Owen looks to replace term-limited Rep. Sonya Anderson
A banker in Greene County is throwing his hat in the race to represent his community in the Missouri House. Bill Owen is making a bid for HD 131, a seat currently held by term-limited GOP Rep. Sonya Anderson.
The cornerstones of his proposed legislative agenda are improving economic development and making government more efficient.
“Too often issues come up and no one has done the background research to provide quality data for good decision making. We need to push for more performance auditing of state agencies and policies to see if government is doing the best it can for the people. We could be doing more towards economic development, we could be doing more to fund programs to help people with disabilities, but we need to hold the state bureaucracy accountable in order to do so,” Owen, a Republican, said in a statement.
“I have spent decades of my life in Greene County, I was born and raised here. I raised a family and am helping to run a business here. I care about this place,” Owen said. “I have always believed in stepping up to help the community grow and prosper. I believe that we need a government that works for us, and I’m willing to put in the leg work to ensure that the people of Greene County have a strong voice in Jefferson City.”
Owen is a native of Springfield who currently serves as vice chair of the Greene County Republican Central Committee and is a member of the Missouri Judicial Performance Review Committee. He has also served as the chair of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce Governmental Relations Committee, as a member of the Urban Neighborhoods Alliance, and as a past president of the Drury University Alumni Association.
In 2019, he was a recipient of the North Springfield Betterment Association Community Contributor of the Year award. Owen is the senior vice president of the Bank of Bolivar in Springfield, where he has spent the last 12 years of his 38-year career in banking.
“As a community banker, you get to interact with nearly every part of the community: families needing help to buy a home, local businesses needing a loan to start-up or expand, parents wanting to save up to send their kids to college, you end up having a firm grasp on business and economic issues,” Owen said. “I believe that we can do more as a state to help working Missouri families and jumpstart businesses across the region.”
Owen grew up in Springfield and graduated from Parkview High School and Drury University. He then went on to earn a degree from the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Owen and his wife of 28 years, Carole, have two children, Jason and Morgan, and one grandson, Eden.
Owen has retained Axiom Strategies to consult on his campaign.
Alisha Shurr was a reporter for The Missouri Times and The Missouri Times Magazine. She joined The Missouri Times in January 2018 after working as a copy editor for her hometown newspaper in Southern Oregon. Alisha is a graduate of Kansas State University.
