A Little more on Peacock for those wondering where he came from.
If you think you’re seeing
Dave Peacock’s name everywhere these days, you’re not mistaken.
Two years after stepping down as president of
Anheuser-Busch, the 45-year-old St. Louis native has raised more than $100 million for the city’s Gateway Arch grounds redevelopment project. As chairman of the
St. Louis Sports Commission, he convinced lawmakers to pass $3 million in tax credits to improve St. Louis’ chances of hosting amateur sporting events. He’s also working behind the scenes to keep the Rams in St. Louis and he’s on the national advisory board for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Ohio. Locally, he has a seat on the boards of the
United Way, CityArchRiver 2015, Cardinal Glennon Foundation, Boy Scouts, Ministries@Work, Ronnoco Coffee and Schnuck Markets. Oh, and he’s the local franchisee for the smoothie chain
Jamba Juice and a part owner at a gym in Kirkwood that caters to pro athletes.
“If it’s a big impact organization or initiative,
Dave Peacock is basically going to be involved,” said
Jim Weddle, managing partner at
Edward Jones and president of the board of trustees at the United Way of Greater St. Louis.
Known for bridging the gap between A-B’s old and new regimes after its takeover by Belgian brewer InBev, Peacock has become a one-man civic booster, a closer who’s called to get deals done.
He declined to be interviewed, saying he’d rather talk about issues than himself.
“Dave’s a guy you want on the team if you’re tackling something big and important,” Weddle said. “He’s ‘can do,’ highly organized and very well informed.”
A-B’s CACHÉ
The Webster Groves native was a second-generation Anheuser-Busch employee when he joined the brewer in 1992 in the media department. He quickly rose through the ranks and was vice president of marketing before being tapped to lead A-B’s North American operations in 2008. Peacock made a name for himself as he moved up at the historic brewery and that recognition continued in the community after he stepped down as president in January 2012.
The brewery is not his only calling card, said
Walter Metcalfe, a
Bryan Cave attorney and chairman of CityArchRiver. “People know that his goals are for St. Louis.”
John Mozeliak, general manager of the
St. Louis Cardinals and a friend of Peacock’s, said he is “a connector.”
“People that get to that high profile of a position end up gaining access that others might, but I think the key point of this is what you do after that,” he said. “He has the ability to not only bring people together, but bring the right people together.”
MARKETING CHOPS
After resigning his post at A-B, Peacock barely missed a beat before ramping up his civic engagements.
He joined the board of CityArchRiver in early February 2012 and has since raised more than $100 million toward a $250 million goal. “I let him be retired for two weeks,” Metcalfe said.
Where Metcalfe thrives at corralling regulatory agencies and government bodies to the table, Peacock is skilled at understanding the consumer perspective. “He’s thinking about the visitor experience,” Metcalfe said. Other board members said that’s an outgrowth of Peacock’s work at A-B and his extensive marketing talent.
David Kemper, chairman and CEO of
Commerce Bancshares Inc., who sits on the CityArchRiver board, said Peacock brings “that A-B panache of how you market a product” to the project.
To get out the word about CityArchRiver, Peacock and
Carolyn Kindle, executive director of the Enterprise Holdings Foundation, who also sits on the board, have had key suggestions, like installing videos on screens at
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and showing ads at movie theaters. “Dave’s remarkable at seeing how to connect those dots,” Metcalfe said.
RAISING FUNDS
A longtime supporter of the United Way, Peacock has become point person for making calls to high-impact contacts “that drive the success of the campaign,” Weddle said. This year’s campaign, chaired by Cheri and
Ron Fromm, chairman of
Brown Shoe Co., raised more than $72.25 million.
As head of a small nonprofit, the Foundation for Fighting Blindness,
Jason Morrisexperienced Peacock’s impact firsthand. Introduced to Morris by Mozeliak, Peacock was the honoree at FFB’s annual dinner in 2012 along with Suddenlink’s
Jerry Kent.
The combination of names on the dais boosted the dinner’s fundraising to $485,000, more than double the $177,000 raised a year earlier. Peacock “was integral in helping us raise as much money as we had ever raised,” Morris said. Peacock remained heavily involved, he said, and is an honorary chair for next year’s dinner in February.
SPORTS CONNECTIONS
For Peacock, sports and business run deep.
A football player at Webster Groves High School, he aspired to write for
Sports Illustratedand studied journalism and marketing at the
University of Kansas. He works out regularly and is a part owner at the Central Institute for Human Performance in Kirkwood, which caters to pro athletes like retired hockey players
Chris Pronger and
Keith Tkachuk, Cardinals outfielder
Matt Holliday and former Cardinals pitcher
Chris Carpenter.
Peacock, who relies more on a smartphone than an actual office, has also been known to take meetings in a second-floor conference room above the gym.
