Senator Roy Blunt
U.S. Senator

 
Building on a background as a public servant, university president, and teacher, United States Senator Roy Blunt was elected to the United States Senate in 2010. 
 
Senator Blunt serves as the Chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and as the Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee. He also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee; the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He is also the Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. 
 
The people of Southwest Missouri overwhelmingly elected Senator Blunt seven times to the U.S. House of Representatives. Senator Blunt was elected the Majority Whip earlier in his career than any Member of Congress in eight decades, and he was elected to the Senate leadership during his first year in the Senate. Before serving in Congress, he was a history teacher, a county official, and in 1984 became the first Republican elected as Missouri’s Secretary of State in more than 50 years. Senator Blunt also served four years as the president of Southwest Baptist University, his alma mater, in Bolivar, Missouri. Senator Blunt earned an M.A. in history from Missouri State University. 
 
Senator Blunt is a member of the Smithsonian Council for American Art and is a Trustee of the State Historical Society of Missouri. Senator Blunt is also a member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees. 
 
The Senator is married to Abigail Blunt and has four children: Matt Blunt, Amy Blunt, Andy Blunt, and Charlie (age 15). Blunt has six grandchildren: Davis Mosby, Ben Blunt, Branch Blunt, Eva Mosby, Allyson Blunt, and Brooks Blunt.

Neil Bradley
Executive Vice President & Chief Policy Officer
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
 
Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has spent two decades working directly with congressional committee chairpersons and other high-ranking policymakers to achieve solutions. At the Chamber, Bradley is responsible for aligning the organization’s overall policy priorities and advocacy efforts. He oversees several major policy divisions within the Chamber: Economic Policy; Employment Policy; Small Business Policy; and Cyber, Intelligence and Security Policy. Health Policy, Transportation Infrastructure Policy and Environmental Affairs and Sustainability Policy are also under his leadership. 
 
Before joining the Chamber, Bradley was president of Chartwell Policy Solutions, LLC, a research, analysis, and advisory firm focused on public policy issues. In addition to his work at Chartwell, he served as chief strategy officer for the nonprofit Conservative Reform Network (CRN), the leading organization supporting the Conservative Reform Movement. There he produced, incubated, and promoted ideas, policies, and efforts to grow the American economy, expand the middle class, and create opportunities for all Americans. 
 
Prior to founding Chartwell and joining CRN in 2015, Bradley spent nearly 20 years working in the House of Representatives, including 11 years working for the House Republican leadership. He served as deputy chief of staff for Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) where he developed the legislative agenda for House Republicans, oversaw policy formulation in the leader’s office, and coordinated committee activity in the House. Bradley held the same position for Eric Cantor (VA) during his tenure as majority leader. Previously, he was policy director for House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (MO).  
 
Earlier in his career, Bradley served for four-and-a-half years as executive director of the Republican Study Committee. He also held numerous positions in the office of then-Rep. Tom Coburn (R-OK). 
 
While working on Capitol Hill, Bradley was regularly named to Roll Call’s list of 50 top congressional staffers.  
 
Bradley, a graduate of Georgetown University, resides in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Kiki, and their son, Peter. He is a native of Sapulpa, Oklahoma.

Rob Engstrom
CEO, Wolfe Street Partners
Chief Political Strategis, American Bankers Association
 
As ABA’s chief political strategist, Rob Engstrom leads ABA’s political engagement operations including the association’s political action committee, grassroots advocacy and voter education initiatives, as well as the partnership with the ABA-State Association Alliance. 
 
Rob is the founder of Wolfe Street Partners, a strategic advocacy firm that enables him to carry out his ABA responsibilities. 
 
Rob has served in a variety of capacities at the U.S. Chamber since 2002, most recently as senior vice president and national political director. Leading the group’s national political, grassroots and election-related activities, he served as the chief liaison to nearly 2000 state and local chambers of commerce and trade associations. He previously served as senior vice president of political and state affairs for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, where he directed all state-level voter education, grassroots and advocacy efforts. Earlier in his career, Rob served as director of political education at the Republican National Committee and on Speaker Gingrich’s campaign. He has extensive campaign experience and was recognized by Campaigns & Elections magazine as one of the top 50 influencers in the 2014 election. 
 
Rob resides in Alexandria, Va., with his wife Celina. He was raised in Atlanta, Ga., and is a graduate of Baylor University in Texas.

Congressman Sam Graves
District 6

 
Congressman Sam Graves is a lifelong resident of Missouri’s Sixth Congressional District. As a small businessman and a sixth-generation family farmer, Sam has spent his life working to make Missouri a better place to live, work, and raise a family. 
 
