Board of Trustees

Roy Blunt was elected by the people of Missouri to the United States Senate in 2010. Less than one year after he was sworn into the US Senate, Blunt was chosen by his colleagues to serve as a member of the Senate leadership as the vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. From 1996 to 2008, the people of southwest Missouri overwhelmingly elected Blunt seven times to the US House of Representatives. Before serving in Congress, he was a history teacher, a county official, and in 1984 became the first Republican elected as Missouri’s secretary of state in more than fifty years. Senator Blunt also served four years as the president of his alma mater, Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. He has been a Society trustee since  2005.

Robert M. Clayton III, a sixth-generation Missourian, is a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District. Clayton was previously chairman of the Missouri Public Service Commission and a partner at Clayton and Curl, LLC. Elected as a state representative in 1994, Clayton held an eight-year tenure in the Missouri House of Representatives. He sponsored the house companion bill to legislation that created the Missouri Historic Preservation Tax Credit, which encourages investment in historic buildings. A resident of Hannibal, Clayton is involved in many local organizations, including Affordable Community Education, a locally based organization supporting a community college campus in Hannibal, and Trinity Episcopal Church. He has served as a State Historical Society trustee since March 2013.

Anne E. McGregor is a third-generation owner of Herschend Family Entertainment, an entertainment outlet dedicated to creating and sustaining welcoming destinations for family adventure, fun, and memory-making. Silver Dollar City, Dollywood, Stone Mountain Park, and the Globetrotters are among the properties Herschend owns and operates. McGregor serves as chair of the Herschend Family’s philanthropic investment arm, the Neighbor Company, which offers a unique and innovative way to underscore the culture of the family while working to affect positive change in the world. She is also active in her community of Branson and southwest Missouri, serving on area boards including the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and the Silver Dollar City Foundation. She holds a degree in sociology from Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. She and her husband, Mac, are parents of four boys. 

Brent Schondelmeyer of Independence is deputy director for Local Investment Commission (LINC), a Kansas City nonprofit concerned with neighborhood revitalization in older and low-income neighborhoods. He was a reporter and edited several publications prior to joining LINC in 1995. Schondelmeyer is the author of Independence (1986) and Building a First Class Bank: History of United Missouri Bank (1987). He serves  on the Jackson County Historical Society board of directors and is a trustee of the Mid-Continent Public Library. He has been a member of the Society’s board of trustees since 2004 and an officer since 2010.

Vicki Russell worked in various capacities for the Columbia Daily Tribune and Tribune Publishing Company for almost 40 years, retiring as Tribune publisher and corporate board member in 2016. She has chaired the boards of directors of the Missouri Press Association, Missouri Press Foundation, Columbia Chamber of Commerce, and Regional Economic Development, Inc., among other organizations. She currently serves on the corporate board of Callaway Bank (vice-chair), the board of trustees of Stephens College (past chair), and the Boone County Community Trust board of directors. She has been recognized for her leadership by the Columbia Chamber of Commerce Women’s Network (Athena Award) and by the Greater Missouri Leadership Foundation as Community Leader of the Year. She was inducted into the Missouri Press Association Hall of Fame in 2016. Her late husband, Henry J. (Hank) Waters III, was a former SHSMO officer and board member.

Beatrice B. Litherland Smith is dean emerita of the College of Human Environmental Sciences at the University of Missouri. During the 25 years she served as dean, Smith was recognized as a transformational land grant administrator. She received a Faculty-Alumni Award, as well as leadership awards at the national level, where she chaired the legislative committee of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. She was a director of the NASDAQ-traded Rival Company before it went private and also served on the First National Bank board. Her civic activities have included serving as president and campaign chair of United Way. She is a member of MU’s Jefferson Club, the Chancellor’s Fund for Excellence committee, and the Mizzou Botanic Garden Friends, and serves as an officer of the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre board. Smith owns and manages Smith Industrial Properties. She has served as a trustee of the Society since 2014.

