Sexually abused as a young child, Amy was told that she was to blame for what happened to her-which set off something in her mind, & made her believe that whenever something negative happened, it was her fault.”
Abuse followed her throughout childhood including a traumatic rape at age 19. Amy often felt “marked,” as though something inherently evil in her allowed abusers to find her. It was years before she gave up her rights to being a victim & began to live a healthy, restored life.
Her perspective widened, & she began to notice others who suffered the effects of sexual abuse, exploitation, & human trafficking. Now she devotes much of her energy to finding new approaches to prevent human trafficking & other sex crimes against women & children throughout KY, & ultimately to help victims begin their journey toward health & wholeness.
Through this perspective, she founded Free2Hope Inc., a non-profit devoted to prevention programs & public training on human trafficking with the long-term goals of mentoring survivors, job programs, a drop-in ctr, & establish a safe house for abused women & children in KY. On the way to that dream, she has garnered a number of awards, including In 2017, the Innovative Program Award from KY. Assoc. of Sexual Assault Programs & Nominated to the Survivor Council of KY. in 2016, The Voices for Victims Award from the Indiana Atty. Gnl. & in 2015, the Human Rights Award from the United Nations Assoc. Ky. Div. Kentucky Division & Liberator Award from KY. Rescue & Restore.
Dell Courtney is a native Louisvillian with an English Major from the University of Louisville.
Her hand print & influence has been instrumental for decades in the “Behind-the-Scenes” work as a consultant or volunteer on such notable Louisville festivals as the Ethnic Heritage weekends in the 1970’s under her company’s banner Visionworks, LLC.
She has overseen the development and management of such notable festivals as the:
St. Patrick’s Parade from 1999–2009, the Halloween Parade from 2003-16, WorldFest in 2005-06, the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial national Signature Event from 2000-03 as well as the iconic Light Up Louisville Winter Wonderland Parade from 2004-12.
She was also involved with Holidays Around the World from 2006-16 not to mention multiple 5K Runs & Walks, golf scrambles, community expos & summer festivals.
Most recently she has overseen Louisville’s Veterans Day Parade from 2011-16 with two co-chairs to the “Spirit of ’45” commemoration, end of World War II event in 2015 & 16 to co-chairing & co-producing the Bowman Field Aviation & Military Heritage Festival in 2017.
Lastly, she has served on the volunteer boards of Sister Cities of Louisville, Clifton Center of Louisville, The Fillies, Kling Center, & the Spirit of Louisville Foundation (Bell Awards) for over 25 years!
She is married to Frederick P. Courtney, retired from the US Coast Guard, and they have 1 daughter in Washington, DC along with 1 grandson.
Twyman Clements is a co-founder, CEO and President of Space Tango Inc. which enables R&D, bioengineering, and manufacturing in microgravity with the mission to create new industries to improve the lives of people on Earth. He is the lead designer of the KySat-2 CubeSat (under the Kentucky Space nonprofit), the TangoLab-1 research facility installed on the International Space Station and the company’s current product lines.
William Kellibrew IV is an international advocate for civil, human, women, children, and victims’ rights. He is a sought-after speaker on violence, trauma, trauma-informed care, and children exposed to violence. At age six, he was sexually abused by his mom’s neighbor, and at age ten, he watched helplessly as his mother and twelve-year-old brother were shot in their living room by his mother’s estranged boyfriend.
In 2015, Kellibrew was nominated by U.S. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to receive the U.S. Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus Eva Murillo Unsung Hero Award for exemplifying and embodying the movement for victim rights through outstanding efforts in victim advocacy, allied professional advocacy, public policy and public awareness. He is currently a faculty member for SAMHSA’s National Center for Trauma-Informed Care, and a consultant for the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center, as well as The William Kellibrew Foundation. In 2011, he was recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change for his work to end domestic violence and sexual assault.
Kellibrew has appeared on Oprah, In Session, Andrea Mitchell Reports, MSNBC, HLN, Newsmakers with Robert Traynum, BBC Worldwide, BET, and NPR, and in Newsweek, The Washington Post, and countless other media outlets worldwide. He has also blogged for the White House.
Dr. Roman V. Yampolskiy is a Tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Louisville. He is the founding and current director of the Cyber Security Lab and an author of many books including Artificial Superintelligence: a Futuristic Approach. Dr. Yampolskiy’s main areas of interest are Artificial Intelligence Safety and Cybersecurity.
