Nominees for KFTC's Executive Committee and Kentucky Coalition Board | Kentuckians For The Commonwealth

Nominees for KFTC's Executive Committee and Kentucky Coalition Board

The process for recommending, nominating, and electing KFTC’s statewide officers reflects our commitment to being a grassroots, membership-led organization. Our process is an expression of KFTC’s core values, including our commitment to diversity; an open, deliberate and democratic process; a model of shared leadership; and a practice of developing grassroots leaders as a primary strategy for social change. 

The nominations process up to this point:

Nominations to KFTC’s Executive Committee and Kentucky Coalition Board were submitted by individuals and/or chapters. Nominations were submitted online, via paper and email, and at chapter meetings over the summer.

KFTC’s Leadership Development Committee reviewed all nominations. They are tasked with putting together a diverse slate of qualified candidates, taking into account a diversity of characteristics including gender, age, race, income, educational backgrounds, place of residence, level of involvement in the local chapter and statewide organization, issue interests, and other desired traits.

The Leadership Development Committee recommended a slate to the Steering Committee, which they approved in late June.

Below is the recommended slate of officers nominated for the KFTC Executive Committee and the Kentucky Coalition Board that will be voted on during the business meeting on July 31, 2021.

Recognition and Appreciation

Thanks to Cassia Herron who has served as the Chair and Meta Mendel-Reyes who has served as Immediate Past Chair. 

Thanks to Ezra Dike who have served as Kentucky Coalition board members for the past year.

Voting at the
Annual Business Meeting

Members must be present to vote. We'll use the poll feature in Zoom to vote for officers. This will work best if you join by your computer or tablet, or if you have the Zoom app on your phone.

Elections will be held for the statewide officer positions of co-chairs, vice-chairperson, secretary-treasurer and at-large representatives (in that order). For each officer position, the Steering Committee’s nominee will be presented, as well as any additional nominations received by July 24. A vote will be held for each officer position, with the winner receiving a simple majority of eligible members present and voting. Members whose dues are current are eligible to vote. Statewide officers will begin serving in their respective capacities immediately upon election until the next annual meeting. 

Following the election of Executive Committee members, a similar process will be used to elect Kentucky Coalition board members.

KFTC Executive Committee

KFTC’s Executive Committee consists of six officers who also serve on KFTC’s Steering Committee and who make necessary decisions between Steering Committee meetings. The steering committee recently approved amending the KFTC bylaws to allow more flexibility in deciding what officer positions are needed and would also give the Steering Committee the ability to select a second at large representative if the immediate past chair position is vacant. Cassia Herron let us know during the nominations process that she would not be continuing as Immediate Past Chair because of other opportunities she wants to pursue. 

Currently all six positions of the Executive Committee are elected. The Secretary-Treasurer also serves as chair of the Finance Committee. To serve on the Executive Committee, a person must be a current member of KFTC, may not be an employee or immediate family member of an employee of KFTC or the Kentucky Coalition, and may not serve more than two consecutive one-year terms in the same position.

Co-Chair: Tiff Duncan, Fayette County
Cassia Herron
Tiff Duncan has served on the Executive Committee for one year in the At-Large position. She’s also been an active leader in the CKY Chapter, serving on the Democracy Team, as the Steering Committee Representative, and as the alternate before that, and consistently helping with fundraising, tabling, and phonebanking. Tiff has also participated in the KFTC Academy, and lends support to KFTC’s statewide issue work.  Additionally, Tiff has been instrumental in hefty organizational work, like the Organizational Change Initiative and the IBB process with the KFTC staff union. Tiff brings a strong anti-oppression lens to her leadership at every level. She has both anchored and supported important pockets of disability justice work at KFTC, and she’s supported the CKY chapter in growing its racial awareness. Her insights are valued across the organization, as are her high expectations for KFTC, her thoughtfulness, and her collaborative approach. Tiff identifies as “fat, black, woman, cisgender, 33.”
 
Co-Chair: Alan Smith, Southern Kentucky Chapter, Warren County
Alan SmithAlan Smith has served as Vice Chair for the last year. He is an active member of the Southern Kentucky Chapter and has been dedicated to the chapter since he began to get involved right around the time the chapter was founded. Alan has served on the Economic Justice Committee and Voter Empowerment Strategy Team, and has served on the Steering Committee for three years and the Kentucky Coalition Board for one year. He’s continued to support statewide issues by participating in events like A Seat at the Table and Hear Our Health. Locally, he was active on Voter Empowerment Strategy and Voter Registration efforts, fundraising, and at-home lobby meetings. Alan has provided consistent, insightful, and reliable leadership to KFTC for many years.
 
Vice-Chair: Rebecca Tucker, Madison County
Rebecca TuckerRebecca Tucker has served on the Executive Committee as Secretary-Treasurer for the last year. Before that, she served as the Madison County Chapter Steering Committee Representative and alternate. She’s been a valued leader, always asking quality questions and moving the work forward. Rebecca has also been active on KFTC’s Economic Justice Committee and Leadership Development Committee, and is an active supporter of local work, helping to plan chapter fundraisers, guiding and participating in local Democracy Team and issue work, and supporting Madison County’s interns and student workers. She is also a PhD student getting ready to start her dissertation. She serves on the board of the Ampersand Sexual Violence Resource Center. 
 
