2016-17 Chamber leadership announced at Annual Meeting

Leadership for the 2016-17 Kentucky Chamber Board of Directors was announced during the Kentucky Chamber’s Annual Meeting in Louisville last week. Bill Lear, Chairman Emeritus of Stoll Keenon Ogden, will serve as Chamber Chairman beginning in October 2016. Lear has been with the firm since 1980. He served as Stoll Keenon Ogden’s Managing Director for 22 years and Chairman of the Board for an additional four years. Joe Craft, president of Alliance Resource Partners will serve as chair-elect.

Also at the Annual Meeting, 2015-16 Chamber Chairman Kevin Canafax, VP of Public Affairs for Fidelity Investments, presented a video to the crowd that outlined the year’s accomplishments.

Among some of this years’ successes were:

• The legislative success of public-private partnership legislation
• The release of the “Citizen’s Guide to Kentucky Education”
• The five-year celebration of the Chamber Foundation’s Leadership Institute for School Principals
• The passage of felony expungement legislation which will focus on the workforce benefits of getting former non-violent offenders into productive jobs

 

“You are part of one of the country’s most active and engaged chambers,” said Canafax. “Thank you for getting up every day, working hard to help the Chamber craft its priorities and continuing to support us year after year.”

Katty Kay discusses current events
BBC’s Katty Kay served as the keynote speaker for the event. Kay’s

presentation touched on the 2016 Presidential Race, the state of U.S. media, and other current events, saying there are parallels between Great Britian’s “Brexit” vote, and the current state of U.S. politics.

 

“People want change,” said Kay. “The Brexit results and the ‘Trump revolution’ are very similar.”

Business Summit videos to be released next week
The Chamber’s Annual Meeting was sponsored by Bingham Greenebaum Doll and was held at the Louisville Marriott Downtown. The Chamber’s Business Summit, held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting, featured numerous state officials, and national experts discussing topics such as workforce issues, regulations, Kentucky’s pension crisis and travel and tourism. Videos of each of those sessions will be available on the Kentucky Chamber’s YouTube Channel and on Bottom Line early next week.