MSU board of governors selects leadership for 2026

Dr. Melissa Gourley

Travis Freeman

• 
• 

Missouri State University’s board of governors elected new officers for next year during their regular meeting on Oct. 3, according to a news release today. Their terms begin Jan. 1, 2026, the release said.Dr. Melissa Gourley of Mountain Grove was elected chair of the board, while Travis Freeman, of Chesterfield, was elected vice chair.

Tim Francka with Bolivar-based Citizens Memorial Health Care Foundation is the current board chair, while Gourley is currently serving as vice chair.

Gourley is a veterinarian at Whetstone Veterinary Service LLC in Mountain Grove, where she was previously owner, according to the release. She is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association and has served on the Missouri State University West Plains Development Board and the Federal Appropriations Committee for Mountain Grove High School. 

Gourley holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Missouri State and a doctor of veterinary medicine from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Freeman, from Chesterfield, also earned a bachelor's degree from Missouri State, in finance, with a minor in economics. He is a certified financial planner and partner with Moneta Group LLC in St. Louis and has 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, according to the release.

Before joining MSU’s board of governors, he served as a trustee for the Missouri State Foundation and established the Travis and Marina Freeman Family Endowed Scholarship for first-generation students at Missouri State. 

Freeman is the past president of the Financial Planning Association of St. Louis, a former board member with College Bound, and current chair of both The Fulton School and Moneta Charitable Foundation. 

According to the Missouri State website, Gourley and Freeman’s terms on the board of governors each began on Sept. 1, 2023 and will end Jan. 1, 2029.