Officers

With profound sadness, we announce the passing of Mark D. Mittleman, who departed this life on December 16, 2024, at the age of 78. Born on November 29, 1946, Mark was enthusiastic supporter of St. Louis’ cultural and community life. Read Obituary from Valhalla Funeral Chapel Donate to Mark D. Mittleman Memorial Mark Mittleman retired in 2024 as a partner in the law firm of Stewart, Mittleman, and O’Rourke, L.L.C., in St. Louis. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law. Mr. Mittleman was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1972 and is also a member of the bar of the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. He served as an Assistant Attorney General of Missouri until 1976, when he entered private practice in St. Louis, with emphasis on corporate, commercial, regulatory and administrative law, and public affairs, securities, trust and insurance coverage litigation, including class and derivative actions. He has litigated more than seventy-five civil and criminal cases on appeal to the Missouri and Federal courts, including In re NationsMart Corporation Securities Litigation, 130 F.3d 309 (8th Cir. 1997), cert. den. sub nom. NationsMart Corporation v. Carlon, 524 U.S. 927 (1998), and Quinn v. Millsap, 491 U.S. 95 (1989), in the Supreme Court of the United States; and State v. Gilmore, 650 S.W.2d 627 (Mo. banc 1983), and Charles v. Spradling, 524 S.W.2d 820 (Mo. banc 1975), in the Supreme Court of Missouri. Mr. Mittleman was trained as a mediator by the American Academy of Attorney-Mediators in 1994. He is Vice-President of the St. Louis Chapter of the Association of Attorney-diators, and certified for mediation and early neutral evaluation by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. He has served on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committees of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and The Missouri Bar. Mr. Mittleman has served as Chairman of the Missouri Coalition for School Choice; one of the founders of the Gateway Educational Trust; a member of the Board of Trustees of Citizens for Educational Freedom; a Director of the Educational Freedom Foundation; and a Director of the St. Louis Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. He has also been a Director of the Harvard Alumni Association and past President of the Harvard Club of St. Louis; a Director of the St. Louis Chamber Music Society; and active in other civic, educational and cultural organizations at both the local and national levels.

Susan Gordon has been a member of the St. Louis Symphony since 1987. Previously she served as violist in the Baton Rouge Symphony String Quartet in Residence from 1981-83. Susan is very musically active performing chamber music, including a ten-year tenure as violist of the Amici Quartet in residence at St. Louis University. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, associated with Case Western Reserve University. She has served on several committees associated with her position as SLSO section violist. Among the many committees served, Susan was active with the St. Louis Symphony Volunteer Association for the KFUO Classic 99 SLSO Music Marathon. Susan has also served as board member for the American Federation of Musicians Local 2-197. She is a Co-Founder and President of AAM Recordings, LLC since 2004. In addition to being in charge of bookkeeping, Susan is a member of the layout design and marketing teams. Among her other non-musical activities, she has been President of Vision Investment Properties Inc. since 2007

Ryan is currently Controller with U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation, Saint Louis, Missouri where he manages a team of twenty accounting and finance professionals in various roles at the Community Development Corporation (CDC). This includes overseeing day-to-day accounting of the CDC to ensure a timely and accurate close within three business days of month end. He also manages treasury function of the CDC, successfully executing on nearly 15,000 wire transfers sent on an annual basis. His duties include preparing and delivering financial data and analysis to senior management at the CDC and U.S. Bank, working closely with U.S. Bancorp’s External Reporting team to ensure completeness and accuracy of the CDC’s impact to quarterly and annual regulatory filings, including the 10-Q and 10-K. Previously Ryan was with Accountant, Assurance Services at Rubin Brown LLP, Saint Louis, Missouri where he provided audit and other attestation services including reviews, compilations, and agreed upon procedures for large and small privately held companies throughout the U.S. His responsibilities included designing and instructing continuing education for multiple industry groups as well as training and supervising accountants in all steps of the audit process.

Besides his musical accomplishments (see artist bios), Marc has extensive experience in the business world. As President of St. Louis based AAM Recordings, he has been responsible for client development and relations, graphic design, insert layout and distribution services as well as successfully negotiating an exclusive licensing agreement with Sony/BMG Music Entertainment. He has served on the Board of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and served on numerous committees with that organization. Since the year 2000 Marc has been involved in a real estate investment partnership buying, selling and developing properties in Florida, and Northern Ohio-Lake Erie area. He has also successfully completed the course work and testing to receive an insurance license from the State of Missouri.