Kara Corches has stepped into a new leadership role with the Missouri Chamber as its vice president of governmental affairs.
Corches, 33, previously served as the chamber’s director of legislative affairs where she advocated on behalf of employer issues — from agriculture and energy to education and health care and more — in the Capitol.
“This leadership role is very well deserved. Kara Corches has done an outstanding job representing the Missouri Chamber in the Capitol and establishing strong relationships with our members,” Danial P. Mehan, the Missouri Chamber president and CEO, said. “We are proud of her efforts and many successes — legislative and beyond — for Missouri’s business community.”
“We have high expectations for Kara as she assumes this new leadership role, and we look forward to her continued successful advocacy for Missouri employers,” Mehan continued.
Corches joined the Missouri Chamber in 2019 and recently started the Missouri Chamber Tech Alliance, a group uniting Missouri’s technology community to promote the state as an emerging tech hub, according to a news release. She will continue to lead the alliance even as she steps into the new role.
Additionally, Corches serves on the United WE Women’s Economic Development Task Force.
“I am honored to take on this new responsibility at the Missouri Chamber as we work to grow our state’s economy. We are in a critical time for employers right now as we recover from the pandemic, face workforce shortages and deal with supply chain constraints. Despite these challenges, Missouri has a bright outlook,” Corches told The Missouri Times.
“We look to maximize advantageous opportunities ahead of us including securing our state’s position as an emerging tech hub as well as utilizing our strength as a national apprenticeship leader to build a long-term talent pipeline,” Corches added. “As we move forward, the Missouri business community is fortunate to have strong pro-business leadership in Jefferson City. I look forward to building on our recent progress with an ambitious legislative agenda for the 2022 legislative session.”
She is an alumna of Baylor University and holds a Master of Public Policy and Administration degree from California State University, Sacramento.
Prior to joining the Missouri Chamber, Corches was the chief lobbyist for the California Optometric Association in Sacramento and worked for the California Farm Bureau Federation. Corches has also worked in Washington, D.C., for a member of Congress as well as for the American Medical Association.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
