Tech group aims to bolster local industry

Nick Lofaro: Funding a small staff is a short-term organization goal.

After a quiet start to its formation this year, an organization focused on the technology industry is ready to attract attention.

Springfield Tech Council, a 501(c)(6) business association, publicly debuted at a July launch party at Springfield Underground. It was the first of several planned events for the group, which was formed in January through the merger of The Association of IT Professionals – Ozarks Chapter and The Mid America Technology Alliance. However, STC officials decided to postpone additional event gatherings for a few months as the delta variant of COVID-19 spread through the Springfield area. 

But as the COVID-19 case counts have declined in recent months – the seven-day average is 40.86 as of Oct. 19, down from over 200 in late July, according to Springfield-Greene County Health Department data – events for STC have returned. The organization, whose mission is to unify and amplify the professional tech community in the Ozarks, has held a lunch-and-learn session, a breakfast and a happy hour in the past couple of weeks.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to get other events out there,” said Springfield Tech Council board President Nick Lofaro.

The new group plans to host annual awards honoring excellence in technology, an annual tech expo, quarterly leadership exchanges and workshops, and monthly member mixers and programming, as well as quarterly leadership discussions and workshops, officials say. The organization leaders also plan to be active in political advocacy for tech.

Sherry Coker, executive director of Ozarks Technical Community College’s Center for Workforce Development, is a board member and event coordinator for STC. While the organization serves as a networking opportunity, it also aids companies looking for resources or employees connected with the IT industry.

“Imagine being a small-business owner and not having any idea of where you go for resources,” she said. “We want to take people who have no computer skills and bring them into a community that shows them all the different resources that are available to them, so they don’t feel ignorant or stupid, because technology is a whole new vocabulary for a lot of people.”

The organization also looks to have professionals share insight at events regarding issues affecting the industry, such as cybersecurity or competing on a global scale, Coker said. Additionally, posting jobs and resumes is a goal to meet growing tech workforce needs.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Technology 2030 Report, commissioned by Economic Leadership LLC and released in September, said the tech industry contributes 412,000 direct and indirect jobs to the state’s economy, or roughly 14% of the workforce. Average earnings for Missouri tech workers in 2020 were $112,100, nearly double the average for all workers, according to the report.

Come together
Lofaro, who is chief information officer at Guaranty Bank, was formerly president of AITP before it merged this year with MATA, which was headed by Jason Arend.

STC Vice President Arend said MATA was very much focused on policy, doing lobbying work for computer science education reform, while AITP was heavily into professional development for IT workers.

“We had found in the last few years that the tech community was becoming segmented and a little siloed off. There was good reason for that. Groups were popping up and filling very niche needs and industries within the market,” Arend said, noting they focused on areas such as web development, networking and data centers.

Representatives of the organizations began serious discussions last year to unite, Arend said.

“The combination of AITP and MATA was attractive where we could eliminate both overlap and redundancies but really bring together the experience and volunteers on both sides to build something much stronger,” he said. “It ended up being perfect timing.”

The July ribbon-cutting and public launch event was held at Bluebird Underground LLC, which operates a data center in Springfield. The data center is owned by Columbia-based Bluebird Network LLC.

Along with Pitt Technology Group LLC and website design and digital marketing firm Mostly Serious LLC, Bluebird is one of three founding investors of STC. Officials declined to disclose the companies’ investments and STC’s current membership volume. The organization reported 50 members in May for Springfield Business Journal’s list of the area’s largest industry networking groups.

“As a founding investor of the STC, we not only support them financially, but have and will continue to host events at the Bluebird Underground data center,” Bluebird Network President and CEO Michael Morey said via email.

Morey said Bluebird’s investment helps ensure STC has resources to unite local technology professionals, educate them in a meaningful way and bring them to a shared table. The company previously supported AITP and Springfield as a community, he said, adding this investment continues that commitment.

“This allows Bluebird to learn how other local companies can support us, and how we can empower them,” Morey said.

Building membership
STC hasn’t launched paid membership yet, Arend said, adding it’s free to everyone in the tech community for 2021.

“We thought it was important to prove ourselves to our membership and our IT base,” Lofaro said. “So, we said we’re going to offer everything that we do in 2021 for free. We’ve just within the last 30 days published our membership pricing schedules for individuals and organizations.”

The fee for individuals in 2022 is $99 through Feb. 28, after which it will jump to $199. The annual fee for students will remain $99 for the year, while company rates range $500-$6,000 based on the number of full-time employees.

Coker said the group wants individuals, but particularly companies, to help it reach a 250-member goal by the end of next year.

“When you’re building community, it’s easier to do from the top down to the bottom up. But we’re tackling it from both directions,” she said. “We want companies to be invested because they have the most to gain by having educated, informed and connected employees.”

Money generated by membership fees will help fund a small staff, which Lofaro said is a short-term goal.

“Hopefully within the next six months, we’ve got enough backing to pull the trigger on something like that,” he said.