RAC President and CEO Vanessa Cooksey Named to Titan 100 List

January 30, 2024

Categories RAC News

Vanessa Cooksey, president and CEO of the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis (RACSTL), has been named to the 2024 St. Louis Titan 100 list. The program recognizes the top 100 CEOs and C-level executives in St. Louis who demonstrate exceptional leadership, vision and passion. Cooksey will be honored at the Titan 100 awards celebration on April 18, 2024, at The Armory. 

“The Titan 100 are visionary leaders that inspire the St. Louis business community. These preeminent leaders have built a distinguished reputation that is unrivaled in their field. We are humbled to recognize the Titan 100 for their efforts to shape the future of the St. Louis business community,” says Jaime Zawmon, President of Titan CEO.  

Since taking the reins at RACSTL in 2020, Cooksey has made it her mission to ensure a full creative life for every St. Louisan.

“Vanessa continues to lead the elevation and evolution on how St. Louis thinks and talks about artists and arts organizations in a way that truly honors and reflects the economic value-add of their creativity,” says Susan Conrad, nominator of Cooksey.   

Under Cooksey’s leadership, RACSTL was awarded $10.6 million in federal pandemic funding from the City of St. Louis to help support the arts and culture sector. In 2023, RACSTL granted nearly $4.5 million in funding to local artists, arts programs and arts organizations, one of the largest grant distributions in RACSTL history.  

“We congratulate all the Titan 100 winners. It’s an honor to recognize this special group of leaders in the St. Louis community,” says Adam Herman, partner at Wipfli. “We appreciate the lasting impact each leader has made, and continues to make, in building organizations of significance both here in St. Louis and abroad. Your ingenuity and creativity have set you apart, and the honor of being seen as an industry Titan is most deserved.”