The Coordinating Board for Higher Education (CBHE) selected new officers and named new members to the Commissioner’s Advisory Group during its Dec. 7 meeting.
Gary Nodler, Hollie Elliott, and Allen Brooks were selected to serve as officers in 2023. Nodler will serve as chair, Elliott as vice chair, and Brooks as secretary. Coordinating board officers are selected by the board annually and serve a one-year term.
Nodler, a veteran of the U.S. Army and Missouri National Guard who served in the Missouri Senate from 2003 to 2011, was appointed to serve on the CBHE by Gov. Mike Parson in August 2018. He served as the board’s vice chair in 2021 and 2022.
During his time in the Missouri Senate, Nodler served as a member of Gov. Bob Holden’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, Assistant Majority Floor Leader, and chairman of the appropriations and education committees. Nodler later served on the Joplin School Board.
In 1989, he was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to serve as Regional Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). In 1991, he was appointed by the president to represent the SBA on the Rural Policy Working Group of the Economic Policy Council at the White House.
Nodler succeeds Gwendolyn Grant, of Kansas City, who served as chair for the past year.
“I am honored to serve on this board,” Nodler said. “The future of higher education and the commitment to develop our workforce and increase both the quality of workers and the opportunities that exist for them in Missouri is one of the most important functions of state government. I am also very proud of the staff at the department. They focus on the future and making our department a better place to work as well as improving efforts to serve the people of the state of Missouri."
Along with the new officers being named, six new members were selected to join the Commissioner’s Advisory Group. The group meets quarterly and includes representatives from community colleges, Council on Public Higher Education members, and the University of Missouri System. Each member serves a two-year term.
New members include Shawn Strong, of State Technical College of Missouri; Clif Smart, of Missouri State University; John Moseley, of Lincoln University; Kimberly Beatty, of Metropolitan Community College; Katricia Pierson, of Crowder College; and Brent Bates, of State Fair Community College.
Find more information about the coordinating board, including the Dec. 7 board book, at https://dhewd.mo.gov/cbhe/.