Kentuckiana Business Hall of Fame

The Kentuckiana Business Hall of Fame honors outstanding business individuals whose leadership, vision and innovation have accomplished much for greater Louisville’s economic development and social welfare. Each year a committee of community leaders, independent of Junior Achievement, selects the honorees who will join the previously-inducted Laureates.Join us on March 2nd, 2017 at the Louisville Marriott Downtown. A reception will begin at 6:00 pm followed by the awards dinner at 7:00 pm. Thank you to event sponsor WDRB and dinner sponsor Crowe Horwath.

 Diane Medley: Managing Partner at Mountjoy Chilton Medley LLP

Active in public accounting since 1981, Diane Medley co-founded Chilton & Medley in 1988 and Mountjoy Chil­ton Medley LLP in 2010. Ms. Medley has led the firm through several mergers and acquisitions, making MCM the largest CPA firm in the region with four locations and over 300 employees. Today the firm is the 82nd largest professional and financial services firm in the United States. As Managing Partner and Co-Founder, she was the first woman to have this leadership position in the public accounting industry in Kentucky and is currently one of only four female Managing Partners of the Top 100 Firms in the US. Medley also co-founded Meritrust Wealth Manage­ment LLC, an affiliate company which provides financial planning, investment guidance and management. She has served on numerous community and civic boards and committees, and has received a number of national and community awards and distinctions.

    Victor Staffieri: Chairman, CEO and President of LG&E and KU Energy, LLC

Vic Staffieri is in his 17^th year as Chairman, CEO and President of Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities, serving more than one million customers across the commonwealth.  He has also served as President and Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and General Counsel.  Before coming to Kentucky in 1992, Vic was General Counsel of Long Island Lighting Company, a Fortune 500 Company in New York.

Vic has a long history of community service.  He has been Chairman of the Louisville Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the 2002 United Way Campaign, Chairman of the Coordination Council for Economic Development Efforts, Chairman of a recent state-wide task force on Postsecondary Education, and Dinner Chair for the National Conference, Junior Achievement and the Catholic Charities Foundation.  He has served on the Boards of Fifth Third Bank in Louisville, Mid‑America Bancorp, The Edison Electric Institute, the Muhammad Ali Center, Leadership Louisville and Bellarmine University.

Vic is a graduate of Yale University and Fordham Law School.

   Paul Varga: Chairman & CEO of Brown-Forman Corporation

Paul Varga was appointed president and chief executive officer of Brown-Forman Corporation in August 2005, and became chairman of the company in August 2007. He has been a member of the company’s board of directors since 2003.

As CEO, Varga has led the company’s long-term growth strategy, resulting in the fast-paced international expansion of the business and the transformation of its portfolio of consumer brands. He has overseen the global growth of Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve, while acquiring and building additional strategic whiskey brands.

Varga is a member of the board of directors for Brown-Forman and Macy’s Inc.  He is a past board member of the Metro United Way, Muhammad Ali Center, the Louisville Urban League, the YMCA of Louisville, and Three Chimneys Farm.

Varga earned his bachelor of business administration degree in finance from the University of Kentucky in 1985. He went on to earn his master’s in business administration at Purdue University in 1987.