Commerce Lexington's annual Leadership Visit has helped expose Central Kentucky's leaders to the best ideas of model communities throughout the United States, yielding valuable lessons that have been applied to the improvement of the Bluegrass Region. This three-day trip has become the most valuable opportunity to bring community leaders, decision makers and ideas together in order to make positive changes in our community. It's a very unique program that includes the foremost business, education, government and community representatives of Central Kentucky.

CHARLESTON TRIP SUMMARY REPORT 2016

Charleston Leadership Visit Materials (.pdf files):
WELCOME
AGENDA (as of June 7, 2016)
ATTENDEES (as of May 23, 2016)
SPEAKERS  |  SPEAKER ADDENDUM PAGE
ABOUT CHARLESTON
SPONSORS
CHARLESTON CHALLENGE DOCUMENT

PARTICIPANT NEWSLETTERS:
ISSUE #1 - JUNE 8, 2016
ISSUE #2 - JUNE 9, 2016
ISSUE #3 - JUNE 10, 2016

Charleston Videos:

Over 200 People Study Successes, Challenges of Charleston, S.C.
More than 200 local and regional leaders traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, June 8-10, during the Commerce Lexington Inc. Leadership Visit presented by McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie & Kirkland, PLLC to hear from elected officials and business and education leaders there and to study the city’s successes and examine best practices.

The trip included a heavy focus on education and workforce development, as participants heard from representatives of Charleston’s Public Schools and Trident Technical College, and learned more about Charleston’s efforts to cultivate partnerships between business and education through the development of career academies in their local schools.

On day two of the visit, participants got to experience Charleston first-hand through a variety of elective sessions, including a lunch with representatives of Charleston’s young professionals organization, a tour of Boeing - one of the area’s largest employers, a tour through historic Charleston, and the downtown “Charleston Challenge” that allowed participants to explore the unique areas of downtown, as well as a visit to Lowcountry Local First and GrowFood Carolina, which promotes local foods, local farms, and rural sustainability.

The final day of the trip featured a session at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where participants engaged in “A Courageous Conversation” about how Charleston leaders responded to the mass shooting that happened there in June 2015. 

PRESENTED BY:
McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie & Kirkland, PLLC

PLATINUM SPONSORS:
Central Bank & Trust Co.
CHASE/J.P. Morgan
Kentucky Community & Technical College System
Kentucky Utilities Company
Stites & Harbison, PLLC
Unified Trust Company, N.A.
Your Community Bank

GOLD SPONSOR:
MCM LLP

OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION SPONSOR:
Saint Joseph Hospital part of Kentucky One Health

BRIEFING BOOK SPONSOR:
J.J.B. Hilliard, W. L. Lyons, LLC

NAMETAG SPONSOR:
Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP

RUN / WALK SPONSOR:
Humana

SPECIAL THANKS
Blue Grass Airport
WLEX Communications