{"id":12367,"date":"2026-06-03T10:56:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T15:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/?p=12367"},"modified":"2026-06-03T11:03:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:03:37","slug":"mowest-board-of-governors-launches-presidential-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/03\/mowest-board-of-governors-launches-presidential-search\/","title":{"rendered":"MoWest Board of Governors launches presidential search"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-3340 size-fusion-200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/06\/MWSU-Seal-200x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/06\/MWSU-Seal-66x66.jpg 66w, https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/06\/MWSU-Seal-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/06\/MWSU-Seal-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/06\/MWSU-Seal-310x310.jpg 310w, https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/06\/MWSU-Seal.jpg 336w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>June 3, 2026\u2013The search for the seventh president of Missouri Western State University is officially underway. The Board of Governors is accepting applications and has appointed a search committee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe are looking for a mission-driven servant leader with a deep commitment to public higher education,\u201d said Bill Grimwood, chair of the Board of Governors and chair of the search committee. \u201cHe or she will understand the current higher education landscape, and put MoWest in a position to succeed in that landscape. MoWest is poised to do great things, and I\u2019m confident that we will attract a lot of worthy candidates.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The president serves as MoWest\u2019s chief executive and administrative officer, shaping the University\u2019s vision, setting its strategic direction and advancing the institution\u2019s mission and long-term success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Board of Governors also announced membership of a search committee composed of board members, faculty, staff, students and community members:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chair: Bill Grimwood, MWSU Board of Governors and Chief Information Officer, Hillyard Companies<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Todd Michalski \u201992, MWSU Board of Governors and Senior Vice President-Sales and Marketing, Gray Manufacturing<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lisa Norton, MWSU Board of Governors and CEO, BioZyme Incorporated<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Natalie Hawn \u201900, President &amp; CEO, St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dr. Kelly Henry, Professor and Department Chair, Psychology<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kathy Kelly, Past President of Staff Association and Administrative Coordinator, College of Business and Professional Studies<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jana Laipple, Assistant Vice President of Finance and Administration<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unyque Mallett, Student Government Association Vice President<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monty Smith, President of Faculty Senate, Professor of Criminal Justice and Graduate Program Director<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mike Poore, CEO of Mosaic Life Care<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zack Workman \u201974, retired business owner and President, MoWest Gold Coat Club<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Information about the search can be found on MoWest\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/presidential-search\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Presidential Search website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy announced her retirement May 1 after six years at MoWest, including five years as president. Patt Lilly is serving as interim president until the next president takes office.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Missouri Western State University is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. MoWest is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit <\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">missouriwestern.edu<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>June 3, 2026\u2013The search for the seventh president of Missouri Western State University is officially underway. The Board of Governors is accepting applications and has appointed a search committee. \u201cWe are looking for a mission-driven servant leader with a deep commitment to public higher education,\u201d said Bill Grimwood, chair of the Board of Governors and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[48,50],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12367"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12370,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12367\/revisions\/12370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}