Robert J. Mueller lives in historic Ste. Genevieve. He retired in 2001 from General Dynamics Corp. as a vice president. Mueller is a past president of the Foundation for Restoration of Ste. Genevieve, served as chairman of the Ste. Genevieve Tourism Advisory Council, and served on the board of the Ste. Genevieve County Community Foundation.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for French Colonial Studies.  He is a past president of the Missouri Science and Technology Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers. A recipient of the State Historical Society’s Distinguished Service Award in 2015, Mueller is a member of the executive committee, and assists the Society with strategic planning. He has been a trustee of the Society since 2004.

Edward W. Scavone is executive vice president of commercial banking at Central Bank of Boone County in Columbia. He works primarily with business clients in the local community. He is an active citizen in the community, currently serving on the boards of Woodhaven and Heart of Missouri United Way, and chairing the audit committee for the City of Columbia. Scavone has a degree from Chapman University. He is a US Navy veteran who served during Desert Storm. Scavone has served as a trustee of the Society since 2014.

A fifth-generation Missourian, Gary R. Kremer earned his PhD from American University in Washington, DC. Kremer has written, coauthored, and coedited 12 books. Previously, Kremer taught history at Lincoln University in Jefferson City (1972-1987) and William Woods University in Fulton (1991-2004). He also served as the state archivist of Missouri from 1987 to 1991. He has been SHSMO’s executive director since 2004.

Vivek Malek currently serves as Missouri’s 48th State Treasurer, appointed by Governor Mike Parson to be the first person of color to hold a statewide office in the history of the state. Born in Rohtak, India, he earned bachelors and law degrees in India before coming to Southeast Missouri State University at Cape Girardeau for his master's degree in business administration. Vivek earned his MBA from SEMO, and he went on to receive a Master of Law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law. Malek decided to make Missouri his home and began practicing law. In January 2020, Gov. Mike Parson tapped Vivek to serve on the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Governors.

Along with being Missouri’s Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer Malek serves on the Board of Fund Commissioners, the Missouri Cultural Trust Board, the Missouri Linked Deposits Program Review Committee, and the State Historical Society of Missouri.

Dr. Mun Y. Choi is the President of the University of Missouri System and the Chancellor of the University of Missouri-Columbia campus. In his role, he serves as the chief executive and academic officer for the four universities, including a land-grant research institution in Columbia; three diverse research universities in Kansas City, Rolla, and St. Louis; as well as a health care system and a statewide extension mission. Choi previously served as dean of engineering and then provost at the University of Connecticut. Choi earned his doctorate in mechanical & aerospace engineering from Princeton University. He holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois in general engineering. Choi has served as UM System president since March 2017 and MU chancellor since March 2020.

John R. “Jay” Ashcroft is Missouri’s 40th Secretary of State, elected in November 2016, and again in 2020. He leads an office with more than 200 employees taking an active role in its administration. Divisions in his office include: administrative rules, business services, elections, publications, archives, securities and the state library.

As a lawyer, educator and engineer, Secretary Ashcroft works to strengthen Missouri making it an even better state to live, work and raise a family.

Jay and his wife Katie have four children and reside in Jefferson City.

Megan L. Bever is associate professor of history and chair of the Social Sciences Department at Missouri Southern State University. She received her PhD in history at the University of Alabama in 2014. She is the author of At War with King Alcohol: Debating Drinking and Masculinity in the Civil War and coeditor of The Historian behind the History: Conversations with Southern Historians and American Discord: The Republic and Its People in the Civil War Era. Her articles have been published in the Journal of Southern History, Civil War History, and the Journal of Sport History. Her current project examines interpretations at state and local Civil War sites in Missouri and its border regions. Dr. Bever lives in Carl Junction, Missouri, with her husband and two children.

An experienced prosecuting attorney, assistant public defender, and county public administrator, H. Riley Bock was appointed to a six-year term on the Missouri State Public Defender Commission in 2014. Bock is currently chair of that commission. In addition to practicing law both as a prosecutor and in private practice, Bock also has taught at New Madrid County Central High School and has owned and run a farm. He has been active in a number of civic and nonprofit organizations, including the Higgerson School Historic Site in New Madrid. Bock is a past president of the State Historical Society of Missouri (1995–1998) and has served as a trustee since 1984.

