Lexington, KY - The Third Annual Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame is set to honor this year’s inductees during ceremonies tonight at Awesome, Inc. in downtown Lexington.
Ronald G. Geary, W. Bruce Lunsford and Terry E. Forcht are this year’s honorees.
The Entrepreneur Hall of Fame celebrates the stories of Kentucky's most successful entrepreneurs. “Our mission is to raise awareness of the impact that entrepreneurship has made in the Commonwealth and encourage others to pursue similar ambitious endeavors,” notes a press release announcing the event.
The idea to establish the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame originated at Awesome, Inc in 2010. Sustainable Business Ventures, a non-profit, partnered and hosted the inaugural induction ceremony on November 16, 2010. Current sponsors of this year’s event include the Kauffman Foundation’s Global Entrepreneur Week, Kentucky Small Business Development Centers, Kentucky Science & Technology Corp.; Hanna Resources Group; Governor John Y Brown Jr., Davis Marksbury, Stites and Harbison and Jim Host.
Ron Geary is President and Owner of Ellis Park Race Track and retired after 16 years as President and CEO of ResCare, a human service company that provides residential, therapeutic, job training and educational support to people with developmental or other disabilities; to youth with special needs; and to adults who are experiencing barriers to employment. The company now employs approximately 40,000 people.
Bruce Lunsford, CPA serves as the Chief Executive officer at Lunsford Capital, LLC. Mr. Lunsford is also the founder, former Chairman, President and CEO of Vencor, Inc., a Fortune 500 healthcare company, now known as Kindred Healthcare based in Louisville, Kentucky. During his 15-year tenure, Vencor became the largest full-service, long-term healthcare provider in the United States. The Vencor network consisted of 61 long-term acute care hospitals, 293 skilled nursing centers and employed over 65,000.
Terry E. Forcht, Founder, Chairman and CEO of the Forcht Group of Kentucky currently employ approximately 2,400 people. The Forcht Group started with the purchase of a nursing home in 1972, a bank in 1985 which has grown to into 35 banking centers in 12 Kentucky counties with more than $1 billion in total assets. The Forcht Group now has more the 90 companies including insurance, broadcasting, publishing, web design, technology services, retail, equine, and construction.
The three inductees join two former classes including 2010 inductees: Ralph G. Anderson, the late founder of engineering firm Belcan; Governor John Y. Brown Jr., who built KFC into a national chain; Jim Host, founder of sports marketing firm Host Communications; Pearse Lyons, founder of Alltech; Davis Marksbury, co-founder of Exstream Software; Warren Rosenthal, who helped build Long John Silver's; John Schnatter, founder of Papa John's International; Lee Todd, University of Kentucky president and founder of technology firms Projectron and DataBeam; andWilliam T. Young Sr., the late founder of W.T. Young Foods and W.T. Young Storage Co.; and 2011 inductees: Dana Bowers, who co-founded iPay Technologies, an electronic bill-pay provider, in Elizabethtown; David Jones Sr. and the late Wendell Cherry, who co-founded Louisville-based Humana; Kent Taylor, founder of Louisville-based Texas Roadhouse; and Bill Samuels Jr., former president of Maker's Mark, who oversaw dramatic growth in the company.
Limited seating is available for $25 per person and reservations are required. To reserve a seat, please contact http://kyehof.eventbrite.com/.