Home » Northern Kentucky Regional Alliance created, president/CEO named

Northern Kentucky Regional Alliance created, president/CEO named

Karen Finan
Karen Finan

Will focus on areas such as job growth

COVINGTON, Ky. (July 10, 2017) — The Northern Kentucky Regional Alliance has been created to focus on improving the region in areas such as health, education, job growth and community vibrancy.

The Regional Alliance will explore a new model to align regional community and business leaders and resources. It is an evolution from Forward Quest (1996-2005), Vision 2015 (2005-2015) and Skyward (2015-2017) and from tactical management to strategic leadership and influence.

Karen Finan has been named president and CEO. Finan had been partner at Gilman Partners since September 2013, where she built a talent recruiting practice specializing in real estate, economic development and ancillary industries.

She also served as senior vice president of the Northern Kentucky Tri-County Economic Development Corporation (2005-2013) and was responsible for national marketing and business development for Duke Realty Corporation (1991-2005). Active in the regional community, Finan currently chairs the Northern Kentucky Education Council and Aviatra Accelerators. She is past chair of Redwood and a board member of Notre Dame Academy.

The Regional Alliance board is comprised of:

  • James P. Henning, president, Duke Energy (chair)
  • William P. Butler, chairman and CEO, Corporex Companies
  • Kevin Canafax, vice president, Regional Public Affairs, Fidelity Investments
  • Garren Colvin, president and CEO, St. Elizabeth Healthcare
  • Kay Geiger, president, PNC Bank
  • Andrew Hawking, regional president, BB&T
  • Bob Heil, president and CEO, KLH Engineers
  • Paul Hemmer, Jr, president, Paul Hemmer Companies
  • Ellen Katz, president and CEO, Greater Cincinnati Foundation
  • Tim Maloney, president and CEO, Haile Foundation
  • Candace McGraw, chief executive officer, CVG
  • Tim Schroeder, chief executive officer, CTI
  • Gerard St. Amand, interim president Northern Kentucky University
  • Rob Strub, chief operating officer, Citi
  • Paul Verst, president and CEO, Verst Group Logistics