Board of Directors

Drew A. Hiss, Chairman
Checkdate Solutions – President and CEO

Hiss is the founder and president of Checkdate Solutions, a Kansas City-based provider of outsourced payroll processing services, human resource technology systems and automated time and attendance solutions. Hiss serves as a board member for the Servant Christian Community Foundation and is a member of the Pastoral Advisory Team for Westside Family Church. Hiss and his wife of 16 years, Sara, are the proud parents of four children.

John H. Chalfant, Vice Chairman
Heritage One, LLC – President and CEO

Chalfant is President and CEO of Heritage One, Inc., a firm that primarily works with employers on their employee benefits He has been in the insurance business since 1986 and is a past president of the Kansas City Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. Chalfant, serves on the Liturgical Council and as a lector at his church, Cure of Ars, and has been very involved in the ALS Society. He and his wife Katie have four children.

Stacy Koellner, Secretary
Cerner Corporation - Senior Manager

Koellner, a graduate of Baylor University, is a Senior Manager with Cerner Corporation. An active member of Lenexa Baptist Church, Koellner serves in the children’s ministry in addition to volunteering as a personal financial consultant to homeless mothers at Community LINC. Koellner and her husband Todd have two daughters.

Kim S. Perkins, Treasurer
Community Volunteer

Perkins is a graduate of Kansas State University and a licensed CPA but left the full time work force in 1995 to concentrate on parenting. As wife to husband Rick and mother to their two sons, Perkins also currently balances a part-time position with Personalized Accounting Services, is active in the women’s and children’s ministries and is part of the finance team at Westside Family Church.

Tyrone J. Flowers, Member
Higher M-Pact – Founder and President

Flowers is the founder and president of Higher M-Pact. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in psychology, and went on to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctorate. While attending law school, he received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award. Formerly known as SERVANT programs, Higher M-Pact was founded in 1993, incorporated in 1998 and formally launched full-time in 2003. Flowers lives with his wife Renee in Kansas City, Mo.

Renee Flowers, Member
Higher M-Pact – Administrative Director

Flowers is the wife of founder Tyrone Flowers and is an integral part of the development of Higher M-Pact. An educator whose experience serves the organization well, Flowers earned a Masters in Education from the University of Missouri and currently serves as the Administrative Director of Higher M-Pact. Along with her experience working in the public schools, she has years of experience working with youth through the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, The Hope Center and Daughters of Destiny.

David L. Baker, Member
Legacy Investment Partners, LLC – Founder

In 2004, Baker started Legacy Investment Partners, LLC, a wealth planning and advising agency. He also created the Family Foundation of Scholarship for Mothers, which provides educational support for those in need. The foundation uses a ‘pay it forward’ approach, encouraging those that have received support to help someone else in return. Baker also serves as a co-chair for the YMCA Capital Campaign and the Kansas City Chiefs Community All-Stars Program.

Ray D. Evans, Member
Pegasus Capital Management – President and CEO

Evans, a Certified Financial Planner, is a managing partner of Pegasus Capital Management, Inc. of Overland Park. Building a solid base of clients, Evans also shares his expertise through seminars and his articles have been published in Small Business Monthly magazine. Evans is president of the Kansas City Jayhawk Club, member of the Board of Directors of ALS, and a board member of the St. Lawrence Catholic Center and of Rockhurst High School. He lives with his wife, Sarah, and their three children in the Kansas City area.

E. Bernard Franklin, Ph.D, Member
Penn Valley Community College – President

Franklin currently serves as president of Penn Valley Community College. Franklin’s areas of education interests include fathering and men’s development, urban youth development and urban family issues. Franklin is also involved in the Kansas Rhodes Scholar Selection Committee and serves on several local philanthropy boards, including Partnership for Children, City Mission Visionaries and Urban Youth Leadership. He is also member and chair of the Kansas State Board of Regents.

Dave Gras, Member
The Navigators – Kansas City Area Director

Gras has worked with The Navigators, an international multicultural Christian organization, for 37 years. Since 1990, he has directed a Navigator Business and Professional Ministry in Kansas City. He provides one-on-one mentoring when he leads conferences and programs to help business people integrate faith and business. Gras and his wife Susan have four adult children and two grandchildren.