Rodney Boyd is a member of the public policy and regulation practice and the government sector team at Dentons, focusing on state legal, governmental relations, and public policy services. He began his career two decades ago as a legislative assistant in the Missouri General Assembly and went on to serve as a clerk for the Missouri Supreme Court. Boyd represents numerous private, public, and nonprofit clients as their state lobbyist and legal public policy adviser. For the past decade, Boyd has served as chief governmental relations adviser for the city of St. Louis, helping it to develop policies contributing to “the Renaissance of the City of St. Louis.” Boyd regularly provides pro bono consultation for various St. Louis nonprofit organizations.

Steven Louis Brawley is a public historian noted for his research related to LGBTQIA+ and pop culture topics. He is the founder of the St. Louis LGBT History Project and executive vice president of Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS). A resident of Kirkwood, Missouri, he has 30 years of strategic not-for-profit management experience with a focus on fundraising and marketing. Brawley is the author of Gay and Lesbian St. Louis and is also a frequent lecturer at educational institutions and a presenting member of the Organization of American Historians. He is the former board chair of the University of Missouri–St. Louis Alumni Association and the Crime Victim Center of St. Louis. A sixth-generation Missourian, he has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri–St. Louis and a master’s degree from Saint Louis University.

James Leon Combs, a native of the Ozarks, grew up in the tiny village of Bradleyville and graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1960. He worked in the St. Louis area as a publisher’s representative for Jostens for twenty-five years before buying a small proprietary college. Now retired, he lives on his Beaver Creek Elk & Cattle Ranch, Bradleyville. He spends most of his time serving as board chairman of the Boys and Girls Club of the Ozarks, the White River Valley Historical Society, the Skaggs Foundation, and several other charitable boards. Combs has served as a Society trustee since 2013.

Ann Covington was the first woman to serve as chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, achieving that distinction in 1993. She was appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, in 1983 and the Missouri Supreme Court in 1989, becoming the first woman to serve on those courts. Upon retirement from the Supreme Court in 2001, Judge Covington became a partner with the international law firm of Bryan Cave LLP. She has served as vice president of the Conference of Chief Justices, vice chair of the Shelter Insurance Companies board of directors, and a member of numerous other boards and committees.  She is a curator emerita of the University of Missouri. Now retired from private practice, Covington is currently a member of the Stephens College board of trustees and is active in the Missouri United Methodist Church.

Kathianne Knaup Crane is a seventh-generation Missourian with a long-standing interest in Missouri history. She was educated at Washington University, the University of Strasbourg, France, and the Saint Louis University School of Law. Between college and law school she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea. In 2013, after 23 years on the bench, she retired as a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals, where she was the first woman to serve as chief judge of a Missouri appellate court. While on the court, she also chaired several statewide Missouri Supreme Court committees. Her prior legal career included 10 years as an assistant US attorney and eight years in private practice. Crane brings 35 years of nonprofit board experience, having served on the boards of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Nerinx Hall High School, the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis, and the Family Support Network. Crane has served as a trustee since April 2018.

Before retiring in 2016, Doug Crews spent 36 years helping guide the mission of the Missouri Press Association, the last 25 years as its executive director. He is widely recognized for his support of news organizations and his advocacy before the Missouri Legislature on behalf of journalists. Crews has served in numerous leadership positions for professional organizations such as the Newspaper Association Managers, Inc. and the National Newspaper Association. He is also a past president of the State Historical Society of Missouri (2007–2010) and the Mizzou Alumni Association (2004–2005). He has served as a Society trustee since 2004.

