Sauget began serving as executive director in 2015, having previously served as the vice president, president and chair of the Leadership Council. In her current role, she works closely with leaders in business, industry, labor, education and government to address and lead initiatives regarding regional economic development issues.

Earlier in her career, Sauget worked in market intelligence for the 8th District Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, where she conducted numerous monetary public policy analyses, banking industry studies, and business development strategies. She has more than 25 years of experience working across industry sectors and consulting roles in strategic management, market research and executive leadership.

Sauget was previously the president of her firm, Validus Business Strategies LLC, and served as the executive director of Archview Economic Development Corp., attracting millions of dollars in new investment and creating hundreds of regional jobs in southwestern Illinois. She is an SIUE alumna, earning both bachelor’s and master’s in business administration in 1993 and 1998, respectively.

“Can you share more about the duties of the Leadership Council?” begins Pembrook.

“The Leadership Council’s mission is to unite the region for growth,” explains Sauget. “Back in 1983, community leaders at SIUE decided they wanted to form an organization that represented one voice for southwestern Illinois in business, industry, education, labor and government. Bringing all of these factors to the table helps our communities and 9 counties have a voice at the state level.”

“You have a number of large projects going on, and I’d like to talk about how these initiatives serve the Metro East,” notes Pembrook. “Let’s start with the Broadband Initiative.”

“There has been an immense need during the pandemic for connectivity pathways to allow people to work remotely, access telemedicine and learn online,” says Sauget. “The architecture that had been set up wasn’t able to handle all of that capacity, so the education committee took on that issue to help our communities.”

The committee applied for an Illinois Connected Communities grant to identify an action plan for progress toward improved broadband access in the areas of community and economic development, education, civic engagement, and healthcare.

“If you’re not connected in today’s society, it’s quite difficult to work from home and have e-learning activities for K-12 and higher education,” adds Sauget. “Not having internet connectivity and broadband is a huge problem. If we’re going to move ahead with our economic development, we must be better connected.”

“You mentioned the importance of the emerging workforce earlier,” says Pembrook. “What do you think of workforce preparation?”

“Workforce is incredibly important to our business community,” answers Sauget. “All of the major industry sectors in southwestern Illinois need workforce significantly at all levels. At this point in time, we have many amazing career opportunities available in the business community. To bring new companies here, we must fill those available jobs.”

“Pre-COVID, you spent much time in K-12 environments talking with students about careers and possible areas they hadn’t thought about,” says Pembrook. “It must be rewarding to reach out to these young students.”

“We visit all levels in K-12, from reading Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site and passing out hard hats to elementary students to getting high school students involved in hands-on demonstrations,” responds Sauget. “Getting students engaged in technology throughout different fields excites them and influences the classes they take.

“We learned that we had to start from a young age to truly bring these career opportunities forward. It’s exciting to see the light bulb go off in students when we bring speakers from different industries into the classroom.”

Tune in at 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 9 to WSIE 88.7 The Sound to hear the entire conversation.