Advisory Council
Dave Armstrong
Dave Armstrong, legal counsel/attorney with Greenebaum, Doll, & McDonald in Louisville, is a graduate of Murray State University, from where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1966, and the University of Louisville School of Law, from where he graduated in1969. His professional memberships and affiliations include the Louisville Bar Association, the Kentucky Bar Association and the Society of Attorneys General Emeritus.
Armstrong served as Mayor of Louisville from 1999 until 2005. During his term, Louisville was twice named one of the country’s “most livable.” Prior to his service as Mayor, Armstrong was Jefferson County Judge/Executive, 1989-1999, Kentucky Attorney General, 1983-1988, and was Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 30th Judicial District, 1976-1983.
Armstrong serves on the Board of Trustees for the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville, the Creative Diversity Youth Board, the Kentucky Opera Board, the Muhammad Ali Center, Partners for Livable Communities and the University of Kentucky’s School of Design. He also is a member of the Filson Historical Society, is a former President of National Council of County Executives, serves as Chairman of the Rebuild America Coalition, and works with University of Kentucky’s Sanders/Brown Council on Aging.
Dan Crutcher
Dan Crutcher is president of Louisville Magazine Inc. and publisher of Louisville Magazine, the city's premier cultural and lifestyle publication. He is also the principle owner of Louisville.com, a community-centered Web site for Louisville.
Crutcher, a native of Lexington, holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Kentucky. He is currently chair of the advisory board of Kids Voting Metro Louisville and serves on a steering committee that is directing a capital campaign for the Louisville Central Community Center.
Stan Curtis
Stan Curtis is Senior Vice President of Hilliard Lyons in Louisville. Curtis started his adult life as a professional tennis player, touring the world until his retirement in 1981. After his athletic career, Curtis initiated a career in investment and finance.
Twenty years ago, Curtis founded USA Harvest, an operation that collects and distributes food to needy families throughout the world. To date, USA Harvest has grown to include 127 cities in America with more than 129,000 volunteers, and has collected and distributed more than 13 billion pounds of food (more than 25 billion meals) throughout the world. In 1993, as founder and chairman of the USA Harvest movement, Curtis was one of six Americans honored with the America’s Award, also known as the “Nobel Prize For Goodness.” In 1997, President Bill Clinton presented The President’s Volunteer Action Award to Curtis. Curtis has appeared the Larry King Show, Reverend Robert Schuler’s Hour of Power, Tom Snyder on CNBC, and on the CBS series “How’d They Do That?!” He also has been featured on MTV in the documentary “Rock In America And The American Way.”
Curtis serves on the Board of Directors of USA Today’s Make A Difference Day and the Board of Directors of the Heart of America Foundation.
Laura Douglas
Laura Douglas, director of communications for Eon U.S., earned her Juris Doctorate from the Univeristy of Louisville, where she was named the Law School’s 2004 Alumni Fellow. The award is presented annually to alumni who have made outstanding contributions to the university, profession and community.
Douglas served as an attorney for the University of Iowa’s Director of Affirmative Action and joined the Legal Aid Society after returning to Louisville as Associate Director. She eventually became the Urban Managing Attorney and later served as General Counsel at the Metropolitan Sewer District and Louisville Water Company. In 1995 she was appointed by Gov. Paul Patton as secretary of Public Protection and Regulation. She joined LG&E Energy in 2003. American Bar Association President Robert Grey named Douglas the Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Electricity and Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Water for the ABA's section on Public Utility, Communications and Transportation Law.
Douglas serves as Chairwoman of the Citizens Commission on Police Accountability and as Speed Museum Governor. She serves on the Boards of Republic Bank, Caritas Hospital, Louisville Community Foundation, Kentucky State University, Metro United Way, Family Health Center, the Salvation Army, and the U of L Law Alumni Association.
Penny Gold
Penny Gold, chief executive of the Kentucky Society of CPAs, holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from C.W. Post College in New York and a master’s degree from St. John’s University in New York. As CEO of KyCPA, Gold oversees all aspects of non-profit professional organization.
