In order to assure that all eligible postsecondary education students have access to student loans that are guaranteed or insured, or both, and in order to support the efforts of public colleges and universities to create and fund capital projects, and in order to support the Missouri technology corporation‘s ability to work with colleges and universities in identifying opportunities for commercializing technologies, transferring technologies, and to develop, recruit, and retain entities engaged in innovative technologies, there is hereby created a body politic and corporate to be known as the “Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri”. The authority is hereby constituted a public instrumentality and body corporate, and the exercise by the authority of the powers conferred by sections 173.350 to 173.450^* shall be deemed to be the performance of an essential public function. The authority shall consist of seven members, five of whom shall be appointed by the governor by and with the advice and consent of the senate, each of whom shall be a resident of the state; and a member of the coordinating board; and the commissioner of higher education. In making appointments to the authority, the governor shall take into consideration nominees recommended to him for appointment by the chairman of the coordinating board. Two of the appointed members shall be representatives of higher education institutions, one public and one private, in Missouri, two of the appointed members shall be representatives of lending institutions in Missouri, and one of the appointed members shall be representative of the public. The members of the authority first appointed by the governor shall be appointed to serve for terms of one, two, three, four and five years, respectively, from the date of appointment, or until their successors shall have been appointed and shall have qualified. The initial term of each member is to be designated by the governor at the time of making the appointment. Upon the expiration of the initial terms of office, successor members shall be appointed for terms of five years and shall serve until their successors shall have been appointed and shall have qualified. Any member shall be eligible for reappointment. The governor shall fill any vacancy in the authority for the members he appoints for the remainder of the unexpired term. Any member of the authority may be removed by the governor for misfeasance, malfeasance, willful neglect of duty, or other cause after notice and a public hearing unless the notice or hearing shall be expressly waived in writing.