Matthew Negri, Saint Louis, is a board member and shareholder of D. J. Simmons, Inc., an independent oil & gas company headquartered in Farmington, N.M. D.J. Simmons, an exploration, drilling and production company, owns and operates interests in New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. Negri also is involved with Twin Stars, Inc., a company specializing in building and operating natural gas compressors for both sales and leasing. Negri is also a founding board member of the South Central Missouri chapter of the national First Book Program, a nonprofit organization that distributes books to Head Start students in several counties. He graduated from Drury University in 1981 with a bachelor of arts degrees in business administration and political science.