FRANKFORT, Ky. (December 16, 2020)— The Leadership Kentucky Class of 2020 graduated virtually on Thursday, December 10, 2020. Forty civic and community leaders from across the Commonwealth of Kentucky celebrated completion of the program via Zoom after seven months together.

Since 1985, Leadership Kentucky graduates have brought an enlightened and informed perspective to their communities and companies, serving as important catalysts in the unified effort to improve our state.

Leadership Kentucky joins together a selected group of leaders, with a variety of career accomplishments and volunteer activities, to gain insight into complex issues facing the state. In a series of seven monthly, three-day sessions held at various locations throughout the state, participants meet with Kentucky leaders and explore the state’s resources and opportunities. The thoroughly developed leadership curriculum educates participants on Kentucky’s rich cultural heritage and unique diversity.

“Leadership takes many forms and this group of extraordinary leaders showed us a whole facet of it, I have no doubt Kentucky will see each of them in leadership roles for years to come,” said Barbara Dickens, Leadership Kentucky Board Chair and Assistant General Counsel of Atria Senior Living, Inc. “In a year marred by a global pandemic and civil unrest, forty Kentuckians from a wide variety of backgrounds, came together to create lasting relationships and commit to finding solutions to some of Kentucky’s biggest issues.”

The year’s program ran June through December and took the class across the state: virtually through ZOOM in June, Louisville in July, Paducah in August, Bowling Green in September, Pikeville in October, Lexington/Frankfort in November, and virtually, with a focus on Northern Kentucky, in December. The sessions covered topics ranging from business and economic development, racial equity, arts and tourism, natural resources and the environment, education and healthcare, agriculture, and government.

This year’s graduates include 40 participants representing a variety of public and private sectors. Leadership Kentucky congratulates the following graduates:

1. Raelyn Adkins – Jefferson County - Beam Suntory Inc.
2. Michelle Allen – Pulaski County - Somerset-Pulaski Convention Visitors Bureau
3. Rhonda Blackburn – Pike County - Pikeville Medical Center, Inc.
4. Ro Byrd - Jefferson County - Paducah Bank
5. Tyler Campbell – Scott County - Kentucky Telecom Association, Inc.
6. Brittany Carlson – Nelson County - Stites & Harbison, PLLC
7. Ellen Cartmell - Mason County - Kentucky Department for Public Health
8. Scott Dickens – Jefferson County - Fultz Maddox Dickens PLC
9. Doug Draut – Jefferson County – Governor’s Scholars Program Foundation
10. Fernando Figueroa – Boone County – KCTCS, Gateway Community College
11. Neel Ford – Daviess County - EM Ford
12. Betina Gardner - Madison County - Eastern Kentucky University
13. Matt Gunn - Oldham County - Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP
14. Emily Ho - Jefferson County - Authentically Social, LLC
15. Jim Horn – Kenton County - St. Elizabeth Healthcare
16. Michael Huffman - Pike County - East Kentucky Network, LLC
17. David Hutchens - Pike County - University of Pikeville
18. Jay Inman - Fayette County - Littler Mendelson PSC
19. Barbara Lynne Jamison - Jefferson County - Kentucky Opera
20. Ben Lewis - Jefferson County - Dentons Bingham Greenebaum LLP
21. Kathy Love – Fayette County - CHI Saint Joseph Health
22. Roy Lowdenback – McCracken County - Baptist Health
23. Theresa Lundberg - McCracken County - Lundberg Medical Imaging
24. Paige Mankovich - Jefferson County - Aetna Better Health of Kentucky
25. Mark Martin - Daviess County - Atmos Energy Corporation
26. Paula McCraney - Jefferson County - Louisville Metro Council
27. Katie Moyer - Hopkins County - Kentucky Hemp Works
28. Justin Otto – Campbell County - Newport on the Levee
29. Andrew Owens – Fayette County - Sherman Carter Barnhart Architects
30. Jason Payne – Boone County- Republic Bank
31. Tammy Piper - Muhlenberg County - City of Central City Convention Center
32. Jacqueline Pitts – Franklin County - Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
33. Chris Poynter - Jefferson County - Brown-Forman
34. Kaylee Price – Jefferson County - RunSwitch Public Relations
35. Bud Ratliff - Woodford County - Solarity
36. Adam Smith – Fayette County - Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities (LG&E-KU)
37. Stacie Strotman – Kenton County - Covington Independent Public Schools
38. Richard Taylor – Pulaski County - The Center for Rural Development
39. Shadd Walters – Pike County - US Bank
40. Alissa Young - Christian County - KCTCS, Hopkinsville Community College

Applications for the Leadership Kentucky Class of 2021 will be available online via nomination beginning January 1^st at leadershipky.org.

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About Leadership Kentucky

Leadership Kentucky, created in 1984 as a non-profit educational organization, brings together a select group of people who possess a broad variety of leadership abilities, career accomplishments, and volunteer activities to gain insight into complex issues facing the state. Our goal is to prepare our participants to take an active role in advancing the state for the common good. By fostering an understanding of how the state’s issues are interconnected, and by forging new relationships among community and regional leaders, Leadership Kentucky graduates bring a fresh and informed perspective to their communities and companies, serving as important participants in the unified effort to shape Kentucky’s future.