Park University’s Board of Trustees Adds Two New Members
July 1, 2020 — The governing body of Park University — its Board of Trustees — has elected two individuals, Robert Bucker, D.M.A., and Linda Coventon, to serve three-year terms on the board, effective July 1.
The Board of Trustees also elected Vince Clark, Kansas City, Mo., vice president of business development at Creative Planning Inc., Overland Park, Kan., to serve the board as vice chair. In addition, the Board approved the following officers in their current roles:
• Chair: Jeanette Prenger, Weatherby Lake, Mo.; president and chief executive officer, ECCO Select, Kansas City, Mo.
• Secretary: Troy Teague, Kansas City, Mo.; recruiting director, Cerner Corp., Kansas City, Mo.
• Treasurer: Lynn Craghead, Kansas City, Mo.; senior vice president, U.S. Bank, Kansas City, Mo.
Profiles of the two new board members:
Robert Bucker, D.M.A.
After retiring as vice provost and dean of the faculty at Manhattan (N.Y) School of Music in 2017, Bucker, a resident of Parkville, has served as a strategic planning and community outreach consultant with a variety of performing arts institutions. Previously, Bucker served as dean of the College of the Arts at Portland (Ore.) State University; dean of the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communication, and executive director of the Valley Performing Arts Center at California State University, Northridge; dean of the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; and dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. In addition, he served as director of the education department for the Metropolitan Opera and the Metropolitan Opera Guild in New York City, and assistant dean and director of development for the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The founder of the Choral Arts Ensemble of Kansas City and Kansas City Youth Chorale, Bucker also held a number of positions in the Kansas City region, including executive director and administrator at Kansas City Young Audiences; director of vocal music education at The Barstow School, Kansas City, Mo., and Liberty (Mo.) High School, and director of vocal music at Northgate Junior High School in North Kansas City (Mo.) and Lafayette High School in St. Joseph, Mo.
Bucker earned both his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting and Master of Music degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a Bachelor of Science degree in education from the University of Missouri.
Linda Coventon
Coventon, also a resident of Parkville, has had an extensive career in health care administration. Coventon is currently a network executive with Meritas Health Corp., based in Kansas City, Mo. Prior to joining Meritas Health in 2012, Coventon was the administrative director of clinic operations for INTEGRIS Health in Oklahoma City for 17 years and served as director of physician services at Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City for four years.
She has also held stints with St. Anthony Hospital as assistant director of planning, Four Seasons Nursing Centers as a project analyst and Oklahoma Health Systems Agency as a review specialist, all in Oklahoma City.
Coventon earned a Master of Public Health/Health Care Administration from the University of Oklahoma and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado.