15th Annual Conference Visioning Kentucky's Future: Measures and Milestones 2008 November 20, 2008 Northern Kentucky Convention Center Covington, Kentucky

Speakers' Bios

	Lynn Allen is President and founder of Capital Innovations. She brings to her role an exceptional record of success in designing and implementing business development strategies that deliver new markets and millions of dollars in revenues for both the private and nonprofit sectors. Lynn has led marketing staff nationally and internationally to introduce new products and services. As director of institutional marketing for AEGON, Lynn grew stable value product balances by more than $2.5 billion among institutional investors, including public and corporate defined benefit plans. She uncovered 529 college savings plans as a new market opportunity and, under her leadership, AEGON became the largest subadvisor in the college savings market and captured 65% of stable value market share. After doubling income as CARE’s Midwest regional director, Lynn was selected as CARE’s first director of international initiatives. Under her leadership, CARE staff in North America, Europe, and Asia established new private sources of support in 15 countries and forged first-time partnerships with the world’s futures and options industry as well as global companies such as Cargill, Procter & Gamble, Bloomberg, and Nationwide. Lynn turned her business development expertise to the new economy in 2003 when she raised capital to attract two new venture funds to the Metro Louisville region. Since then, Capital Innovations has worked with regional venture funds, research parks, and economic development organizations to increase venture capital investments in the Midwest. Lynn holds a Master in International Management from Denver University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Kentucky. She is a frequent guest speaker at investment industry conferences and has given national television interviews on CNN and CNBC. She is a board member of the Louisville Venture Club and Gilda’s Club Louisville.
	Bill Bishop lives in Austin, Texas. He wrote The Big Sort with retired University of Texas sociologist Robert G. Cushing. Bishop has worked as a reporter at The Mountain Eagle, in Whitesburg (Ky.); a columnist at the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader and on the special projects staff of the Austin (Tx.) American-Statesman. Bishop and his wife, Julie Ardery, owned and operated The Bastrop County Times, a weekly newspaper in Smithville, Texas. They now co-edit The Daily Yonder, a web-based publication (dailyyonder.com) covering rural America.
	Dr. Terry Brooks is in his fourth year as Executive Director at Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA). KYA is the only group in the Commonwealth that focuses on children, youth, and families through multiple policy lenses. As the independent voice for Kentucky’s children and youth for more than 30 years, KYA addresses policy issues at both the state and national levels in a variety of areas, including economic well-being, health, safety, early childhood, K-12 education, immigrant/refugee youth, and juvenile justice. Before joining KYA, Dr. Brooks served as a teacher, principal, and central office senior administrator in multiple districts throughout Kentucky. His work in education reform and leadership has been cited by a number of sources and he has authored several publications, including Lessons in Innovation. Recent presentations include a keynote entitled “Senioritis” at the White House Summit on High Schools, “Innovation and High Stakes” at the senior leadership conference of the National Center on Education and the Economy, and “Doppleganger Leadership” at Case Western Reserve. After earning his doctorate, Dr. Brooks accepted the appointment of Senior Associate for Reform at the Boston-based Community Training and Assistance Center. In this position, Dr. Brooks led a team consisting of educators, business leaders, and health and human service professionals with a focus on turn-around projects in a variety of American communities, including Cleveland (OH), Jackson (MS), and Newark (NJ). Those projects focused on communitywide health, welfare, economic development, and education initiatives.
	Forrest W. Calico, MD, MPH, was until recently the Senior Advisor on Quality for the National Rural Health Association. Prior to that, he was the Health Systems Advisor for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, where he was responsible for the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program and actively promoted rural healthcare quality improvement. Dr. Calico graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health. He served in the United States Air Force for thirteen years as a Flight Surgeon and Family Physician, after residency training and Board certification in both Family Medicine and Aerospace Medicine. Subsequently he has directed Family Medicine Residencies and served as a physician executive in a large rural healthcare organization. He resides on his farm in Lincoln County, Kentucky.
	Don Challman has broad experience in the public and private sectors, in occupations ranging from government regulator to finance manager to research administrator and entrepreneur. For the past 20 years, he has served as the Associate Director and General Manager of the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research. At CAER, Mr. Challman is responsible for finance and human resources; strategic planning and institutional assessment; technology transfer and licensing; development; government relations; and technical services for IT, analytical chemistry, library, and environmental, health and safety. Prior to joining UK, he spent 10 years with the former Kentucky Cabinet for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection and the Kentucky Energy Cabinet. As a regulator, he gained experience in agricultural land management and conservation, prime agricultural land designations, purchased development rights, water and air quality control, dam safety, mining and reclamation, oil and gas, and scenic and ecological resources. As a finance manager, he was involved in bank and public financing (bonds, user fees, and grants) for water utility infrastructure improvements, energy conservation, and solar energy. He is also the co-founder of several high-tech start-up companies.
