Leadership Team
Clair Reynolds Kueny
Clair is an associate professor and department chair of Psychological Science at Missouri S&T. She has an MS and PhD in Industrial-Organizational psychology. Clair specializes in research and practice related to healthcare provider work experiences, rural healthcare organization challenges, and healthcare systems as they relate to healthcare delivery. She currently lives in Lebanon, MO and has lived in small, rural communities her entire life.
Venkat Allada
Venkat Allada is an Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), Rolla, USA. He served as Missouri S&T’s inaugural vice provost of graduate studies from 2007-2017. He is the recipient of the 1998 ASEE Dow Outstanding New Faculty Award, the 1998 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and the 2005 Outstanding Contributions Award by MIT’s Lean Aerospace Initiative. He is the recipient of several Missouri S&T Faculty Excellence Awards, Outstanding Teaching Award of Excellence, and Innovative Teaching Award. He has over 100 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings.
Community Leaders & Partners
Tara Peters
Representative Tara Peters represents Phelps County (District 122) in the Missouri House of Representatives. She was elected to her first term in November 2022. Peters is a dedicated public servant who has served in a variety of leadership and volunteer roles with organizations that work to promote the well-being of families, children, and seniors. During her time as the President of Rolla Junior Club she helped raise funds to purchase playground equipment for a city park and provide scholarships to deserving students. She also helped provide financial support and opportunities for retired senior volunteers through her service as a board member for the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. Currently, she serves on the board of the M.U. Extension Council for Phelps County, which promotes educational programs for families in surrounding counties. She also is entering her sixth year as a member on the Missouri Farm Bureau Agri-Tourism Board. Peters is a graduate of Purdue University – Calumet, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Communications.
Mark Calvert
Mark Calvert is an associate circuit court judge for the 25th Judicial Circuit Court in Missouri and chairperson of The Community Resource Center.
Dusty J. Cruise
Dusty has a proven manufacturing professional background with over 47 years of experience in a broad spectrum of manufacturing endeavors with International Harvester, Springfield Remanufacturing, Marathon Electric, and Whirlpool Corporation before joining Missouri Enterprise. Since 2010 he has served as President and CEO of Missouri’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Missouri Enterprise). He has been with Missouri Enterprise for 25 years. His experience in the practical application of world class manufacturing concepts provides a framework for him to effectively interface with all functional areas of a manufacturing enterprise seeking organizational, operational, and strategic growth opportunities.
Jamie Myers
Jamie Myers has been working in the prevention field since 1990. Jamie has provided leadership as the executive director of Prevention Consultants of Missouri since its inception in 1993. His work includes providing evidence-based training, strengthening prevention coalitions, establishing collaborative programs and administrative leadership to all agency services. In addition, his professional experience includes working as a licensed professional counselor in the behavioral health field. Supporting the positive efforts or community coalitions, professional organizations, families and individuals is the emphasis of his prevention work.
John S. Gaal
John Gaal is the Worker Wellness Director for Missouri Works Initiative. The Missouri Works Initiative was formed to eliminate barriers to economic opportunities by connecting Missourians to the necessary resources to build life-sustaining careers. Serving as a non-profit organization sponsored and supported by the Missouri AFL-CIO, the Missouri Works Initiative is strategically positioned to address the state’s changing workforce needs, whether those needs are: creating healthy and recovery friendly workplaces, connecting laid off workers with job-search or upskilling resources for future employment, or collaborating with community partners to offer innovative points of entry to traditional apprenticeship opportunities.
Casey is the Director of Health Innovation & Policy at Phelps Health and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Missouri S&T. He additionally serves on a number of community coalitions and professional organizations, including serving as a board member for The Community Partnership and Missouri Ozarks Community Action. In these roles, he aims to build healthier and more vibrant rural communities by developing and leveraging new and existing resources that enable individuals to improve their health and wellness.
Bonnie Prigge is the Executive Director at Meramec Regional Planning Commission and has been an integral part of the commission for 33 years. The Merame Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) is a voluntary council of local governments serving an eight-county area in south-central Missouri, which includes the city of Rolla and Phelps County where Missouri S&T is located. As a federally designated economic development district, MRPC is keenly aware of the lack of workforce that impacts our region, state, and nation. MRCP is also aware of the impact that opioid use has on working age individuals and families and recognizes the need to bring those impacted by opioids back into the workforce.
