St. Louis Business Journal articles from May 2000

St. Louis Business Journal archives from May 2000

Emerson Energy Systems.
May 1, 2000... Sweden's Utfors Fibre Network AB has awarded Emerson Energy Systems AB a contract for backup power systems used in the ongoing expansion of Utfor's fiber-based broadband network. Under terms of the contract, Emerson Energy Systems will provide...

Emerson Electric Co.
May 1, 2000... Belgian image technology company Agfa-Gevaert said it had signed an agreement to acquire Emerson Electric Co.'s Krautkramer business, which produces and distributes ultrasonic devices for the non-destructive testing of various materials,...

Charter spending $3.5 billion on digital nerve centers.
May 1, 2000... Charter Communications announced it will spend $3.5 billion to construct more than 500 buildings that will serve as electronic nerve centers for Charter's digital network. Charter said the buildings are a key part of its national plan to reduce...

Sigma-Aldrich Corp.
May 1, 2000... Sigma-Aldrich Corp. has broken ground on its $55 million Life Science Technology Center. The chemical manufacturer said it expects to double its research and development expenditures over the next five years. Construction of the...

Laser Vision Centers Inc.
May 1, 2000... Laser Vision Centers Inc. announced it has been served with an administrative complaint by the Center for Devices an Radiological Health of the Food and Drug Administration. The complaint charges that Laser Vision used its excimer lasers to...

Missouri Department of Economic Development.
May 1, 2000... The unemployment rate in Missouri edged up to 3 percent in March from 2.9 percent in February, according to a report by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. The department said nearly 88,100 Missourians didn't have jobs last month....

Air Methods Corp.
May 1, 2000... Air Methods Corp. announced that Mercy Air Service Inc., its wholly owned subsidiary, completed purchase of the Area Rescue Consortium of Hospitals (ARCH), a non-profit organization that provides emergency air rescue services. The Denver-based...

Phoenix Networks.
May 1, 2000... Phoenix Networks announced that J. Dan Foster has been appointed chief executive officer of the broadband services provider. Foster was most recently vice president of consumer markets for Englewood, Colo.-based Rhythms NetConnections. At...

CPI Corp. expects $10 million loss on sale of division.
May 1, 2000... CPI Corp. expects a loss of more than. $10 million on the sale of its prints and posters division. A team of division managers in California has joined with a Detroit investment firm to buy the division, which sells, prints, posters and...

Kupper to go public with New York deal.
May 1, 2000... Kupper Parker. Communications is on the verge of becoming a publicly traded company, through a reverse merger with a small firm in Melville, N.Y. The stock swap calls for Kupper to pay $1.35 million in cash for 300,000 shares of Greenstone...

Hubble scraps mission to sell Angelica, alters course.
May 1, 2000... Faced with a dwindling list of potential buyers and indications of low purchase offers, Angelica Corp. chairman, president and chief executive Don Hubble has dropped efforts to sell the company and is focusing instead on improving its fortunes....

Taxes owed on Maggos estate reduced to $838,000.
May 1, 2000... IRS wanted $2.2 million from Alton Pepsi founder's estate After seven years of litigation, Pepsi-Cola bottler Mary P. Maggos estate's dispute with the Internal Revenue Service may be over. U.S. Tax Court Judge Robert Ruwe recently ruled...

Ruwitch resigns as head of Grand Center district.
May 1, 2000... Ann Ruwitch, embattled president and chief executive of the Grand Center arts and entertainment district, has submitted her resignation to the board. In a letter sent April 26, she cited the reasons for stepping down: her age, the demands...

Lemay casino would affect President -- but how much?
May 1, 2000... Industry sources differ on potential loss The President Casino on the Admiral undoubtedly would lose patrons if the Missouri Gaming Commission approves plans for a new casino in Lemay, industry sources said. But they differ on the...

Herring joins Rosenblum, Goldenhersh health law group.
May 1, 2000... Donn Herring has joined Rosenblum, Goldenhersh, Silverstein & Zafft P.C. as a principal. Herring will work in the law firm's health law group. He had been director of legal services for BJC Health System since 1994, where he planned...