Growing up in central Illinois, Eric Simanek was surrounded by corn destined for feed or alcohol. He holds degrees in chemistry from the University of Illinois and Harvard University and is the Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Texas Christian University (TCU) and Director of the TCU IdeaFactory. When he is not in a classroom or lab, he enjoys sharing his love of science with all ages and sharing whiskey with good friends.
Rudy Rucker is an American author and a mathematician who worked for twenty years as a Silicon Valley computer science professor. Regarded as a contemporary master of science-fiction and founder of the cyberpunk literary movement, he is best known for the novels in The Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which (Software and Wetware) both won Philip K. Dick awards. His thirty published books include both novels and non-fiction books on the fourth dimension, infinity, and the meaning of computation. Rucker edited the science fiction webzine Flurb until its closure in 2014.
Jennifer Carter is the Assistant Director of the Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics at Morehead State University and the Director of SpaceTrek, an all-girls camp dedicated to the empowerment of young women. Formerly, as a science teacher at Rowan County Senior High School, Jennifer built a space science program including courses in space systems engineering and astronomy. She is a NASA Teacher Liaison, a SOFIA Stratospheric Airborne Astronomy Ambassador, and a Pulsar Search Collaboratory university leader. Jennifer has had three students to discover pulsars, the corpse of large collapsed stars in our galaxy. She is active member of the Kentucky Girls STEM Collaborative leadership group and the Million Women Mentors steering committee. Jennifer has a bachelors of science in mathematics and physics, a masters of science in Industrial technology, and a masters of arts in teaching high school math, all from Morehead State University. Currently, Jennifer manages student research projects, a mentor program, and a Maker Space at the Craft Academy. She mentors girls in STEM education and business endeavors.
CNN chief national correspondent, analyst and anchor of Inside Politics John King offers his thoughts and insights on the increasing polarization of the US electorate. King will provide insights from the front-line of the national debate, historical context and thoughts on where we might go from here. He will then be joined by psychologist Phil Kraemer Ph.D. and artist Hannah Drake for a broader conversation offering differing perspectives on this issue and the fact that any possible “solutions” are fraught with many complex and very deep issues that go far beyond simply political differences.
Rowan Claypool is a social entrepreneur who believes that young knowledge economy workers are the future to prosperous communities.
He is the founder of two organizations that have had a transformative effect on the city of Louisville and Commonwealth of Kentucky.
In 1999, Claypool founded Bulldogs in the Bluegrass. a program that provides summer internships in Louisville, Kentucky for Yale undergraduates. Since it began, Bulldogs in the Bluegrass has brought over 570 Yalies to experience Louisville through a total immersion experience. Of those, many have returned to Louisville for full-time employment after graduation.
Claypool also launched Teach Kentucky in 2001 to recruit the brightest and most ambitious young teachers to work in local public education. Since inception, Teach Kentucky has recruited 232 teachers, 141 of whom are still residing in Kentucky with 86% of participants still in the education profession.
Emily Dreyfuss is a Senior Writer at WIRED, one of the top 10 technology news websites in the world. Reaching approximately 30 million people monthly, WIRED focuses on how emerging technologies impact breakthroughs and innovations in business, the economy, politics, security, science, design, and culture. As Senior Writer at WIRED, Dreyfuss covers the intersection of technology and society and is in a unique position to monitor trends, innovations, and factors that influence the future. During the 2016 presidential election, she led WIRED’s National Affairs coverage. Before that, she managed and edited WIRED Opinion and WIRED Security sections.
Anshu Gupta, popularly known as the Clothing Man, is the Founder of an India-based nonprofit Goonj and one of India’s leading social entrepreneurs. Starting as a freelance journalist, he left a corporate job in 1998 and founded Goonj with a mission to address the most basic but ignored need of clothing and the multifaceted role it plays in villages across India.
Today Goonj is a pan-India movement working equally widely in cities and villages, dealing with more than 3,000 tons of material annually and addressing a core challenge of our time – the growing gap between the urban prosperity and rural poverty.
By taking the menacing growth of urban waste and using it effectively and efficiently as a tool to trigger large-scale development work on diverse issues, Goonj has created a model for a parallel economy which is not cash based but trash based.
