Former lieutenant governor, Lousiville mayor joining Bellarmine University

Currently serving in Obama administration

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Jan. 18, 2017) — Jerry Abramson is joining Bellarmine University as an executive in residence. Abramson has served the past two years as President Obama’s Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. He was lieutenant governor under Gov. Steve Beshear from 2011-14 and served 21 years as Louisville’s mayor, from 1986-1999 and 2003-2010.

At Bellarmine he will teach courses on leadership and civics and be available as a guest lecturer in other classes. He will also develop and direct a new institute for local government leadership, which will train elected local government officials from across the nation, including city council presidents and officials serving large urban counties.

Working with organizations including the National League of Cities and the National Association of Counties, and drawing on his own extensive network of contacts, Abramson will develop seminars for elected officials that will take place on Bellarmine’s campus.

Abramson previously served as an executive in residence in 2011, before he was elected lieutenant governor.

“I’m excited to return to Louisville and be back on a college campus, working directly with young people,” said Abramson. “I’m looking forward to bringing my experience in local, state and federal government to Bellarmine’s students, and helping local governments across the nation innovate and better serve their communities through a new institute that I’m developing.”

Abramson holds a bachelor of science in business economics from Indiana University and a law degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

He has served as a city alderman and a counselor to former Kentucky Gov. John Y. Brown, Jr., and as an attorney in private practice. He also was president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and has been recognized as America’s Local Public Official of the Year by Governing magazine, one of the nation’s top mayors by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report, and as Kentucky’s best civic leader by Kentucky Monthly.