	John Chowning serves as Vice President for Church and External Relations and Executive Assistant to the President at Campbellsville University (CU). He is the founding director of CU’s Kentucky Heartland Institute on Public Policy and teaches part-time in the institution’s political science program. He has served on a number of boards, including serving as Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, Kentucky State Board of Elections, The Center for Rural Development, Campbellsville-Taylor County Industrial Development Authority, Southern Kentucky Economic Development Corporation, the Heartland Parkway Foundation board, the Heartland regional heritage tourism advisory committee, and Greater Campbellsville United which works to promote racial and ethnic harmony in the community and region. He is an ordained Baptist minister having served as senior pastor for several years at Saloma Baptist. He is active in Kentucky Baptist Convention life and has been recognized for his leadership in racial and ethnic reconciliation ministry. He has a masters of public administration (planning emphasis) from Eastern Kentucky University; a bachelor of arts in political science from Transylvania University; and an associate of arts from Lindsey Wilson College. He has completed several courses in the program of alternate studies at Memphis Theological Seminary and has completed additional graduate hours in education at EKU. His professional career has included serving as a public school teacher, public sector grant writing and planning, vice president and partner in a Lexington-based consulting firm, and former director of economic development for U.S. Representative Ron Lewis. Mr. Chowning is a member of several professional and civic organizations and has received a number of awards, including Governor’s Economic Development Leadership Award in 1999; local Citizen of the Year in 1998 and 2001; local Man of the Year by the local BPW Club in 1999; CU’s Faculty Challenger Award two years; and the 2007 Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award by the Taylor County Civic League. His wife, Cathy, is a licensed physical therapist, and they are the parents of four children and have three grandchildren. Mr. Chowning is the head of a family farm operation in his native Cumberland County, Kentucky. The Chownings have lived in Campbellsville for the past 30 years.
	Deborah L. Clayton is the commissioner of the Department of Commercialization and Innovation within the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development. Her professional background includes extensive experience in academia, entrepreneurial small business, corporate environments, a federal laboratory, and state government, which enables her to bring a unique perspective as she builds successful teams and implements cross-cutting initiatives. Prior to joining the Kentucky state government, Ms. Clayton served as the founding executive director of the Charlotte Research Institute at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she led efforts to forge relationships between academia, industry, and government to create a leading technology research community. In 2004, the Charlotte Business Journal named Ms. Clayton among its Top 25 Women in Business. As manager of operations for Argonne National Laboratory’s Office of Technology Transfer, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility, she managed an aggressive program to transfer Argonne’s technology to the private sector. She also served as the laboratory’s program manager for the DOE’s Office of Science, Laboratory Technology Research Program. In 2001, Ms. Clayton received the DuPage County YWCA Outstanding Woman Leader Award (Business & Professional category). Previously, Ms. Clayton co-founded a high-tech start-up company near Chicago that developed precision electron optic devices. Initially, she managed technical product development for the firm and then served as vice president and chief operating officer prior to the company being acquired. Ms. Clayton began her career as assistant director of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory at the University of Alabama where she oversaw the expansion of the facility into a multidisciplinary, state-of-the-art program. While there, she also founded the Alabama Electron Microscopy Society and the Microscopy Society of America's (formerly EMSA) Technologist's Forum. Active in community and professional activities, Ms. Clayton serves on numerous national, regional, and local boards and committees.
	Dr. Dan L. Crippen served as the fifth director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Dr. Crippen, who was appointed in February 1999, has served in senior positions in the White House and the United States Senate and is a specialist in issues relating to the federal budget, health care, and retirement. From 1987 to 1989, Dr. Crippen served as an adviser to President Reagan on all issues relating to domestic policy, including the preparation and presentation of the federal budget. In the Senate, he served as chief counsel and economic policy adviser to the Senate Majority Leader from 1981 to 1985. He has provided service to several national commissions. Dr. Crippen also has substantial experience in the private sector. Before joining CBO, he was a principal with Washington Counsel, a law and consulting firm. He has also served as executive director of the Merrill Lynch International Advisory Council and as a founding partner and senior vice president of the Duberstein Group. Since his departure from CBO, Dr. Crippen has served as chairman of a panel advising NASA on implementing changes after the Columbia disaster as well as serving on the Aeronautics and Safety Advisory Panel for NASA; worked with companies emerging from bankruptcy; testified before Congress and the Federal Trade Commission; and advised stock exchanges on the future of financial markets. He is a consultant for health care providers including developers of cardiac devices and bioengineered pharmaceuticals. He serves on several boards of companies in the health care industry, both public and private; serves on the national nominating committee for the National Association of Securities Dealers; conducts research on health care; and contributes articles to journals and newspapers. He currently chairs the Quadrennial Social Security Technical Advisory Panel, reviewing the work of the Social Security actuaries and advises office holders at all levels on domestic policy. Dr. Crippen is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Economic Association, and serves on the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the CBO Panel of Economic Advisors. He is also the Chairman for the Social Security Technical Advisory Panel and a member of the Google Health Advisory Board.
