Written By Jonathan Hale, Executive Vice President, Thoroughbred Architects & Engineers

The Leadership Kentucky Class of 2024 was welcomed to the Bluegrass Region for our sixth session from November 13-15, featuring Lexington and Frankfort. Our tour through the Bluegrass focused on three main themes: tourism as economic development, state governance & policy, and grass roots community development.

Day 1: Tourism as Economic Development

Hallie Hardy, with Visit Horse Country, started our afternoon with a tour of two Central Kentucky staples, Keeneland and Godolphin at Jonabell Farm. Central Kentucky’s rich Thoroughbred culture was on display as our class received a behind the scenes look at Keeneland during the November Breeding Stock Sales.  We were accompanied by experts who filled us in on details that make the sale so successful and pulls buyers, sellers, and visitors from all over the world.  The 2024 sale concluded with 2,159 horses sold totaling $196,492,900.   Direct sales are only part of the story, as Keeneland is estimated to have a total $1.6 billion-dollar regional impact! (Read Here)

Godolphin at Jonabell Farm, owned by Sheikh Mohammed, allowed for a better understanding of another significant economic driver of the horse industry, stallion stud fees. Jonabell is approximately 800 acres and serves as the North American Headquarters of Godolphin’s thoroughbred operation.   Our tour focused on the stud operation and specific insight into the importance of thoroughbred blood stock in the hopes of the next Grade 1 stakes winner.

Similar to the Thoroughbred industry and Keeneland, Central Kentucky tourism is boosted by University of Kentucky Athletics. Recently, the historic Memorial Coliseum on UK’s campus underwent an $82 million modernization renovation project.  LKY was given a full tour of this renovation, representing the biggest investment in women’s sports facilities in the school’s history.  Currently, the facility hosts women’s basketball games, volleyball matches, gymnastics meets, and stunt competitions, and is also home to the men’s basketball training facility.   Memorial Coliseum will continue to pay tribute to and honor the servicemen and women who died in World War II and honors those who fell in the Korean War, Vietnam War, and subsequent military service.

To cap off the day, our class broke up into groups and experienced Lexington’s downtown restaurants and bars.  This was a fitting end to the day, as each of the restaurants and bars are patronized each year by many people who experienced the same venues that our class toured.  Lexington’s famous venues drive tourism, tourism creates quality of life amenities, and quality of life amenities attract additional economic development opportunities for Central Kentucky.

Day 2: State Governance & Policy

The State Capitol hosted our class on the second day.  Prior to hearing from government leaders, our class had a peer discussion focusing on various business topics.  I was joined by Ginger Stein (Churchill McGee), James Evanson (Amazon), Tim Holz (Brown-Forman), Amanda Kool (Sharebite), Anthony Summers (TKT & Associates) and Sheila Fraley (Marathon Petroleum) for this class panel.

Rob Duncan, Kentucky Deputy Attorney General, led off our dive into governance by speaking to the class about the recent focus of the Attorney General's office and his specific experience in the Deputy role.  As with many states across the country, much of the emphasis is on the current drug and opioid issues.

Our class was treated to a panel of representatives and senators for a discussion on the legislative process moderated by our class’s own Makenzie Williams of Top Shelf Lobby.   The panel consisted of Senate Minority Leader Gerald Neal (D- Jefferson), outgoing House Minority Leader Derrick Graham (D- Franklin), Senate Majority Caucus Chair Julie Raque Adams (R- Jefferson) and Rep. Matthew Koch (R- Bourbon, Fleming, Nicholas).  The discussion helped our class see how the different views, belief systems, and backgrounds of our elected legislators help shape public policy and how each chamber must work together to govern.

Justice Michelle Keller hosted our class in the Kentucky Supreme Court and justice chambers.  My classmates and I really appreciated how Justice Keller engaged with us and went into detail about the Supreme Court’s schedule, caseload, the justice election process, and how deliberation is done in a professional manner, even when the stakes are high.  It was also interesting to hear a justice’s perspective on the quality of Kentucky’s Constitution and how other states are not blessed with the clarity we have in Kentucky.

Being a key election year, our class was treated to a recap of all things election by Trey Grayson, Frost Brown Todd, Lobbying and Public Policy practice group leader.  Trey has a unique perspective being the former Kentucky Secretary of State and now a lobbyist.  The class enjoyed Trey’s unfiltered feedback for national and local elections and how that may affect future policy shifts.

To finish our stop at the Capitol, the governor’s office hosted us in the rotunda.  Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman addressed the class about her current role and her path from public school teacher to politics.   Lt. Gov. Coleman also serves in a leadership role in the Lieutenant Governors Association. It was very interesting to hear about how different each state is with regards to the Lt. Governor position.

After a catered dinner at The Elizabeth in historic downtown Frankfort, our class departed Frankfort with a better understanding of the teamwork it takes to govern the state and the importance of our vote to put the right people in position to represent Kentuckians. The ideal of ‘Team Kentucky’ in state government, fully implemented, will hopefully carry our state forward.

Day 3: Grass Roots Community Development

Our last day in Central Kentucky treated our class to the grass roots work of community development leaders.  We met at DV8 Kitchen to a warm breakfast and the treat of hearing from the owner Rob Perez.  Rob is truly doing the work of building a better community one person at a time.  His company focuses on employment of the addiction recovery population and provides an environment for them to thrive.  The story of how DV8 started, with his wife as the catalyst, was truly inspiring.

The MET Art Gallery hosted our class within the same development as DV8 Kitchen.  The 75,000 square foot mixed use facility, which brought new resources to the East End Community, was a very complicated project to deliver.  We were able to hear from two key figures who represented Community Ventures Corporation in that delivery, Phil Holoubeck, President and CEO of Lexington’s Real Estate Company and Mark Johnson, President of Art Inc. Phil talked through the entire development process, including the complications of the financing for the development.  Mark spoke to us about the mission of Community Ventures and how the Art Gallery and Artist’s Village helped transform the area.  Our class was able to take of a tour of the area including the Artist’s Village.  It was remarkable to see the fruit of hard work, to help a community that had been overlooked for a half century as Lexington grew.

Our Central Kentucky visit concluded appropriately with a class discussion centering around the themes of the week, tourism as economic development, state governance and policy and grass roots community development. Although each theme is vital to the success of any community, our class tends to focus on the grass root efforts of individuals we meet each month and how we can glean insight on how to make a difference in our communities.

Special thank you to each individual and business sponsor of the Lexington/Central Kentucky session, our 2024 Classmate Mary Quinn Ramer with VisitLex, who helped to coordinate many of the session activities, and all our other hosts who spent time and effort to allow us the great experiences of the week.