Chancellor’s Council members (from left) Nicole Adewale, Steven Harris, Ken Cella and Terry Elmendorf joined Chancellor Kristin Sobolik (center) at UMSL’s Red and Gold Day celebration marking the university’s 60th anniversary last September. Sobolik is welcoming seven new members to the council this July. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)
A broad cross section of business and civic leaders from across the St. Louis region and beyond provide advocacy, assistance and financial support to the University of Missouri–St. Louis through their work on the Chancellor’s Council.
Chancellor Kristin Sobolik; Council President Ken Cella, a principal at Edward Jones; and Vice President Steven Harris, managing partner at RubinBrown, are excited to welcome seven new members to its ranks.
KPMG Partner Sam Ganga; Bain Capital Managing Director Wayne DeVeydt; Dan Isom, Ameren’s vice president of corporate safety, security and crisis management; Lodging Hospitality Management President and Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Laughlin; Evelyn Bailey Moore, the vice president and program manager of T-7 programs at Boeing; retired Edward Jones Partner Dave Reifschneider; and Richard Winter, owner and president of Garden View Care Center – all UMSL alumni – will assume their positions on the council beginning July 1.
“The University of Missouri–St. Louis is committed to serving the St. Louis community and the state of Missouri, and we are so grateful to have the support and guidance of so many talented and creative leaders from across our region as we work to fulfill our mission,” Sobolik said. “I look forward to working with our newest members as further elevate UMSL as one of the nation’s premier public metropolitan research universities.”
Learn more about the Chancellor’s Council’s newest members:
Sam Ganga, MBA 1989, is a partner at KPMG, one of the nation’s leading accounting firms. He is responsible for business growth and leads cross functional teams to help clients launch digital businesses and deliver value through enterprise data and cloud capabilities. A strategic leader with more than 25 years of experience, Ganga is recognized not only as a subject matter expert but also as a solution-driven changemaker in his field. He previously served as president of DMI, a digital management company, and during his tenure he built multiple business units and worked with the leadership team as a mobile innovations officer. He also was the founder of Leverent, a software development company, and DMI Innovations. A graduate of St. Xavier’s College in his native India, Ganga earned an MBA from UMSL in 1989 and was honored with an UMSL Salute to Business Achievement Award from the Business Alumni Chapter in 2023. Last fall, he also delivered the keynote address at UMSL’s STLCyberCon.
Wayne DeVeydt, BSAcc 1993, is a managing director at Bain Capital and a member of the Portfolio Group for North America Private Equity. He has served as the executive chairman of the Board of Surgery Partners, Inc. since January 2020. Before that, he held the title of CEO and director. DeVeydt previously served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Anthem, Inc. for nearly a decade as he oversaw the financial operations that helped the company grow into a Fortune 20 company. He held numerous leadership roles, including chief strategy officer, chief accounting officer and chief of staff to the chairman and CEO. He also was a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. The first in his family to attend college, DeVeydt received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UMSL in 1993 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2023.
Dan Isom earned a BS, an MA and a PhD from UMSL’s highly acclaimed Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. He currently serves as the vice president of corporate safety, security and crisis management at Ameren. Isom spent 25 years with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, rising through the ranks to become the city’s 33rd chief of police in October 2008. He held that post until his retirement in 2013. After he retired, he returned to his alma mater and served as the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Policing and the Community. Isom, who holds a master’s in public administration from Saint Louis University and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Police Executive Forum Senior Management Institute, continued his career as the executive director of the Regional Justice Information Service and as interim director of public safety for the City of St. Louis. Isom delivered the keynote address at the fall 2023 commencement ceremony for graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Steve O’Loughlin, BSBA 1989, joined Lodging Hospitality Management in 1997 as regional director of operations and was named president and COO of LHM in 2008. He focuses on several award-winning dining concepts and led the substantial renovation and restoration of St. Louis Union Station, including the aquarium which opened in 2019. Prior to his success at LHM, O’Loughlin served as housekeeping manager, front desk manager and sales manager for seven years at the Marriott Pavilion Hotel in St. Louis and is a certified meeting planner. He began his hotel career in high school working at Stouffer’s in 1984 and continued in the hospitality business throughout college, earning his BSBA from UMSL in 1989. O’Loughlin is a two-time recipient of the Marriott Living the Vision Award and was named the Marriott Manager of the Quarter for the Midwest Region. He currently serves on the College of Business Administration Dean’s Leadership Council and is chair of Explore St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission.
Evelyn Bailey Moore, BSEE 2003, oversees 700 engineers at Boeing, where she’s the F/A-18 and EA-18G director of engineering and chief engineer, along with serving as vice president and program manager for T-7A Red Hawk Advanced Pilot Training Systems and T-7 programs for Boeing’s Air Dominance Division. Moore also led the development of a new strategic direction of a multi-billion-dollar electronic warfare upgrade program for more than 400 F-15 aircrafts and was a design engineer on the world’s fastest tactical fighter mission computer on the F-15. She was a single mother juggling two part-time jobs while pursuing a bachelor’s degree from the UMSL/Washington University Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program. She graduated in 2003 and went on to earn a master’s in engineering management from Washington University in St. Louis in 2007 and an executive master’s in international business from Saint Louis University in 2018. Moore was honored with an UMSL Women Trailblazers Award in 2013 and received UMSL’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2015. She delivered a keynote address at a spring 2022 UMSL commencement ceremony and currently serves on the dean’s external advisory board for the joint engineering program.
Dave Reifschneider, BSBA 1988, began his career at Edward Jones in 1988 as a mortgage specialist. He was named an Edward Jones principal in 2004. In 2011, he was invited to join Branch and Region Development as an area leader. In 2014, David moved to Branch Office Administrator Talent Acquisition and Performance to manage the onboarding, training and development of the more than 14,000 branch office administrators. He was later named partner. In this role, as one of ten senior regional leaders, he trained, mentored and coached 50 new regional leaders each year. He retired in 2023 after 36 years with the company. Reifschneider was the first in his immediate and extended family to pursue a college degree, earning his BSBA from UMSL in 1998. He later graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School’s Securities Industry Institute. He served as the 2023-2024 president of the UMSL Alumni Association Board of Directors.
Richard Winter, MBA 1976, is a financial and health care consulting company executive. For the past 25 years, he has served as the owner and president of Garden View Care Center, which offers skilled nursing and assisted living services in multiple locations. He previously worked as a research analyst at Missouri Pacific Railroad and director of finance for Linclay Corporation before serving as assistant vice president of First National Bank, which became Centerre Bank, a subsidiary of Boatmen’s Bancshares. He earned his MBA at UMSL in 1976 after receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from Saint Louis University. Winter is an avid art collector and supporter of the arts and has served on the boards of Dance St. Louis, Saint Louis University, Jazz St. Louis and the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. He is also a longtime supporter of DOORWAYS, which provides housing and other services for people living with HIV/AIDS. Marquis Who’s Who listed him as a noteworthy diversified financial services company executive.
