Humility was the dominant theme of the 2017 Salute to Excellence in Business, presented by the St. Louis American Foundation, the St. Louis Regional Chamber, and the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis at Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis on Friday, November 17.
“I’m just a support person,” said 2017 Non-Profit Executive of the Year Halbert Sullivan, name-checking the non-profit business he founded and leads, Fathers’ Support Center.
“It takes a team to build a company,” said 2017 Entrepreneur of the Year Gloria Carter-Hicks, founder, president and CEO of Hicks-Carter-Hicks.
“My management style is to empower people and to give them the tools to be the best at what they do,” said 2017 Corporate Executive of the Year Melva Pete, vice president of human resources at SAK Construction
Lewis Rice received the 2017 Corporate Diversity Award, but the chair of the law firm’s Diversity Committee, Ron Norwood, first yielded the podium to the committee vice chair, Bridget Hoy. She, in turn, first thanked Norwood for diversifying the Diversity Committee by appointing a woman – her – to help him lead it.
In fact, all of the awardees spent most of their brief time in the spotlight thanking others, mostly family, mentors, colleagues and God.
Even the emcee, veteran KMOX news anchor Carol Daniel, struck a note of humility. She said her husband, who owns a landscaping business, had trouble with his truck that morning and needed a ride. “My husband is a small business owner,” Daniel said, “and when I say small, I mean small.”
It’s notable, in this regard, that not one of the leaders of the three presenting organizations – Donald M. Suggs, Joe Reagan and Michael McMillan – took to the podium for the event.
Three 2017 Excellence in Business Performance Awards were presented, to Monica Campbell, vice president of Community Development for Enterprise Bank & Trust; Patricia Strong Hodges, project manager at Wells Fargo Advisors; and Christopher Pickett, an officer at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale and the firm’s chief diversity officer.
The Top 25 African-American Businesses of the Year also were briefly recognized. Three of those – the Jalen D. Bledsoe Global Group, Murray’s Catering and Phillips Concrete Services – made the Top 25 for the first time this year.
The event’s lead sponsors were World Wide Technology and the Steward Family Foundation. The platinum sponsor was S.A.K. Construction, the gold sponsor was Edward Jones, and silver sponsors were At Home Care, Enterprise Bank & Trust, Lewis Rise and Wells Fargo Advisers.
Dr. T.D. Stubblefield, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Chesterfield, gave the blessing, striking a similarly humble note of Thanksgiving.
The humility of the highly accomplished awardees made a vivid impression on the sold-out luncheon crowd, which often rose to its feet in standing ovations.
“It was inspiring,” said Anthony Daniel, Securities Operations manager at Wells Fargo Advisers, a transplant from Mississippi who was evidently impressed by the gala, which he attended for the first time. “To see all of those people recognized and supported was motivational.”
