2024 40 Under 40 Spotlight: Steve Childers, 2009

Then: City administrator and director of planning and development, city of Ozark
Now: Department of Planning and Development director, city of Springfield

After 20 years in executive roles with the city of Ozark, most of which involved serving as the municipality’s city administrator, the career path for Steve Childers has transitioned north to Springfield.

Childers, 53, began in January as director for the city of Springfield’s Department of Planning and Development. It’s a familiar office for Childers, who interned at the city in 1996, working under then-director Fred May.

“I wondered if I could ever be that guy, director of planning and development,” he says. “Now you look 20-some years later and here I am. It was something that I thought, ‘Wow, talk about coming full circle.’”

While his place of employment has changed, Childers says he remains civically active, noting he still serves on executive committees with James River Basin Partnership and the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments.

Best advice to young professionals? Stick with it. Don’t let the grind of the day to day get to you. Focus on the big picture and never lose sight of the goal.