YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Local women share their journey to the top of their professions and the challenges and triumphs they faced along the way. They’re re- writing the script on success and there’s no ceiling.
My guest this week is Stephanie Stenger. She’s the president of Ron Stenger Cos., overseeing the legal and financial side of the family residential development business. She was also part of the group that in 2010 purchased the Moxie Cinema and turned it into a sus- tainable nonprofit enterprise. In recent years, she’s tackled a new industry with investments to open a marijuana dispensary. Her passion for seeing a thriving community is the thread that weaves through all her work. She followed in her mom’s footsteps on that path – they were the first mother-daughter duo to serve as pres- idents of the Junior League of Springfield. In this conversation, Stephanie talks about the importance of building friendships and connections, shaking off traditional dating definitions, and lessons learned through the seasons of life.
Below is an excerpt from the start of our conversation.
—Christine Temple, Executive Editor
Christine Temple: You’ve been in the family business now for 30 years.
Stephanie Stenger: Isn’t that crazy? I’m not that old, c’mon.
Temple: You of course handle all the legal aspects of your res- idential development company. Tell me about how you got involved in the family business.
Stenger: When I graduated from law school in 1993, 30 years ago, I was actually looking for a job at the Federal Communi- cations Commission. I went to law school at the University of Southern California, so there are a lot of people interested in the entertainment industry. And at the time, cable television was regulated, it was unregulated, then it was reregulated, and I really wanted to work there. The government took six months to get me an offer to work for them, and by that time I had moved home and was working with my dad, who had just recently started some new businesses and actually needed some help. What I found out in that six months was he kind of threw me in the deep end and sent me to City Council and sent me to talk with the local bankers and sent me to do all these things where I found out that I loved them. And I found out that I liked the family business, and I liked working with my dad. At the time, my brother wasn’t there yet.
Temple: It’s been a lot of years now and I’m sure things have changed, but you work with your dad and your brother still. What’s that like to work with family?
Stenger: I love seeing them every day. My brother is eight years younger than I am. He is a real estate broker and so he does the outside of the office stuff, and I’m a lawyer and kind of a CPA. We have a dynamic with me being the oldest and he’s the youngest that we’ve just always gotten along. My dad, he likes to say that I told people he was retired when he wasn’t retired. But he does actually work every day and he’s very involved. So, it’s great I still get to see him.
Temple: Does that work conversation bleed into family life?
Stenger: The answer to that is a big yes. Growing up, my dad, he’s actually a tax lawyer, but he was interested in real estate to begin with. In the ’70s, we moved almost every year. We would literally get in the car and drive around to open houses every Sunday. Just being around real estate was how I grew up, and I always thought it was interesting. I still like going to open houses on Sundays.
A safe room and classroom addition at Willard Central Elementary School will be used by the music, arts and athletic programs for a district that had 4,536 students last year, according to Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education figures, but school officials say enrollment is projected to grow.