April 10 – Meet our Speaker DeVone Holt!

Today we welcome to the Rotary podium DeVone Holt, a multi-talented executive who combines nearly thirty years of experience as an institutional brand manager, culture creator, strategic communicator, and people convener.

In 2024, Holt was named president and CEO of the Muhammad Ali Center(MAC)in Louisville, Kentucky. The MAC is a 96,000-square-foot cultural center that showcases the life and legacy of Muhammad Ali, and carries forward his legacy of service to others and fighting for justice for all.

Prior to joining the Muhammad Ali Center, Holt served as the Chief External Affairs Officer at Goodwill Industries of Kentucky. During his five years at Goodwill, he helped the nonprofit organization turn a 20-acre inner-city brownfield site into a $120 million Opportunity Campus in Louisville’s most underserved community. In addition to overseeing the marketing, communications, public relations, fundraising, and government affairs for Goodwill, he also served as Superintendent of Kentucky’s very first high school for adults, which Goodwill opened in 2022 after a successful multi-year lobbying and fundraising campaign led by Holt.

Previously, Holt served as the National Director of Customer Engagement for ResCare WorkforceServices and the Special Assistant to the Superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools, functioning as the lead external affairs officer for both organizations.

His leadership efforts were recognized in a community study conducted by Leadership Louisville, which identified him as one of the city’s most “connected” citizens who has found success as “getting things done” as a “trusted leader.”

As an economic development professional, his work helped create approximately $400 million in new business investments and more than 1,000 new jobs for inner-city residents. He produced these unprecedented results by managing the inner-city business expansion and attraction project for the city of Louisville for seven years before founding the Urban InsightAgency, which served as a consulting firm that helped companies maximize their investments in urban markets.

In 2003, his best-selling bookHip-Hop Slop: The Impact of a Dysfunctional Culture was published and led him to the lecture circuit. Since then, the book has become the subject of a national debate and has been deemed required reading for college students around the country.

For ten years, Holt served as lead host, writer, and producer of the “Saturday Morning Solutions”radio show in Louisville where he helped create one of the area’s largest and most loyal listening audiences by sharing strategies on how to improve urban communities.

In 2024, Holt received an honorary doctorate degree from Simmons College of Kentucky for his decades of work in helping to revitalize inner city communities and the people who live in them.

DeVone is married to Lori Holt and they are the parents of two future leaders: Alexandra andAaron. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

Rotary in Review

THE PEOPLE’S CHAMP AND A NATIVE KENTUCKIAN

The Rotary Club speaker two weeks ago was DeVone Holt, President and CEO of theMuhammad Ali Center(MAC)in Louisville, KY.A fellow Rotarian with theRotary Club ofLouisville, Holt said he was well aware of theRotary 1:00 pm“rule.” He mentioned fondly his day sat Eastern Kentucky University and at the University of Kentucky, when he worked in public relations. His proudest (and, at the same time, worst moment) was organizing the press conference to introduce Tubby Smith as the next Wildcat head basketball coach. He reminded everyone to turn off their pagers—remember it was the 1990’s—except he forgot to turn his off and received a message from his mother at the nationally televised press conference!

In July 2024, Holt was named to his present position at the MAC. He said that Ali was“no small figure”and that he was more than just a world class boxer. His impact had global implications and the 96,000 square foot, six-floor building was built to reflect Ali’s actions and deeds. The museum is purposely not a place to glamorize his career as a boxer, although Ali would often watch reruns of his boxing matches in the Center’s theater. Reportedly, he was the second most recognized face in the world behind Jesus Christ. He was a humanitarian and activist and the MAC documents that, but above all, he loved people.The building is dedicated to the “people’s champ” who sought to find value in every person he met—often standing at the front door of shopping malls to greet people.

As Holt mentioned, the MAC is not a museum but rather a tribute to Ali’s life. The mission of the MACis threefold: to foster respect; to inspire the next generation of change makers; and to advance social justice.The MACis focused on“footsteps for the future” by developing young leaders and improving human interactions. In January 2025 it developed a Muhammad Ali Index (MAI)in an attempt to make the world a more compassionate place.Developed at the recent CompassionSummit, the MAI was the result of the growing trend of toxic rhetoric and isolation and the need to avoid unhelpful back-and-forth monologues by replacing them with an elevated conversation.

The MAI was used to identify what creates compassion and how it affects education, business, the clergy, and politicians—as well as individual citizens.Twelve pilot cities were selected and the Net Composite Scores ranged from +100 to-100. Seattle was the most compassionate city with a score of +16 followed by Louisville with+15. Las Vegas was the least compassionate city with a score of-13.

The research showed that compassion occur red at multiple levels—the family, neighborhood, city, and beyond. But, the most critical level was self-compassion and the need to create avenues that address apathy, tiredness, frustration, and burnout. As a result of the study, activation strategies are being developed. Holt encouraged Rotarians togo online and take the Muhammad Ali pledge, to become more intentional about their own compassion, and to reflection the principles that Muhammad Ali—the People’s Champ—espoused:confidence, conviction, dedication, giving, respect, and spirit.