Glen Echo Country Club President and native St. Louisan Leonard Toenjes, CAE (Certified Association Executive), is a Member of both the Missouri Athletic Club and Glen Echo Country Club (GECC). Duality is a common theme in Toenjes’ life. His dual passions for music and construction as well as his involvement with both Clubs have enriched his life.
    Toenjes has been an MAC Member since 1986 and has also enjoyed membership at GECC since 2011. For the past five years, he has been the President of GECC.
    “It has been such an honor for me as a native St. Louisan to have the opportunity to serve as President of Glen Echo the last few years,” Toenjes said. “Of all the things I’ve done, it’s just been a great honor to be a part of preserving and growing that great Club and tangentially helping the MAC.”
    In his professional capacity, Toenjes is the President of the Missouri Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), but his path to this position was atypical.
    Toenjes describes his college transcript as a “mish-mash.” After graduating from Saint Louis University High School in 1971, he immediately began attending Washington University’s music school. Once he realized he “was never going to be John Lennon,” he dropped out, but with determination, he entered a carpentry apprenticeship program. After his first day of class, his wife, Jean, who he has now been married to for 50 years, could tell he had “found his passion.”
    After graduating from the St. Louis Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship Program, he worked as a carpenter for approximately eight years and then became a teacher at the Apprenticeship Program. He took classes at UMSL and the University of Missouri Extension Service to earn his vocational teaching certificate. He then rose to Coordinator of the Apprenticeship Program before becoming the Director of Training for AGC. Once the President of AGC retired, Toenjes moved into that position. When taking this role, he received his CAE through the American Society of Association Executives.
    Toenjes is also the Chairman of the Missouri Workforce Development Board. He was appointed to the Board by Governor Jay Nixon. Governor Mike Parson appointed him to Chair of the Board in 2020.
    “The Board’s challenge is to try to communicate industry needs back to the government,” Toenjes said. “Missouri is number three in the nation as far as registered apprentices. We’re starting to see the apprenticeship model grow and that’s leading businesses to the state.”
    Part of Toenjes’ work on the Board includes changing public perception of trade schools.
    “When I dropped out of college, quite frankly, my parents were very disappointed. But today, the biggest success, is that now people have a better image of apprenticeship being a different path than college but nothing less than,” he said.
    Toenjes’ entire career has been rooted in construction, and he said it isn’t dissimilar to music.
    “Construction requires both physical strength and cognitive abilities,” just as music requires physical skill as well as intellectual abilities. “Construction truly is an art of building, just like music is an art,” he said.
    When he’s not enjoying art, Toenjes can be found enjoying the MAC Downtown Clubhouse’s steam room and workout facilities. Keisha Burns and Andrew Francis, fitness staff employees, put a program together for him, and he has stuck to it. Toenjes can also be found on GECC’s golf course hopefully twice a week, but no matter which Clubhouse he visits, he said the people are what make this partnership special.
    “The partnership has matured to the point now where it is just about people being people and Members being Members and those relationships are solid. That has been the greatest part about it,” Toenjes said. “It’s such a unique and special opportunity. I don’t think you’re going to find a relationship like that or an opportunity like that anywhere else in the St. Louis marketplace. Members have the opportunity to participate in two historic Clubs and really not feel like you’re a Member of two Clubs, but it’s almost like you’re a Member of one special group of people.”