As the dean of a business school and a trustee on several corporate boards, Benjamin Ola. Akande is well acquainted with the concept of return on investment. But he is applying this business concept in a novel way with his newest commitment: as a dancer for charity.
Akande, who is dean of the George Herbert Walker School of Business at Webster University, is among the St. Louis CEOs and civic leaders competing in Dancing with the St. Louis Stars, a benefit for the Independence Center to be held Saturday, January 24 at The Ritz-Carlton in Clayton.
Independence Center provides programs and services to adults with severe and persistent mental illness, and Akande has committed to raising $30,000 for the organization by dancing.
“Mental illness is a silent epidemic that plagues so many in our community, and I want to help do something about it,” Akande said. “My goal to raise $30,000 for them. The return on my investment – which is the time it is taking me to learn how to dance – is making a material impact on the lives of people I don’t know.”
Akande grew up in Ibadan, a major city in southwestern Nigeria, but he is the father of three African-American daughters, ages 22, 19 and 14. It is their influence that is reflected in his choice of dance style.
“My kids exposed me to hip-hop music,” Akande said. “To the extent that I like to learn new languages and am a student of life, this is something new to me. I appreciate the lyrics and the beat.”
In his Dancing with the St. Louis Stars performance, he will adapt his newfound passion for hip-hop to a song that most would classify as contemporary, slow-burn R&B: “There Goes My Baby,” composed by James Scheffer, Frank Romano, Danny Morris and Rico Love and made famous by Usher, who won a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance with the song in 2011.
“This song tells the story of the challenges young people have with relationships, the value of relationships, the importance of synergy, the give and take and patience that a relationship entails,” Akande said. “On January 24, I get to demonstrate that conversation through dance.”
He will have that public, physical “conversation” with Stephanie Medeiros, the professional dancer he is partnered with for the competition. They will be dancing against Mark Trudeau, president and CEO of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals; Tishaura Jones, treasurer for the City of St. Louis (who also serves on Independence Center’s Board of Directors); Norma McGehee, realtor at Glady’s Manion; and Tim Jacobs, a program participant of Independence Center, each partnered with a professional dancer provided by Just Dancing West or Discover Ballroom.
Judges for the competition are Sue McCollum, chief executive officer of Major Brands; Tom Minogue, chairman of Thompson Coburn LLP; Nicole Genovese, sales associate at Genovese Jewelers; Ellen Sherberg, publisher of the St. Louis Business Journal; and Suzanne Sitherwood, president and CEO of The Laclede Group. Though the participants are competing as fundraisers, more than as dancers.
The competition has already started online at www.dancingwiththestlouisstars.org, where each vote contributes $10 to the Independence Center in the name of the dancer being supported, and the most successful fundraising dancer by the end of the night on January 24 wins.
Akande started his online fundraising efforts early. In October he enlisted Webster University faculty and staff to join him in dancing a routine to a song that genuinely is hip-hop, “Take a Picture” by Nicodemus.
“That enabled us to come together as a group,” Akande said. “It was a bonding exercise.”
It also was an early fundraising boost for a man who knows he is competing against the president of $2.1 billion pharmaceutical firm (Trudeau) and a popular young citywide elected official (Jones).
Akande is certainly not waiting for the votes and donations to come to him.
“I am reaching out to people,” Akande said. “I am making phone calls. I am making house calls. I think we all need an initiative in the community where we can seek a return on investment of this kind.”
Tickets for Dancing with the St. Louis Stars ($250 / $2,500 table) include cocktails and dinner and may be purchased at www.dancingwiththestlouisstars.org or by sending a check to Independence Center, 4245 Forest Park Ave., St. Louis, Missouri, 63108. For information, call Jamie Clark at 314-880-5403
