Park University’s Board of Trustees Elect New Chair, Add Four New Members

July 1, 2025 — The governing body of Park University — its Board of Trustees — has elected a new chair for the 2025-26 fiscal year, as well as elected four individuals to serve three-year terms on the board. Elected as chair was Scott Jackman, while Brian Mertz, Lewis Nerman, Sam Stahnke and Levi Young, M.D. were elected to the board, all effective today.

Jackman, a resident of Weatherby Lake, Mo., is the president of the U.S. division and vice president of sales and marketing for Deveron, an agriculture technology company based in Toronto, Canada. Before joining Deveron, Jackman was the founder and chief executive officer of AtlasTeam from 2017-19 before selling the company to Deveron. Before getting in the business world, Jackman served in the U.S. Army from 1993-2015, from an enlisted infantry foot soldier to a commissioned aviation officer before retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Webster University and a master’s degree in operational art and military history from the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in aviation management from Southern Illinois University. Jackman replaces Terry Calaway, Ed.D., whose term as chair expired, but will continue to serve as a trustee as immediate past chair of the board.

Profiles of the new members of Park’s Board of Trustees:

Brian Mertz
Mertz, a resident of Platte County, Mo., is a real estate developer and entrepreneur as the owner of entities including PC Homes LLC and Parkville Development. One of Mertz’s high-profile endeavors is the Creekside development at the intersection of I-435 and Missouri Highway 45 (also known as Tom Watson Parkway) in western Parkville, which includes residential, commercial and recreational components. In addition, he has helped revitalize downtown Parkville by saving historic structures and modernizing them for contemporary use. Mertz, who previously served as chief financial officer at S&T Enterprises in Kansas City, Mo., is a board member of the Parkville Economic Development Council and the North Kansas City Health (formerly North Kansas City Hospital) Advisory Council. Mertz earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and business administration from the University of Kansas.

Lewis Nerman
Nerman, a resident of Leawood, Kan., and Naples, Fla., is the founder and managing partner of Truck Center of America LLC in Leawood, a company formed in 2003. He was formerly with Arrow Truck Sales, a company started by his father, and served as its president from 1985-2000. A collector of contemporary art, Nerman and his family provided the lead gift for the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at Johnson County (Kan.) Community College in Overland Park. In addition to numerous art-related boards across the country, Nerman is a past board member of the JCCC Foundation, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Kauffman Scholars, Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City, Jewish Vocational Service and Shalom Geriatric (now Village Shalom). Nerman earned a master’s degree in executive education/owner-president management from the Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Sam Stahnke
Stahnke, a resident of Parkville, is vice president and operating partner at the Kansas City division of ARCO National Construction in Riverside, Mo., where he oversees business development and overall operational management. He has held that role since 2016 and has been with ARCO since 2007 when he was appointed as a project manager. Stahnke is a former chair and current board member of the Parkville Economic Development Council, as well as a board member of the KC SmartPort Economic Development Council. He was recognized by the Kansas City Business Journal in 2024 as one of the publication’s “20 People to Know in Construction” and he was named to the Midwest Real Estate News Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame in 2023. Stahnke earned a Master of Science degree in construction management and a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Washington University (St. Louis), and a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Illinois Wesleyan University.

Levi Young, M.D.
Young, a resident of Kansas City, Mo., is a plastic surgeon and has been the owner and president of Young Cosmetic Surgery (doing business as Advanced Cosmetic Surgery and Medspa) in Leawood, Kan., since 2015. In addition, he has owned ACSKC Properties, a commercial property in Leawood since 2020, and he is co-owner of Kansas City Ambulatory Surgery Center in Leawood since 2023. Young, who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry in 2001 from Park University, was a member of the Pirates men’s soccer team, serving as team captain in the 1999 and 2000 seasons. In both of those years, he was named as an NAIA Scholar-Athlete. Young earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine and completed a residency in plastic surgery at the KU Medical Center.

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In addition, the board granted professor emeritus status to Jeff Ehrlich, Ed.D., Zephyrhills, Fla., associate professor of healthcare administration, and Mark Noe, Ph.D., Parkville, professor of communication arts and director of the Master of Arts in Communication and Leadership degree program. Ehrlich also served the University as interim president from July 2015 to January 2016. Furthermore, the board re-elected Mara Cohara, J.D., Weatherby Lake, Mo., and Jeff Anthony, Prairie Village, Kan., as the board secretary and board treasurer, respectively.