Erica Horn, Associate Director of Tax Services, was one of 55 leaders selected from a large pool of applicants to be part of the 2018 Leadership Kentucky program. Leadership Kentucky, founded in 1985, joins together a selected group of leaders, with a variety of career accomplishments and volunteer activities, to gain insight into complex issues facing the state. The program provides a thought-provoking experience focusing on the attributes of leadership and what it means to be a leader.
Once a month from June through December, for two and one-half days, Erica and her classmates visited various regions of the Commonwealth, attending programs and workshops and touring a variety of businesses to develop an enhanced view and give new meaning to the word “community,” a meaning that spans the entire state.
Through Leadership Kentucky, Erica and her classmates spent time at Berea College, Eastern Kentucky University, the Brown Theatre in Louisville, the National Quilt Museum in Paducah (a city known for its crafts and folk art, and one of nine UNESCO Creative Cities in the country), the State Penitentiary (Kentucky’s maximum security prison) in Eddyville, the University of Pikeville, Pikeville Medical Center, Keeneland’s Thoroughbred sales, Bluegrass Stockyards, the State Capitol (where she met with legislative and executive branch leaders), and several elementary and secondary school programs in Northern Kentucky.
Erica most enjoyed learning about the different communities across the Commonwealth (especially Paducah and Pikeville), becoming more aware of the amazing things done throughout the state, and getting to know her classmates. One of the most interesting things she learned was “how incredibly difficult it would be to be a correctional officer at the State Penitentiary in Eddyville.”
The program concluded with a graduation ceremony in December at the Metropolitan Club in Covington. Erica’s involvement with the community neither started nor ended in 2018, however. She recently received a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris Causa) from Transylvania University for her leadership and service to Central Kentucky. Having previously served eight years as Chair of the Board of Directors of GleanKY, Erica currently serves as Development Committee Chair for the organization that she co-founded. GleanKY is a nonprofit corporation that gathers and redistributes excess fresh fruits and vegetables to nourish Kentucky’s hungry.
Other Dean Dorton team members who are Leadership Kentucky alumni are Paula Hanson, Class of 1995 and long-time Leadership Kentucky board member, and Elizabeth Woodward, Class of 2014.