By Shannan Henderson

The UMKC Foundation Board of Directors has four new members, all of whom joined in January 2018.

The Board of Directors is the governing board that helps oversee and advise the UMKC Foundation and is made up of various business, community and civic leaders within Kansas City.

Kevin Bryant

Kevin Bryant is serving as the Board Treasurer and is currently the senior vice president of finance and strategy and chief financial officer of KCP&L, an operating subsidiary of Great Plains Energy, Inc. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Bryant’s goals as treasurer include building upon the collaboration between the University and the Foundation, working with the Foundation President to identify the most impactful near- and long-term goals, and being a vocal and respected advocate for both UMKC and the Foundation with the broader Kansas City community.

Ryan Rapp

Ryan Rapp serves as vice president of finance for the University of Missouri System and was appointed to the board by UM System President Mun Choi.

“I am very pleased to serve on the UMKC Foundation Board,” Rapp says. “I look forward to providing my expertise and insight to the Foundation and supporting UMKC.”

Marny Sherman

Marny Sherman is president of the Sherman Family Foundation. She has been involved with the UMKC community for a long time and her husband, John Sherman, recently became an emeritus director to the Foundation’s board. Longtime champions of UMKC, the Shermans received the Award of Distinction from the UMKC Foundation in 2016.

Frank Wewers

Frank Wewers is the founder and former president of Manning Systems. He currently serves as principal consultant and president of FLI-TEK Consulting, which provides strategic and tactical advice for manufacturing and distribution logistics, component sourcing and consulting in the gas sensing/analyzer industry. Frank is also a 1969 alumnus of the Henry W. Bloch School of Management.

“An MBA from the Bloch School changed my life,” Wewers says. “Without having affordable higher education available to me, my success and quality of life would have been diminished significantly. My family did not have funds to help with my higher education, so I want to see others who have financial challenges benefit from the same educational opportunity that I had.”

Jay Wilson, Interim President

Jay Wilson has been named as interim president and is succeeding Steven Norris, who accepted a position at Inova Schar Cancer Institute in Falls Church, Virginia, at the end of March.

Wilson previously served as assistant vice president of the UMKC Foundation where he led fundraising efforts for UMKC health sciences on the Hospital Hill campus.

“It’s an honor to have been asked to serve as the interim president of the UMKC Foundation,” Wilson says. “My top priority is to work with our Board of Directors, Interim Chancellor and Provost, Dr. Barbara Bichelmeyer as well as our incoming Chancellor, Dr. C. Mauli Agrawal, to grow the relationship between UMKC and the Foundation so we will be ready to meet the demands that will be presented to us in our next capital campaign.”

If you would like more information about the Foundation, ways to give and ways to get involved, please visit www.umkcfoundation.org.