Past Leadership Team Members
Melanie Keeney
Melanie is the director of engagement and outreach at Missouri S&T and holds a B.A. in history with teacher certification and an M.B.A, both from Missouri S&T. Melanie is active in the Rolla community serving on various committees including Phelps for the Fort, Celebration of Nations, executive producer for TEDx Missouri S&T, board member for the Cancer Gala and a member of the Board of Directors for the Rolla Area Chamber of Commerce.
Kevin Stadler
Kevin is the assistant director of the Central Workforce Development Board. CWDB’s mission is to strengthen communities through workforce development efforts, which includes providing employers a skilled workforce and helping job seekers access jobs and increase their skills in nineteen counties of Central Missouri. Kevin has a B.A in communications from the University of Missouri.
Rebecca Losing
Rebecca Losing has worked for MRPC since early 2020 as a Community Development Specialist Assistant. Her work focuses on opioid education programs in the eight-county region. She is a graduate from John F. Hodge High School in St. James, Missouri. Rebecca has been a resident of Phelps County, Missouri most of her life. Rebecca is in long-term recovery from opioids and, due to this, she had several life-altering consequences, such as losing touch with her two children for 9 years and personal involvement in the criminal justice system. Rebecca currently holds 3 credentials in Missouri that include: Certified Peer Support, Medication Recovery Support Specialist, and Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. Rebecca has worked at various agencies, including a residential facility, methadone clinic, and a human trafficking/reentry program.
Jennifer has 25 years’ experience in the field of Department of Mental Health/ Division of Developmental Disabilities. In her role as assistant director, Jennifer currently leads a successful, collaborative regional office whose culture has developed several leaders who moved into statewide roles. She has facilitated the Phelps Co. Community Conversation Coalition for 10 years, which consistently impacts services in our region. Jennifer has served on the Phelps County Family Crisis Services Board (Russell House), the Pastoral Council, Parish Renewal Committee and Stewardship Council for St. Patrick Catholic Church.
M.B. Ellur, MD
Dr. Ellur is a staff psychiatrist and Medical Director of Center for Psychiatric Services at Phelps Health in Rolla, MO. He is a board-certified by American Board for Psychiatry and Neurology. He is a honorary fellow of American Psychiatric Association ( FAPA). He is currently a adjunct professor of psychiatry at AT Still University Osteopathic School in Kirksville, MO and Kansas City University Osteopathic School. He has been practicing psychiatry for over 15 years. His clinical and research interests include substance use disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, medical student education, student mental health, rural mental health, anxiety, depression and trauma-related disorders.
Fatima Sajjad
Fatima Sajjad studied I-O Psychology as a graduate student at Missouri University of Science and Technology. In 2020, Fatima graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Applied Psychology from Riphah International University, Pakistan. She had a co-op with Amazon in the Fall of 2022 and now works for Amazon as an Operations Manager. As a Graduate Research Assistant with Dr. Kueny, Fatima supported research that examined the intersection between opioid use and workforce development in rural communities by building a network of opioid-focused rural community organizations (R-NetWORC). In her free time, Fatima likes cooking and reading.
Grayson Lynch
Grayson Lynch majored in Engineering Management and minored in Management of Technology. He was involved in the Mo gamma Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon, where he had not only been a member, but also served as their Vice President of Risk Management. His hands-on experience in his field is demonstrated by your cooperative education, where he spent 7 months at Emerson Electric as a project Controller. He has since started his career as an Industrial Engineer with Boeing in the summer of 2023.
Ryan Parker studied Engineering Management with an emphasis in management of technology. In his time at S&T, he served as the GLVC leadership ambassador and worked with R-NetWORC. He was also a member of the Missouri S&T Men’s basketball team. Ryan was born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana.
Gabriel Rodriguez studied Industrial-Organizational Psychology as a graduate student at Missouri S&T. He assisted in various key aspects of R-NetWORC under the guidance of Dr. Kueny and Dr. Allada, including the creation of the dynamic model. He was awarded one of the top three papers at the 18th Annual ISC Graduate Research Symposium at Missouri S&T, placing second for his work on the paper: Dynamic Modeling of R-NetWORC and its Role in Bridging the Gap Between Those in Recovery, the Community, and the Workplace. His research interests include employee wellness, the relationship between technical competence, relationships, and employee self-efficacy, and bias in recruitment processes when using social media such as LinkedIn, among other topics. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised in Jacksonville, Florida.