Tina Bernskoetter, 23
Service with a smile | Chamber of Commerce representative
 

Story by Taylor Grimes
Video by Caroline Zilk
Photo by Jeronimo Nisa

An intense desire to foster community growth distinguishes Tina Bernskoetter. “(My parents) were very candid with me growing up about needs in our community,” she says. “I think I have an absolute responsibility to make (life) better for somebody who didn’t have the advantages I have.”

Case in point: Bernskoetter and her husband, Brian, serve as the resident managers of the Columbia Ronald McDonald House, where they live and provide comfort and meals for the temporary residents.

Bernskoetter works as the Director of Government Affairs at the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, where her duties include monitoring the City Council and working with community agribusiness members.

“Tina is a great representative for the Columbia Chamber,” said Chamber President Don Laird in an e-mail. “She interacts positively with key individuals in Columbia/Boone County and provides creative input for many of the issues facing our Chamber and community.”

In her limited spare time, Bernskoetter works with a host of community organizations. She sits on the Sisters of the Benedictine of Columbia’s Our Lady of Peace monastery advisory board, and she serves on the board of directors for Comprehensive Human Services, a women’s shelter for victims of abuse and sexual assault.

Perhaps as the logical extension of her civic-mindedness, Bernskoetter aims to run for political office — an arena she’s familiar with because of her college job with current Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives Rod Jetton. “I don’t think I’ll ever run for federal office just because I don’t have that thick of skin,” she says. “But I absolutely wouldn’t mind being the Speaker of the House for Missouri. I don’t think that’d be a bad deal at all.”