Firm rooted in Griesemer family

Keeping business in the family can have its perks.
At Springfield Underground, top company officials and blood relatives Louis and John Griesemer earlier this month hired another Griesemer, and along with him came world-class credentials.
Stephen M. Griesemer was named the family-owned company’s general counsel and vice president of business development, joining his brother, Vice President John Griesemer, and uncle, CEO Louis Griesemer. Stephen Griesemer graduated with distinction from Yale University and earned his Juris Doctor at Notre Dame Law School, before becoming senior associate with international law firm Baker & McKenzie in Chicago.
Louis Griesemer said those credentials took precedence over the new hire’s name.
“Stephen has very impressive credentials. I think that was really the overriding thing,” Louis said. “The family connection may have been more of his reason to move here than it was our reason to hire him. He wouldn’t be working here if he wasn’t eminently qualified – maybe even overqualified – to be on our management team. I don’t know that I thought about (the family connection) too much when I hired him.”
John Griesemer said another executive was needed to handle the company’s increased workload.
“He was brought in because of our growth,” he said. “We needed some additional support. Our growth has been multifaceted, with the participation with Willow Brook Foods, additional underground development, and the above-ground development moving forward. There’s been growth really in all areas of the company.”
In his new position, Stephen Griesemer will work with outside attorneys on company legal issues, as well as help to bring in new tenants to the company’s nearly 2 million square feet of underground warehouse, distribution and manufacturing space along Highway 65 between Division and Kearney. He also will work on in-house leasing and property matters.

Coming home
Stephen Griesemer said the decision was a long time in the making.
“We’d been talking about it for a number of years, the need for more senior level management at the company as a way of continuing to grow. But the final decision was made last summer, and then I worked for Springfield Under-ground from Chicago for a while and came here in November,” he said.
Leaving an international law firm with more than 3,000 lawyers for the family business might seem like an unusual career choice, but Griesemer said the new job has distinct advantages.
“My brother and I have been good friends for a lot of years. When you walk into work every day and you’re working with your best friends, that is really a great advantage,” he said. “It’s much more than just a job or even owning your own business, because it’s something you feel some responsibility toward like your own family. I think you have a deeper commitment to it than you do when you’re just working at a large law firm.”
In addition to the three Springfield executives, John and Stephen have a cousin, Damian, who works as the plant manager for Joplin Stone Co., a wholly owned subsidiary in Joplin.
And though familiarity may breed contempt, it doesn’t seem to have had an adverse effect on the Griesemers.
“I think there are a lot of stories out there about families having problems working together, but we really get along very well and really enjoy working for one another,” Stephen Griesemer said. “We don’t seem to have the challenges or the problems that a lot of people think of when they think about working with family.”
Having the Griesemer moniker doesn’t guarantee a position with the company, though.
“I think from a business perspective we look for qualified candidates wherever we can get them,” Louis Griesemer said. “There’s so many Griesemers to choose from. If we wanted to populate the company with family members, we could do that if that was the objective.”

Above ground
Meanwhile, company officials are looking to secure tenants for some 500 acres above the underground facility.
Zoned by the city as Planned Development District No. 229, it will eventually include commercial, manufacturing, retail and residential space, John Griesemer said.
Previous negotiations with Wal-Mart for a store in that development are at a standstill.
“We have interest from other large retailers, and we continue to have ongoing interests, but there’s nothing that I can announce today,” he added.
The land has received sewer lines and detention basins in anticipation of those future developments.
Of the 506 acres available to be developed, the plans call for 260 acres of manufacturing space, 70 acres of showrooms and warehouses, 47 acres of highway commercial and 26 acres of office space.
There is also room for expansion below ground.
The 2 million square feet that is developed, of which only 70,000 square feet is not occupied, represents only about 20 percent of the company’s underground property.
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