At its April 1 meeting, the Missouri State University Board of Governors voted to hire Kristan Gochenauer as secretary of the board, effective July 1.
The secretary to the Board of Governors works directly for and with the board performing operational and administrative details and functions that require thorough knowledge of university policies, procedures and operations and an understanding of the university’s role within the community.
For the last 11 years, this position has been part-time and filled by John McAlear. Prior to that, McAlear served as director of internal audit and also served as secretary of the board. For the last five years, Marilyn Dennis, former executive assistant to the president, has also been assisting part-time with many of the duties covered in this positon.
The board voted unanimously to combine the two part-time positions into one full-time position, which will pay $62,000.
“John and Marilyn have done an outstanding job of handling the business of the board,” said Missouri State President Clifton M. Smart III. “Since they both plan to fully retire this summer, it was the ideal time to consolidate this important work into one full-time position. I’m confident that Kristan will serve the board and the university very well.”
Gochenauer brings secretarial, higher education experience
Gochenauer, who has more than 20 years secretarial experience with 16 years in higher education, has served as executive assistant to the president at Missouri State since 2011.
Prior to working in the president’s office, Gochenauer worked as an executive assistant to the dean of the College of Health and Human Services from 2007-10. From 2010-11, she worked for Mercy Health System as an executive assistant.
She worked as executive assistant to the Foundation Board at the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac from 2002-07 and as the matching gift coordinator at Bowling Green State University in Ohio from 2000-02.