Category Archives: Young Professionals Network

Meet the YPN Leadership 100: Pradeep Rajendran

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Pradeep Rajendran and Charlie Dooley

Pradeep Rajendran (second from left) attends a YPN Leadership 100 event with St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley (left) and others.

Some of the St. Louis region’s most creative minds are part of the RBC’s Young Professionals Network Leadership 100. But who are they and how are they helping to shape a stronger St. Louis? That’s what we’re addressing in our blog series, “Meet the YPN Leadership 100.” Over time, we’ll introduce you to members of our YPN community who are providing exceptional leadership, service, culture and innovation to our area.

Today’s featured YPN Leadership 100 member is Pradeep Rajendran, a senior IT project manager and consultant at AT&T. Pradeep graduated from the University of Madras, India, and earned advanced degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He volunteers with the United Way of Greater St. Louis.

Learn more about Pradeep in our interview below! Continue reading →

Meet the YPN Leadership 100: Tara Pham

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Tara Pham at Sloup

Tara Pham smiles before a Sloup event. (Submitted photo)

Some of the St. Louis region’s most creative minds are part of the RBC’s Young Professionals Network Leadership 100. But who are they and how are they helping to shape a stronger St. Louis?

That’s what we’re addressing in our new regular blog series, “Meet the YPN Leadership 100″ as we introduce you to members of our YPN community who are providing exceptional leadership, service, culture and innovation to our area.

This week’s YPN Leadership 100 member is Tara Pham. Tara is an entrepreneur and a member of Brain Drain, a collective of diverse minds dedicated to enhancing the vitality of cities and turning shared experience into shared initiative through creative projects. She graduated with a B.A. in urban planning from Washington University in St. Louis and contributes to many organizations, including Sloup, Mayor Slay’s Vanguard Cabinet, CityArchRiver and the Contemporary Art Museum.

Learn more about Tara in our interview below! Continue reading →

Meet the YPN Leadership 100: Steven Harris

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Steven Harris

Steven Harris, right, interviews RBC member David Steward of World Wide Technology.

Some of the St. Louis region’s most creative minds are part of the RBC’s Young Professionals Network Leadership 100. But who are they and how are they helping to shape a stronger St. Louis?

That’s what we’ll address in our new regular blog series, “Meet the YPN Leadership 100.” Over time, we’ll introduce you to members of our YPN community who are providing exceptional leadership, service, culture and innovation to our area.

Our first featured YPN Leadership 100 member is Steven Harris. Steven is a partner at RubinBrown LLP who concentrates on client account management and provides auditing, tax and consulting services. Steven has a B.S. in accounting from the University of Missouri – St. Louis and is involved with many area organizations, including the National Association of Black Accountants, Junior Achievement of Greater St. Louis and the St. Louis Language Immersion School.

Learn more about Steven in our interview below! Continue reading →

Good News Tuesday

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good news tuesday

What’s your good news?
By richkidsunite, via Creative Commons

In our Good News Tuesday post on the first Tuesday of each month, we highlight some of the accomplishments that members of our Young Professionals Network share with us. This month, we’d like to offer congratulations to these members of the RBC/YPN community: Continue reading →

Introducing YPN’s 2013 Professional Development Series ‘Fellows Lite’

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diversityinitiative_audienceclap

Graduates of the Fellows Program enjoy a special ceremony. Can you picture yourself here?

Many members of the Young Professionals Network are familiar with the Regional Business Council’s longtime partnership with the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative’s Fellows program, a prestigious year-long professional development curriculum.

But what’s available for YPN members without the time or budget for the full Fellows program?

Don’t worry — our new opportunity has got you covered.  Continue reading →

Good News Tuesday

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good news tuesday

What’s your good news?
By richkidsunite, via Creative Commons

The Young Professionals Network is full of exceptional professionals, from presidents and CEOs to consultants and managers. We’re proud of the diverse businesses and ideas you bring to the St. Louis region. That’s why we’ll be implementing Good News Tuesday on our blog.

On the first Tuesday of each month, we’ll highlight some of the accomplishments you share with us. To kick off the first edition of Good News Tuesday, we’d like to offer congratulations to these members of the RBC community:

New Jobs

  • Joe Mark, Enterprise Financial, Commercial Banking
  • Pam Weston, Senior Manager Corporate Giving, Express Scripts

Promotions

  • Sheldon Jackson, Director, Equifax

Civic Initiatives

  • Nino Clarkin, President, Professional Women’s Alliance

We’d love for you to be part of Good News Tuesday, too. Tell us when you’ve been promoted, if you’ve landed a brand new position or if you’ve launched another company. You can even announce your new baby, your volunteer efforts or your speaking engagements. Just email the news to ypn@stlrbc.org by the last Tuesday of the month, and we’ll consider it for publication the following week. Here’s a tentative schedule:

  • News received by Feb. 26 is published March 5.
  • News received by March 26 is published April 2.
  • News received by April 30 is published May 7.
  • News received by May 28 is published June 4.

Be sure to include full information, including pertinent names, titles, companies/orgaizations and contact information.

We’re proud of how hard our YPN members work to make St. Louis a better place to thrive, and we’re excited to sound the trumpets in congratulations. Please offer your good wishes to Joe, Pam, Sheldon and Nino, and don’t forget to share your own good news by emailing ypn@stlrbc.org!