	Dr. Richard A. Crofts of Palmetto, Florida, has nearly 40 years experience in higher education leadership. A graduate of Fern Creek High School in Louisville and Georgetown College, Dr. Crofts holds a doctorate in reformation history from Duke University. Before becoming the interim president of the Council on Postsecondary Education in June 2008, he served as interim commissioner of higher education in Mississippi, where he assisted the board in its adoption of a new governance structure and led the system through the initial stages of recovery from Hurricane Katrina. He has also held positions as commissioner and deputy commissioner of higher education of the Montana University System, assistant to the chancellor of the Minnesota State University System, a commissioner of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, and a member of the executive committee of the State Higher Education Executive Officers. Dr. Crofts has served in many capacities on university campuses, serving as vice president of academic affairs at Mankato State University, associate vice president for research and dean of the graduate school at East Tennessee State University, and department chair and faculty member at the University of Toledo. He has been an active member of his community, serving as a member of multiple boards and organizations, including the United Way Board of Directors, local bank boards, Rotary International, and state and local chambers of commerce. Dr. Crofts’ wife June has joined him for his stay in Kentucky. They have four children, three residing in the state of Kentucky.
	Ron Crouch is Director of the Kentucky State Data Center (KSDC) located at the University of Louisville. The KSDC is the official clearinghouse for Census data for the state of Kentucky. KSDC provides data on population, housing, education, employment, and other social indicators. Historical data, current data, and projections are provided to help understand trends and issues facing individual states and the country as a whole. Each state, as well as the entire United States, is undergoing major demographic and economic revolutions. Our population is aging. Our economy is moving from a manufacturing to a knowledge economy. We are growing more diverse. There are major differences across regions. Ron’s background is in analyzing data and developing information in ways that enhance understanding and utilization. Ron’s vocation is that of “knowledge dissemination.” He averages around 150 presentations per year around Kentucky and across the United States. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville with a major in Sociology, and minors in Political Science and Economics. He holds Masters degrees in Sociology, MA, and in Social Work, MSSW, from the University of Louisville, and a Master in Business Administration, MBA, from Bellarmine University. He did doctoral work in Sociology at the University of Kentucky.
	Shawn D. Glisson is the founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Executive Committee of The American Cancer Biorepository, Inc. (ACB). Dr. Glisson inspires the Company’s distinctive vision and culture by promoting core values that focus on people. The integrity of the Company’s commitment to “Provide the Tools to Build the Cures” is founded on Dr. Glisson’s dedication to make a difference in cancer research. Dr. Glisson’s vision and leadership have provided the foundation for ACB to become a reliable resource where national cancer research groups and companies can obtain consented donor samples. Active on numerous cancer committees, Dr. Glisson serves as Chairman of the Cancer Committee at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. He is directly involved in ongoing cancer clinical trials at the Kentuckiana Cancer Institute PLLC, where he is a partner. A number of conclusions from these trials have been presented nationally and published in peer-review journals. Dr. Glisson is board certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, and Hematology and is noted for his leadership skills and dedication to improving cancer research. He is licensed to practice in Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. He received his M.D. from the University of Louisville and completed his residency of Internal Medicine and Clinical Fellowship in Oncology/Hematology at University of Louisville Hospitals and Clinics. He completed a Research Fellowship course entitled Molecular Biology in Clinical Oncology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Given Biomedical Institute in Aspen, Colorado, where the idea of ACB was first conceived in 1997. Dr. Glisson is currently a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Reserve and also holds a B.A. in Theology (Freed-Hardeman College), B.S. in Biology (Murray State University), and M.A. in Religion (Harding University).
