Guest Speakers

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 ...

MITCH BARNHART WAS UNABLE TO ATTEND DUE TO ILLNESS. THE CLUB WAS FORTUNATE TO HEAR FROM MARC HILL, THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY. Rotary in Review  UK ATHLETICS AND THE CHANGING WORLD OF INTERCOLLEGIATE SPORTS  It is a familiar sight in sports:  the star athlete goes down with an injury and an eager substitute gets thrown into the action on short notice and saves the day.  Such was the case at our Club meeting two weeks ago, as Marc Hill, Deputy Director of Athletics at the University of Kentucky, spoke in place of scheduled speaker UK’s ...

You likely first heard his name when studying the American Revolution back in your earliest school days. It is estimated that thirty-six cities and towns across America are named after him, along with a local high school.  He even visited Lexington two hundred years ago, an event that was recently immortalized via a recently unveiled interpretive sign in Gratz Park. So, who exactly was Gilbert du Motier, better know to us as the Marquis de Lafayette/ To answer that question, Rotarians will today hear from Dale Henley, past President of the Lafayette Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, in Lexington, and ...

STATE OF THE WORLD: How to Make Sense of our Political and Commerce Situation For over forty years, Lexington Rotarians have had the good fortune to look at the state of the world as seen through the eyes of the experts at the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce (Patterson School). Returning to the podium to defend his predictions from last year – and to offer new ones - is Dr. Robert Farley, Senior Lecturer at the Patterson School. Dr. Farley has taught security and diplomacy courses at the Patterson School since 2005. He also held an ...