greater owensboro chamber of commerce
Vol 19/Issue 3
CHAMBER MATTERS 2021
ROOSTER BOOSTER HONORS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH Join us!
Join us via Facebook Live @gochamber
Join us via Zoom by registering on www.chamber.owensboro.com.
MAR.
This Thursday’s Remote Rooster Booster, sponsored by Wendell Foster, will feature a panel of Owensboro women who are leading the way. The panel will be moderated by Tish Correa-Osborne, CEO of Girls Inc. of Owensboro-Daviess County. These women are community leaders across the spectrum of education, business, social justice, non-profits, healthcare, and more, and all are past recipients of the Girls Inc. Athena Award. The Athena Award is presented annually in partnership with the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce. It recognizes individuals in our community who have achieved excellence in business or a profession, have served the community in a meaningful way, and have assisted women in developing their leadership potential. This virtual Rooster Booster program will stream on the Chamber’s Facebook page and on Zoom.
Wendell Foster to sponsor March Rooster Booster Wendell Foster, a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is a multi-service agency located in the heart of Owensboro, Kentucky. Each year, Wendell Foster serves over 2,000 people across 34 counties i n We s tern Kent uck y and Southern Indiana. Our services are known for suppor ting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities; however, we are much more of a comprehensive service provider capable of supporting an array of individuals in need by offering outpatient therapy, residential living, community living, an assistive technology lending library,
transportation services, and various support programs. With over 350 “Difference Makers” on staff, Wendell Foster takes its impact as an economic driver in the region seriously. In 2017, Wendell Foster was voted “Best Places to Work” by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. Wendell Foster’s core values reflect the selfless lifestyle of its founders, Edith and Wendell Foster. In 1937, Edith and Wendell Foster’s daughter, Louise, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of 5 months old. Because of Louise, the Fosters committed their lives
and opened their home to support children with developmental disabilities. The Fosters provided a residential option to children of seven local families and offered their home as a meeting place while children received therapy in the Fosters’ backyard. In 1947, a volunteer board of directors incorporated the agency, adopted a charter and by-laws, and officially founded the organization known today as "Wendell Foster." This year, Wendell Foster celebrates its 74th year of continuous operation. Wendell Foster has evolved into a community-based organization providing services on-site, in people’s homes, in the area school systems, and in community settings.
Owensboro Women Leading the Way Brenda Clayton is a practicing Certified Public Accountant and has owned her own CPA firm since 2000. Clayton specializes in individual and business taxation and employs two full-time staff. She has served on multiple community boards throughout the past 30 years and currently serves as the Chair-Elect on the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce Board; on the Wendell Foster Center Board; the Owensboro-Daviess County Airport Board; and the United States Tennis Association Kentucky Board. Clayton is an avid tennis player and has played on multiple state championship tennis teams over the past few years. She and her husband Noel Brenda Clayton have two sons, Matthew and Kyle, two daughters-in-law, Clayton Mayme and Eryn, and two grandchildren, Henry (3) and Miles (1). She was the recipient of the 2001 Athena Award.
Jean Wells is the owner of Wells Health Systems. Since 1982, Wells has operated, acquired, and built 30 long-term care centers in Kentucky, including Wellington Parc of Owensboro, the only dedicated Alzheimer’s center in the Commonwealth. Wells has served and continues to serve on a number of national, state, and local boards. She has served as the Legislative Chair and as a past Board Chair for the Kentucky Association of Healthcare Facilities for 28 years. Other positions include the Industry Inc. Board; Owensboro Community and Technical College Foundation Board; Owensboro Riverpark Board; OMHS Foundation Board; Board of Directors for the Greater Jean Owensboro Chamber of Commerce; the only female Chair of Wells Junior Achievement of West Kentucky; the Speed Art Museum Board of Governance; and a member of the Kentucky Economic Partnership Board (1998-2020). She was the 2000 recipient of the Athena Awards.
