Pasta company CEO speaks as Executive-In-Residence

The College of Business Administration and the Management Development Institute at Southwest Missouri State University will present the latest installment of the Executive-in-Residence Program April 16.

Timothy S. Webster, president and chief executive officer of American Italian Pasta Co. in Excelsior Springs is the featured speaker on the topic "How Some Simple Midwestern Entrepreneurs Turned the U.S. Pasta Market on Its Ear in 10 Short Years."

The day begins at 7:30 a.m. with a Breakfast with Champions presentation to community business leaders, the College of Business Advisory Council and guests at John Q's in the University Plaza Hotel.

The cost for the event, cosponsored by the Business Journal and the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, is $15 per person, including breakfast. For registration information, contact the Management Development Institute at 836-5667.

Webster will address 150 to 200 junior and senior SMSU business majors, 10-10:50 a.m. in Glass Hall 101, and will provide an open presentation to 150 to 200 more business students 1-1:50 p.m. at the same location.

Webster, a graduate of Glendale High School and Drake University, first used his entrepreneurial skills for the family petroleum and real estate business in Springfield. In high school, he managed the sales of ancillary products, brokered fuel and oversaw the construction of gas stations and convenience stores.

After graduating from Drake in 1983, Webster worked in public accounting with Deloitte Haskins and Sells, and Arthur Young and Company for six years in Kansas City.

During 1987 and 1988, Webster helped build a successful and profitable entrepreneurial advisory practice at Arthur Young and Company.

Webster was introduced to American Italian Pasta Company at Arthur Young and Company, an experience that would change his career.

After two years of providing accounting, systems design and corporate finance consulting to AIPC, Webster was asked to join the company as chief financial officer in April 1989.

Webster moved to AIPC as the facility's construction was completed, and as two New York venture capital investors, James D. Wolfensohn (recently appointed president of the World Bank) and Citicorp Venture Capital Limited, became 50 percent owners through a buyout of the original Italian pasta makers' ownership interest.

Webster had the opportunity to design and implement virtually all of AIPC's financial, administrative and information-management systems at this ground level. In early 1991, the founder resigned and Webster was formally named president and CEO.

Under his leadership, sales and profits have grown at a rate of 30 percent annually for the past five years.

Webster is a member of the Clay County Economic Development Alliance, the Kansas City Area Development Council, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Young Presidents' Organization, the Country Club Christian Church and William Jewell Fine Arts, Second Generation Group.

Recently, Webster was presented with the Drake University 1995 Outstanding Young Alumnus of the Year Award, Inc. Magazines' 1995 Regional Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the 1996 Kansas City Up-and-Comer Award.

[[In-content Ad]]