Owensboro’s Blake Edge and Elizabeth Griffith have been selected as two of the 26 young professionals from across the state to participate in Leadership Kentucky’s Elevate Kentucky Class of 2021.
Elevate Kentucky began in 2017 and has since provided young professionals with an in-depth personal and professional development program while fostering a better understanding of challenges facing our Commonwealth.
Edge is the Director of Community and Economic Development for the Green River Area Development District.
He said he applied for Elevate Kentucky in the fall of 2019 and was notified in February 2020 that he was accepted, but COVID-19 postponed the 2020 class. He was able to accept an invitation to this year’s class.
“It was quite an honor to be selected and I am excited to get started in a few weeks,” Edge said. “I am surrounded by leaders every day. I mentioned my interest in applying during the fall of 2019 to my boss — now Executive Director Joanna Shake — and she encouraged me throughout the process and was as excited for my acceptance as I was. That is leadership. I hope that through surrounding myself with the other participants in this year’s class I am able to absorb their influence while learning more about our Commonwealth.”
Griffith is the Manager of Business Retention and Expansion for the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation.
“I feel very honored to have been chosen for the 2021 Elevate Kentucky Class and I am even more proud to be representing Owensboro,” she said. “I am looking forward to meeting and learning from other young professionals from across the state, growing my professional skill set and fostering a better understanding of the challenges our state is currently facing. Our first session for the program is in Owensboro, so I am looking forward to sharing with my classmates about our community and all it has to offer.”
The class participates in three sessions taking place April through June. Class members will hear from thought-provoking Kentucky leaders, learn about issues and opportunities facing the state, and gain insights about personal leadership abilities.
Class members will also engage in panel discussions, participate in experiential learning opportunities, gain increased leadership skills, and receive both regional and statewide perspectives while traveling across Kentucky.
Participants of the Elevate Kentucky program return to their companies with increased skills, knowledge, perspective, and a new statewide professional network. Millennial leaders are better prepared to be catalysts in their companies and communities to elevate Kentucky.
This year’s class includes 26 participants from across the state representing a variety of public and private sectors:
- Ben Apro — Lexington — Perfection Group
- Kyle Brabender — Erlanger — St. Elizabeth Healthcare
- Cara Brooks — Union — Duke Energy
- Kaycee Bunch — Alvaton — Barren River Area Development District (BRADD)
- Kyle Bunnell — Lexington — Dinsmore & Shohl LLP
- Stephen Clatos — Frankfort — CHI Saint Joseph Health Foundations
- Sawyer Coffey — Frankfort — Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
- Don Combs — Pikeville — Pikeville Medical Center
- Blake Edge — Owensboro — Green River Area Development District
- Luke Ervin — Louisville — Stites & Harbison, PLLC
- Erica Gabbard — Louisville — University of Louisville, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
- Elizabeth Griffith — Owensboro — Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation
- Melanie Hartzel — Foster — Northern Kentucky University
- Amanda Mackin — Hopkinsville — Planters Bank, Inc.
- Ian McHone — Lexington — Joseph & Joseph + Bravura Architects
- Sarah Melson — Bowling Green — Logan Aluminum
- Jaime Nebbitt — Versailles — Kentucky Community & Technical College System
- Blake Perkins — Lakeside Park — BB&T
- Aaron Poynter — Russell Springs — South Central Kentucky Workforce Development Board and Cumberlands Workforce Development Board
- Clay Ratliff – Morehead — Trace Creek Construction
- Kyle Spring — Lexington — Beam Suntory
- April Stanley — Nicholasville — Kentucky Community and Technical College System
- Nathan Vinson — Bowling Green — English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, LLP
- Will Weber — Newport – Southbank Partners
- Jessica Wimsatt — Taylor Mill — O’Hara, Taylor, Sloan & Cassidy
- Kyle Withers — Lexington — Churchill McGee