	Dr. Betty Griffin is a former Director of the Kentucky Beginning Teacher Internship Program. Honored as Who’s Who Among Black Americans, Outstanding Young Woman of America, Danford Fellow, and African-American Adult Achiever of the year by the Lexington YMCA, Dr. Griffin is a former President of the National Forum Black Public Administrators, Bluegrass Chapter. She is a former Member of the Governor’s Commission of Vocational Education and Governor’s Commission on Black Affairs, State of Oregon. Her volunteer service includes the Governor Scholars Program; Urban League, Lexington; Girl Scouts Program, Louisville; and the National Council on Negro Women. Dr. Griffin completed the following postgraduate training: Executive Leadership Training, Harvard University, The Wharton School at Penn, and The University of Texas at Austin and Stanford University. She received her BS from Fisk University, and both her MS and Ph.D. from Oregon State University.
	Dr. Ted Grossardt is Director of the Policy and Systems Analysis division of the Kentucky Transportation Center. He earned a B.A. in Geography from Kansas State University, an M.A. in Geography from University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Kentucky. He and Dr. Bailey have worked on developing and applying the Structured Public Involvement™ research program to transportation and other public infrastructure questions. Their SPI™ research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Transportation Research Board. For ten years Dr. Grossardt has collaborated with a range of State and local authorities, private consultants, nonprofits, community and residents' organizations on a range of transportation issues in Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, and Arizona.
	Greg Harkenrider graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, in 1990, with a dual major in economics and chemistry with an area of concentration in theology. He received a Masters of Arts in Economics from the University of Tennessee in 1992 with fields of Econometrics, Industrial Organization, and Public Finance. He later attained ABD status while being employed full-time as a Research Associate with the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee. His work there focused on microsimulation models, state econometric models, and forecasting. Greg moved to Kentucky in 1997 and accepted a position as a revenue forecasting specialist for the Governor’s Office for Economic Analysis. He is currently employed by the State of Kentucky as the Deputy Executive Director of Economic Analysis in the Office of the State Budget Director. Greg’s current duties with the Commonwealth include revenue projections for use in the CFG process, expenditure forecasting, policy analysis, dynamic simulations, fiscal impacts, microsimulation, and other related economic research. He continues to conduct peer-reviewed research and make public presentations in the fields of forecasting techniques, tax increment financing, and behavioral responses to tax policy. He has also testified before several legislative committees on tax increment financing and related matters.
	Don Hartman has formal training and extensive experience in community to regional and state planning with a focus on transportation. Before receiving his graduate training he was on the staff of the Atlanta Regional Commission. Graduate work focused on urban and economic development planning and resulted in a Master of Science in Planning degree. His early professional career involved the development of planning programs as part of the Office of the Governor in Kentucky. He was heavily involved in policy and program planning relating to economic development and particularly transportation with a specific focus on the Appalachian area of Kentucky. He moved from government to academia to lead research and analysis on the socioeconomic and environmental impact of major economic developments. While with the university he became a principal researcher leading efforts to develop intelligent transportation system (ITS) applications and advised DOT’s and DMV’s in the conduct of strategic program planning. This effort was recognized with the outstanding contribution award by the FHWA and FMCSA. He is now the Deputy Director of the Kentucky Transportation Center at UK.
	David J. Hoke has been involved in employer-based health promotion since 1989. His experience includes work with organizations such as American Express, DuPont, SCANA Services, and the University of Kentucky. Mr. Hoke has been involved in the design of multiple nationally recognized programs and presented at numerous national and regional conferences. He has worked on applied research with groups such as Robert Woods Johnson and NIH, and been involved in the Medicare Demonstration Project, Senior Risk Reduction. He is a strong believer in the intersection of personal responsibility, wellness, and the employee benefit design and was responsible for benefit design at a Fortune 500 utility company. Mr. Hoke resides in Versailles, Kentucky.
	Jeff Jobe, a native Kentuckian, has been blessed with a newspaper career that afforded him the opportunity to live and work in several diverse communities, including New York, Ohio, West Virginia, Florida, and even short stays in Canada. These experiences gained in building a career were invaluable for Jeff not only outside Kentucky but in establishing and marketing his own newspaper company here at home. In 1998, he chose to leave the corporate life of the world’s largest newspaper company and hang out his own shingle. He created Jobe Publishing, Inc. (JPI). The new company was formed with the single purchase of the first newspaper, The Butler County Banner, and since then JPI has managed to create a marketing package for readers and advertisers to include South-Central Kentucky’s largest printing company, nine weekly newspapers, a full-service marketing agency, and the region’s first business and industry news source, The South-Central Business Journal.
