Four Candidates Vie for STLCC Board of Trustees Seat

Four candidates will vie for one seat on the St. Louis Community College Board of Trustees in the April 2 election. 

Candidates for the Subdistrict 3 seat include Joan H. McGivney, former Southwestern Bell Corp. employee who was elected in April 2012 to serve the remainder of the unexpired term of Joan Ordinachev; Allison Stenger, an attorney with Klar, Izsak and Stenger LLC; Samuel Henderson, an attorney with Greensfelder, Hemker and Gale P.C.; and Robert M. Johns, an information technology contractor with AT&T U-verse. 

The winner will serve a full six-year term. 

Subdistrict 3 includes southern and southwest portions of St. Louis City and the Maplewood-Richmond Heights, Affton, Bayless, Brentwood, Kirkwood and Webster Groves school districts.

The STLCC Board of Trustees is a six-member board that represents the four subdistricts of the college service area. Subdistricts 1 and 4 are the two large subdistricts, each represented by two trustees.  Subdistricts 2 and 3 are smaller, each represented by one trustee. District voters elect board members periodically for six-year terms.

The board is responsible for determining the policies of the college within the legal framework established by statutes of the state of Missouri. The board makes all final decisions concerning employment, termination of services, expenditure of funds, contracts, establishment of new programs, student fees, tax levies and construction of facilities. Regular board meetings are scheduled each month and are open to the public.

Candidate Bios

Joan McGivney of Webster Groves was employed by Southwestern Bell Corp. (AT&T) for 17 years as a systems analyst and manager in training, planning, software evaluation and acquisition.

McGivney served two three-year terms on the Webster Groves School Board and also served on the St. Louis County Special School District Governing Council. She is a former substitute teacher for the Affton, Bayless and Hancock Place school districts.

McGivney served on the Webster Groves City Council for four years, leading committees for both the formation of the city’s long-range plan and incorporation of recycling. She also served on the committee to pass an $8 million bond issue for the city’s recreation complex and chaired a successful sales tax drive to raise $23 million for capital improvements.

She was a volunteer tutor for five years with Mentor St. Louis for St. Louis Public Schools and currently serves as a volunteer tutor with OASIS tutoring program. She served on the United Way Neighborhood and neighborhood panels for seven years. She has been involved in community, youth and church activities for 27 years, and was honored as Citizen of the Year by the Webster-Shrewsbury-Rock Hill Area Chamber of Commerce in 2001.

McGivney earned a master’s degree in public policy administration from Saint Louis University, and a bachelor’s degree in public relations and advertising from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She also earned a graduate certificate in gerontology from UMSL.

McGivney and her husband Jim have two grown daughters.

Allison Stenger, of Affton, is an attorney with Klar, Izsak and Stenger LLC. She previously served for six years as a law clerk for the firm. 

She is seeking an elected office for the first time. 

Stenger earned her juris doctorate from Saint Louis University School of Law, and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish from Vanderbilt University. She is a volunteer for the Dent County Animal Welfare Society.

Samuel Henderson, of Maplewood, is an attorney with Greensfelder, Hemker and Gale P.C. Prior to joining this firm eight years ago, Henderson was employed as a law clerk for Schuchat, Cook and Werner for a year. He also was a St. Louis police officer for three years. 

He is seeking an elected office for the first time. 

Henderson, a former student at St. Louis Community College, earned his juris doctorate and graduated magna cum laude from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He also has a master’s degree in legal studies from Webster University, and is a graduate of the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative. 

Henderson is a former board member for the Missouri Equal Housing Opportunity Council, and former editor of the Mound City News. He currently volunteers for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and Habitat for Humanity.

Robert M. Johns, of Glendale, formerly worked as a systems server analyst for seven years at the college’s Meramec campus. He also was employed for one year as an information technology contractor for AT&T U-verse, and for two years in the same capacity for Kaiser Permanerte. He also was a network manager for Nooter Construction, and was chief executive officer of Hi-Tech Computers and Maintenance Inc. for 14 years.

Johns is running for STLCC’s board for the second time.

Johns has served as a committee chair for Fair St. Louis as well as vice president of the Microsoft Infrastructure Professional Users Group. He also is a Citizens Emergency Response Team member. Johns’ bachelor’s degree in information technology is from Almeda University.

Established in 1962, St. Louis Community College is the largest community college district in Missouri and one of the largest in the United States.  STLCC has four campuses – Florissant Valley, Forest Park, Meramec and Wildwood – that annually serve more than 81,000 students through credit courses, continuing education and workforce training programs.  For more information about STLCC, visit www.stlcc.edu.