Susan C. Montalvo-Gesser is the Director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Owensboro. She was previously Managing Attorney at Kentucky Legal Aid (KLA). Before joining the staff at KLA, Montalvo-Gesser was an associate at Sullivan & Mountjoy P.S.C. and was a law clerk to Judge Joseph H. McKinley of the Western District of Kentucky. Montalvo-Gesser is the first Latina member of the Kentucky Bar Association (KBA) Board of Governors and the first woman to represent the 2nd Supreme Court District in that role. She is the Vice-Chair of both the KBA’s Immigration and Public Interest Law sections. Montalvo-Gesser is also a former president of the Susan C. Daviess County Bar Assn, a KBF Life Fellow, and serves on the KBA’s Montalvo- Diversity Committee. Locally, she serves on the following boards: Gesser The International Center, The Daniel Pitino Shelter, Crossroads Shelter, Audubon Area Community Care Clinic, Brescia University, and Daviess County Public Library. Montalvo-Gesser graduated magna cum laude from both Washington University in St. Louis and the Brandeis School of Law, where she served as a law journal editor and was honored as the most outstanding graduate of her class. Ms. Montalvo-Gesser has represented people from 71 countries. She has four children: Jackie, JoJo, Michael, and CeCe, and has been married to her husband Chad for 23 years. She was the 2019 recipient of the Athena Award.
Cindy Fiorella is the Vice President of Workforce and Economic Development at Owensboro Community and Technical College (OCTC), one of 16 colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). Fiorella leads OCTC’s Workforce Solutions division which provides customized business and industry training, workforce assessment services, adult basic education, as well as related programs and services targeted to at risk populations. The division is the largest and most comprehensive unit within the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and is comprised of more than 40 workforce development professionals. The division is recognized for its innovative public/private industry collaborations utilizing “work and learn” delivery modalities. Workforce Solutions has served as a Leadership College in numerous national Cindy workforce development initiatives funded by the Department of Labor, the National Fiorella Science Foundation, and private foundations, such as Bill & Melinda Gates, Robert Wood Johnson, Hitachi, and Ford. Most recently, Fiorella and her team assumed leadership on behalf of KCTCS for the AMTEC: Next Generation Initiative. Partners in this Advanced Manufacturing Technical Education Collaborative include community college partners from across the nation, as well as industry partners, such as Amazon, Toyota, Nissan, and Boeing. She was the 2018 recipient of the Athena Award.
Alma Randolph trains management and support staff in workplaces to ensure their policies, procedures and practices meet Equal Employment Opportunity standards. She previously worked as a Diversity/Sensitivity Trainer for Higher Ground Consulting Services, a Kentucky Certified Minority Female Owned Business. At age 24, Randolph was the youngest person and first elected to the Beaver Dam City Council and was the first African American elected to office in Ohio County. In 1993, she founded the Alma Randolph Charitable Foundation, which has invested $1.3 million in upgrading homes and providing clothing for disadvantaged children. She currently serves as a Commissioner for the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, where she served as the 2nd Judicial District Chair from 2018-2021. Her awards include the 1994 Daviess Alma County Bar Association Liberty Bell Award; 1995 Owensboro Board of Realtors Randolph Heritage Award; 2000 Leadership Owensboro Alumni Association Outstanding Alumni Award for Human Needs and Services; 2004 Ohio County High School Wall of Fame inductee; a 2013 Inductee in the Kentucky Commission on Women’s Hall of Fame; 2018 NAACP President’s Award; and the 2020 Athena Award.
Jane Noble
Jane Noble began her travel career at age 30 and hopes to celebrate 50 years of making travel dreams come true in 2022. Noble started Livingston Travel in 1979 and sold the company in 2009, and since then has worked as an independent contractor with The Travel Authority, a travel agency in Owensboro. She has served on many local boards including as the Vice-Chair of Operations for the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce; President of the Owensboro-Daviess County Airport Board; Owensboro RiverPark Center; Owensboro Rotary Club; and Owensboro Daviess County Convention and Visitors Bureau. She was the 2004 recipient of the Athena Award.
Panel Moderator Tish Correa-Osborne, CEO of Girls Inc. of Owensboro-Daviess County