Kathy

The Future: Filled With Talent

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YPN mentor and student

What will you share with the next generation of innovative St. Louisans?
By Victor1558, via Creative Commons

Members of the Regional Business Council’s Young Professionals Network continually look for ways to improve the region not only for today, but also for the future — and what represents the future more than talented, eager college students? Long after we’ve retired, these students will be the ones to lift St. Louis to a new level of innovation during the years to come.

But how can we best guide our students to lives of creativity, business sense and civic mindedness? One way is to mentor them, serving as role models for their professional or personal lives.

Many of us have benefitted from the wisdom and care that a mentor provides. Perhaps it was a professor who encouraged our hidden gifts, a business director who nudged us into leadership roles or a confident friend who coached us through poise and style. Regardless of the niche, someone kindly took the time to answer our questions and model the qualities that would enable our successes.

And now it’s our turn. January is National Mentoring Month — the perfect opportunity to make a difference in a young person’s life, just as someone did for us. There are many ways to become a mentor in St. Louis, including the RBC’s own Higher Education Collaboration Mentor Network as well as regional outlets. It’s a great way to share our experience and passion with students who are just as ambitious and talented as someone knew we were all those years ago.

How did a mentor enhance your own life or business path? Email your stories to ypn@stlrbc.org, and we’ll share a few in future blog posts. Let’s nourish St. Louis’ young talent together.

Kathy

New Year, New Content!

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Keep up and blog on

By Alexander Baxevanis, via Creative Commons

It seems like everyone makes resolutions in January for the year ahead, and the Young Professionals Network is no exception. But our resolutions focus more on how we can better share your stories instead of how many times we’ll hit the gym.

One way we plan to communicate better is with the relaunch of our blog content. We’re planning a bevy of content that focuses on your business and civic contributions through member profiles, tips, education initiatives and more. Beginning Tuesday, look for weekly posts right here at stlrbc.wordpress.com!

We’ll also be beefing up our activity on Facebook and LinkedIn. Through these valuable social networks, you’ll get the scoop on our blog activity, events, involvement opportunities — and maybe even what regional leader Kathy’s eating lunch with!

To stay in touch, be sure to follow us here:

We can’t wait to use these avenues to chat about what’s important to you — and to St. Louis. Bring on Tuesday!

A Snapshot of Our YPN Members

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RBC YPN 2012 SurveyWe at the Regional Business Council recently surveyed our 1200 Young Professional Network members. We conducted this survey to better understand who our members are and how they perceive the St. Louis region.

We know how talented and driven our members are so there weren’t many surprises in the survey data for us.  Even so, we suspect that many people in the St. Louis area don’t know how amazing our YPN members are and we feel that it is our duty to get the word out about them.  This is the reason we produced the survey and publish the results.

Here are a few highlights of the survey results that we feel tell the story of our YPN members.

Education
YPN members are incredibly well educated. An overwhelming majority (94%) has at least a bachelor’s degree.  45% has a bachelor’s degree. Another 39% has gone on to pursue a graduate degree and 10% has completed post-graduate studies. The St. Louis RCGA reports that 29% of people over the age of 25 in St. Louis have at least a bachelor’s degree, which is above the national average.  We don’t know of too many other professional networking groups that can boast these kinds of numbers.

St. Louis is Home
A majority of our members (51%) reported that they plan to live in St. Louis for at least the next 5 years.  They love the city and think it is a great place to live now and to raise a family later.  Top reasons cited for wanting to stay in St. Louis included: job opportunities, leadership opportunities within their companies, affordability and the family-friendly community.

YPN Membership
So why do so many well-educated professionals who are passionate about St. Louis join the RBC’s YPN?  The number one reason cited in the survey was the opportunity to meet other young professionals.  Our members genuinely want to meet new people and foster deep relationships.  They want to make new business connections and also see the YPN as an opportunity to meet company executives and community leaders.

We are really proud of our members and are always looking for quality young professionals to join our ranks.  Do you believe that you would be a good fit?  Sign up for our monthly newsletter and join us for our next event.

Kathy

What is the Young Professionals Network?

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Regional Business Council's Young Professionals NetworkDo you want to meet other people that share similar interests and career aspirations? Have you found that bars and other places that your friends hang out are not the best places for professional networking?  Where do you meet other young professionals?

In 2008 the Regional Business Council recognized the lack of opportunities for young professionals to develop quality professional and personal relationships and we launched the Young Professionals Network (YPN). Every year we host multiple events at the city’s great venues where young professionals like you can meet and develop deep relationships with your peers.

So what makes the YPN unique? We are different because of the level of talent our events attract.  The Young Professionals Network currently has over 1200 members representing 300 local companies.  The great majority of our members are between the ages of 21 and 40.

These aren’t just events where you pass out dozens of business cards and go home. Everyone in attendance is there to meet new people in the St. Louis community. Every one is a talented professional who is working hard to improve his or her career and make a difference in the city.

We also closely partner with other young professional groups in the city to help them advance their causes.  We strongly believe that business professionals should be involved in a variety of civic and professional organizations.  This includes participating in groups as members and attendees of events, but it also means getting involved at a much deeper level.

Many YPN members serve on the boards of organizations that support the arts, help alleviate poverty and sustain some of our great regional attraction (and many others). Board membership is a great way to give back to the community and build a strong professional network. We work as a facilitator to help connect young professionals with organizations that need qualified board members.

If you haven’t yet attended a YPN event, what is holding you back? Check out our calendar of upcoming events (both our own and community partner’s) and sign up for our newsletter to stay in the know.   We look forward to seeing you soon.

Kathy