Director, Business Development & Government Relations
About me
Will Shaffner has over 42 years of experience in the student loan and higher education finance arena and currently is the Director of Business Development & Government Relations at the Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri (MOHELA), serving in this capacity since 2004. Mr. Shaffner participates as a member of the Executive Management Team at MOHELA and is responsible for all sales, government and external relations activity within the Authority - including school and lender channels, government relations, as well as marketing, e-commerce, public & industry relations efforts. Mr. Shaffner has represented the student loan and higher education finance industry, participating on the 2014 Negotiated Rulemaking as one of the loan servicing lead negotiators, on the 2021 Negotiated Rulemaking as alternate, and on national news and media outlets as a subject matter expert. He has presented multiple times on a variety of higher education finance topics across the country for years. Prior to MOHELA, he worked with American Student Assistance as Director of Lender and Strategic Partnerships. He also held various sales and training positions at USA Group/SLMA from 1990 – 2001. Prior to working within the higher education finance industry, Mr. Shaffner was the Associate Director of Student Financial Aid at the University of Central Florida. He currently serves on the Missouri Scholarship & Loan Foundation board as Vice-Chair, NCHER and EFC Government Relations Committees, and on the Infinite Scholars board as Co-Chair. Mr. Shaffner holds a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida.
