Education Task Force: Missouri Forum Panelist Biographies
Missouri Panelist Bios
Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande
Dean, School of Business and Technology, Webster University
Benjamin Akande is the academic Dean of Webster University's School of Business and Technology. Before joining Webster University, he was the Chair of the Division of Business and the Special Assistant to the President at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas. Akande has also worked as an economic consultant for the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program. Akande received his B.S. in business administration from Wayland Baptist University, his M.P.A. in public administration and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Oklahoma. Akande was also a student in the Executive Leadership Program "Leadership for the 21st Century," at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and at the McGuire Oil and Gas Initiative Institute at Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business.
Charlie A. Dooley
County Executive, St. Louis County
Charlie Dooley is County Executive of St. Louis County. Before his appointment, he was elected in 1994 to the St. Louis County Council representing the 1st District, and was re-elected in 1998 and 2002. Preceding this, Dooley was elected Mayor of Northwoods in 1983, and served for five years as Alderman for Ward 2. He has held several other positions, including President of the St. Louis County Municipal League, President of the Missouri Chapter of Black Mayors, member of the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council Board of Directors, member of the St. Louis County Economic Council, Co-Chair of the Normandy Communities Forum, and Treasurer of the Mayors of Small Cities organization. Dooley also spent 30 years as a General Service Specialist with McDonnell-Douglas before retiring in 1999. He served in the U.S. Army as a Specialist, 5th Class, and received an honorable discharge in 1968.
Dudley Grove
Secretary, Coordinating Board of Higher Education
Dudley Grove is a former elementary school teacher with a long history of volunteer service and 20 years of experience consulting and training non-profit organizations. She is a member of the Metropolitan Association for Philanthropy Board, the Whitaker Foundation Board and the Chancellor's Council for the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and is chair of the Employment Committee of the Urban League. Grove currently serves as secretary of the CBHE and is the CBHE's representative on the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) Board of Directors. She was a Danforth Leadership Program fellow and holds a M.B.A. from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Dan Peterson
Director of Financial Assistance and Outreach, Missouri Department of Higher Education
Dan Peterson has 26 years of experience in the student financial aid profession. Peterson has served as a senior staff member of the Missouri Department of Higher Education since 1983. Before joining the Department, he was an administrator with the student financial aid office at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Peterson serves on the executive board of the Missouri Association of Student Financial Aid Personnel and is involved with a variety of other state educational committees and organizations. He has been recognized for his dedication by American College Testing Inc., Midwest Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, The Urban League College Resource Center-St. Louis, Missouri Association of Student Financial Aid Personnel, and Missouri School College Relations Commission. He earned a B.S. in education and business administration from Tarkio College in 1975.
Francis G. Slay
Mayor, City of St. Louis
Francis G. Slay was sworn in as the forty-fifth Mayor of the City of St. Louis in April 2001. Slay attended Quincy College in Quincy, Ill., on both academic and soccer scholarships, and earned his degree in political science in 1977. In 1980, he received his law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law. After graduation, he served as a law clerk with the Honorable Paul J. Simon, a Missouri Court of Appeals judge in the Eastern District. In 1981, Slay joined the law firm of Guilfoil, Petzall and Shoemake, where he became a partner specializing in business law and commercial litigation. Slay served as an attorney with the law firm for 20 years. In 1985, he was elected to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen to represent the City's 23rd Ward. He was elected President of the Board of Aldermen in 1995 and was re-elected to that position in 1999.
Edward P. St. John
Professor, Indiana University
Edward P. St. John is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Indiana University. His research focuses on the impact of public finance and educational policies on education opportunity. He recently published Refinancing the College Dream: Access, Equal Opportunity and Justice for Taxpayers (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003) and co-edited Public Funding of Higher Education: Changing Contexts and New Rationales (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004). Dr. St. John is Series Editor for Reading of Equal Education. He has received awards for his research from the Association for the Study of Higher Education and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. He holds an Ed.D. from Harvard, and M.Ed. and B.S. degrees from the University of California, Davis.