Anshu is a 2017 Curry-Stone Design Prize Social Change Circle Honoree, an annual prize awarded to innovative projects that use design to address pressing social justice issues, and recipient of the prestigious 2015 Ramon Magsaysay Award in India which credited him for “his creative vision in transforming the culture of giving in India, his enterprising leadership in treating cloth as a sustainable development resource for the poor, and in reminding the world that true giving always respects and preserves human dignity.”
Deep Cotton is an American funk duo based in Atlanta, whose members are Chuck Lightning and Nate “Rocket” Wonder. Part of the Wondaland Arts Society, they are also sometimes called the “Punk Prophets”.
Lightning and Wonder met in 2002 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. The pair were roommates and began collaborating when Lightning overheard Wonder playing music and started shouting to his music. Wonder said this became a competition to see who could “out-crazy” the other person, and their musical collaboration is basically a chance to do “whatever the hell we want.”
They produce music, including that of Grammy-nominated artist Janelle Monáe, another co-founder of the Wondaland collective. They began to gain notoriety of their own after their song “We’re Far Enough from Heaven Now We Can Freak Out” was featured in a Sonos commercial featuring Monáe. The single was released in October 2012.
Wonder is the older brother of Roman GianArthur, another member of the Wondaland Arts Collective.
The president, CEO, and founder of Answers in Genesis-US, and the highly acclaimed Creation Museum, and the world-renowned Ark Encounter, Ken Ham is one of the most in-demand Christian speakers in North America.
Born a native Australian in 1951, Ken moved to America in 1987 to engage in speaking tours with another young-Earth creationist organization, the Inst. for Creation Research (ICR). In 1994, Ham left ICR & founded Creation Science Ministries- changing its name to what is today known as
Answers in Genesis or AiG-with the purpose of upholding the authority of the Bible from the very 1st verse. In May 2007, AiG opened Ham’s brainchild, a 75,000-sq-ft high-tech state-of-the-art facility-better known as the Creation Museum & education ctr., on 70 scenic acres in Petersburg, KY. It contains dozens of world-class exhibits-including impressive animatronic dinosaur models, a $1 million allosaur fossil, & planetarium. In its 1st 10 years, wait for it, the museum attracted 3 million guests!
On Feb. 4th, 2014, Ken became known around the world, when he debated American science educator & engineer Bill Nye, yes that one, better known as “Bill Nye the Science Guy” in a cordial-yet spirited debate in front of a live audience on the topic of whether young-Earth creationism is a viable model of origins vs. Nye’s more contemporary scientific model. It has been estimated that over 3 million people worldwide watched the debate live via online streaming & it was Facebook’s #1 trending topic that day-not too shabby!
In July 2016, AiG opened the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, KY., some 40 miles south of the Creation Museum. Get this in its first 10 weeks it drew over 300,000 awe-struck visitors & 200 media! The attraction features a life-size Ark as its centerpiece, with a zoo built behind the Ark & a 1,500-seat rest. Ken has authored many books on Genesis, including the eye-opening book Already Gone coauthored by renowned researcher Britt Beemer, on why so many young people have left the church; the best-selling book The Lie Evolution & a # of children’s books such as Dinosaurs of Eden, D is for Dinosaur, A is for Adam & so on. Other recent coauthored books include the provocative book Already Compromised about Christian colleges & how they treat the authority of the Bible. Ken is heard daily on the radio feature-Answers with Ken Ham (broadcast on more than 950 stations) & has been a frequent guest on national TV programs such as the CBS News Sunday Morning, The NBC Nightly News, The PBS News Hour & many other outlets. Ken is also the founder of the award-winning Answers Mag., which in 2011 won the prestigious “Award of Excellence” (for top Christian mag.) from the Evangelical Press Assoc. He also writes articles for AiG’s popular website: answersingenesis.org, which was the 2012 “Best Ministry Website” as awarded by the 1,200-member National Religious Broadcasters. Ken emphasizes the relevance & authority of the book of Genesis to the life of the average Christian, & how compromise on Genesis has opened a dangerous door regarding how the culture and church view biblical authority. His Australian accent, a keen sense of humor, captivating stories, and exceptional PowerPoint/Keynote illustrations have made him 1 of North America’s most effective Christian communicators. Several of his live talks were recorded & released in a 2011 DVD set & curriculum titled Foundations.
