One to One with Bill Goodman:
Dave Adkisson
aired September 8 and 10, 2006
Dave Adkisson, president of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, gives his perspective on the state of Kentucky’s business climate as well as the results of a recent trade delegation trip to China on this edition of One to One.
Kentucky is officially open for business in China, maintaining a trade office in Beijing, where the most recognized Kentucky logo for the average Chinese person is none other than Colonel Sanders. In his conversation with host Bill Goodman, Adkisson compares the Chinese education system to that of the United States, discusses the global trade environment, and outlines the goals of a health initiative being spearheaded by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
Founded in 1946 as a voice for business in the political arena, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is the largest broad-based business association in the state. Its 7,000+ member businesses collectively employ more than 50 percent of the state’s private workforce. The state organization is headed by a board of directors made up of more than 60 of Kentucky’s top business leaders.
Adkisson is a graduate of Georgetown College and has a master’s degree in ethics from Harvard University. He was mayor of Owensboro from 1986 to 1995, overseeing a downtown revitalization effort that led to the development of a riverfront performing arts center, the MidAmerica Industrial Airpark, and a new bridge across the Ohio River. He then moved to Alabama, where he served as head of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. He returned to Kentucky to assume the presidency of the statewide Chamber in March 2005.