	Dr. Ricky L. Jones is associate professor, past chair, and Director of the Center for the Study of Crime and Justice in the Black Community in the Department of Pan-African Studies at the University of Louisville. He is an honors graduate in Political Science from Morehouse College. He was only the second African American to receive a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Kentucky where he specialized in Political Philosophy and Comparative Politics. Since graduate school, his work has been published in a number of local, regional, and national periodicals and journals. Dr. Jones wrote Black Haze: Violence, Sacrifice, and Manhood in Black Greek-Letter Fraternities, addressing the troubling issues of hazing and violence in American fraternal organizations. It also examines a number of aspects of American sociopolitical culture from the ritualistic underpinnings of sacrifice to historical and contemporary collegiate and societal discrimination to the very core of America’s myriad perspectives on ethical behavior. Jones’ next book, What’s Wrong with Obamamania?: Black America, Black Leadership, and the Death of Political Imagination, received strong reviews well before its release. Outside the academy, Jones has written the Message to the People for the city of Louisville’s most popular alternative weekly, the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO). The Message won the Best Minority Reporting Award from the Louisville Society of Professional Journalists for three consecutive years. Recently, because of his commitment to the community as well as his work, Jones was named one of Louisville’s 25 Young Future Leaders by Louisville Magazine.
	Temple Juett is the General Counsel of the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC), a nonprofit, membership organization of 381 cities within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As general counsel, he serves as a member of the executive management team and is the Chief Legal Officer for the corporation and its eight affiliated companies which carry out the duties related to its insurance, finance, and citizen engagement programs. He is also a registered lobbyist and serves as the Director of the KLC Legislative and Policy Development Program which represents the interests of city government in Frankfort. Prior to joining KLC in 1999, he worked for 11 years as a practicing attorney in Lexington, Kentucky, for Wyatt, Tarrant and Combs, and Sturgill, Turner, Barker and Moloney.
	Kris Kimel is a founder and President of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC). During this time, KSTC has been responsible for the development and implementation of a variety of innovative projects in entrepreneurship, manufacturing modernization, R&D and education. KSTC also has two subsidiary companies: Intelligent Change Initiatives, Inc., a nonprofit enterprise; and E10, Inc., a for-profit firm focusing on helping entrepreneurs start and grow innovative companies. Prior to coming to KSTC, Mr. Kimel spent time as a private consultant, serving both public and private sector clients. He also spent twelve years in government, eight as Executive Assistant to Kentucky's Attorney General and four as the Chief Administrative Assistant to the Lieutenant Governor, where he concentrated on science/technology policy and economic development. Kris Kimel holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Kentucky and is the 1974 male recipient of the school's Sullivan Medallion.
	Rep. Adam Koenig represents the 69th House District (parts of Boone, Campbell, and Kenton Counties). He serves on the Banking and Insurance, Economic Development and Tourism, Labor and Industry, and Local Government Committees for the Kentucky General Assembly, as well as the Economic Development Task Force. Representative Koenig is the owner of MAK Consulting, LLC. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Miami University. Representative Koenig is currently a member of the Covington Salvation Army, Legacy, and Vision 2015, and is a Past President of the Northern KY Area Planning Council. He is a former member of the Telecommunications Board of Northern KY.
	Dr. Melissa Fry Konty is a Program Associate, Research and Policy, with MACED. Before coming to MACED, Melissa was an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Melissa’s work with nonprofit organizations includes working with a community collaborative to support childcare for low-income families, serving as President of a family cooperative preschool, working as a case manager for the seriously mentally ill and coordinating a national conference on campus racism for the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice in Washington, DC. Melissa is excited to bring her academic background and passion for social justice to research and policy work at MACED. Melissa holds a BA from Grinnell College, an MA from The University of Memphis and a PhD from the University of Arizona. Her degrees are all in Sociology with expertise in Public Policy, Organizations and Social Inequality. Melissa and her family enjoy their home in the woods at the edge of the Appalachian foothills.
	Susan Carson Lambert is co-owner of RE Strategies LLC, a renewable energy service company headquartered in Frankfort, KY. She has extensive experience working in the GIS and remote sensing fields as the P.I. on multiple projects funded by NASA, EPA, the KY Governor’s Office for Energy Policy, and the KY Rural Electric Cooperative. The most recent project completed by Ms. Lambert is development of siting criteria and analysis of 24 coal counties in KY for the purpose of siting wind, solar, and biomass renewable energy technologies on reclaimed coal mine lands. She serves on multiple renewable energy committees, and writes and speaks on renewable energy issues. Her company, RE Strategies, specializes in assisting individuals, businesses, communities, and state and local governments to identify, develop, and implement renewable energy projects. One of her personal interests as a cook and a grower of flowers and vegetables is in the Slow Food movement. She is one of the first members of the Bluegrass Convivium of Slow Food USA and devotes time and energy to the group. She served as a U.S. Delegate to represent KY at Terra Madre, the biannual gathering of Slow Food International in Turin Italy in October of 2008. She is involved with the Capital City Organic Food Cooperative. She goes to lengths to find, procure, preserve, freeze, and can as much local food as possible for consumption by her family and friends. She also keeps bees which produce honey on her 145-acre Honeystreet Farm in rural Anderson County.