Ken’s educational degrees are numerous with a bachelor’s degree in applied science (with an emphasis on environmental biology awarded by the Queensland Inst. of Tech. in Australia, & a diploma of education from the Univ. of Queensland. Due to Ken’s unwavering contribution to the church in the USA & internationally, Ken has been awarded 5 honorary doctorates:
Ken & his wife, Marilyn (better known as Mally) reside in the Cincinnati, Ohio. area. They have 5 children & 16 grandchildren.
Author, innovator, futurist, teacher, commentator and founder of Thrivals at IdeaFestival, Nat Irvin, II, is the Woodrow M. Strickler Executive in Residence, Professor of Management Practice, College of Business, the University of Louisville where he has taught change management, leadership, future studies, and team dynamics since 2007. From 1996-2007, Irvin led Future Focus 2020, a think tank dedicated to providing leadership in bringing futurist thinking to urban communities. In 2000, Future Focus 2020 became a center of the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where Dr. Irvin served as Executive Professor of Future Studies and as Assistant Dean for MBA Student Development.
Wendy Whelan spent 30 years with New York City Ballet, 23 of those years as a principal dancer. She has danced virtually every major Balanchine role, and worked closely with Jerome Robbins on many of his ballets. She originated leading roles in works by such notable choreographers as William Forsythe, Twyla Tharp, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon.
Wendy has been a guest artist with The Royal Ballet and the Kirov Ballet and has performed on nearly every major stage across the globe. She received the Dance Magazine Award in 2007, and in 2009 was given a Doctorate of Arts, honoris causa, from Bellarmine University. In 2011, she received both The Jerome Robbins Award and a Bessie Award for her Sustained Achievement in Performance.
Since 2013, Wendy has been developing her own independent projects including, Restless Creature and Some Of A Thousand Words both co-produced by The Joyce Theater Productions, Whelan/Watson Other Stories co-produced by London’s Royal Opera House and Hagoromo, self-produced for the 2015 BAM Next Wave Festival.
A documentary, entitled Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan, was released during the summer of 2016, in movie theaters across the country.
Fueled by new ideas, Kris Kimel began IdeaFestival and KSTC.
Kimel is the founder of the international IdeaFestival, which originated in Lexington, Ky. in 2000 and moved to Louisville in 2006. The festival is designed to stimulate ideas and innovations across a multitude of categories – from filmmaking to healthcare, sustainable farming and more. The core of the festival is the belief that individuals don’t have to be geographically or economically privileged to have breakthrough ideas and create positive change.
Kimel is also a leader and founder behind the development and successful implementation of Kentucky Space, Space Tango, and the Exomedicine Institute.
In 1987, he founded the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC). KSTC is an independent non-profit company with an international reputation for designing and implementing innovative initiatives in science, technology, entrepreneurship and disruptive innovation. He currently serves as the organization’s president.
Kimel holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Kentucky. As a student there, he was a 1974 recipient of the university’s Sullivan Medallion.
Acting is a calling for Ryan Burch.
At 26, Burch is one of only two Americans, and one of just 27 from over 5,000 applicants, recently accepted into the prestigious London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art. One of the most elite acting schools in the world, the acting program has produced a roster of legendary actors including John Lithgow, Benedict Cumberbatch, Donald Sutherland, and Jim Broadbent.
Burch has performed across the country in various regional summer stock productions such as “Evita,” “Les Miserables,” “The Fantasticks,” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” His latest project was a role on NBC’s “Chicago P.D.”
Burch earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theater at one of the top musical theater programs in the United States, Elon University in North Carolina. He began acting at Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Ky. his freshman year, then attended the Governor’s School for the Arts in music theater his junior year of high school. Burch is a Louisville native.
A passion for life drives Kinsey Morrison to make a difference.
Morrison had survived three different life-threatening illnesses by the age of 15. Today, she is a senior at Stanford University in California, studying international relations and Spanish, and dreaming of being a Supreme Court Justice. She is also training for a half marathon and spending 10 weeks in South Africa through a study abroad program.
In 2015, Morrison spoke at the United States Supreme Court, advocating for marriage equality for her two moms in Kentucky. Not surprisingly, she is writing an honors thesis on public policy and immigration
She says the most important thing to her is helping unite people across the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the nation, as well as teaching people how to truly be alive while they’re living, since none of us ever know how much time we have. Morrison has spoken to more than 25,000 people, raising over $600,000 for the health charities that saved her life.
