MOHELA board appoints new officers

BYLINE: Christopher Tritto

The Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) board met Nov. 4 and elected new board officers.

John Smith, a public representative from St. Charles, is now chairman of MOHELA. He takes over from John Greer, a retired banker who served as vice chairman and then became interim chairman Oct. 26 after former chairwoman Karen Luebbert resigned from the board.

Gregory Upchurch will serve as vice chair. Upchurch is a St. Louis lawyer who holds a seat based on his role as a member of the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education.

Tom Reeves , president of Pulaski Bank in St. Louis, will serve as treasurer.

Randy Etter , executive director of the Advanced Technology Center in Mexico, Mo., will be board secretary.

All four officers are appointees of Gov. Matt Blunt. Greer, the longest-serving member of the board, no longer holds a role as an officer. He was originally appointed by the late Gov. Mel Carnahan and reappointed by former Gov. Bob Holden, both democrats.

The board also appointed Executive Director Raymond Bayer Jr. to serve as assistant secretary. Controller Penny Hagan was selected as assistant treasurer.

Four MOHELA board members resigned between mid-September and the end of October amid discussions and the controversial vote to approve Blunt's plan to sell a large portion of MOHELA's loan portfolio and use the proceeds for building projects on state college and university campuses. The board, heavily weighted with Blunt appointees, approved the plan Sept. 27. That plan, known as the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative, must receive legislative approval to go into effect.

Two seats on the seven-member board remain vacant.

MOHELA was created by the state legislature to ensure access to higher education through the availability of affordable college loans. The authority uses money raised through bond sales to purchase and service college loans made by banks, thereby allowing those banks to issue additional student loans.