University of Missouri System curators elect a new chairman

St. Louis attorney Maurice B. “Marcy” Graham is the newly elected chairman of the University of Missouri board of curators.

The board, at its meeting Friday in St. Louis, chose Graham to serve the one-year term as chairman and elected Kansas City attorney John Phillips as vice chairman during that time.

Both posts are effective Jan 1.

Graham, president of the law firm of Gray, Ritter and Graham, P.C., was appointed to the board of curators in January 2015 and now serves as chairman of the board’s audit committee. He’s also a member of the executive, compensation and human resources committees.

Graham is past president of the Missouri Bar, the St. Louis Bar Foundation and the University of Missouri Law School Foundation. He has served as a member and chairman of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee, which oversees attorney discipline in Missouri.

He attended Central Methodist University and obtained both his bachelor’s degree and juris doctorate from the University of Missouri.

Phillips, who practices law with the Husch Blackwell LLP law firm, was appointed to the UM board of curators in 2013.

He has served as an adjunct faculty member at Rockhurst University and Washburn University School of Law. He is the former chairman of the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section and the Missouri Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution and Labor and Employment committees.

Phillips also is an MU alumnus, having received his bachelor’s and law degrees on the Columbia campus. In Kansas City, Phillips serves on the board for Saint Luke’s Health System and Saint Luke’s Hospital and is legal counsel for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

All but two of the members of the UM System’s board are lawyers. Only the most recently appointed members of the board, Jon Sundvold of Columbia and Thomas R. Voss of Eureka, are area businessmen.

The board of curators is the governing body of the four-campus University of Missouri System and consists of nine members, all appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate.

This story was originally published December 9, 2016 at 4:18 PM with the headline "University of Missouri System curators elect a new chairman."