Steve Ehlmann is county executive of St. Charles County. Elected in November 2006, he is only the second person to serve in the position. Prior to assuming this office, he worked as the county’s director of administration. From 1989 to 1993, Ehlmann represented Missouri’s 19th District in the House of Representatives, and during 1993 to 2001 he served as the state senator for Missouri’s 23rd District, with two terms as the Republican floor leader. Ehlmann was an associate circuit judge and then circuit judge from 2001 to 2004 for the 11th Judicial Circuit. An educator and a historian, Ehlmann is the author of two books, Crossroads: A History of St. Charles County and Crossroads Bicentennial Edition, and he is deeply invested in preserving the inimitable history of the county. He has served as a Society trustee since 2009.

Sandra I. Enríquez is an assistant professor of history and the director of the Public History Emphasis at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She is a native of Ciudad Juárez and grew up on both sides of the US–México border. She received her BA and MA degrees from the University of Texas at El Paso and earned her PhD from the University of Houston. Trained as both an academic and a public historian, Enríquez is particularly interested in connecting students and public audiences with their local and regional histories. She has curated, authored, and collaborated on several projects including Show Me Missouri, the Guadalupe Centers Centennial projects, and the African American Heritage Trail of Kansas City. At UMKC she trains future professionals and cultivates public-facing student research projects about Missouri and the Midwest. She is currently completing her first book, which examines Mexican American grassroots activism and neighborhood preservation efforts in El Paso, Texas.

Richard Franklin had two careers in public service, one in education and one in the Missouri legislature. After several years of teaching science in both Missouri and Illinois, Franklin took the lead as principal of Fort Osage High School in Jackson County, a position he held for 23 years. After retiring, he was elected as a Democrat to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1988 and served 14 years until being term-limited out in 2002. During his time in the legislature, he chaired numerous committees including the Education and Secondary Education Committee and the House Budget Committee.

Michael R. Gibbons is a lawyer and partner in the firm of Gibbons Workman in Jefferson City. The practice is focused on lobbying and government relations in Missouri. A lifelong resident of Kirkwood, Gibbons was elected to the city council in 1986 and 1990 and was deputy mayor from 1990 to 1992. He served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 1993 through 2000, holding various leadership positions. Gibbons was in the Missouri Senate from 2001 through 2008, again serving in leadership, ultimately as president pro tem from 2005 to 2008. Gibbons is a director on the board of the YMCA of Greater St. Louis, a member of the Kirkwood-Des Peres Area Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Kirkwood Kiwanis Club. He has served on the Society board of trustees since 2007.

Dan Hegeman, a Missouri State Senator, former Missouri state representative and Andrew County clerk, is currently a senior community business manager for Evergy. He is actively involved in his community, serving on the board of the Second Harvest Community Food Bank and as a member of the Hope United Church of Christ council. He is the former president of the Andrew County Farm Bureau, Maryville Chamber of Commerce, Nodaway County Economic Development, Second Harvest Community Food Bank, and the Andrew County University of Missouri Extension Council. He has received the Missouri Farm Bureau’s Friend of Agriculture Award, the Mizzou Alumni Association’s Henry S. Geyer Award for Public Service, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Spirit of Enterprise Award, the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives’ Legislative Leadership Award, and the State Historical Society of Missouri’s Board of Trustees Appreciation Award. A 1981 graduate of Savannah High School, Senator Hegeman received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri in 1985. A lifetime farmer, he is part owner of a six-generation farm in Andrew County. He and his wife, Fran, live near Cosby, Missouri, and have four children: Hannah, Joseph, Heidi, and Joshua.

R. Crosby Kemper III is the former director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), where he served by presidential appointment with unanimous Senate confirmation from 2020 to 2024. While he was director, the IMLS created the REALM project (Reopening Archives, Libraries, and Museums) during the COVID-19 pandemic and administered the reestablished President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Prior to his tenure at IMLS, Kemper was the director of the Kansas City Public Library from 2005 to 2020, where he was the creator and host of “Meet the Past,” a public programming series that received seven Emmy nominations and two Emmy Awards. In 2008 he received the National Medal for Library Service in a White House ceremony. Kemper was CEO of UMB Financial Corporation based in Kansas City from 2000 to 2004 and president of UMB Bank in St. Louis from 1993 to 2000. 