Name game noes back decades.
May 1, 2000... Before ballot faceoff, charity was the issue Matt Gephardt was fighting for his life in 1972. The 2-year-old son of Richard Gephardt had cancer and was undergoing treatment at St. Louis Children's Hospital. In 1984, eight years after...

Bornstein leads negotiations on Kroenke deal.
May 1, 2000... A local team of a half-dozen attorneys helped Rams minority owner Stan Kroenke fulfill a longtime dream: Owning a professional basketball team. Alan Bornstein, Kroenke's attorney for the past 10 years led months of negotiations with...

Insituform stock jumps 65 percent.
May 1, 2000... Insituform Technologies Inc., which less than three years ago was embroiled in an internal proxy fight for control of the company, has completed a turnaround. Under Tony Hooper, chairman, president and chief executive, Insituform has...

Hot spot.
May 1, 2000... A residential/commercial development is one of the ideas being discussed for the Target site at 140 S. Kirkwood Road. The city of Kirkwood is studying possibilities for the site after Target moves this summer to the new Kirkwood Commons....

In the spotlight.
May 1, 2000... Greg Sullivan's rise from a self-employed computer programmer to chief executive of G.A. Sullivan is traced in the March issue of Contract Professional. A cover story in the trade journal said the company expects to post more than $21 million...

Trend setters.
May 1, 2000... Image Shapers in Clayton is just one of 20 stores nationwide, and the only one in the Midwest, selected to preview the fall line of Doncaster clothing. Co-owner Karen Morrow said the May 1-12 preview will allow customers to provide feedback to...

Pillow talk.
May 1, 2000... Karen Kowal, founder and president of Mother Earth Designs Inc., didn't miss a beat when President Bill Clinton stopped at her booth at a trade show April 18 in Chicago. Kowal draped one of her company's warmed herbal pillows around Clinton's...

Heads up!
May 1, 2000... Ray and Nancy Filas have brought one of the hottest recreation trends to the St. Louis area, opening Demolition Ball in St. Charles. The game is a combination of hockey, polo, football, basketball and demolition derby, played in bumper cars on...

Moving on.
May 1, 2000... Temple-Inland Mortgage Corp. quit originating home loans in the St. Louis area, after closing its west St. Louis County office March 31. The office originated $26.6 million in loans last year. Former branch manager Chris Scheer said the eight...

End of the line.
May 1, 2000... Thirty-eight hospitals that were members of the now-defunct Hospital Association of Metropolitan St. Louis will split the group's remaining $320,000 in assets later this month. That, according to Armstrong Teas-dale attorney Robert...

Getting an earful.
May 1, 2000... Gateway Candy Co. this year sold 11,328 Just Ears -- its special Easter product for those who love to bite the ears off chocolate bunnies. Ray Schwartzman, who owns the St. Louis-based candy company with partner John Klein, said the bunny ears,...

TALK &ays to potential sellers: 'Can we talx?'.
May 1, 2000... TALX Corp. has hired A.G. Edwards to' help it look for, acquisitions. The strategy is twofold, said TALX chairman and chief executive William Canfield. An acquisition must complement TALX's fast-growing applications service provider...

Access U.S. buys Tetranet, hopes to triple its revenue.
May 1, 2000... Local Internet service provider Access U.S. has acquired local competitor Tetranet -- its eighth acquisition in five years. Chris Dornfeld, director of corporate strategy, said that with the latest acquisition, Access U.S. is on pace to...

Corrections.
May 1, 2000... Garlich Printing Co. Garlich Printing Co. specializes in aqueous coating. This information and the company's name was incorrect in the Largest Printing Companies list that appeared in the April 24 issue. Southern Illinois...

Moffit lands $300 million for start up.
May 1, 2000... Exceeds state's 1999 venture capital total In an 11th hour deal, Jim Moffit landed one of the biggest initial venture capital investments ever in Missouri -- an estimated $300 million. Moffit, who helped found Brooks Fiber Properties,...

Dr. Philip Stahl.
May 1, 2000... Dr. Philip Stahl, professor and head of cell biology and physiology, has received a five-year $1,115,054 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Steven Dowdy.
May 1, 2000... Steven Dowdy, assistant professor of pathology, has received a one-year $100,000 research award from the CaP Cure Foundation for research on antiprostate cancer protein therapy.

