Burner, Bruner and Peck have new roles; SEMO names new department chairs

Shad Burner of Cape Girardeau, who serves as the Southeast Missouri regional manager with the Missouri Department of Economic Development, was appointed last week by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to be Missouri's designee to the Delta Regional Authority (DRA).

A native of Bernie, Missouri, Burner was vice president of business development with the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce and vice president of market development for cargo Technologies before joining the state's economic development department. He was also previously employed by rustmedia, by Exit Realty-Thomas Meyer Associates, and by Southeast Missouri State University where he was director of alumni relations for several years.

DRA is a federal-state partnership created by Congress in 2000 to promote and encourage economic development along the lower Mississippi River Delta region as well as the Alabama Black Belt region. The organization's mission is to help create jobs, build communities, and improve the lives of those who live in the 252 counties and parishes within DRA's eight-state service region.

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Brandon Bruner has joined MRV Banks in Cape Girardeau as a consumer and mortgage lender. He is based at the bank's branch at 1505 N. Mt. Auburn Road.

Brandon Bruner

A resident of Jackson, Bruner has nearly three years of banking experience and was previously employed at Montgomery Bank. He has also spent more than 10 years working in sales and customer service positions. He is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University where he earned a degree in finance.

As a consumer and mortgage lender, Bruner will assist customers in the greater Cape Girardeau area with their consumer and mortgage loan needs.

Founded in 2007, MRV Banks is among the fastest growing banks in Missouri. With more than $500 million in assets, it is ranked in the top 10% of its national peer group based on asset growth, net interest margin, efficiency and other criteria. In addition to it's Cape Girardeau locations on North and South Mt. Auburn Road, MRV Banks has locations in Ste. Genevieve and Festus, Missouri.

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Southeast Missouri State University has named several chairs of their respective academic departments. The new department chairs are:

Connie Drury

R.D. Nordgren

• Connie Drury, Department of Nursing.
• R.D. Nordgren, Department of Leadership, Middle and Secondary Education.
• Shonta Smith, Department of Elementary, Early and Special Education.
• Jason Wagganer, Department of Kinesiology, Nutrition and Recreation.

Drury, a licensed registered nurse in Missouri and Illinois, has come to Southeast from Shawnee Community College in Ullin, Illinois, where she was the school's director of nursing. She replaces Gloria Green who recently retired from SEMO.

In addition to her positions in higher education, Drury has worked at Saint Francis Medical Center and Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau and by Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She earned both undergraduate and graduate nursing degrees at Southeast Missouri State and a doctorate in nursing from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Nordgren was previously at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia where he was dean of that institution's school of education. He succeeds Bill Bratberg who was interim chair of the Department of Leadership, Middle and Secondary Education since January 2020.

He holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction, a master's degree in educational leadership and an undergraduate degree in English education, all from the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Shonta Smith

Smith was named to chair the Department of Elementary, Early and Special Education following the recent retirement of Julie Ray. She has been a member of the Southeast faculty since 2009.

Smith holds a doctorate in education and educational leadership from St. Louis University, a graduate degree in counseling from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and an undergraduate degree in education from Harris Stowe State University in St. Louis.

Wagganer has been interim chair of the Department of Kinesiology, Nutrition and Recreation since 2019 when the former department chair, Joe Pujol, became dean of Southeast's College of Education.

Jason Wagganer

Wagganer has been a member of the Southeast faculty since 2010 and also serves as director of the university's Human Performance Laboratory. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Southeast and received a doctorate in exercise physiology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

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Nurse practitioner Rachel L. Peck, has accepted a position as an adult gerontology acute care nurse with Cape Trauma Specialists, a medical practice affiliated with Saint Francis Healthcare System.

Rachel Peck

Peck has worked in the health care field for almost 10 years and earned a nursing degree from Southeast Missouri State University in 2014. She also earned a graduate degree in Nursing from Maryville University in St. Louis in 2020 and completed clinical hours in intensive care, progressive care, emergency services, internal medicine and cardiothoracic surgery, with many of her clinical hours at Saint Francis Medical Center.

She is board certified by the American Nurse Credentialing Center and is a licensed advanced practice registered nurse.

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