The Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation is now fully staffed and ready to assist businesses.
Donna Litton in mid-March was named executive director of the nonprofit agency, which works to attract new businesses to the county and help existing ones expand.
She replaced Todd Tracy, who became executive director of the Center for Workforce Development at East Central College in Union.
Litton said her first main goal after starting her new job was to hire a business lending officer, and Ben Brown, 47, a Festus native who has a wealth of experience in the local banking scene, started May 16.
Litton said the job opening attracted a couple of applicants, but her past experience working with Brown led her to reach out to him and ask whether he might be interested.
“None of the other applicants had SBA (Small Business Administration) lending experience and that’s the No. 1 qualification for this job,” Litton said. “I worked with Ben previously at Eagle Bank and Trust (now Enterprise Bank) for years, and we worked very well together. The more we talked about the job, the more I was convinced he was the one.”
Brown’s hiring brought the EDC staff up to its full complement of four.
He is being paid a salary of $85,000 a year.
The position had been vacant for some time, Litton said, and Tracy was performing those duties.
The SBA lending officer acts as a go-between, facilitating those federally backed loans between banks and business owners.
“It works all kinds of different ways,” Brown said. “We at the EDC have the ability to reach out to entrepreneurs and business owners. Those people also come to us.
“And the banks can let us know about business owners or prospective business owners seeking loans who would benefit from the SBA loan program.”
Brown said he’s had a lifetime of experience with small business, as his late father, Mel, owned Brown Plumbing for more than 40 years.
“Before they married, my mom (Lynn) was a beautician and ran her own shop,” Ben Brown said. “When Dad started his own business, Mom kept his books. And my brother owns another small business, Robert D. Brown Funeral Home in Hillsboro.”
After graduating from Festus High in 1993, Ben Brown said, he knew he didn’t want to be a plumber, so his father pushed him in another direction.
“Dad dealt with Eagle Bank, which was a relatively new branch at the time, and he knew they needed help. So he told me to go there and apply.
“I was only 18, and I had only two previous jobs – working for my dad and working at Subway. But I went in and applied, and I was hired as a bank teller.”
Brown said he worked part-time while earning an associate degree from Jefferson College, then returned to Eagle Bank during breaks while he pursued a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan.
After graduation, he said, he was hired full-time at Eagle.
“I worked in different capacities, moving up the ladder, and at different branches, including De Soto and Arnold. I also worked in business development for Jefferson County with Eagle,” he said, all the time making contacts that would serve him well in his current position.
“In 2000, I started working with Donna Litton while I was at the Eagle branch in Arnold,” he said. “She has quite a lot of energy. We had a great working relationship for seven years.”
In 2007, Brown went to National City Bank (now PNC) and worked at branches in Fenton, De Soto and Herculaneum.
“After I left PNC, I got out of the banking field,” Brown said. “I also moved to the Chicagoland area and started working for MarketSource, a sales acceleration company.”
He said he worked as part of a team with various brands, including LG, visiting retailers and working with their employees to bolster sales.
“It’s kind of an HR (human resource) function,” he said. “It costs money to hire, train and employ people. Sometimes it makes sense to outsource that.
“I learned a lot about business from another side, and the importance of team-building.”
He said the job entailed a great deal of travel, but in 2022, he decided to relocate back to the St. Louis area.
He and his spouse, John, and their dog, Linus (“possibly the smartest Shih Tzu Poo ever,” he said) settled into a house in Oakville. Brown said he was working virtually for MarketSource when Litton came calling.
“I’m really excited about this,” Litton said of recruiting Brown to her team. “We’ve visited a lot of people over the last few weeks – not only businesses but county and municipal officials – and have gotten great receptions.”
Brown said he also is enthused.
“I know Jefferson County and I want to put it in the best possible light,” he said. “I’m looking forward to this challenge.”