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.

emmet pierson – second vice chairman

Emmet Pierson, Jr. is president and CEO of Community Builders of Kansas City (CBKC) where he is charged with developing and implementing CBKC’s integrated entrepreneurial business model, forging new partnerships, designing new solutions and strengthening bonds that will enable the organization to convene communities, increase resources and empower families and neighborhoods in underserved communities.

Pierson was most recently a consultant at North 40 Development, where he advised economic development organizations, including CBKC, on mixed income housing, public / private partnerships, project management, redevelopment strategies, community and economic development planning and development of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) projects.

Pierson has served as a two- term commissioner of the Port Authority of Kansas City, chairman of the Port Authority / Isle of Capri /Ameristar Economic Advancement Fund and a recently retired member of the Board of Directors for the Black Community Fund. He is the former chairman of the Lee’s Summit Housing Authority. Pierson is a past board member of the National Congress for Community Economic Development.  Pierson presently serves on UMKC’s Board of Trustees and was recently recognized in Missouri Ingram’s Magazine 2023 Class of 50 Missourians You Should Know.

Pierson, a lifetime Kansas City, Mo., resident, graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of General Studies in Human Biology degree. He currently resides in Lee’s Summit with his wife and two children.

carson ross - secretary

Carson Ross, a resident of Blue Springs, Missouri for over 50 years, served as the city's first African American Mayor and retired in April 2024 after 16 years of dedicated service. He most recently chaired the Mid-America Regional Council Board and holds various leadership roles in local organizations, including the Eastern Jackson County Betterment Council and the Little Blue Valley Sewer District. Ross has extensive experience in public service, having been elected to the Blue Springs Board of Alderman in 1981 and serving 14 years in the Missouri House of Representatives. A Vietnam Combat Infantry War veteran, he has received 2 issuances of the Valorous Unit Award among other numerous awards for his civic contributions, including recognition as one of Kansas City’s most influential African Americans. In addition to his public service, Ross had a long career with Hallmark Cards after graduating from Rockhurst University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and currently operates a business at the Lake of the Ozarks. Ross recently remarried in 2023 after the passing of his first wife, and they have four daughters, six granddaughters, and soon to be four great grandsons and a great granddaughter.