“I am the energy and she is the spirit of the campaign.”
That’s how Suzanne Sitherwood, CEO of the Laclede Group, described her work with Sue McCollum, CEO of Major Brands, in co-chairing the 2015 United Way of Greater St. Louis fundraising campaign.
Laclede, of course, is an energy company, and Major Brands is a distributor of beer, wine and spirits.
Elegant wit aside, there is substance to the metaphors.
Sitherwood is energetically networking with her peers in regional executive business leadership on behalf of United Way. She agreed to personally approach “slightly less than 40” fellow CEOs to seek their commitment to making corporate donations, as well as organizing an employee campaign at their companies. When she spoke to The American on June 11, Sitherwood already had visited “up to 16 or 17” CEOs – all before a campaign goal had been set.
McCollum is working right alongside her co-chair, but she can speak to the spirit of the United Way in a personal way. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri is a United Way member agency with perhaps the closest personal touch to her.
“When Todd passed away in May 2012 from brain cancer, our kids lost their dad and I really came to reflect on the importance of mentors in a child’s life,” McCollum said.
Her late husband Todd Epsten preceded her as CEO of Major Brands and had been, among many other civic roles, president of the St. Louis police board.
“Their mission particularly resonates with me now, but frankly it always did, and certainly did for Todd before he got sick,” McCollum said of Big Brothers Big Sisters. “Todd was a big brother, then a board member, then chairman of the board. He was involved from his twenties on until he passed away.”
Their entire family got involved with the organization, and encouraged Major Brands employees to get involved. Indeed, leadership in philanthropy is nothing new to McCollum. She knows this stuff like she knows beer, wine and spirits. So she knows what to expect from a United Way of Greater St. Louis campaign.
“Suzanne and I are fortunate to be trying to raise money in the St. Louis region, in a community that is very generous – always has been, and I believe always will be,” McCollum said.
Last year, United Way’s campaign was chaired by Scott Schnuck, chairman of the board of Schnuck Markets, Inc. Mike DeCola, CEO of HBM Holdings, served as co-chair. It was United Way’s most successful campaign, surpassing its $72.5 million goal.
Sitherwood is much newer to St. Louis, giving her the advantage of being a fresh “ask” for funding commitments – and giving the networking required of her role a special value to her.
“I have been here three and a half years, so this is perfect timing,” Sitherwood said. “I have been here long enough to meet a lot of executives, but I haven’t been to their home office or campus to really get an experience of their corporate culture.”
Given her role in the United Way campaign, she is eager to learn about how other executives integrate philanthropic commitments into their corporate culture. Sitherwood is finding herself playing a cross-pollinator role, picking up ideas for employee campaigns as she goes and sharing them with other CEOs down the line.
“I am getting to connect in ways that I otherwise would be unable to,” Sitherwood said. “Part of that experience is going to various businesses, asking how they would like to engage this year, how they go about it in their culture with their employees. So I get a lot of ideas to spread around.”
Not that the 30-year veteran of the energy industry is a newcomer to philanthropic commitment. She said she first got involved with the United Way when she was 24. Given the business she is in, she has grown particularly appreciative and supportive of United Way for its 211 phone system.
“People know about 911 for emergencies, but 211 was created as a number for people with dire needs who do not know where to go,” Sitherwood said. “It’s for people who are about to lose their home, people with child issues – or people who can’t pay their gas bill.”
She said the 211 system “brings together all the available support systems,” which is to say, all of the United Way member agencies. It is quite a range, as the co-chairs are seeing in doing tours of them.
“On any given day, you can begin at Almost Home – which serves very young women, ages 10 to 20, who are having babies – addressing the needs of two generations, very young people and people about to be born,” McCollum said, “then end at Mary Ryder Home, serving people 65 years and older. You really see the scope of the United Way and how it touches every generation.”
Her co-chair Sitherwood summed it up: “The United Way plays a huge part in how we help people.”
For more information about the campaign, visit www.stl.unitedway.org.