	Jeffrey Manber is a successful international entrepreneur in the technology and space arenas. He is the former CEO of Mir Corporation, the Dutch-based company that leased the Mir Space Station, which negotiated the first tourist in space…Dennis Tito. Manber also helped lead the creation of the first venture fund focused on space. He is currently active in global technology initiatives principally in the U.S., China, The United Kingdom, and Russia. Manber, a frequent contributor on trade and policy issues to international publications, works out of Washington, DC.
	Dr. Joe L. McCormick is currently serving as Executive Director of the Kentucky College Access Network, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to promoting college access and success for Kentuckians throughout the state. In addition, Dr. McCormick serves as an adjunct college professor in the College of Education of the University of Louisville. Dr. McCormick is the former Executive Director of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA) and Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corporation (KHESLC). Dr. McCormick served as the Executive Director from October 1, 2001, to March 31, 2006. KHEAA is the agency of Kentucky State Government that administers several student aid programs—grants, scholarships, work-study, savings, and Federal Family Education Loans—to help families meet higher education expenses. KHESLC is an independent de jure municipal corporation and political subdivision of the Commonwealth that finances, makes, and purchases Federal Family Education Loans and provides annual financial support to KHEAA. During the Clinton administration, Dr. McCormick served as Chair of the Direct Loan Task Force within the U.S. Department of Education. In this position, he oversaw activities of the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, which issues over $10 billion in student loans annually, services a student loan portfolio of over 3 million borrowers, and manages a loan consolidation process that consolidated over $2 billion in FY1998. Dr. McCormick served as Executive Director of the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education from 1993 to 1995. In this capacity, he administered all state programs of student financial aid, regulated proprietary schools, oversaw the issuance of tax-exempt bonds for Alaska Student Loans, and promoted postsecondary education opportunities for Alaskans. From 1980 to 1992, Dr. McCormick was President and CEO of the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation where he led the organization to a growth of $4 billion and secured its position among the top five guarantee agencies in the country. Dr. McCormick is a native of Texas and holds a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to Connie, his wife of over 25 years, Dr. McCormick has three daughters, seven grandchildren, and three dogs.
	Rep. Reginald Meeks has represented the 42nd House District (Jefferson County) since 2001. He is the Associate Director of Development at the University of Louisville and Adjunct Professor at  McKendree College. Representative Meeks received his B.A. from Wabash College and his J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law. He also has pending a Ph.D. from the University of Louisville. Representative Meeks is a member of the National Conference of State Legislatures; National Black Caucus of State Legislators; Kentucky Association of Blacks in Higher Education; Leadership Kentucky, Charter Class Member; Honorary Member, Sunshine Seniors; Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels; National Association of Black Scuba Divers; Kentucky Association of Black Scuba Divers, Founding Member; Kentucky Native American Heritage Commission; and Kentucky Polar Bear Club. In addition, Representative Meeks has been named to Who's Who Among Emerging Leaders In America; Outstanding Young Men of America; Who's Who Among Black Americans; and Who's Who in the South. He has also received the Y.M.C.A. Adult Achiever Award and been named by Ebony Magazine one of their Fifty Young Future Leaders; and by Louisville Magazine one of their People to Watch.
	Russ Meredith is a graduating senior from the University of Louisville and the College of Business majoring in Management with minors in Entrepreneurship and Sports Administration. Spring, 2008, he participated in Kentucky’s Idea State U first ever business plan competition and his team took first place over all other state schools for the business concept plan. Prior to enrolling at the university he served honorably for four years in the United States Marine Corps as a Military Police Corrections Specialist. He is currently serving as the President of an organization he founded called the Louisville Farmers’ Market Association and looks forward to continuing his career as a social entrepreneur.
