer watching for updates.
ACCOMPLISHMENT I’M MOST PROUD OF: I am most proud of the more than 19,000 jobs I have helped create during my years in economic development. It is very rewarding knowing that you were directly part of improving the lives of so many people. I had the opportunity to return to one of my successful projects in Phelps County a while back, the Walmart distribution center . Several of the 1,000+ workers took time out to come up and personally thank me for helping locate the facility to their area. Some with tears in their eyes, they told me stories of uncertainty of their future prior to the facility arriving. No matter what your thoughts are about that particular company, it gives you a great sense of pride in knowing you could positively affect so many individuals in your career.
MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THAT I: At one point in the mid-’90s, I made a brief attempt at playing golf professionally on the Nike Tour. I saw my game improve considerably during the early ’90s, and upon nudges from friends and family, I set out to make it on the tour. I traveled around trying to “Monday Qualify,” as it is called. I came close a couple of times, but ultimately the funds ran out, and I needed to focus on my career in the real world. Oh well, I can always look back and say I gave it a shot.
Side note: In seven years in the Fayetteville, Ark., area, not once did I do the Hog call. Just wanted to make sure you knew where my loyalties were.