Before KyCPA, Gold served as Executive Director of the Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys. She also is the former Director of Administrative Services for the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, and is the former Chief Executive Assistant to the Secretary of the Cabinet for Public Protection and Regulation. She also served as Director of Federal Programs for Jefferson County Government.
Gold’s has and/or continues to serve on Boards for the Kentucky World Trade Center, the national society of CPA Executives, and the Kentucky Council on Economic Education. She also has and/or continues to serve on the Pre-certification Education Executive Committee for the American Institute of CPAs and GLI’s CEO Roundtable, and is a Past-President of the National Association of Trial Lawyer Executives as well the Kentucky Society of Association Executives. Gold was named the 2002 Woman of Achievement by Business & Professional Woman/River City, and was the first female recipient of the Daniel Carter Beard Award of the Boy Scouts of America.
Susan Griffin
Susan Griffin is the President and CEO of Griffin Fund Raising & Marketing, a Louisville-based business that focuses on fund-development, marketing and sponsorship for non-profits. Griffin founded the company in 1992.
Griffin holds undergraduate degrees from Spalding University and University of Kentucky, and master’s degrees from Indiana University and UK. Griffin also holds a PhD from UK.
Griffin's experience includes serving as vice chancellor of university advancement at Indiana University Southeast, executive vice president of the Cathedral Heritage Foundation, director of development for University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, and associate executive director for Kentuckiana Metroversity.
Rebecca Jackson
Rebecca Jackson, Executive Director of the WHAS Crusade for Children, earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Louisville, where she serves as a trustee.
Before joining the Crusade, Jackson service as Chief Executive of rj Consulting where she worked as a motivational speaker and conducted leadership and management training. Jackson has spoken in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and assisted the Louisville Deaf Oral School in updating its strategic plan. Jackson also is the author of children’s picture book, “Mackenzie and the Baby Robin,” about which she has made presentations to church groups, schools and other organizations.
Jackson taught special education in the public schools and founded an employment agency for persons with handicaps prior to serving as the Jefferson County Judge/Executive and as Jefferson County Clerk. She was the first woman to be elected to either office. Jackson works with Beta’s Blessings in the U.S. and Romania to assist teachers who have children with special needs be “mainstreamed” into their classrooms. She also helps children exiting orphanages make successful transitions into the real world. As an elected official, Jackson represented the United States in Russia, Bulgaria, China, and Morocco. As a private citizen, she participated in short-term missionary work in Kenya, the Fiji Islands and Romania. Jackson also founded the Young Professional Association of Louisville.
Christine D. Johnson
Christine D. Johnson is the President and CEO of the Leadership Louisville Center. She also is a 1987 Leadership Louisville graduate. She is a graduate of Murray State University.
Before joining the Leadership Louisville staff in 1990, Chris was an executive with a Kentucky-based public relations firm. She began her professional career at The Courier-Journal, where she worked as a sports reporter. At LLC, Johnson directs the center’s five leadership programs: Leadership Louisville, Focus Louisville, The Bingham Fellows, The Leadership Network and Ignite Louisville. In 2007 she was named by Louisville Magazine as one of the city’s 15 most powerful women. She also recently was installed into the Presbyterian Community Center’s Hall of Fame. In 2006, she received the Chairman’s Award by the national Community Leadership Association. In 1996, she was recognized as a Woman of Achievement by the Kentuckiana Girl Scout Council. In 1995, she received the Preceptor Award from The Community Leadership Association.
Johnson serves on the boards of Greater Louisville Inc. and the Louisville Collegiate School. She also serves on the advisory council of Young Professionals Association of Louisville, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville’s development board and the Junior League of Louisville’s Community Board.
John Kurnick
John Kurnick is the Vice President of Global Talent Management and Corporate HR for Yum! Brands. Yum Brands is the parent company for popular quick serve restaurant brands, A&W All American Food, KFC, Long John Silvers, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Mr. Kurnick is an active member of the Society for Human Resource Management, EDA Networks, the Retail Talent Network and the Human Resource Planning Society.