	Dr. Lenahan O'Connell is a research associate at the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC). He holds a Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Kentucky and a M.A. degree in sociology from Columbia University. At KTC he has conducted research on public transportation, smart growth policy, environmental policy, state transportation commissions, driver attitudes, and structures for public participation in decision making. His articles on these and other topics have appeared in Transportation and Statistics, The Transportation Research Record, Administration and Society, Public Administration Review, Urban Studies, Public Works Management and Policy, Journal of the American Planning Association, Social Science Quarterly and other journals.
	Frank Rasche served 15 years in the Kentucky House of Representatives before becoming the Department of Education’s legislative liaison. A Democrat from Paducah, Rasche served on the Paducah Board of Education before he was elected as state representative for Kentucky’s 3rd House District in McCracken County in 1993. He served as chair of the House Education Committee from 1999 through this year. Rasche holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree from Murray State University.
	Dr. Graham D. Rowles is Director of the University of Kentucky component of the Kentucky Elder Readiness Initiative (KERI) and Principal Investigator for the KERI contract with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. He is responsible for the overall direction of the University of Kentucky contribution to KERI. Graham is Professor of Gerontology at the Graduate Center for Gerontology at the University of Kentucky. He completed his bachelor's and master's degrees at Bristol University in England before coming to the United States where he completed his Ph.D. at Clark University, in Worcester, Massachusetts. The focus of his research is the changing relationship between elders and their environments with advancing age and the implications of this transition for health and well-being. He has conducted in-depth ethnographic research with elderly populations in urban (inner city), rural (Appalachian), nursing home and assisted living environments. His current funded research includes a study of institutional permeability in long-term care (funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality). Reflecting a strong interdisciplinary orientation, he publishes not only in gerontology but also in fields ranging from environmental and community psychology to occupational therapy. His publications include six books, in addition to more than 60 book chapters and articles. Graham is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Gerontology (Social Sciences), is past President of Sigma Phi Omega (National Gerontology Honorary and Professional Society), and immediate past President of the Southern Gerontological Society. He has been involved in many applied gerontology research and practice initiatives including work on boards and commissions concerned with home care, housing for the elderly, intrastate distribution of AoA funding, deinstitutionalization, assessment of nursing facility need, and aging and the workforce. In his spare time Graham coaches and plays soccer, keeps tropical fish, and is an avid gardener.
	Mark Schirmer is a Policy Analyst with the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center, whose research and reports have explored diverse topics, including early childhood education, broadband access, immigration, alternative energy, and the impact of federal legislation designed to control SPAM or viral e-mail. In addition to his research and writing, Mr. Schirmer is skilled in presentation, web design and development, graphic content for Web and Center publications, videography, the creation of CD-ROMs, and software problem solving. He holds a degree in communication studies from the University of Kentucky where he focused on interpersonal dynamics.
	Al Smith was the long-time host/producer of Comment on Kentucky, KET’s longest running program for 33 years. As a high school student, he won the American Legion National High School oratorical contest and a college scholarship. After military service in World War II, he attended Vanderbilt University and then spent his first 10 years in journalism working for daily papers in New Orleans, the Times-Picayune and the New Orleans Item. He came to Kentucky in 1958 to edit the Russellville News-Democrat, which later became part of a chain of weeklies that he organized and headed until selling the company in 1985. In 1980-1982, Smith was federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, which invests in economic development in Kentucky and 12 other states. He has chaired or been active in several statewide civic and educational groups including a Governor’s Council on Educational Reform; the Kentucky Press Association; the Shakertown Roundtable; Governor’s Scholars; Forward in the Fifth; Council on Higher Education; the state Arts Commission; state Oral History Commission; the Prichard Committee for Educational Excellence; Leadership Kentucky; committees to revise the state Constitution and, separately, the canons of the state Judiciary; and the founding of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky. He has received the following honors: the UK Hall of Fame of Kentucky Journalism, state rural electric co-ops’ Distinguished Rural Kentuckian Award, Vic Hellard Award for public service from the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center, Press Association’s Lewis Owen Award for Community Service presented by the Lexington Herald-Leader, UK Library Associates Medallion for Intellectual Achievement, East Kentucky Leadership Conference Media Award, and the Barren River Area Development District Tim Lee Carter Award for community service. The state’s annual Al Smith Arts Fellowships honor his support of community arts programs. Seven Kentucky universities and colleges have awarded him honorary doctoral degrees. Mr. Smith and his wife Martha have three children and five grandchildren.
	Michal Smith-Mello is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center. In that capacity, she was principal author of the Center’s 1994 biennial trends report, The Context of Change, as well as reports on rural development, workforce development, and, with Michael Childress, on entrepreneurship. She created the Center’s quarterly publication, Foresight, and continues as an editor. Ms. Smith-Mello has written or edited numerous articles, reports, and publications. A graduate of the University of Kentucky, she has a B.A. and an M.A.