Certainly at Anheuser-Busch, sports and beer went hand in hand. The brewery was among the top three supporters of the St. Louis Sports Commission over the years, said commission President
Frank Viverito, who got to know Peacock through the brewery and recruited him to chair the commission in early 2012.
This past spring, Peacock flexed his political muscle in Jefferson City to convince lawmakers to pass $3 million in tax credits to allow Missouri to better compete against other markets when trying to attract sporting events. “I saw it as my obligation to help those guys get this bill passed because it really sets us up in the long term to be competitive,” he told the Business Journal at the time.
Viverito said Peacock’s connections are unmatched.
“Dave can pick up the phone and call the president of
ESPN or the commissioner of the NFL or MLB or the CEO of any Civic Progress company in St. Louis,” he said. “In the halls of the Capitol, most people are there going up to legislators and introducing themselves,” he said. “Well, we had legislators coming up to us and introducing themselves to Dave.”
Viverito said Peacock helped to shape the commission’s 30 bids to host
NCAAchampionships. Just last week, the NCAA awarded the Division I wrestling championships to St. Louis in 2015 and 2017. The city also will host the women’s gymnastic championships in 2017 and 2018, Division II wrestling in 2015, women’s bowling in 2015 and 2018, and women’s hockey in 2017.
On the pro sports side, Peacock is said to be part of negotiations to keep the Rams in St. Louis.
He has the ear of Gov.
Jay Nixon, who took over negotiations with Rams owner
Stan Kroenke after the failure of last year’s arbitration between the Rams, the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, which manages the Dome, and the stadium authority.
Mozeliak said Peacock’s time at A-B gave him a strong grasp of the financial decisions that professional sports teams make.
Tom Stillman, CEO of
Summit Distributing and co-owner of the
St. Louis Blues, said Peacock is somebody who can “bridge gaps” during negotiations because he understands both sides.
“He has taken on some big, big projects,” said Stillman, who sits on the board of CityArchRiver with Peacock. “And he really keeps at ‘em.”
ENTREPRENEURIAL STREAK
In January, Peacock assembled an investor group — including sportscaster
Joe Buck and former
Saint Louis University basketball star
Scott Highmark — to bring 15 Jamba Juice locations to Missouri and Kansas. The first location opened Oct. 2 at the West County Center. While Peacock hasn’t disclosed his investment, the chain’s typical investment range is $353,100 to $639,800 per location.
Peacock is also a member of the investment committee of venture firm Cultivation Capital, with $100 million under management. And he’s an operating partner of Michigan-based private equity firm
Huron Capital Partners, which has raised $1.1 billion since 1999. In 2012, Huron acquired St. Louis-based Ronnoco Coffee and set out to double the size of the $60 million company in the next few years.
In April, Peacock joined Ronnoco’s board and he’s an investor in the company, said CEO
Scott Meader. “He’s got the best Rolodex in St. Louis,” Meader said.
And the former beer exec is quick to make a call, Meader said.
Last year, when the CORTEX research park in midtown St. Louis received approval from the St. Louis Tax Increment Financing Commission, Ronnoco board members were bewildered to see language pertaining to eminent domain in the public documents, since the company’s plant is adjacent to the CORTEX district.
Meader said Peacock stepped out of the meeting, phoned the mayor’s office and returned with the answer that Ronnoco’s property would be untouched. The call “did not reverse the course of destiny,” Meader stressed, but allayed the board’s anxiety and saved the trouble and expense of hiring lawyers.
Six months ago,
Schnuck Markets Inc. also tapped Peacock to join its advisory board. President and COO
Todd Schnuck said he was interested in mining Peacock’s knowledge not only of the beverage industry but also consumer purchasing.
He said Peacock also helped Schnucks re-focus after this spring’s data breach impacting an estimated 2.4 million customers.
“When you’re dealing with an unusual situation like that, when you can get people to provide perspective on a less emotional basis, it really helps put things in perspective and gives you a great opportunity to really focus on the business,” Schnuck said.
DRIVING BUSINESS
A common thread is Peacock’s focus on spurring growth in the region, which he treats like a full-time job.
Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, director of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, said that a year into her tenure, she received a call from Peacock, inquiring how the business community could help improve the airport.
Now, they meet regularly. Peacock plans to bring one of his Jamba Juice locations to Lambert, and he made the introductions that resulted in a recently announced
Magic Houseoutpost planned for Lambert, which he’s also helping to fund.
Peacock also has championed Hamm-Niebruegge’s effort to bring cargo planes to Lambert. “He has a lot of different people around the world that he has connections with,” she said. “Having people with that kind of global connectivity (who can say) if you’ve got five minutes can you listen to this person. That kind of stuff is invaluable.”
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