A board member of numerous cultural and educational institutions, his civic contributions include serving as chair of the Missouri Commission on the Future of Higher Education,  co-founder and chair of the Show-Me Institute in St. Louis, co-founder and chair of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, and co-founder of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in Kansas City.

Jennifer Teichman Kerr was part of the sixth generation in her family to grow up on their farm in rural Lafayette County. Kerr earned a PhD in European history from the University of Missouri and taught European history courses at Columbia College for 18 years. She also developed several online courses throughout her teaching career. Kerr holds a law degree from the University of Missouri–Kansas City and currently practices law in Lexington, Missouri. She is very active in her community. Kerr has served as a past president of the Lafayette County Bar Association, and is presently serving as secretary of the board of trustees for both the Lexington Historical Association and the Wentworth Military Academy Museum.

Virginia J. Laas is professor emerita of history at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin. She has authored, coauthored, and edited five books, including Love and Power in the Nineteenth Century: The Marriage of Violet Blair and Bridging Two Eras: The Autobiography of Emily Newell Blair, 1877-1951. Laas has also contributed chapters to several books and published extensively in journals. She is a past president of the Missouri Conference on History. In Joplin, Laas has been a board member of ProMusica and Spiva Art Center. Currently, she serves on the boards of Post Art Library and Sherwood/Rader Farm Civil War Memorial Park. Laas has been a trustee of the Society since 1995, a member of the Missouri Historical Review editorial advisory board since 1999, and on the executive committee since 2003.

Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. is a US District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri. He previously served sixteen years as a judge on the Supreme Court of Missouri, including a two-year term as Chief Justice. He began his legal career with the family firm of Limbaugh, Limbaugh & Russell, in Cape Girardeau, and was elected prosecuting attorney of Cape Girardeau County in 1978. After serving a four-year term, he returned to private practice and in 1987 was appointed circuit judge for the 32nd Judicial Circuit, a position he held until his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1992. Judge Limbaugh is active in many professional, civic, and charitable organizations. He has been a Society trustee since 2004 and a member of the executive committee since 2006.

Edward C. (Ned) Matthews III of Sikeston is general partner of the E. C. Matthews Limited Partnership and his family farming operation. He has been involved with the Matthews businesses in southeast Missouri for more than forty years, serving in many roles, including officer and director of the Bank of Sikeston, and director of Amerifirst Bancorporation, Inc. and Matthews Cotton Company. He also served on the Board of Regents of Southeast Missouri State University. He currently serves as a managing partner of the Matthews Family Mineral Account, LLC. Matthews’ love of southeast Missouri history led to over six years of research that culminated in his book, Matthews: The Historic Adventures of a Pioneer Family, published in 2004 by Southeast Missouri State University Press. It was awarded the Pioneer America Society’s Fred Kniffen Book Award and the Missouri Humanities Council’s Governors Book Award.

Kenneth B. McClain is a nationally recognized trial lawyer and a shareholder in Humphrey, Farrington, and McClain of Independence. He specializes in complex toxic and mass tort litigation and has obtained one of the top 100 verdicts in the country in six of the last ten years, having been awarded verdicts and negotiated settlements totaling more than a billion dollars on behalf of his clients. McClain is actively improving his local community. His real estate projects include restaurants, renewal of the historic Harry Truman neighborhood corridor, and a commercial and retail district that has restored more than 20 century-old buildings on the Independence Square.

Robert A. (Bob) Priddy, a trustee since 1985 and an executive committee member since 2010, held the title of news director at Missourinet for forty years until his retirement in 2014. Under his leadership the statewide commercial radio network, which provides news, sports, and special programs to more than sixty stations, was known for opening state government to citizens. A historian, Priddy has written five books, three based on his popular daily radio program, Across Our Wide Missouri; Only the Rivers are Peaceful: The Missouri Mural of Thomas Hart Benton; and his latest book—a major work with coauthor Jeffrey Ball, The Art of the Missouri Capitol: History in Canvas, Bronze and Stone. He is currently completing his sixth book. It is on the history of the Missouri Capitol.

