The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce this week approved its 2003-2004 slate of officers, electing Karen L. Pletz to lead the board as chairwoman.

Pletz, president and chief executive officer of the University of Health Sciences, succeeds Terrence P. Dunn, president and chief executive of J.E. Dunn Construction Co.

Other new chamber officers:

T. Nelson Mann, partner in the law firm of Stinson Morrison & Hecker, first vice chairman.

Tom Bowser, president and chief executive, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas City, second vice chairman.

R. Crosby Kemper III, chairman and chief executive, UMB Bank, vice chairman and treasurer.

Pletz said her priorities as chairwoman would be to promote regional cooperation, urban revitalization and excellence in the area's life sciences and educational institutions.

The chamber position adds to Pletz's long list of civic and business responsibilities. In addition to heading the University of Health Sciences, she serves on the boards of the Kansas City Area Development Council; Midwest Research Institute; Kansas City Public Television; Central Bank; Rockhurst University; Benedictine College; Midwest Bioethics Center; Metropolitan Council on the Arts; the state of Missouri's Hawthorn Foundation; and the state's Rising Tide healthcare foundation. She also holds several other volunteer and advisory positions.

New or re-elected members of the chamber board are:

• Jo Anne Gabbert, president, Adams-Gabbert & Associates Inc.
• John Bluford, executive director and chief executive, Truman Medical Center Inc.
• Charles J. Carlsen, president, Johnson County Community College
• Mark A. Ernst, chairman, president and chief executive, H&R Block Inc.
• David M. Fowler, managing partner, KPMG LLP
• Martha Gilliland, chancellor, University of Missouri-Kansas City
• Michael R. Haverty, chairman, president and chief executive, Kansas City Southern
• Lloyd L. Hill, chairman and chief executive, Applebee's International Inc.
• Howard Janzen, president-Global Markets Group, Sprint Corp.
• Leo E. Morton, senior vice president and chief administrative officer, Aquila Inc.
• Robert Regnier, president, Bank of Blue Valley
• Scott M. Smith, president-Central Division, HNTB Corp.
• Thomas S. Stewart, chief executive officer, Lathrop & Gage
• Dietmar Westphal, senior vice president-NAFTA Industrial Operations, Bayer Crop Science.

The chamber also elected chairmen of four area economic development organizations, who also serve as members of the chamber's executive committee. They are:

Elizabeth T. Solberg, chairman of the Civic Council; Jonathan Copaken, chairman of the Downtown Council; John Laney, chairman of the Economic Development Corp.; and William H. Downey and Tom Bowser, co-chairmen of the Kansas City Area Development Council.

The offices are effective today.