Secretary-Treasurer: David Miller, Cumberland Chapter, Knox County

David Miller

David Miller is an active member in the Cumberland Chapter, and serves on the Steering Committee and the Leadership Development Committee, where his participation is valued and respected. He’s also been involved in the Poor People’s Campaign, serving as one of the Tri-Chairs. David has shown up (sometimes with his toothbrush) to plan, support, participate in actions, phonebank, and lead songs. He is the Director of Justice Initiatives at Union College, an ordained minister, and has been involved in the efforts to bring LGBTQ inclusion to the Methodist Church infrastructure. This year, David’s also served on the Executive Leadership Transition Team, where he’s encouraged and offered resources for alignment with OCI and KFTC’s ambition for our next 10 years. David identifies as “white, male, cishet, middle-income, over-educated, and Christian,” and has a track record of using his privileged identities for justice, equity, and belonging.  
 
At-large member: Kathy Curtis, Big Sandy chapter, Floyd County

Kathy Curtis

Kathy Curtis has been an active member of the Big Sandy Chapter since 2006.  She’s served on the Economic Justice Committee, and participated in the KFTC Organizing Academy and the Just Transition Cohort. Last year Kathy served as Steering Committee Alternate, has participated in OCI, and continues to serve on KFTC’s Executive Leadership Transition Team. Kathy also has extensive experience in other community efforts. She was actively involved in Grow Appalachia, Community Farm Alliance, co-founded Appalachian Roots, and has hosted a radio show on WMMT telling the story of food and farming in the mountains. And, Kathy has recently been elected prioress of an ecumenical monastic community of women in the Benedictine tradition, the first non-Catholic in that community to hold that position. Kathy identifies as “a white (Scotch/Irish), CIS female, raised in Florida in the 50’s and 60’s, living in eastern Kentucky on Shawnee and eastern band Cherokee land. I am third generation low wage earner and second-generation single parent.”
 
At-large member: Ebony O'Rea, Jefferson County

Ebony O'Rea

Ebony O-Rea is a long-time member of the Jefferson County Chapter. Ebony serves on the Leadership Development Committee and digs in on Annual Meetings, where she’s helped plan workshops, facilitate, and participated in panels. This year, Ebony has also been active in the Organizational Change Initiative work, and was recruited to the Synthesis Team where she helped craft KFTC’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal and Vivid Description. Throughout the OCI process, Ebony has helped many of us imagine and envision the next KFTC. Ebony identifies as a Black Woman. 
 
 

Kentucky Coalition Board

The Kentucky Coalition is the tax-exempt sister organization of KFTC. It supports leadership development programs and other charitable activities of KFTC. The Kentucky Coalition Board includes the members of the KFTC Executive Committee plus three additional members elected by KFTC’s membership at the Annual Membership Meeting. 
 
Joy Fitzgerald, Shelby County
Joy Fitzgerald
Joy Fitzgerald has long been active in social change, and joined the Kentucky Coalition Board after serving out her term as Shelby County Steering Committee Representative last year. She continues to be an active member of the Shelby County Chapter and many other local organizations and efforts in Shelby County. Joy has supported candidate forums, building alliances with local People of Color-led organizations and community support efforts, and has anchored the local Pride celebrations in Shelby County. She has served one year on the Kentucky Coalition.
 
 
 
Matthew Gidcomb, Central Kentucky Chapter
Matthew Gidcomb
Matthew Gidcomb became active with the CKY chapter in late 2014, during the campaign to raise the local minimum wage. He helped start the CKY chapter’s Energy and Equity Committee that works on issues related to Just Transition. He is also a member of the statewide NET committee. He also helped establish the local chapter’s Action for Democracy team. At the chapter level, he has helped shape the local electoral strategy and candidate endorsement process. He has been an active participant in helping draft and shape the local voter guide questionnaire, and is very passionate about the KFTC voter guide. He consistently supports voter registration drives and canvasses and is very passionate about that work. He can always be counted on to help put up chairs and help clean the room during meetings. He’s a software developer and worked on a project with former colleagues to develop a website registry of local arts and culture events and programming. Matthew has served one year on the Kentucky Coalition Board. 
 
Shannon Scott, Wilderness Trace Chapter
Shannon ScottShannon Scott is a member of the Wilderness Trace Chapter, and has served out three terms on the Steering Committee. Shannon also serves on the Leadership Development Committee and the NET committee, and has been active in OCI. Shannon has put a lot of great work into maintaining and growing the Wilderness Trace Chapter by experimenting with social media and anchoring the chapter’s facebook page. She’s helped with voter registration efforts, fundraising, phonebanks, textbanks, and keeping chapter members and others tuned into local events and alliances to build and grow from.