Champion City's Leaders of the New School No. 2

Springfield's Greg Rogers is a community member with skin in the game and a force
to be reckoned with when it comes to city development.

He has a vision for Springfield, and looking at this young professional’s track record
for civic leadership, he clearly has the motivation to see it all to fruition.

Ever heard of The Summer Arts Festival, Derby Day at Mother Stewart’s,
or Santa Con? Rogers has had a hand in these annual events and so much
more.

Rogers sits on the boards of The Greater Springfield Partnership, The Springfield Foundation, Clark County Leadership, Convention Facilities Authority,
CEDA, and Friends of Buck Creek. He works diligently to cultivate the cultural and economic health of the city, and feels a certain way about recent national media attention in his hometown.

As he says, “We work really hard at making Springfield presentable. Business is business, and curb appeal is everything. With that said, the last several months have driven the curb appeal in the wrong direction, with poor national media for our immigrants.

We work hard to show our own community members how great downtown is. When something that’s way out of your control affects that— it's a challenge for the businesses, and it's a challenge for the soul. Our community has shown great will and strength to persevere through
things like that.”

As if pointing to the outfield before his turn at bat, the former collegiate baseball player says, “In the next few years there’s a lot of promising projects that
are in motion, it's so good that’s where we’re at.”

Rogers, a Springfield native, attended Kenton Ridge High School before earning a degree at
Carson-Newman University in Tennessee, where he played baseball for
the Eagles. After securing a bachelor’s in business management in
2009, he moved to Hilton Head, South Carolina. There he worked at
the athletic apparel brand Under Armor during an exciting and prosperous
period for the company.

Upon his return to Springfield nearly 14 years ago, Rogers felt
inclined follow in the family legacy, working with Link-Hellmuth
Insurance. He has since worked his way up to President, alongside his
step-father, Jim Murphy, acting as mentor along the way.

Link-Hellmuth’s logo is an anchor at center, with the company’s initials
on each side. The company sees itself acting as “anchor” for
the community. As is mentioned on Link-Hellmuth’s website homepage:
“Since 1894, Link-Hellmuth Insurance has been an ANCHOR in the
Springfield, Ohio community. Whether it's been providing protection
through insurance products, or actively volunteering with nonprofits,
Link-Hellmuth Insurance agents have shown leadership and dedication to
Springfield.” 

Early in his professional career, Rogers began volunteer work and networking all
around town. This included with Leadership Clark County, which he credits with
introducing him to many community leaders. That pointed him in the
direction of The Springfield Arts Council Board, where he helped organize
their special events for the Summer Arts Festival. He even served as
its Board President at one point.

As he recalls, “The Arts Council Board is one of the most hard-working ones…very goal-oriented with a high level of stress for those six weeks of the summer that make up the festival. Obviously they have a great team, and honestly, I miss those summers, a lot of work went into them and then you just have to pray it doesn't rain!”

Along with his wife, Kathryn, Rogers has stood at the helm in organizing numerous events in downtown Springfield.

“My wife and I started Santa Con because we were asked to be chair members of the United Way’s annual campaign in 2018. They appreciated our perception, reputation, and connections in the community. Kathryn and I had just gone to Manhattan to visit her sister and attended the actual, original New York City Santa Con. We asked ourselves why Springfield shouldn’t have the same, and saw a window of opportunity through our work with United Way.”

He confesses, “She is much smarter than me, and together, we have a knack for design, vision, and nostalgia. For the past three years we have coordinated Derby Day for the Kentucky Derby at Mother Stewart's Brewery, which was really the owner Kevin Loftis’ idea. This is another fundraiser we wanted Springfield to have. It also raises funds for Friends of Buck Creek, a nonprofit that works to put an emphasis on cleaning and highlighting our natural assets here. We have kind of evolved into general event work around the community such as being MC for The Springfield Foundation’s annual meeting. I’m always honored to be asked to do those things.”

He continues: “I get asked a lot about ‘why’ we do so much
‘community stuff.’ Right off the bat, I believe it makes a huge
difference in our community at this point. If we didn’t then who
would? To be a bit competitive, I like to think that if someone else
did, it wouldn’t be as good! All of our community work we do is a part
of our roots now. It has little to do with growing my actual
career…During Covid, not being able to have those events for 2 years
was a big challenge, more so on our hearts. Kathryn and I do these
events because we care a lot about the community, its nonprofits, and
what we can do to make a difference. Our first Santa Con back, after
the pandemic, saw a crazy amount of people in attendance! That really
affirmed why we’ve been doing this work.”

With this in mind, Rogers segues into speaking on the future of his
work in Springfield, and improvements he hopes to see manifest:

“I’m very honored and humbled to be part of the Expand 2029 Campaign
that the Chamber is heading up right now. Basically we’re raising
six-plus million dollars for economic development within the community.
We hope to raise this sum from current community members to
reinvest in their community for economic development, yes, but also
business development and for the future. It’s easy to get caught up in
the situations the outside world throws at us, but you lose track of
the heart and soul of what is actually going on back here in
Springfield.

Covid hit right as we were in the middle of doing another
four million dollar Expand Campaign for 2024, all the sudden we’re
going to virtual calls and yet we still hit our goal for raising that
money. Then we have this new campaign for these next 5 years, and all
this national minutiae stirs up. Which really affects the employers
here in town who are big parts of economic development in the
community. It’s been a day-to-day fight for them for the last two
months because of a bunch of outside challenges.

My point is, the last two campaigns have seen real national/international challenges that specifically affect Springfield. And we have overcome them. That’s a
testament to our leaders in the community and our stakeholders in the
community. Moving forward as far as business development, we need more
downtown businesses, more downtown and county-wide housing. But what
would really move the needle as a community would be more people.”

His passion for the overall well-being of his hometown is infectious and recalls to mind the saying: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Greg Rogers appears to be doing just that and making the future of Springfield that much brighter.