Kay Barnes

Mayor Kay Barnes (Bachelor's in Secondary Education, KU; Master's in Secondary Education and Public Administration, UMKC), served two terms as Kansas City’s first female mayor, from 1999 to 2007. She is currently the senior director for university engagement at Park University, where, in 2007, she became the founding director of the Center for Leadership and served as a distinguished professor for public leadership in the university's Hauptmann School of Public Affairs. She has an extensive history of public leadership in the region, dating back to the 1960s when she worked for the Cross-Line Cooperative Council. She helped establish the Women’s Resource Service at UMKC. She co-authored the book, About Time: A Woman’s Guide to Time Management, and co-founded the Central Exchange, a women’s organization for personal and professional development opportunities. As mayor, she oversaw $4.5 billion of public and private investments in downtown Kansas City.