Mark Kern, St. Clair County Board Chairman, is the new chairman for the East-West Gateway Council of Governments Board of Directors.
The board approved Kern’s appointment at its Jan. 30 meeting, and he will serve as the chairman for the remainder of 2019. St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann will serve as vice chairman of the board. Robert Elmore, chairman of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, will continue as the second vice chairman.
The board chairman for St. Clair County since 2004, Kern previously served as alderman and then mayor of Belleville, Illinois. In addition to his political career, he is the president of Belleville Mechanical, Inc., a commercial heating and cooling business he founded in 1995. Kern was born and raised in Belleville. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Milliken University and received Juris Doctorate and Master of Business Administration degrees from Washington University.
East-West Gateway also welcomed two new members to its board of directors—Franklin County Presiding Commissioner Tim Brinker and Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon, both of whom were recently elected to their positions.
The East-West Gateway Board of Directors has 24 voting members, including the mayor of the city of St. Louis, and the top elected officials of the surrounding seven counties. There are five non-voting members on the board in addition to the 24 voting members. The East-West Gateway region consists of the city of St. Louis, and Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles and St. Louis counties in Missouri, and Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties in Illinois.
The board meets at 10 a.m. on the last Wednesday of each month at the East-West Gateway offices on the 16th floor of the Gateway Tower, One Memorial Drive in downtown St. Louis.