After the 2016 presidential election, Morrison founded Stanford Women in Politics to support her female classmates interested in running for office or working in government. One of her dreams is to be the Governor of Kentucky.
She is a National Merit Scholar, Bell Award Winner, and the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ National Youth Philanthropist of the Year.
An alumna of St. Francis School in Louisville, Morrison is the 2nd youngest guest to appear on our program. She is also the daughter of our #152nd guest, Karen Morrison, the president and CEO of Gilda’s Club of Louisville, Ky.
Fred Noe carries on the 200-year family legacy of Jim Beam® master distillers.
Noe is a 7th generation master distiller at the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, Ky. In his additional role as bourbon ambassador for the Jim Beam Distillery, he shares the whiskey making craft and his family’s rich legacy in the world of Kentucky bourbon.
Noe is the son of the late Frederick “Booker” Noe Jr., master distiller emeritus of Jim Beam Brands Company and great-grandson of founder Jim Beam, who began the legacy when he set up a frontier still in 1795. He joined the family business after graduation from Bellarmine College in Louisville, Ky. Although he “grew up” in the business, he began his career on the bottling line of the distillery. Gradually, his father tutored him in all aspects of the bourbon-making process, including grain selection, fermentation, and distillation.
Noe played an important role in the development and promotion of The Small Batch Bourbon Collection® — Basil Hayden’s®, Knob Creek®, Baker’s®, and Booker’s® bourbons. These high premium bourbons were created under his father’s guidance in the early 1990s. Small batch releases mimic higher-proof, complex flavored pre-Prohibition whiskeys. Noe helped select initial batches by tasting samples at the family’s kitchen table.
When Booker retired, Noe began serving as an ambassador of the collection. As the chief bourbon ambassador, he is a spokesman for the Jim Beam Distillery and the bourbon industry. In 2007, after years of rigorous apprenticeship and training, he was named master distiller. A frequent world traveler, he is a highly sought-after speaker.
In 2007, Beam Global Spirits and Wine Suntory, Inc. honored Fred by placing his portrait on the Jim Beam Bourbon brand label alongside the six family distillers who preceded him in the family.
Noe grew up in the house where his great-grandfather, the legendary Jim Beam, once lived. He still resides in Bardstown, Ky., in a house built adjacent to the Beam family home, with his wife, Sandy, and teenage son Frederick Booker Noe IV. He remains instrumental in the Beam business, dedicating himself to perfecting the family’s bourbon-making process and continuing his family’s legacy.
Cole Gallagher is a NSCAA Scholar All American soccer player.
Gallagher is a recent graduate of Kentucky Country Day School and is currently preparing for his freshman year as an Emory University student-athlete. As a student at KCD, Gallagher was named a Malone scholar, National Merit scholar, and Dabney Family scholar, and was a recipient of a University of Michigan Book Award. He also received the James Pitman Sams Jr. Award for his academic achievements, sportsmanship, citizenship, and outstanding qualities.
Through his achievements and awards Gallagher’s proudest role at KCD has been serving the school as the president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. As a 4–year varsity player, he holds all goalkeeping records for the school, served three years as team captain, and was named the 2016 Kentucky Goalkeeper of the Year.
Gallagher was recently named a 2017 NSCAA Scholar All American. This is considered the top honor and hardest to achieve by high school student-athletes in this country. To be nominated, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA (Gallagher maintained a 3.95 GPA throughout his career), be First Team All State, and be nominated for NSCAA All American.
In the 2016-2017 season, Gallagher played his competitive soccer for Javanon F.C. – leading his team to a state championship. He has also represented the state and regional Olympic Development teams.
Off the field and out of the classroom, Gallagher runs his own landscaping business, which he started at the age of 11. He is also an active volunteer in the community. At home, he is a big brother to Liam and the son of Patrick and Trisha Gallagher.
Chef David Danielson applies classic French training with fresh and local flavor.
As executive chef of the historic Churchill Downs Racetrack (home to the Kentucky Derby),
Danielson celebrates authentic southern flavors with the richness of fresh and local ingredients. He brings over 20 years of hands-on experience in the hospitality industry with classic training to multiple restaurant formats offered at the track. In 2011, Danielson joined the Levy Restaurants team at Churchill Downs as executive sous chef, and was named executive chef in 2013.
