June 17th – APPHARVEST, MATT GOSNELL, VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT

LEXINGTON, KY – The Rotary Club of Lexington held its weekly meeting Thursday, June 17 ,  at the Red Mile and via Zoom. The program  featured APPHARVEST,  Matt Gosnell, Vice President of Development.   To attend via Zoom  please email, [email protected]. To register for the in person meeting and pre pay lunch click here: June Weekly Meetings

If you’ve been grocery shopping at Kroger lately, you likely encountered a display of beautiful red, perfectly round, fresh tomatoes.  And if you picked one up and looked closely, you may have noticed the tiny AppHarvest sticker that includes “KY USA Grown.”  After more than a year since we last heard about AppHarvest, their produce is now ripe and ready for purchase. And what year it’s been!  During the global pandemic the company went public, hired and trained a staff, produced their first crop, reorganized their board of directors, and purchased a second location for production of a different crop—all summed up in the words of Executive Director Peggy Trafton, “Pandemics prove fruitful.” Our speaker this week, Matt Gosnell, Vice President of Development for AppHarvest, will take us through the company’s extraordinary first year of operation and tell us where they’re headed.

Prior to joining AppHarvest, Matt worked in municipal finance in Chicago, management training and conflict resolution in South America, and most recently as project developer for a U.S. Department of Defense office responsible for reducing costs through renewable energy programs. Matt oversaw projects with investments exceeding $250 million and covering more than 1,000 acres. Matt received his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Kentucky and a master’s degree in international affairs from the Universidad Externado de Colombia.