Tom Lipscomb, Member
Northwest Mutual Financial Network – Financial Representative

Lipscomb has been an agent with Northwestern Mutual for 21 years. An active member of Covenant Chapel, Lipscomb is on the church’s Stewardship Committee and serves on the advisory boards for FCA Baseball, Heartsounds International and the Servant Christian Community Foundation. He and his wife Kari Lipscomb live in Overland Park with their two children.

Patrick McGannon, Member
Kessinger/Hunter and Company - President

McGannon is president of Kessinger/Hunter and Company, a full-service real estate firm with offices in 23 states and internationally. McGannon has 23 years of experience specializing in industrial real estate sales, leasing and development. Locally, he has been involved with the YMCA Capital Campaign and the Children’s Mercy Hospital’s Golf Classic. Currently, he is involved in the Rockhurst High School Development Campaign.  He has been a lifelong Kansas City resident and is married with five children.

Robert Pascuzzi, Member
Creative Planning - Financial Representative

Pascuzzi heads Creative Planning 401(k), the retirement plan division of Creative Planning, a company dedicated to retirement plan consulting services. A native of Des Moines, Iowa and a graduate of Briar Cliff College, Pascuzzi earned the CLU designation from the American College in 1988 and a CSA designation from the Society of Senior Advisors in 2004. Pascuzzi is involved in the Christian Foundation for underprivileged children. He and his wife Kelly have three sons.

David W. Perky, Member
TPP Certified Public Accountants, LLC – Partner

Perky, a Kansas City native, began his professional career more than 30 years ago with PriceWaterhouseCoopers. In 1984, he formed his own accounting firm that later became part of TPP Certified Public Accountants, where he is managing partner today. Perky is a member of the Kansas Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Institute of Certified Financial Planners. He and his wife Teresa are members of St. Michael’s church in Overland Park.

Jane Shelley, Member
ACACIA Commercial Real Estate, LLC - Partner

Jane Shelley is a realtor with Waterford Property Company, LLC, a Kansas-City based commercial real estate firm focused exclusively on office building asset management and leasing management. In addition to her role with Higher M-Pact, Shelley is involved with the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). She also serves as a facilitator for Child’s Voice and ALPHA.

John W. (Jay) Simpson, Member
Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP – Partner

Simpson, a partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon law firm, is the chairperson of the firm’s Tax Practice Group.  He has substantial experience in all types of tax planning and tax controversy work. Simpson is past chairman of the Tax Committee of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association.  He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Kansas City chapter of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association.

Robert F. Vickers Jr., Member
Wachovia Insurance Services – Vice President

Vickers is currently Vice President of Wachovia Insurance Services. He has been in the commercial property and casualty business since 1999, after 15 years in the golf industry. Vickers spent four year on the board of directors for the Kansas City Brain Injury Association. He currently sits on the board as an outside director of Legacy Investment Partners, LLC, a financial services organization focused on investments, estate planning and financial strategies for high net worth individuals and charitable institutions.

Michael Williams, Member
Lathrop & Gage – Partner

Williams represents employers in investigating, responding to and handling charges of discrimination. Experienced at litigating age, sex, race, disability and retaliation claims before local, state and federal agencies, Williams has served as lead trial attorney in jury trials before federal courts. He volunteers with several local organizations to mentor and educate disadvantaged youth and is an active member of the Diversity Committee for the firm, the Kansas City Bar Association and the National Defense Research Institute. Williams serves as an adjunct professor of Labor Law at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law.

 Stacy Porto, Intern MemberJackson County Court -Law Clerk

 Stacy Porto is currently a law clerk for Jackson County Judge Robert M. Schieber. After earning her jurisdoctorate at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2002, she served as a Staff Attorney at Legal Aid of Western Missouri where she practiced poverty law. Stacy had the privilege of studying Constitutional Law under United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the University of Nice and also attended DU for her undergraduate degree which she received with honors after serving as the first female Student Body President. She is actively involved with community organizing and advocacy at several organizations serving low-income populations as well as the Kansas City Missouri Bar Association and the Democratic Party. She also loves the Kansas City Royals.