Tim Gaidis, LEED AP BD+C 

HOK

Tim is a Principal and Senior Project Designer in HOK’s St. Louis office where he leads a wide variety of project types.

As HOK St. Louis’ Sustainability Leader, Tim was part of the team that developed the OnePlan St. Louis Regional Plan for Sustainability, and he led the consultant teams that developed the City of St Louis Sustainability Plan and St Louis County’s Green and Growing long-term sustainability framework.

At Washington University, Tim co-taught multi-disciplinary classes advancing Healthy Urban Systems bringing together students from the schools of Architecture, Engineering, Biology, Sociology, Psychology and Business to produce urban proposals that by their nature were fully integrated and sustainable.

Tim has worked extensively in the St. Louis area since the mid-1980s, has seen the City evolve, and is excited to continue advancing opportunities for the unique place we call home.

Stephen Davis

St. Louis Development Corporation

As VP of Strategic Partnerships & Initiatives at St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC), Stephen Davis is making his mark on the organization — and across St. Louis. Davis is integral to retaining, expanding and attracting businesses in St. Louis, collaborating with private industry, the City of St. Louis, State of Missouri and other regional economic development organizations.

In his role at SLDC, Davis has worked with numerous major employers in the St. Louis region, including Anheuser-Busch, Boeing, MilliporeSigma, ICL and others, to add new quality jobs and retain existing jobs that pay a living wage to support families in St. Louis.

Davis serves on a St. Louis City / County Business Retention Expansion advisory committee. Earlier this month the committee received an International Economic Development Council award for business excellence in business retention & expansion.

Davis was a part of the 2020 Focus St. Louis Emerging Leaders program and is a member of the St. Louis Fashion Fund board of directors and CORTEX Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.

 Will Smith

New + Found

Will Smith, President, joined and relaunched LG Properties as New + Found in 2020. Will drives growth strategy as well as oversees the firm’s current $500M+ asset portfolio and new investments. Under his leadership, the firm has expanded its capabilities into asset management, leasing, and investments, expanded its development reach by leading the firm’s first developments outside St. Louis, and successfully launched St. Louis’ first true Food Hall to critical acclaim. Will holds an engineering degree from Georgia Tech and business and city planning degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kurt M. Weigle

Geater St. Louis, Inc.

Kurt Weigle is Senior Vice President and Chief Downtown Officer of Greater St. Louis, Inc.

Prior to his role at Greater St. Louis, Inc., Mr. Weigle served for 18 years as President & CEO of the Downtown Development District (DDD) of New Orleans. During his tenure, the DDD’s focus on quality of life and place-based economic development strategies to retain & attract Industries of the Mind led to international recognition of New Orleans as an entrepreneurial hub, named America’s Biggest Brain Magnet (New Geography) and the #1 City for Information Jobs in the U.S. (Forbes), among other accolades.

His leadership was instrumental to securing construction of the state-of-the-art University Medical Center – the lead teaching hospital for Tulane and Louisiana State University medical schools – and the $1.4 billion VA Medical Center.

Under Mr. Weigle’s leadership, Downtown New Orleans welcomed over $7.5 billion of new real estate investment – primarily residential, hospitality, and retail – and its residential population more than doubled. 

He improved Downtown New Orleans’s public safety using New Orleans police officers working secondary shifts; uniformed, unarmed Public Safety Rangers; private security patrols; and the installation of cameras connected to the New Orleans Real Time Crime Center.