By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Former Missouri Chamber of Commerce President, Dan Mehan, has retired after 29 years with the Chamber, 26 as president.
Mehan looks back with pride on the Chamber’s accomplishments, especially its wins in the Missouri legislature, pushing for workers compensation reform, changes to civil jurisprudence, economic development, and infrastructure.
“Nothing less than historic this last year when we’ve funded I-70 reconstruction and serious improvements for Interstate 44 as well,” Mehan tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
The Missouri legislature has approved widening Interstate 70 between Kansas City and St. Louis from four lanes to six lanes. Construction has begun in mid-Missouri. This year, the legislature approved widening I-44 at congested points between the Oklahoma state line and St. Louis.
Mehan began as a lobbyist for the Chamber, representing its interests during legislative sessions in Jefferson City, testifying before legislative committees and meeting with legislators.
As president, Mehan led the Chamber to become more active politically, forming both the Missouri Chamber Political Action Committee and the Missouri Political Institute.
“This is not a sport for the timid, politics that is,” Mehan says. “Business deserves and has the right to be heard as much as any constituency out there.”
Mehan also helped the Chamber establish a 15-year strategic plan called Missouri 2030: An Agenda to Lead, which he says has been instrumental in passing some needed economic proposals.
“Very proud of that impact that we’ve been able to have and the support that we’ve been able to earn,” Mehan says. “At first, there’s going to be doubt in any new idea, but once you prove it and once we were able to do what we said we were going to do, then the support and the confidence and the trust just flowed from that.”
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce search for a successor begins soon.
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