Cape Girardeau chamber, SEMO college of business to host economic symposium

The following story has been updated to provide additional information about the event.

Local, statewide and national speakers will converge on Cape Girardeau for the fifth annual Southeast Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Symposium (SEEDS) on Thursday, Nov. 30.

David Yaskewich

David Yaskewich

This year, the symposium will be a collaborative effort between the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce and its regular host, the Harrison College of Business & Computing at Southeast Missouri State University.

Rob Gilligan

Rob Gilligan

“I think the partnership with the chamber will attract a lot more attendees from the local business community, and I look forward to having a larger audience from the local business community to interact with our students,” said David Yaskewich, chairman of the college’s Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance.

Rob Gilligan, president and CEO of the chamber, said hosting an event related to the economy was one of the chamber’s strategic planning goals for the year.

He said he reached out to Yaskewich to discuss supporting SEEDS, and Yaskewich suggested joining forces.

Yaskewich said he wanted students who attend to be able to network and learn how to make an impact beyond the classroom.

Both men said they were looking forward to the slate of speakers scheduled for SEEDS.

“I think the experience that our speakers bring — and their knowledge on these relevant topics such as health care, the current economy and entrepreneurship — I think students would get a lot from hearing their stories and their ideas on these issues,” Yaskewich said.

The first presentation will be a health care update with Saint Francis Healthcare System CEO Justin Davison; SoutheastHEALTH CEO Ken Bateman; Missouri Delta Medical Center President and CEO Jason Schrumpf; and Mercy Hospital Perry administrator Chris Wibbenmeyer.

With health care being a chief economic driver in the region, Yaskewich and Gilligan expressed the importance of featuring people involved with it.

SEEDS will also include a regional economic update from associate economist Nathan Jefferson of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Someone from the bank has presented at all previous SEEDS.

“(The Federal Reserve Bank has) skilled economists who have access to some of the best data and they give a lot of insight on one, what is the current state of the economy; and two, what do forecasts look like for the upcoming year,” Yaskewich said.

Codefi co-founder and CEO James Stapleton and Dan Cobb, vice-chairman of the Missouri Technology Corp., will then hold an entrepreneurship fireside chat.

Yaskewich said it’s important to have speakers who have started and sustained businesses.

Andrew Busch, an economic futurist, will serve as the keynote speaker and conclude the round of presentations.

“He is what you’d call an economic futurist,” Gilligan said of Busch. “He looks at global-scale activity and then interprets how its going to effect economic activity on a national level, an international level, and then how we can tie that back here locally and what those opportunities will be.”

Busch has previously provided market briefings to the White House, U.S. Congress and the Federal Reserve Board.

Tickets for SEEDS may be purchased at capechamber.com/seeds. They are $150 per person or $750 for a table of six.

Doors open at 9:30 a.m. and the symposium will last until around 2:30 p.m. Lunch will be provided.

The symposium will take place at Drury Plaza Hotel Cape Girardeau Conference Center, 3351 Percy Drive. This will be the first time it will be hosted off the SEMO campus.