Lucinda Rice-Petrie is a charter member of SHSMO’s George Caleb Bingham Society. A dedicated supporter of the Kansas City historical community and a board member of the Historic Kansas City Foundation since 1978, Rice-Petrie has served as president of Historic Kansas City and as chair of the organization’s Heritage Hikes Program, Library Committee, and the Possom Trot’s Historical Research Committee. Rice-Petrie also became a Historic Kansas City heritage partner and received the Volunteer Service Award in 2004. She is an honorary member and past president of the Kansas City Young Matrons and served as an ex officio board member of Missouri Preservation. Rice-Petrie maintains a strong presence at her alma mater, the University of Missouri. She has served on the Student Affairs Advancement Board, as chair of the Delta Gamma Foundation Lectureship, and is a member of the Jefferson Club.

Mary Russell, a seventh-generation Missourian, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri in 2004. She was elected chief justice by her colleagues for a two-year term, which concluded in June 2015. She previously served on the Missouri Court of Appeals and was also its chief judge. A native of Hannibal, Russell practiced law there prior to her appointment to the bench. She is the recipient of the Missouri Bar’s 2016 Theodore McMillian Judicial Excellence Award. Russell was named in Ingram’s 2015 list of 50 Missourians You Should Know, was recognized as the Missouri Lawyers Media 2014 Woman of the Year, and has received many other accolades. She served on the Missouri Bicentennial Commission. Russell has served as a Society trustee since 2012.

Kurt U. Schaefer is a partner in the law firm of Lathrop Gage, LLP, and president of Lathrop Gage Consulting, LLC. He is the former Missouri state senator (2009-2016) for Missouri’s 19th Senate District, during which time he served as Appropriations Committee chairman for six years. He is the former deputy director and general counsel for the Department of Natural Resources, former assistant attorney general and former special assistant US attorney. He has litigated bench and jury trials throughout Missouri and elsewhere, and has briefed and argued over 100 appellate actions before all three districts of the Missouri Court of Appeals and Missouri Supreme Court.

William W. Sellers is the president of Journey Through Hallowed Ground, a 4-state National Heritage Area that runs from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a past president of Wentworth Military Academy and College in Lexington, Missouri, where his family lived for seven generations. He is an attorney and practiced law in Kansas City, focusing on class actions and complex litigation, and managed a number of political campaigns in Missouri, including for Congressman Ike Skelton. Active in a number of organizations, Sellers served as president of the Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States, president of the Harvard Club of Kansas City, member of the board of directors of the Harvard Alumni Association, and member of the Presidential Advisory Committee to the Coordinating Board of Higher Education of Missouri. After moving to Virginia, Sellers became an emeritus trustee in 2018.

Brian K. Snyder recently retired from Burns and McDonnell in Kansas City, where he served as a senior associate structural engineer. He has been involved in historic preservation activities as a professional engineer and as a volunteer for not-forprofit organizations and government agencies. Snyder is engaged in numerous civic, educational, and historical agencies. He is a past board member of the Jackson County Historical Society and past chairman of the City of Independence Heritage Commission. Snyder received awards from the Jackson County Historical Society in 1999 and 2008 and an annual Historic Preservation Award from the Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation in 2009. He has served as a SHSMO trustee since 2004.

Blanche M. Touhill is chancellor emerita and professor emerita of history and education at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. As chancellor from 1991 to 2002, she greatly expanded academic programs and centers at the university, built endowed and distinguished teaching professorships, and added acres of land and several new buildings and programs to the campus. Under her leadership, a new student center and new performing arts center were built, the latter of which bears her name. Touhill has written several books and continues to contribute her leadership skills to many professional and community boards. She was named St. Louis Citizen of the Year in 1997 and received the Right Arm of St. Louis Award in 2003. Touhill has been a SHSMO trustee since 1985. In 2014 she was presented the Society’s Distinguished Service Award.