“With 20+ years in the Human Resources field I am never surprised, but continue to be amazed”, is a favorite quote of John. He also believes that if you meet people where they are, they will stay there, but if you invite people to where they could be, they will join you. Individual development, organizational capability and building the talent bench for the future are some of John’s professional areas of focus.
John has enjoyed a career across three primary industries having spent 10 years in the transportation industry with United Airlines, 12 years in communications with the now “new at&t” (legacy Bellsouth and Cingular) and currently the Quick Service Restaurant industry with Yum! Brands. He has worked in a variety of HR functions and specialties but his passion is around traditional HR Generalist work and Talent Management. John holds a BS in Business Administration from Madonna University in Livonia Michigan as well as studies in Industrial Relations from Loyola University – Chicago.
John and his wife Maria and their family of three boys, Austin, Bradley and Chase live in Louisville, KY.
Tom Monahan
Tom Monahan, President and Publisher of Business First, holds degrees in journalism and sociology from Indiana University. He began his Louisville newspaper career in 1974 as a Reporter for The Record, a weekly Catholic newspaper. He joined Business First’s start-up team as a Reporter in July 1984 and was named Managing Editor that fall. Monahan was promoted to Editor and Vice President a year later. He was named President and Publisher in 1995.
Monahan is immediate Past Chairman of the New Directions Housing Corp. Board and former Chairman of the Leadership Louisville Center Board. He also serves on the Boards of the Fund for the Arts; the Lincoln Heritage Council, Boy Scouts of America; the Better Business Bureau; and the Louisville Advertising Federation.
Mary Moseley
Mary Moseley, President of Al J. Schneider Company, holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville and has been the President of the Al J. Schneider Company since 2001. Before joining Al J. Schneider Company, Moseley and her husband owned and operated Eden Gallery and Moseley Photography and Commercial Color Lab.
Moseley serves on the Norton Healthcare Board and on the BB&T Advisory Board. She also has been involved with GLI, Leadership Louisville, the Main Street Association, Boy Scouts of America, the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau, Fund for the Arts, and Home of the Innocents.
Joe Reagan
Joe is president and CEO of Greater Louisville Inc. – the Metro Chamber of Commerce, the region’s primary economic development, workforce development and business leadership organization. Joe has been with GLI since February 1998. Prior to becoming president and CEO, he served as chief operating officer.
Joe came to Greater Louisville Inc. from the Rockford, Illinois, Chamber of Commerce, where he served as executive vice president and as executive director of the Council of 100 - an economic development leadership organization. Prior to entering the Chamber profession, Joe owned a marketing and publishing company and spent twelve years in radio broadcasting management, sales and programming. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa. He and his wife Julie have six children.
Bill Samuels Jr.
Bill Samuels Jr., President and CEO of Maker’s Mark, is a graduate of Vanderbilt’s Law School. Since his graduation in 1967, Samuels has been working at his family business, Maker’s Mark. He has been the President and CEO since 1975.
Samuels was named Kentucky Entrepreneur of the Year in 1995 and 2005. He also was selected Louisville’s 2004 Citizen of the Year, Harvard Lampoon’s Man of the Year ing 2005, and inducted into the Kentucky Business Hall of Fame in 2006.
Samuels serves as Chairman of Board of Trustees for Bellarmine University, is on the President’s Advisory Board for Clemson University, and is the immediate past Chairman of the Louisville Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Healthcare, and is the past Chairman of the University of Louisville’s Board of Trustees the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, the Louisville Area Workforce Development Board, the Kentucky Distillers Association, the Kentucky Derby Museum, and the Louisville Area Boy Scouts Council
Paul Schulte
Paul Schulte is the President of Horizon Research International.
Steve Trager
Steve Trager, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Republic Bank & Trust Co., earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Louisville School of Law.
Trager then joined Republic Bank & Trust Company in May of 1987. In 1998, Trager was appointed President and CEO of Republic Bancorp. Trager also serves as Chairman and CEO of Republic Bank, where he remains actively involved in the operation and retail management of the bank’s 29 banking centers.
