Owensboro’s Clay Ford was recently named chair of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.
He is a partner in EM Ford, a regional insurance and financial planning firm, and represents the fourth generation of Fords involved in the family business.
Ford previously served as vice chair of the Prichard Committee. The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence is an independent, nonpartisan, citizen-led organization working to improve education in Kentucky – early childhood through postsecondary.
In July, Ford was part of a presentation for a joint community project to build an early childhood education infrastructure capable of providing high-quality, voluntary, and universal services to all children in Owensboro-Daviess County. Officials said it’s a five-year project that begins with learning what the issues are and ends with taking action.
Ford said at the time that he was hoping to recruit as many community partners as possible to begin developing an action plan for early childhood education opportunities in Owensboro.
“We plan to make sure that we learn as much as we can from what Owensboro does well and find opportunities that have been shown to be successful,” Ford said.
He said the project is a five-year commitment and something that isn’t happening very often around the state.
“I want the community to understand the significance of that, the importance of it, and to dive in and be supportive as we go through this process. That way when we get to the end of this five years, we realize that we’ve been able to make a difference, we’ve been able to have some significant accomplishments, and we can move forward with pride,” Ford said. “Hopefully at the end of the five years we’ll look and say this has been a worthwhile investment and we need to continue.
The committee also elected Susan Elkington of Georgetown as vice-chair and Gwendolyn Young of Lexington as secretary/treasurer.
The 19 Kentucky community and business leaders among the new members are:
- George E Long II, Marshall County
- Ryan Salzman, Campbell County
- Bonnie Higginson, Calloway County
- Dr. Kate Akers, Spencer County
- Todd Holland, Graves County
- Tara Boh Blair, Montgomery County
- LTC (Ret) Terry G. Owens, Hardin County
- Edna O. Schack, Rowan County
- Rachel Watts Webb, Jessamine County
- Jennifer Carroll, Perry County
- Cassandra Akers, Floyd County
- Jeff Hawkins, Perry County
- Sharon Baker, Jefferson County
- Derrick Ramsey, Fayette County
- Kevin Fields, Sr., Jefferson County
- Dr. Jay K. Box, Scott County
- Rodney Henderson, Jefferson County
- Susan Douglas, Fayette County
- Tara Johnson-Noem, Kenton County
“With the leadership of these Kentuckians, the Prichard Committee will help Kentucky take the next giant leap to the top tier of all states for education attainment – and do so in this generation,” said Prichard Committee President & CEO Brigitte Blom.