Prior to joining Churchill Downs, Danielson held executive chef positions at Rockefeller Center (New York), United Nations Plaza Hotel, and The Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. Danielson’ s expertise extends into the world of catering and special events, through managing and organizing world-class events throughout the world. He has recently overseen Kentucky Derbies 2011–2016, the 2011 Super Bowl, US Open Tennis Championship, 2016 Rio Olympics, 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympics, Chicago Gourmet, Lollapalooza, Red Bull Air Races, and the Lexus tour.
Danielson trained at Dumas Pere school of French cooking and later continued at the renowned hotel school Ecole Hotelier Tain l’ Hermitage in France. He further developed his craft working along side some of the industry’s greatest legends in North America, Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, and South America.
For Mary Haynes, meeting the needs of long-term memory impaired people is a calling.
Haynes leads the Nazareth Home long-term care facility for the elder community in Louisville, Ky. Nazareth Home is an award-winning non-profit ministry guided by a Catholic tradition. Haynes’ career choice came from her experience of a family member with Alzheimer’s disease, and the effect it had on the family.
Haynes was named CEO in 2001. Under her leadership, the home has grown in services and capacity and has won high rankings and awards. Among these are 2016 5-star rating in U.S. News and World Report, 2014 National Care Association’s Silver Quality award, 2012 Top Places to Work (Courier-Journal), and 2011 Facility of the Year by the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities.
Prior to leading Nazareth Home, Haynes held various positions as a psychiatric nurse and administrator, including a stint at Our Lady of Peace. As a nurse in the facility, she specialized in mental health and often dealt with Alzheimer’s patients. She was approached to be a part of a group that was interested in developing Alzheimer’s centers. There she learned about aging care and its challenges.
Mary holds a Master of Science in health management and systems science from the University of Louisville, and a M.S.N., Gerontological Nursing from the University of Evansville.
Her hobbies include golf, cooking, the arts, and theatre. Originally from Marrowbone, Ky., Haynes resides in Louisville with her husband and three daughters.
Michael Dale “Mike” Huckabee is an American politician, Christian minister, author, musician, and commentator.
He served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007 and was a candidate in the United States Republican presidential primaries in 2008 and 2016.
Huckabee hosted a Fox News Channel show named HUCKABEE for seven years, ending the show when he left to run for president in 2008. He also hosted a radio show on Cumulus Media Networks in 2012 and 2013.
Prior to serving as governor of Arkansas, Huckabee served as lieutenant governor from 1993-1996, winning a special election race for that post. In 1995, while lieutenant governor, he announced his plans to run for the U.S. Senate. He ultimately dropped out of that race to fill the governor’s spot when then governor Tucker was convicted of arranging fraudulent loans as part of the Whitewater case. Huckabee was elected to full terms in 1998 and 2002. He received widespread praise for his response to Hurricane Katrina, and was named by Time magazine as one of the top five governors in the U.S. in 2005.
Huckabee served as a Baptist minister in his native state of Arkansas from 1981 to 1991. He was elected to the presidency of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention in 1989 and served as president from 1989 to 1991.
He is the author of numerous books, plays electric bass guitar in a rock cover band, and has received two honorary doctoral degrees. He married his wife, Janet, in 1974 and they have three children.
Wes Henderson co-created Angel’s Envy craft bourbon.
Henderson co-founded Louisville Distilling Company with his father Lincoln. He, his father, and his son Kyle, developed Angel’s Envy, the craft bourbon that spends its final six months of aging in used port wine barrels. In 2012, their bourbon earned the highest ever rating for bourbon from Wine Enthusiast magazine. (Side note: His father helped develop Woodford Reserve® for Brown-Forman.)
Prior to Louisville Distilling, Henderson served as CEO for Master Distiller Select LLC, and was responsible for distilled spirits consulting services. Before that, he was the president and CEO of Conecuh Ridge Distillery – a brand that enjoyed favorable mainstream recognition.
Henderson received his education from the College of Aeronautics at the Florida Institute of Technology. He resides in Louisville, Ky. with his wife Julie, and has six sons. Two of his sons work with Wes at Angel’s Envy, setting the stage for the third Henderson generation to carry on the Angel’s Envy tradition.