New Hires & Promotions
Gerard “Ger” Colman, chief operating officer (COO) of Wisconsin’s largest private employer and healthcare system, has been named CEO of Baptist Health.
Greg Caudill, chief executive officer, of Farmers National Bank, Danville, has been re-elected to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati board of directors.
Joe Craft, president and chief executive officer of Alliance Resource Partners LP, has been elected chairman of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce for 2018.
Forcht Bank has named Michael Adams as its commercial banking relationship manager at the Forcht Bank Lansdowne Banking Center.
Stites & Harbison, PLLC, has announced the addition of the following new attorneys to the firm: Neil Barton, Luke Ervin, Mina Khalil, Carolyn Purcell, Jameson (Jack) Seiffert and Angelica Sanchez Vega will join the Louisville office; Alison Zeitlin will join the Lexington office.
Blue & Co., LLC, has announced the following employee promotions at its Lexington office: Eric Riggs has been promoted to manager; and Parker Banta, Jordan Rebsch and Monica Youtsey have been promoted as senior accountants.
KentuckyOne Health has announced that Bruce Tassin will serve as chief executive officer for KentuckyOne Health and continue his role as president of Saint Joseph Hospital, which he has held since 2015.
Class 101, a national college planning franchise headquartered in Lexington, has named Bryan Smith as its new chief financial officer.
Victoria Bennett has been named as the development manager for Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA).
Kudos
Alecia Cash at the Red Lobster in Lexington received the company’s most prestigious honor, General Manager of the Year and the Lighthouse Club Award. Out of 700 locations, Lexington performed in the top five percent of the company in 2017.
Blue & Co., LLC, has proudly presented one of its 2017 David Windley Client Service Awards to Ryan Graham, manager in audit at the firm’s Lexington office.
Tom Hourigan, president & CEO of First Financial Credit of Lexington, has been elected the 2018 President of the Kentucky Consumer Finance Association (KCFA). Hourigan has been a KCFA advisory board member for the past 10 years, and president & CEO of First Financial Credit since 2003.
The Kentucky Science Teachers Association has named Julie Moore, science teacher at Lexington’s Wellington Elementary, as Outstanding Elementary Science Educator for 2017.
Vincent Fister, Inc., an agent of United Van Lines, has been honored by America’s Number One Mover for exceptional professional achievement.
JP Miller, Jr., CEO and dealer principal of Paul Miller Ford and the Paul Miller Motor
Company, has been elected as 2018 vice chairman of the Ford National Dealer Council, and will become chairman of that group in 2019.
The Kentucky Travel Industry Association (KTIA) has elected the following 2018 officers and new board directors:
• Chairman elect: Stacey Bowman, The Group Travel Leader
• Treasurer: Victor Patel, Best Western – Corbin Inn
• Secretary: Eric Summe, meetNKY
• Travel & transportation director: Sean Higgins, Mint Julep Tours
•CVB director: Karen Williams, Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau
• At-large: Cynthia Bohn, Equus Run
Vineyards
• At-large: Joy Brown, Morehead Tourism
• At-large: Tricia Noel, Hopkins County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Dickinson Wright PLLC has announced that the firm received a score of 100 on the 2018 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices relating to LGBTQ workplace quality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
Lexington Environmental Commission Celebrates has announced its 2017 Green Awards recognizing individuals, organizations, businesses, and institutions that have significantly contributed to the improvement of the local environment in effective or unique ways. Recipients include: Steve Kay, vice mayor of Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government; American In Bloom for the Trees and Babies Project; Bluegrass Baking Co. for the Team Baguette Project; LFUCG for the Clays Mill Road Project; the Mary E. Wharton Nature Sanctuary at Floracliff for the Trails End Project; Transylvania University for the Stormwater Improvement Project; CARMAN for the Distillery District Pepper Campus Site Improvements Project; Urban Forest Initiative Project; Bluegrass Tomorrow’s Bluegrass Forever Green, for its Conversations with the Region, and Trails Initiatives Projects.
The Downtown Lexington Partnership (DLP), formerly the Downtown Lexington Corporation and the Lexington Downtown Development Authority, has announced the winners of the 2017 DLP Awards of Excellence. The categories and winners are as follows:
• Urban Innovation Award: Bluegrass Community and Technical College
• Landscape and Streetscape Award: The Downtown Lexington Management District
• Leadership Achievement Award: Polly Ruddick and the Office of Homelessness
• Perfect Partner Award: The Lexington Public Library
• Outstanding Individual Award: Urban Downtown Ambassador David Warren
• Smiley Pete Award: Liza Betz and Failte Irish Import Shop.
The Kentucky Society for Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing (KSHPRM) has honored Bluegrass Care Navigators with three Thoroughbred Awards for health care marketing and communications. The agency won the first-place awards for its overall rebranding campaign, its annual report and an updated website. Bluegrass Care Navigators also received two Certificates of Merit for print advertising and earned media. The agency, previously Hospice of the Bluegrass, will mark 40 years of service next year.