Shawn foster – Chairman

Shawn Foster is a founding member of Preuss Foster Law, LLC. Mr. Foster earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance and his Master of Science degree from Central Missouri State University.  He received his Juris Doctorate Degree from University of Missouri – Kansas City.  Mr. Foster has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri – Kansas City law school for the last 18 years.  Mr. Foster is a board member and/or committee member for numerous organizations, including but not limited to, Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, Sporting Lee’s Summit Soccer Association, the Kansas City Bar Association, and the American Association for Justice.

Mr. Foster grew up in Sedalia, Missouri and currently lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri with his wife, Heather and their two children, Olivia and Jillian.

John Mulvihill - First vice chairman

John Mulvihill, a lifelong Jackson County resident, is chief of staff for the office of CEO at VMLY&R, a global advertising and marketing agency based in Kansas City, Missouri. He also serves as executive director of the VMLY&R Foundation, the company’s charitable outreach organization. John is a former board member of the Kansas City Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA) and former chairman of the Kansas City Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA).

John is the co-founder of TEDxKC, established in 2009. He is a former board member of the KCMO Police Athletic League (PAL) and recipient of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Frank Cramer Award for lifetime service to the NAIA. John graduated from Rockhurst University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Political Science.

Mark bredemeier– Treasurer

Mark Bredemeier is a Lee’s Summit, Missouri attorney with a broad background in political, government and business litigation and policy-making. Mark has served as the appointed legal advisor to the Jackson County, Missouri Legislature and as an elected member of the Lee’s Summit Board of Education and the City Charter Commission. He has been appointed to numerous local committees and task forces, including the city’s first Charter Review Commission, where he served as vice chair, and the most recent Redistricting Committee, which he chaired. Mark has been elected to various positions with Missouri Republican Party organizations and has been the GOP nominee for Jackson County Executive and Missouri Attorney General.

Before opening his own practice in 1997, Bredemeier served for 11 years as the General Counsel of Landmark Legal Foundation, a conservative non-profit public interest law firm based in Kansas City, Missouri. Mark earned his law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and is now a sole practitioner focusing on business, tort and public law litigation.

Matt HAase - Secretary

 Matt Haase serves as director of strategic relations at Kansas City University. Before joining KCU, he worked at the University of Missouri–Kansas City as senior director for external relations. Prior to his career in higher education, Haase spent 18 years as a congressional staff member for United States Senator Roy Blunt on both his House of Representatives staff in Washington, D.C., and his Senate staff in Missouri. Originally from Springfield, Missouri, he began his career on Capitol Hill in various roles, including senior legislative assistant for the Office of the Majority Whip.

In 2009, Haase moved to Kansas City where he served as the Kansas City Office district director before becoming state director for Senator Blunt. He currently serves on the Local Investment Commission and is a graduate of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Centurions program. He previously served as a member of the 16th Circuit Judicial Commission of Jackson County.