Robert D. Little II
Strategic Planning Consultant, Financial Facilities Business Unit
Clayco, Inc.
Decatur, GA
Southwest Dekalb & Martin Luther King, Jr. High School, GA
Florida A&M University, BS, Business/Education
Washington University in St. Louis, MBA
RBC Young Professionals, YPN 100
100 Black Men of Metro St. Louis
Urban Land Institute – Young Leaders Group
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
In short, what do you do?
I lead Clayco’s efforts in the development of strategic growth planning and feasibility studies providing financial institutions with a clear and quantifiable business case to leverage the built-environment as a platform to capture market opportunities and defend competitive advantage.
What are some of the greatest challenges in your field?
This is a two-pronged answer. The primary challenge always begins and ends with people, whether from the perspective of achieving long-term employee productivity gains or innovative strategies to engage a swiftly evolving customer base. Additionally, pressures from increased regulation, unprecedented monetary policies, and disruptive technology, new market entrants all competing for their slice of the American Pie that never seems to grow fast enough to keep up represent key challenges to the Bank and Credit Union traditional business model. It is a transformative time for the financial services industry and exciting to be involved in developing today’s competitive responses and physical environments of tomorrow.
You came to St. Louis from Atlanta. What brought you to St. Louis, and what qualities about St. Louis help keep you here?
An opportunity with U.S. Bank right out of undergrad at Florida A&M initially brought me to St. Louis, but what has kept me in the region have been the vast opportunities to play a meaningful part in what I believe will yield a huge success story in the not too far off future.
You were described as a “servant leader” in your nomination. What contributed to your philosophy on community involvement?
I believe that the value of any leader is their ability to empower others in the realization of their gifted abilities to further not only the collective’s progress, but also their own individual progress. I have personally benefitted from numerous formal and informal mentors over the years, who whether they realized it at the time were exposing me to new outlets and approaches that all came together to shape what or who I could endeavor to be. Continuous involvement in positively impacting people directly or environments to build the next leaders has always felt like the natural succession plan to lift our communities as we all continue to do the work to climb.
Favorite St. Louis restaurants?
Gulf Shores Restaurant and Grill for dinner, Rustic Goat Eatery for brunch, and Magnolia C’est Bon for everything in between.