In Congress, Sam serves as the Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. As Ranking Member, Sam leads the Republicans on the Committee as it has jurisdiction over all modes of transportation – our aviation system, highways and bridges, transit and rail transportation, pipelines, and maritime and waterborne transportation. Sam’s role in transportation is critical as he works on behalf of Missouri’s 34,000 highway miles and 10,400 bridges in need of maintenance and repair as well as the 6th Congressional District’s two major rivers – the Missouri and the Mississippi. 
 
Sam is also a member of the House Committee on Armed Services. Missouri has a $15 billion military footprint and plays a critical role in ensuring our troops have the resources they need. Sam remains determined to protect Missouri’s various military installations and all of the brave men and women who serve in uniform. 
 
Congressman Graves was born in Tarkio, Missouri on November 7, 1963. He graduated from Tarkio High School in 1982 and attended college at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he received his degree in Agronomy from the School of Agriculture.
In 1992, Sam won his first race for State Representative. In 1994, he was elected State Senator for the 12th Senatorial District and was subsequently re-elected in 1998. 
 
Sam’s leadership has been recognized by organizations like the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, the Missouri Farm Bureau, the Missouri Hospital Association and the National Federation of Independent Businesses. As a father, grandfather, farmer, businessman, and former State legislator, Sam knows the values, hopes, and beliefs of the hard-working people of the Sixth District, and continues to work tirelessly for Missouri families in the United States House of Representatives.

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver
District 5
 
Emanuel Cleaver, II is now serving his ninth term representing Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District, the home district of President Harry Truman. He is a member of the House Committee on Financial Services; Chair of the subcommittee on National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy; member of Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance; member of the House Committee on Homeland Security; member of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security; and member of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.
 
Having served for twelve years on the city council of Missouri’s largest municipality, Kansas City, Cleaver was elected as the city’s first African American Mayor in 1991.
 
During his eight-year stint in the Office of the Mayor, Cleaver distinguished himself as an economic development activist and an unapologetic redevelopment craftsman. He and the City Council brought a number of major corporations to the city, including TransAmerica, Harley Davidson, and Citi Corp. Cleaver also led the effort, after a forty-year delay, to build the South Midtown Roadway. Upon completion of this major thoroughfare, he proposed a new name: The Bruce R. Watkins Roadway. Additionally, his municipal stewardship includes the 18th and Vine Redevelopment, a new American Royal, the establishment of a Family Division of the Municipal Court, and the reconstruction and beautification of Brush Creek.
 
Cleaver has received five honorary Doctoral Degrees augmented by a bachelor’s degree from Prairie View A&M, and a master’s from St. Paul’s School of Theology of Kansas City.
 
In 2009, Cleaver, with a multitude of accomplishments both locally and Congressionally, introduced the most ambitious project of his political career—the creation of a Green Impact Zone. This zone, consisting of 150 blocks of declining urban core, has received approximately $125 million dollars in American Recovery and Reinvestment funds. The Green Impact Zone is aimed at making this high crime area the environmentally greenest piece of urban geography in the world. This project includes rebuilding Troost Avenue, rehabbing bridges, curbs and sidewalks, home weatherization, smart grid technology in hundreds of homes, and most importantly, hundreds of badly needed jobs for Green Zone residents.
 
During the 112th Congress, Cleaver was unanimously elected the 20th chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
 
In 2016, as Ranking Member of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee, Cleaver successfully co-authored the largest sweeping reform bill on housing programs in 20 years, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act, a bipartisan comprehensive housing bill that passed into law with a unanimous vote.
 
In 2018, Congressman Cleaver received the Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award Foundation. Past honorees include President Bill Clinton, the late Senator John McCain, and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
 
Cleaver, a native of Texas, is married to the former Dianne Donaldson. They have made Kansas City home for themselves and their four children, and grandchildren.

Rocky Moretti
Director of Policy & Research
TRIP, A National Transportation Research Nonprofit
 
Rocky Moretti has been with TRIP since 1992, where he researches, writes and edits numerous state and national reports and is often cited by local and national media in numerous transportation stories. 
 
In 2007 Rocky served on the Blue Ribbon Panel of Transportation Experts, which was selected by the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission to inform their deliberations over the future of the nation’s surface transportation policy. The Commission was appointed by Congress in 2005 to review the nation’s surface transportation needs and funding options and propose new long-term surface transportation policy for the U.S. 
 
Rocky also served from 1998 to 2002 as the executive director of the Alliance for Clean Air and Transportation, a coalition of transportation and environmental groups formed by the US EPA and US DOT to help promote actions that could result in cleaner air and reduced traffic congestion.