St. Louis is home to dozens of companies listed on various stock exchanges in the U.S., with market capitalizations ranging from over $500 thousand to more than $40 billion. Among these public companies, Greater St. Louis is home to 19 Fortune 1000 headquarters, of which 9 are Fortune 500. Greater St. Louis is also home to some of the nation’s largest private companies, several listed among Forbes’ America’s Largest Private Companies such as: 16-Enterprise Holdings; 59-World Wide Technology; 65-Edward Jones; 66-Graybar Electric; 72-Apex Oil; 141-McCarthy Holdings; and at 180-Schnuck Markets. According to data compiled by the St. Louis Business Journal in 2014, St. Louis’s 25 largest international companies had international sales of over $129 billion in 2013. St. Louis companies are also ranked nationally as best places to work, most innovative, and Inc. magazine’s list of America’s 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies 2015 ranks include 41 companies based in the St. Louis metropolitan area; 20 St. Louis-based firms ranked in the top 2,000: St. Louis is also home to many aerospace and aviation companies including Gateway Jets, Advanced Aerospace Technologies, Aeronavdata, Bickel Air, Ellason Weather Radar, Fregata Systems, GKNAerospace North America, Saberliner Services, Valent Aerostructures, Northrop Grumman Systems, and Summit Air. The State of Missouri is a top 10 state for aerospace manufacturing attractiveness according to a 2015 report by PwC, and it is home to major companies such as GKN Aerospace, LMI Aerospace and PAS Technologies. On the defense side two major facilities of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security including their military aircraft headquarters, numerous logistics contractors supporting the Defense Logistics Agency, and Scott Air Force base is located just across the Mississippi River in Illinois. Access to both coasts, major international and domestic airport access, a highly skilled workforce and attractive tax structures make St Louis a very strong candidate for future growth in virtually all manufacturing and industry sectors. The fuel for this growth will come from a highly trained and motivated work force, heavily dependent on leadership to sustain growth into the future.