The Supreme Executive Committee is pleased to announce that Brother Gary D. Forsee, Alumnus of Beta-Chi Chapter at Missouri Science Technology has been selected as the 2009 Kappa Sigma Fraternity Man of the Year. Brother Forsee is a February 2, 1969 initiate of the Beta-Chi Chapter at the University of Missouri/Rolla which is now known as the University of Missouri Science & Technology.
Brother Forsee serves as the 22nd President of the Four Campus University of Missouri System. He was appointed on February 18, 2008. He is the Chief Executive Officer of the University with four campuses in Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla and St. Louis. The University of Missouri system has an operating budget of approximately $959 million with total revenues of $2.5 billion and an endowment of $1 billion. In his first year as president, Forsee established a comprehensive set of performance objectives, surveyed Missourians on their attitudes of public higher education and focused on conveying the University’s distinctive value to the state.
Prior to his appointment as University President, Brother Forsee spent more than 36 years in the telecommunications industry. Most recently, he served as chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sprint Nextel in Kansas City, Missouri. He also served as CEO of Global One, a joint venture of Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom; and in various leadership positions at AT&T and Southwestern Bell.
Brother Forsee has received numerous honors, including the Henry Bloch Humanitarian Award, the American Red Cross Circle of Humanitarian Award and Business Week’s Best Manager Award in 2004 and 2005. He was also appointed chair of the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee by President George W. Bush in 2006. He initiated and was the first chair of the Governor’s Summit for Missouri-Kansas which focused on economic development and key regional issues.
Brother Forsee currently serves on the boards of Great Plains Energy Incorporated and Ingersoll Rand Corporation and is a trustee of the Midwest Research Institute and the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. In the past he has been a member of the board for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and served as national chairman for the March of Dimes.
Brother Forsee received an honorary doctorate in engineering and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Missouri/Rolla, now Missouri University of Science & Technology.
Brother Forsee was born in Kansas City, Missouri, he grew up in and has worked in towns across the state. As a result, he has also lived in St. Louis, Springfield, Cape Girardeau, Hannibal, Charleston, St. Joseph, Joplin, Moberly and now Columbia, Missouri.
Brother Forsee and his wife, Sherry, have two daughters Melanie and Kara Forsee, D.V.M., both of whom are graduates of the University of Missouri-Columbia.
The Kappa Sigma Fraternity will work with the Brothers and alumni of Beta-Chi Chapter to begin the process of planning a Man of the Year Banquet for Brother Forsee and details will be announced in the near future. Please extend our congratulations to Brother Gary Forsee as Kappa Sigma’s 2009 Man of the Year.
A.E.K.Δ.B.
Mitchell B. Wilson
Executive Director
