In January, City of St. Louis Mayor Tishuara Jones was selected by the East West Gateway Council of Governments Board of Directors to be the new board chair. Madison County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler was selected as vice chair, and Franklin County Presiding Commissioner Tim Brinker became the second vice chair.
Jones was sworn-in as the the first Black female mayor in the city’s history in April 2021. She has a Bachelor’s degree in finance from Hampton University and a Master’s degree in health administration from the Saint Louis University School of Public Health. A graduate of the Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, she has served as vice president of public finance for Blaylock Robert Van, LLC, an investment banking firm, as well as adjunct faculty at the Anheuser-Busch School of Business at Harris-Stowe State University.
In her previous tenure as the city’s treasurer, she launched the Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) to help St. Louisans make better financial choices. OFE’s College Kids Program has helped more than 18,000 public school students start saving through educational savings accounts. With more than $1.5 million saved to date, the accounts help make higher education more attainable by using parking revenue as seed money along with family contributions and community support.