Xue-Quing Wang.
May 1, 2000... Xue-Quing Wang, research assistant in the department of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, has received a one-year $10,000 award from the L.A.M. Foundation.

Alison Goate.
May 1, 2000... Alison Goate, professor of genetics, has received a six-month $14,380 subcontract from the Brigham and Women's Hospita1 Inc. for an Alzheimer's Association project.

Dr. Michael Caparon.
May 1, 2000... Dr. Michael Caparon, associate professor of molecular microbiology, has received a four-year $1.4 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Henry Kaplan.
May 1, 2000... Dr. Henry Kaplan, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences, has received a four-year $2.7 million grant from the National Eye Institute.

Dr. Jonathan Green.
May 1, 2000... Dr. Jonathan Green, assistant professor of medicine, has received a four-year $1.2 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for research on lung inflammation.

Dr. Alan Schwartz.
May 1, 2000... Dr. Alan Schwartz, professor and head of pediatrics, has received a four-year $980,000 grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Dr. M. Wayne Flye.
May 1, 2000... Dr. M. Wayne Flye, professor of surgery, has received a five-year $2.3 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease for research on graft tolerance.

Dr. Steven Brody.
May 1, 2000... Dr. Steven Brody, assistant professor of medicine, received a five year $1.6 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Mike Mueckler.
May 1, 2000... Mike Mueckler, professor of cell biology and physiology, has been awarded a five-year $1.6 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. H

Dr. Ruediger Thalmann.
May 1, 2000... Dr. Ruediger Thalmann, professor emeritus of otolaryngology, has received a one-year $19,908 grant from the Deafness Research Foundation.

Making a mark.
May 1, 2000... Automark's Schacht and Dressel look to leave their imprints on the indenting, branding and embossing industries Business activity: Automark Marking Systems has been around for nearly 60 years, but many of the company's biggest changes have...

Practical solutions.
May 1, 2000... Have you ever used a business coach? I've used a coach for more than a year. She provides considerable objective feedback that I don't get anywhere else: She's also able to integrate what's happening in my personal life. She helps me think...

May conference examines U.S. view on world trade.
May 1, 2000... International partnership event to be May 22-26 at Marriott Pavilion Hotel It'll be a double-header during the week of May 22-26 with Small Business Week and a major conference in St. Louis celebrating World Trade month. While-small...

Thomas Leonard.
May 1, 2000... Thomas Leonard, founder of Coach University, which has a reputation as one of the premier coach training organizations in the world, was scheduled to be in St. Louis on May 1. Leonard, who is on a worldwide millennium tour, was to speak on...

Job Fair 2000.
May 1, 2000... Job Fair 2000 will be held from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. May 19 at St. Charles County Community College, 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive in Cottleville. The event is free and open to the public. The job fair will feature booths from more than 80...

GE Small Business Solutions.
May 1, 2000... GE Small Business Solutions, the newest initiative from GE Capital, began a local customer outreach program on April 20, targeting 15,000 small companies in the Bi-State area. GE Small Business offers equipment financing, corporate credit...

DVD-RAMs need mo re acceptance in marketplace.
May 1, 2000... Transferring a multi-media presentation from one computer hard drive to another can be an unwieldy time-consuming process. While recordable compact discs (CDs) help, their 650 MB data maximum can be limiting. But no longer. Take the latest...

Akande takes over at Webster business school on June 1.
May 1, 2000... Benjamin Ola. Akande had admired Webster University from afar. While chairman of the division of business at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas, Akande said he was attracted to Webster through the Internet, particularly the...

Chamber: Gore would 'moderate' environmental views.
May 1, 2000... Despite Al Gore's "far more inflammatory rhetoric," the environmental policies of a Gore administration would not differ greatly from those of a George W. Bush administration, predicts Thomas Donohue, president and chief executive of the US....

Patrick Stokes.
May 1, 2000... Patrick Stokes has been elected to the Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. board of directors. As president of Anheuser-Busch Inc. and chairman of the board of Anheuser-Busch International Inc., Stokes, 57, oversees the company's worldwide beer...

Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.
May 1, 2000... Led by continued strong beer sales volume and increased domestic beer revenue per barrel, Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., posted a 15.2 percent increase in earnings per share for the first quarter 2000 -- its sixth consecutive quarter of solid...

Tarlton Corp.
May 1, 2000... Tarlton Corp. has completed Booth Manor, a $4.6 million retirement facility for the Salvation Army of St. Louis. It is in the Benton Park West neighborhood of south St. Louis and will serve 1ow-income senior citizens. Lutheran Senior Services...

Systems Consultants Inc.
May 1, 2000... Systems Consultants Inc. has signed a $400,000 contract with Charleston, W.Va., to establish a new financial management system. The city will use SCI's 16-Week Light Speed Implementation program to begin using the new system, which will process...

Technology Gateway Alliance.
May 1, 2000... The Technology Gateway Alliance and the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association are co-sponsoring Tech Fair 2000. The event will feature 80 of the St. Louis region's experts in life sciences, engineering and advanced materials and...

Tri-Tek's Fuchs sues acquirer CBIZ for $50 million.
May 1, 2000... Red ink floods CBIZ accounting David Fuchs, founder of Tri-Tek Information Systems Inc., has lost more than $28 million on paper since last July when he sold his company to Century Business Services Inc. It took 10 years for Fuchs to...

Despite CBIZ problems, other consolidators still buying.
May 1, 2000... Besides Century Business Services Inc., whose three-year buying binge made it the nation's seventh-largest accounting firm, American Express Co. and H&R Block Inc. are major accounting industry consolidators. Another potential player,...

Lemay Enterprise Center opens with three tenants.
May 1, 2000... Two offices, one warehouse and one retail space, already have been leased in the new St. Louis Enterprise Center-South County, which held its grand opening April 25. The first tenants are AdContacts Inc., an Internet marketing strategy...

A closer look.
May 1, 2000... THE THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO BUSINESS LEADS The answer seems to be the same regardless of the question. What St. Louis needs in its board rooms, in its philanthropic institutions, in politics - you name it - is young, successful...

Afro World uses Web to boost its international sales.
May 1, 2000... Afro World is one of the leading suppliers of 100 percent human hair for weaving, braiding, bonding and fusion. The family-owned business in north St. Louis County, now in its second generation, sells products to more than 97,000 customers,...

Antique Lighting becomes full-time job for minister.
May 1, 2000... Gary Behm has spent much of his life lighting up people's lives. For 23 years, Behm, an ordained minister, helped families through Lutheran Family & Children Services of Missouri. Today, he devotes his time to St. Louis Antique Lighting Co. The...

Small firms' successes mirror area.
May 1, 2000... In 1995, the St Louis Business Journal began highlighting successful small businesses. While stories on small companies had always been an important part of the newspaper, it was decided to give small business its own section with one...

Magician builds act into $1 million events company.
May 1, 2000... Lefton Promotions provides games, music, food, fun -- and magic Business activity: If you ask Jeff Lefton when he started in business, he would tell you it was in 1969 -- when he started performing his magic acts at age 12. That really was...

Feigenbaum named to health plan board of trustees.
May 1, 2000... Susan Feigenbaum, an economics professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, has been named to the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan Board of Trustees. Gov. Mel Carnahan announced the appointment March 22. The Missouri Senate...

Art & Frame Gallery bus offers at-home services.
May 1, 2000... Business activity: Art & Frame Gallery, a custom frame shop with five retail locations in St. Louis County, is on the move -- literally. Art & Frame has added a Mobile Custom Framing Gallery, the first of its kind in the area. The custom,...

Landmark acts as manger on job site, peacemaker.
May 1, 2000... Business activity: There is no firm quite like Landmark in St. Louis. It is both a construction contract management company and a dispute resolutions company--the only area construction dispute resolutions firm. Founded by Brad Hornburg...

New Visitor Centers open at Kiener, Lambert.
May 1, 2000... Just in time for National Tourism Week, May 7-13, 2000, the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission is opening its newest visitor information center at Kiener Plaza. "The number of leisure visitors to St. Louis has been steadily...

