Jerry M. Hunter becomes Chairman of the Board of Associated Industries of Missouri

Jerry M. Hunter of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, St. Louis, was inaugurated at the Annual Meeting of Associated Industries of Missouri as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the next two years. Hunter takes over the reigns from Jerry Jost, Jost Chemical Company, St. Louis, who led the organization for the last two years.

Hunter has served on the Associated Industries of Missouri Board of Directors for many years and is a well-respected legal expert in labor and human resources law.

“Jerry Hunter has been instrumental in helping Associated Industries of Missouri pass laws that help ensure fair treatment of employers in workplace situations, especially in the passage of Senate Bill 43 from 2017, a bill that realigned Missouri’s standard of proof in discrimination cases with former Missouri law and current federal law,” said Ray McCarty, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri. “Jerry and I were able to answer former-Gov. Eric Greitens’ questions about that important bill prior to Gov. Greitens signing the bill into law. We look forward to Jerry Hunter’s leadership role expanding as our Chairman for the next two years,” said McCarty.

Mr. Hunter was general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C., from 1989 until 1993. His practice involves representing management in all phases of labor and employment law, including preventive labor relations and supervisory training, labor arbitrations, handling charges filed with the NLRB, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Labor, state and local civil rights agencies and cases filed in federal and state courts.

While with the NLRB, Mr. Hunter supervised the Office of General Counsel and the agency’s 1,800 employees; oversaw the operations of 33 regional, two sub-regional and 17 resident offices; prosecuted unfair labor practice cases before the five-member board; and represented the agency before the federal district courts, the U.S. courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court. He completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1987.

From 1986 to 1989, Mr. Hunter was director of the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, where he was responsible for the department which enforced Missouri’s labor and employment laws and regulations. Mr. Hunter also was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Missouri State Employees Retirement System and chairman of the Investment Committee. Prior to entering state government, he was employed as labor counsel by the Kellwood Company, a St. Louis-based Fortune 500 company, as a field attorney by the NLRB, and as a senior trial attorney by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where he handled cases alleging violations of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act.