	Dr. Kenneth R. Troske is Director of the Center for Business and Economic Research and William B. Sturgill Professor of Economics at the University of Kentucky as well as a Research Fellow with the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn, Germany. Prior to coming to Kentucky Dr. Troske was an Assistant and an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri. He received his Ph.D. in economics in 1992 from the University of Chicago. His primary research areas are labor and human resource economics. Dr. Troske has authored a number of widely-known papers utilizing employer-employee matched data on topics such as productivity, technology, and discrimination. His most recent work has focused on evaluating various aspects of the Workforce Development System in the U.S. including the role of temporary help firms in facilitating the transition from welfare-to-work. His papers have appeared in many leading journals in economics including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Human Resources, Review of Economics and Statistics, and the American Economic Review.
	Dr. Melissa Walton-Shirley is the Co-Director for the T.J. Samson Community hospital Cardiac Catheter lab in Glasgow, Kentucky, and has been a Partner with Cardiology Associates of Southern Kentucky since 1991. She also is Co-director of the Kentucky Pilot Project for Primary PCI. Dr. Walton-Shirley has served since 2004 as the moderator, consultant, and blogger for theheart.org forum, an international Web site for cardiology health care providers. She has been an interviewer for The Cardiology Show covering the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and European Society of Cardiology meetings since 2004. Dr. Walton-Shirley has also served as a consultant for US News and World Report, Elsevier, and Better Homes and Gardens Healthy Living Magazine. She was an invited faculty/speaker for the Transcatheter Therapeutic meeting in Washington, D.C., this year. Dr. Walton-Shirley has been a fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation since 1996 and is an avid promoter of Smoke Free Glasgow Kentucky. She graduated from Metcalfe County High School, received her BS in biology from the University of Kentucky, and completed her Internal Medicine Residency and Cardiology Fellowship at the University of Louisville. She is married to educator Tony Shirley and has two daughters aged 15 and 20.
	Dr. David E. Wildasin holds the Endowed Chair in Public Finance at the Martin School of Public Policy at the University of Kentucky and is also a Professor in the Department of Economics. He received a B.A. in economics from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Iowa. His teaching and research interests are in public, urban, regional, and international economics, with a special emphasis on federalism. His recent research includes work on fiscal policy issues in the context of European economic integration and on intergovernmental fiscal relations in developing countries. In addition to previous appointments at the University of Illinois, Indiana University, and Vanderbilt University, he has held visiting positions at such institutions as Queen’s University (Canada), the Universite Catholique de Louvain, the University of Bonn, the University of British Columbia, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Marseille), the Economic Policy Research Unit at the Copenhagen Business School, the European University Institute (Florence), Gadjah Mada University (Indonesia), the University of Helsinki, the University of Munich, the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, the University of Tilburg, and Uppsala University.
	Dr. Emery A. Wilson is Director of the Office of Health Research and Development and Dean Emeritus of the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Medicine. He has earned a national reputation for his work as a reproductive endocrinologist. He is known for his research in endometriosis and, in 1985, he performed Kentucky’s first successful pregnancy by in vitro fertilization. He is the author of more than 100 articles and abstracts, and he has published five books. His book, The Medical School Dean, which he co-edited with former dean D. Kay Clawson, M.D., is the only resource for improving leadership and management skills for medical school deans. Dr. Wilson was Dean of the UK College of Medicine for 17 years. Dr. Wilson received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Emory University in 1964 and graduated from the UK College of Medicine in 1968. After completing a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and serving in the Air Force, he held a faculty position and a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology at Harvard Medical School. He returned to the UK College of Medicine faculty in 1976 where he is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in addition to his administrative duties. Dr. Wilson helped establish The Kentucky Institute of Medicine in 2004 with the mission to improve the health of Kentuckians by providing objective, evidence-based advice concerning health and health care to policymakers, professionals, leaders of society, and the public. Dr. Wilson served on the Executive Council of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Council of Deans Administrative Board. He chaired the COD Leadership Committee which established programs to improve the longevity of medical school deans and enhance their success. He is past Chair of the Medical School Section of the American Medical Association. Dr. Wilson chaired the Liaison Committee for Medical Education that is responsible for the accreditation of medical schools in the United States and Canada. He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a member of many societies, including the American Medical Association, the Kentucky Medical Association, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, the Society of Reproductive Endocrinologists, the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, and the Royal Society of Medicine.

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