President Donald Trump appointed former Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder to lead a federal economic development board representing the Delta region, which includes Texas County.
A White House press release announced Kinder’s appointment as alternate federal co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority on Thursday.
The position had been vacant since Jan. 20, an agency spokesman said on Thursday. The alternate co-chairman reports to the federal co-chair.
Kinder said Thursday he was excited about the appointment and grateful for “the confidence of the president and his team.”
“I have a lot to learn. The Delta Regional Authority encompasses parts of a number of states from southern Missouri to the mouth of the river into Louisiana and involves working with governors, mayors, state lawmakers in an effort to lift the economy of the Delta region,” he said.
The board comprises the co-chairman and the governors representing the states in the region. The co-chair is appointed by the president and is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Missouri is one of eight states covered by the economic development agency along with Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Congress created the agency in 2000 to make “strategic investments of federal appropriations into the physical and human infrastructure of Delta communities,” according to the entity, including jobs, businesses and transportation.
Kinder served three terms as Missouri lieutenant governor and three terms in the state senate. Before his state service, Kinder was a real estate attorney and associate publisher of a southeastern Missouri paper.