Trager is a past Chairman for the Kentucky Bankers Association and services on the Boards of Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ Louisville Branch, Fund for the Arts, Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Healthcare, Louisville Bar Foundation, the Jefferson Club, Leadership Kentucky, the University of Louisville’s Board of Overseers. Trager was the Juevenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Man of the Year in 2003. And, in 2003, he received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Southern Ohio and Kentucky. Trager in 2004 was inducted into the Atherton High School Alumni Association’s Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the 2005 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Louisville’s Louis D. Brandeis School of Law.
Gill Holland
Gill Holland, Spirit Award nominee for Producer of the Year Gill Holland has worked on over 60 films, including Sundance faves FLOW: For Love of Water, ADVENTURES OF POWER, SPRING FORWARD, LOGGERHEADS, triple winner HURRICANE STREETS, the FOX sit-com GREG THE BUNNY, the Spirit Award winner and first carbon-neutral independent film SWEETLAND, Al Gore’s 2008 Reel Current Award winner MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL, and the Emmy-nominated DEAR JESSE. He is partner at The Group Entertainment, the KY/NYC management/production company. His record label sonaBLAST! features Kelley McRae, Ben Sollee, The Old Ceremony and Irish star Mark Geary. He, his wife Augusta, and daughter Cora just opened The Green Building, the greenest commercial building in Louisville, KY. He sits on many boards..
Christopher A.R. Brice
Chris serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Northwestern Mutual – Kentucky & Southern Indiana.
A native New Yorker and young teacher back in 1992, Chris moved to Louisville after graduate school at Duke University, to teach history and coach at Kentucky Country Day School. After two years at KCD, he worked as general manager for Maker’s Mark Products where he was responsible for coordinating the first catalog featuring Maker’s Mark promotional products. Chris joined his family’s business, Superior Printing Ink Company in 1996. He established a branch office in Louisville to service printers in the Ohio Valley region, and he served as the national accounts manager. Chris also headed the re-branding effort for this eighty year-old company. Chris returned to KCD as Assistant Head of School for Development in 2000. During his tenure at KCD, Chris led a variety of initiatives related to the external affairs of the school, including fundraising, alumni relations, parent relations and admissions. Chris joined Northwestern Mutual in April 2009.
Chris has volunteered extensively in the youth services sector of the Louisville community. Chris’s volunteer efforts are now focused on supporting the soldiers and families of a U. S. Army Special Forces battalion stationed at Ft. Campbell, KY. Chris, his wife, Sarah, and their two children (Lilly and Wilder) are all proud Louisvillians.
Rev. Ron Oliver, Ph.D., BCC
Ron Oliver is the System Vice President for Mission and Outreach at Norton Healthcare. He joined Norton Healthcare as a chaplain resident in 1989, and in 1993 became a staff chaplain for the pediatric intensive care unit of Kosair Children’s Hospital. He was named director of the Pastoral Care Department in 2002 and subsequently was promoted to division director, then associate vice president of the department. Oliver was named vice president, Mission and Outreach, in November 2009. He is a frequent speaker on grief, theodicy and self-care and has published several peer-reviewed articles. He earned a Ph.D. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. His doctoral dissertation, “Effects of an Acute Traumatic Crisis on Faith,” is the basis for the Kosair Children’s Hospital Bereavement Intervention Program. Oliver is endorsed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and is a board-certified chaplain through the Association of Professional Chaplains. In his spare time, Oliver enjoys working on home construction projects and spending time with his wife, Joyce, and their two teenage sons.
Priscilla Hancock, Ph.D.
Priscilla Hancock serves as the Vice President for Information Technology/Chief Information Officer for The University of Louisville. As Vice President and CIO, Dr. Hancock is responsible for leading, coordinating, and facilitating the information technology deployed at the University of Louisville. Specifically, she is responsible for administrative and research computing, voice and data networking, desktop and enterprise computing, and enterprise information security support. Both a computer store and design and print shop report to her.
Before joining The University of Louisville, Dr. Hancock held positions at The University of Kansas, The University of Texas at Austin, Vanderbilt University, Western Michigan University and The University of Alabama. She received her bachelor's degree from The University of Texas at Austin and her master's and doctoral degrees from The University of Kansas.