Visitor outreach includes direct mail.
May 1, 2000... Potential visitors in selected markets are finding St. Louis in their mailboxes this year. In addition to an aggressive television and print advertising schedule in target markets throughout the Midwest, the St. Louis Convention & Visitors...

Wanted: St. Louis Fans.
May 1, 2000... The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission is looking for a few good men and women. "If you love St. Louis and want to show it off to our visitors, have we got a job for you," said Deborah Kersting, the CVC's director of visitor...

Tourism means big money in St. Louis, state & nation.
May 1, 2000... Why celebrate National Tourism Week? The yearly event was established to call attention to one of the most important, yet sometimes invisible, industries in the United States. In St. Louis, hospitality is the second largest industry in...

Favorite stops keep them coming back.
May 1, 2000... "Shop 'til you drop" isn't just an old saying in St. Louis. It's a mantra for visitors. Sixty-six percent of St. Louis' visitors report that they included shopping in their activities during their stay in the Gateway to the West. In...

Guess who's coming to St. Louis for fun.
May 1, 2000... St. Louis' leisure visitors tend to have high household incomes, education levels above the general population and a desire to explore. St. Louis because of' the "variety of things to see and do." That's just some of the tourism...

TV, print ads target visitors in Midwest.
May 1, 2000... It's something you'll never see on St. Louis television--a series of commercials asking potential visitors to make St. Louis part of their vacation plans this year. "It's amazing how many St. Louisans assume that we don't proactively...

PR tells St. Louis story through the media.
May 1, 2000... Newspaper, magazine stories convert readers to actual visitors Beyond paid media placements, the Convention & Visitors Commissions work to keep St. Louis top of mind with potential visitors who read newspaper and magazine travel sections...

How you can help St. Louis attract more visitors.
May 1, 2000... Ever wonder what you can do to help St. Louis economy? According to the CVC, it's as easy as expressing a positive attitude. "Everyone can help us attract more visitors," said Bob Bedell, the CVC's president. First, be positive about St....

Fitness Edge muscles up to $1 million business.
May 1, 2000... Business activity: Mike Jaudes spent so much time working out while growing up that his father, Ron, finally asked: "What are you going to do with your life, work out and eat?" That's exactly what the former Mr. Missouri, now 35, has done,...

Rohman blossoms into America's Flower Man.
May 1, 2000... Business activity: Dale Rohman, America's Flower Man, does more than just arrange flowers and create bouquets. He's is a TV and radio personality, a speaker at flower and home and garden shows and an author. But, most of all, he is an...

Fister Lauberth taps new creative marketing level.
May 1, 2000... Business activity: For Amy Fister and Suzanne Lauberth, the timing turned out to be perfect. When the two decided to form their own company in 1988, more women were moving into positions of authority and making crucial decisions for their...

Sansone to handle leasing, management for Cave Springs.
May 1, 2000... Real estate brokerage and management company Sansone Group will handle leasing and management agent for Cave Springs Square. The shopping center is located at Interstate 70 and Cave Springs Boulevard in St. Peters. Cave Springs Square...

Harinder Singh corners market on Indian cuisine.
May 1, 2000... Business activity: When Harinder Singh entered the restaurant business, he says "it was a little like being thrown to the sharks." With no previous experience, Singh said he made a few mistakes, but it's obvious from the company's rapid...

White Auto Body revs up sales with O'Fallon shop.
May 1, 2000... Husband-wife team builds business on technology, trust Business activity: Throw away the stereotypical image of an auto body shop when you go to White Auto Body Shop. Steve and Valerie White have taken their new shop in O'Fallon, Mo.,...

Solutia joins efforts to protect children from glass injuries.
May 1, 2000... Solutia has teamed up with the mother of an Oklahoma City bombing victim to support the Protecting People First Foundation. The group hopes to raise awareness about the deadly effects of flying glass as the result of natural disasters and...

Metropolitan School.
May 1, 2000... The Metropolitan School, a private, not-for-profit school which services students with atypical learning styles, received grants from the following organizations this year: Bell Electrical Contractors Inc., Boeing Employee Community Fund,...