News Release - May 21, 2007

Officers Elected for Housing Commission

[Jefferson City, Mo.]  -- Richard F. Baalmann, Sr., of Kirkwood was elected Chairman of the Missouri Housing Development Commission during the Commission’s Annual Meeting May 18 in Jefferson City.  Baalmann has served on the Commission since October 2005.  He replaces State Treasurer Sarah Steelman who has served in the post for the past two years. Rob Fulp of The Signature Bank in Springfield was re-elected as Vice Chairman.   Claudia L. Onate Greim of Stinson Morrison Hecker in Kansas City assumes the Secretary-Treasurer position for the Commission replacing Bill Luetkenhaus of O’Fallon.

By Missouri statute, the Commission consists of the governor, lieutenant governor, the state treasurer, the state attorney general, and six members selected by the governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Current Commission members include Governor Matt Blunt, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, State Treasurer Steelman, Attorney General Jay Nixon, Luetkenhaus and Loren Cook II of Springfield.  One position on the Commission is currently vacant.

MHDC is the state's housing finance agency. The Commission is dedicated to strengthening communities and the lives of Missourians through the financing, development and preservation of affordable housing.

The Missouri Housing Development Commission has invested almost $5 billion for rental housing developments, preservation of affordable rental housing, home mortgages, home improvement loans, grants to neighborhood housing groups, and other housing programs. MHDC functions as a bank, providing financing directly to borrowers or through a network of private lending institutions.

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