Mr. Forsee was appointed president of the four-campus University of Missouri on Dec. 20, 2007, with his presidency commencing on Feb. 18, 2008. Mr. Forsee received a three-year appointment from the Board of Curators to lead Missouri’s premier public higher education institution.
Born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1950, Mr. Forsee received an engineering degree from the University of Missouri-Rolla. He began his telecommunications career with Southwestern Bell in Kansas City in 1972. In addition to living and working in communities large and small throughout Missouri, a series of increasingly visible posts took him to Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Atlanta, Georgia and Brussels, Belgium.
Mr. Forsee moved from Southwestern Bell to its parent company, AT&T, in 1981. He joined Sprint in 1989 in Washington, D.C., as general manager and vice president of the government systems division. Rising through the ranks, he became president and chief operating officer of Sprint’s long-distance division.
Next, Mr. Forsee became president and CEO of Global One, a joint venture of Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom. Forsee later joined the BellSouth Corp., where he was responsible for all domestic operations. He also chaired the board for Cingular Wireless, a BellSouth-Southwestern Bell joint venture.
He returned to the Kansas City area in 2003 in the dual role of Chairman and CEO of Sprint. Mr. Forsee then became Chairman and CEO of Sprint Nextel in 2005. During his tenure, he established a corporate culture that integrated social responsibility with innovation and performance. Sprint Nextel was named the leading telecom innovator by Fortune in 2006.
Throughout his life, Mr. Forsee has been very involved in the broadest range of community and philanthropic activities. As a University of Missouri-Rolla student, he was on the staff of the school paper and served as president of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. In Charleston, Mo., he was a Scoutmaster and chairman of the Chamber of Commerce. He has since led several major campaigns for the United Way, the March of Dimes and many other charitable and community organizations.
The First Lady of the University of Missouri grew up in St. Louis, Mo., where she attended University City High School. She is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, where she majored in Secondary Education.
Like her husband, Sherry is widely known for her commitment to a broad range of community endeavors. She serves on the boards of directors of Starlight Theatre, the United Way, and the Rose Brooks Center, dedicated to assisting victims of domestic violence. She also serves on the board of directors of the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation, her sorority.
Sherry has been married to Gary Forsee for 35 years. The couple has two adult daughters, Melanie Bell and Dr. Kara Forsee, both of whom are proud graduates of the University of Missouri .
