CEO Magazine

Photos by LG Patterson Bob Wood, owner of Dawson Shoe Repair, takes his position each morning behind the vintage wooden and glass counter at his shop at 212 S. Eighth St. If he looks out the large storefront window directly before him,…

The Broadway Hotel opened for business in 2014, giving visitors a boutique hotel in the heart of downtown Columbia. The hotel also offered Columbia residents an eighth floor Rooftop Bar and meeting space with one of the best views downtown…

As the holidays sneak up on us once again, you may find yourself searching for last-minute gifts that don’t seem like last-minute gifts. If there’s a man on your list who enjoys an occasional cigar, you’ll be pleased with the options you…

John Berghager runs his I-70 Towing and Recovery business out of a remodeled bowling alley at 2116 Vandiver Drive. It’s a building with a history in Columbia; and it’s a building that will certainly have a role in Columbia’s future. “I…

photos by L.G. Patterson With the new year coming fast, area business and government leaders sat down to lunch in early November at The Roof at an economic roundtable to discuss where we have been, where we are and what might be ahead.…

As we look forward to a new year, the last thing we want to think about is taxes, but guess what? Filing season is right around the corner and there are a few important things you need to know for the upcoming year. Deadlines are changing.…

There is no easy way to sugar coat the message to you, the employer, that the cost to have employees will be increasing on Dec. 1. Your business is governed by labor laws and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued its Final Rule…

If you need to increase your company’s competitiveness and profit, where should you start? Should you focus on your employees first, or should you start by focusing on your customers first? In reality, you need to do both. It is almost…

A business-friendly proposal will appear on Missouri’s Nov. 8 general election ballot: Amendment 4, The Taxpayer Protection Amendment, which will protect Missouri consumers and businesses from a new sales tax on services we all use every…

photos by L.G. Patterson One good way to chase away the summer doldrums is to gather a collection of local business leaders for a rousing discussion of the season’s most pressing issues. And that’s just what Inside Columbia’s CEO…

Bob Gerau spends every Fourth of July surrounded by fireworks, yet he seldom gets to see a single dazzling shell streak across the sky. For the past 51 years, Gerau, owner of Bob’s Fireworks, has spent the Fourth, along with his kids and…

America’s Bitter Pill By Steven Brill (Random House, 2015) Steven Brill has looked at changes in the health care industry from several distinctly different angles: as an attorney, as a journalist and as a patient. In America’s Bitter…

Bob McDavid presided over his last Columbia City Council meeting on April 4 and moved out of the mayor’s office later that week. After two terms as the city’s CEO, the 69-year-old retired obstetrician announced last winter he would not seek…

Summertime is a sweet season for the leadership team at Primaris this year. The health care consulting firm is celebrating its new status as a private company, marking the end of its journey to convert from nonprofit organization to a…

Dan Latham doesn’t embrace the 9-to-5 workday. By 4 a.m., the CEO of Pulse Medical Staffing is on the phone fielding calls from health care facilities. His company provides temporary supplemental staff and medical professionals to more than…

Forget for a moment the mind-numbing arguments that blanket discussions about health care these days. Let’s get back to the real reason this industry is so fascinating: the ever-evolving advances in medicine that save lives, restore health…

At the tender age of 20, Mark Fenner had an epiphany: he would never play professional football. A scholarship football player at Missouri Western State College for two years, Fenner’s athletic career had ended with an injury in 1983. He…

Columbia is on the move. Cars, trucks, motorcycles … no matter, we crave personal mobility. The local market that sates our appetite for mechanized wheeled contraptions has seen a flurry of changes in ownership and realignments the past few…

At Central Missouri Auto Body, they like to say, “Some repairs you see … ours you don’t!” What you do see at the industrious repair shop on Columbia’s north side is the face of the auto body business here. And it’s a decidedly feminine…

Kim Stading was planning a hiking trip for her birthday when she came up with a business idea. The St. Louis native talked to friends and searched multiple websites to figure out what gear she needed, but she knew there had to be a more…