LORE grows investment fund to roughly $750K

Leaders for Ozarks Region Evolvement, or LORE, has increased its investment fund to carry out its regionalism mission that includes workforce development, quality of life and branding.

LORE Executive Director Allison Cash was interviewed yesterday by Springfield Business Journal Executive Editor Christine Temple. The interview was part of SBJ's People You Need to Know series held live at The Backlot, Alamo Drafthouse Springfield's restaurant and bar.

Asked by Temple to identify LORE's current investment fund level, Cash said "three-quarters of a million."

That's up from $445,000 in March 2025, when the organization unveiled its membership, according to past SBJ reporting. 

The extra funding is going, in part, toward a "regional identity" project involving Springfield marketing firm All True LLC. LORE recently announced the selection of All True from a field of more than 10 companies that responded to a request for proposals, according to past reporting. 

Cash said the "ballpark figure" for the project cost is $250,000. She said the project with All True has roughly five phases.

"At the end of that, there will be a name," Cash said, referring to a shared identity for people who live in southwest Missouri. "There will probably be some sort of creative identity like [a] logo, but that's not really what's important. It's the process we're going to go through to get there, to make sure that it's representative of the region."

Cash said the goal for the All True project is to wrap up by year's end.

"There's a giant conveyor belt between now and the end of the year, and it will come out with some sort of region name and identity, but there's a lot of work between now and then," she said. "Because there are a lot of disparate ways we describe the region today, there's not a cohesive narrative. So, there's an opportunity for us to create that regional identity for the region."

Cash, who is three months into the role of executive director of LORE, said she was drawn to the position by the job description. She joined LORE after a career in the food and beverage industry, most recently serving as chief commercial officer for global beverage and ingredients company Finlays Solutions, which has its U.S. headquarters in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

"I spent a lot of time in the food and beverage industry," she said. "I really was in that space and was ready for something different."

She added, "I read about LORE and saw the position, and I was like 'I could do that job.’”