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The Northwest Foundation Inc. has appointed four new members to its Board of Directors to help guide the University’s advancement and grow private support.
The new members, who joined the Board in July, are Mike Baumgartner, Bill Burns, Christian Murphy and Margee Shewmaker Shaffer.
The Northwest Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, develops and stewards philanthropic resources for the benefit of Northwest Missouri State University and its students. It is governed by a 32-member volunteer board and staffed by members of Northwest’s Office of University Advancement. Board members may serve up to two three-year terms.
The 2025-26 Northwest Foundation Board is led by President Ted Place, a 1999 alumnus from Kansas City, Missouri, and President-Elect Angela Moskow of Gladstone, New Jersey.
Additional information about the new Board members is provided below. For more information about the Northwest Foundation, visit www.nwmissouri.edu/foundation/.
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Mike Baumgartner is a resident of Maryville and retired healthcare leader who is actively involved with the Maryville Ministry Center, Habitat for Humanity of Nodaway County and the Rotary Club of Maryville, among other volunteer organizations. He retired in 2023 after 44 years in the healthcare industry, culminating as regional president at Southern Illinois SSM Health in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. He also served in leadership roles in Jefferson City and Maryville in Missouri; Madisonville, Kentucky; Shakopee, Minnesota; and in Bowman, Carrington and Rolla in North Dakota. |
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Bill Burns resides in Kansas City, Missouri, and is an attorney at Gilmore and Bell, P.C., a public finance law firm where he specializes in tax-exempt financing for healthcare, higher education and affordable housing projects. He also advises the firm and its clients on securities law matters affecting public finance transactions. A native of St. Joseph, he earned bachelor’s degrees in political science and journalism at Northwest in 2006. He also was a member of the Bearcat baseball team. |
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Christian Murphy resides in Omaha, Nebraska, and is employed as a global client executive with Microsoft, where he guides enterprise clients in leveraging technology to achieve strategic goals, fostering impactful collaborations and driving innovation across industries. He has more than 25 years in the information technology industry. As a native of Elkhorn, Nebraska, he completed his bachelor’s degree in business management at Northwest in 1998. |
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Margee Shewmaker Shaffer is retired from a career spanning retail, social services and economic development. She began her career with JCPenney and later became the director of the Southeast Nebraska Crisis Pregnancy Center. After moving to Audubon, Iowa, she served for 12 years as administrator of Audubon County Economic Development and then as a family and educator partnership coordinator until retiring in 2018. She is a native of Savannah, Missouri, and completed her bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising at Northwest in 1974. |
