Guest Speakers

Few topics today exceed that of global warming for presenting both factual and political disagreement over whether or not our earth is warming and if it is, why – natural vs. human activities, its impacts, and the best way to address it. A quick look at the NASA website (science.nasa.gov) contains the following rather stark assessment: “There is unequivocal evidence that the earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause.” Joining Lexington Rotarians this week to dig deeper into this existential topic is Donald “Don” Colliver, Ph.D., P.E. In a presentation entitled Does the Earth Have [...]

This week Rotarians are invited to climb into the “way-back machine” and revisit the glorious – for UK basketball fans – year of 1978. That was the year that the Wildcats defeated the Duke Blue Devils at the Checkerdome in St. Louis for their fifth NCAA national championship. And who better to travel with on that journey than two men who were there, front and center, Jack Givens and Rob Bolton. Jack “Goose” Givens, was born September 21, 1956, in Lexington, Kentucky. Growing up in a housing project, he honed his skills at Lexington’s Douglass Park in the Dirt Bowl league [...]

William Shakespeare famously noted in his play As You Like It that “All the world’s a stage.”  Performing for us today on the Rotary “stage” are Lyndy Franklin Smith and Jeremy Smith, co-founders and producing directors of The Lexington Theatre Company (The Lex).  Lyndy and Jeremy (who play a happily married couple in real life!) co-founded The Lex as a way to give back to the community and to the theatre industry. Lyndy enjoyed a successful performance career in New York, appearing in the Broadway companies of A Chorus Line and The Little Mermaid; the Radio City Christmas Spectacular; National Tours [...]

Few topics are of more interest to Rotarians than the economic health and vitality of our community and Commonwealth. And who better to address those issues with us than the leadership of two of Kentucky’s pre-eminent economic development entities: Commerce Lexington (CL) and the Kentucky Chamber. Bob Quick, Chief Executive Officer of CL, along with Ashli Watts, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Kentucky Chamber will address all things economic in a panel format, with Andi Johnson, Chief Policy Officer of Regional Engagement for CL serving as Moderator. Bob Quick has more than thirty-six years of experience in the Chamber [...]

This week Lexington Rotarians will hear from Lexington Mayor and Honorary Rotarian Linda Gorton. In this eagerly anticipated annual presentation she will give us an update on the state of our community and some of the challenges we face in the year to come. Mayor Gorton, the longest continuously serving member of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council, is serving her second term as Lexington mayor. Mayor Gorton was re-elected in a landslide victory on November 8, 2022, winning 71% of the vote. In her first term Mayor Gorton successfully led our city through the pandemic, protecting our health and safety during [...]

Kenny Brooks, who was chosen as the 2025 Sporting News National Coach of the Year, was named the ninth head coach of the University of Kentucky women’s basketball program on March 26, 2024. He enters his sec­ond season as the Wildcats’ head coach in 2025-26, while he enters his 24th season overall as a head coach. Boasting a 540-212 (.718) career record through 23 seasons as a head coach across his times at James Madi­son, Virginia Tech, and Kentucky, Brooks has compiled five Colonial Athletic Association Tournament titles, four CAA regular-season titles, one Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title, one ACC regular-season [...]

Data from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES; 2022) indicate that bullying and cyberbullying victimization is commonplace for adolescents in the United States today, with approximately 20% experiencing bullying and over 50% cyberbullying during their lifetime. Today’s guest speaker, Professor Alexander T. Vazsonyi, Ph.D., from the University of Kentucky, will lecture on From Hurt to Hope: Can we build bully-free communities in Kentucky and beyond?   An expert on adolescent development with a scholarly record of over 170 peer-reviewed publications, including extensive work on bullying, cyberbullying, and violent behaviors among children and adolescents, Dr. Vazsonyi will spend time (1) defining the [...]

Today’s speaker, Renee Shaw, is the Director of Public Affairs and Moderator at KET, currently serving as host of KET’s weeknight public affairs program Kentucky Edition, the signature public policy discussion series Kentucky Tonight, and statewide election specials. Through the years, she has also been the force behind legislative and Kentucky Supreme Court coverage, the weekly interview series Connections, townhall-style forums, and multi-platform initiatives around critical issues facing Kentuckians. As an award-winning journalist, Renee has earned three regional Emmy awards from the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. And in 2023 the academy inducted Renee into [...]

For almost sixty-five years the Lexington Philharmonic (LexPhil) has been at the heart of Lexington’s artistic and cultural heritage. Today Rotarians will hear from two remarkable women charged with keeping LexPhil true to its traditions while being responsive to the rapidly changing environment faced by all of the arts, Artistic Director Mélisse Brunet and Executive Director Brooke Raby. Renowned as a conductor of “uncommon emotional intensity” (Marie-Celine) and a “force at the podium” (Eugene Scene), American conductor Mélisse Brunet is a native of Paris, France with Spanish and Italian roots. In July 2022, she became the fifth Music Director of the [...]

“Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards; there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.”  Benjamin Franklin in 1779  Mention Kentucky and many things likely come to mind:  thoroughbred horses, bourbon and basketball.  But not wine.  Today’s speaker, Philip A. DeSimone, MD, might take exception to that and at the very least is trying to change that perception. DeSimone is an owner of Grimes Mill Winery, located on Grimes Mill Road in Fayette County, Kentucky.    The Grimes Mill Winery web [...]