Board Of Directors
Chris Garrett
He has been with the company his entire career, joining Kentucky Utilities in 1995 after graduating from college. Garrett previously served as the Vice President – Finance and Accounting for LG&E and KU following his role as Controller. He has held multiple positions including management roles in Tax, Corporate Accounting, Financial Planning and State Regulation and Rates.
Garrett currently serves on the Louisville Free Public Library Foundation as its chair after having served as its vice-chair and treasurer. He is a certified public accountant, a member of the Kentucky Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He also is an Ignite Louisville and Bingham Fellows graduate.
Garrett attended Eastern Kentucky University, graduating with honors, and lives in Bardstown, Ky., with his wife, Katie, and their three children.
Melanie McCoy
Lee Burchfield
Lee Burchfield, Director of Louisville Free Public Library, has been with the Library since 1997. His previous positions included Assistant Branch Manager, Electronic Resources Supervisor, Manager of Computer Services, and Director of Strategic Planning & Technology.
He has been Director since 2019. He earned his Bachelor of Arts at Samford University, where he also worked in the computer lab, circulation department, and serials department at the University Library. He earned his Master of Science in Library and Information Science from the University of Kentucky, and earned an additional master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Historical Studies from Southern Seminary.
In 2014 he completed a strategic planning certification from George Washington University and the Balanced Scorecard Institute as a Balanced Scorecard Professional. He received Six Sigma Green Belt training and certification from Louisville Metro Government. He has published several biographical and historical articles, and has been active as a presenter and panelist at library and technology conferences.Brian Stivers
Brian Stivers is an investment officer and Director of Research at Commonwealth Bank & Trust, within their Wealth Management & Trust Group. He has over 25 years of experience in managing equity and fixed income portfolios for both individuals and institutions.
Stivers specializes in the municipal market, including both tax-free and taxable bonds, with particular expertise in Kentucky issuers. As fixed-income strategist, he has served as portfolio manager of Commonwealth Bank’s maturing Kentucky tax-free common trust funds since 1995, and manages the individual fixed income securities and trading within the department.
In addition, Stivers is responsible for equity coverage of the financial sector and runs a number of liquidity-based institutional portfolios. He also works with the bank’s investment portfolio and serves on the Asset/Liability and Deposit Pricing committees.
Stivers received his B.S. in Finance, with honors, from the University of Louisville and is a graduate of the National Trust School at Northwestern. He joined the Library Foundation’s Finance & Audit Committee in 2014.
Liz Amick
Ashley Anderson
Dr. Ashley M. Anderson received a Master of Science in Nursing with a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Specialty in 2008, a certificate in Health Professionals Education in 2012 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing in 2016, all from the University of Louisville. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Berea College in 2005. She was a record holding team Captain for Berea College’s Women’s Basketball team. Dr. Anderson participated in beauty pageants to take advantage of additional scholarship opportunities as she pursued her education. She won Ms. Kentucky United States 2013, Miss Black Ohio in 2010 and was crowned the 1st Miss University of Louisville in 47 years when the competition returned to campus in 2008.
Dr. Anderson is the founder and CEO of Athena Health and Wellness, a women’s health practice that is the first of its kind in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2020, she partnered with doTerra and launched an essential oil business to help promote natural healthcare in the western realm of medicine. She is a family planning specialist, trained researcher, author, certified health science educator, community activist, international runway model, actress, radio personality, and motivational speaker. .Waleed Bahouth
Kendall Boyd
Florence Chang
Fannie Mae Cox
Lisa DeJaco
Lisa DeJaco Crutcher is the Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Charities of Louisville, Inc. She also serves on the Board of Dare to Care and is the diocesan representative to the Boards of Boys and Girls Haven and St Joseph’s Children’s Home. She formerly served on the Board of the Friends of the Library, and her first job was as a page with the LFPL. An attorney by training, Ms. DeJaco Crutcher received her Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from Furman University.
Marcie Deffenbaugh
Katy Delahanty
Jennifer Glassner
Brian Gupton
John Harris
Frank Harshaw
Bill Hollander
Carrye Jones
Andrea Kinser
Kathy Knotts
Virginia Lee
Kathryn Luttner
Phyllis Metcalf-Turner
Phyllis Metcalf-Turner, Ph.D. (University of Minnesota, 1993) is currently a retired university professor. During her tenure as a university professor she also served in several administrative roles including Associate Vice President of Diversity and International Education, Dean of the College of Education, Department Chair, Acting Associate and Assistant Provost, and Director of The Minority Teacher Recruitment Program.
Dr. Metcalf-Turner has always been and continues to be a strong advocate of literacy learning. She previously served five years on the Friends Board of the LFPL. For the past thirty-plus years, she has collected books by, for, and about African Americans and continues to support best practices for the integration of culturally responsive practices in literacy instruction across the curriculum.Keith L. Runyon
Allison Strickland
Allison Strickland is the senior manager of internal communications for Papa John’s International, one of the largest global pizza companies. Prior to Papa John’s, Allison spent the last decade in the health insurance space, most recently as the director of Medicaid and Medicare internal communications for WellCare. Before that, she was with Humana in a variety of communications-related roles, where she was responsible for planning, developing, and implementing internal communications strategies and tactics such as all-associate town halls, board of directors meetings, and other key events.
With more than 15 years’ experience in internal and external communications, Allison has held roles in both non-profit and corporate settings, including positions with Zale Corporation, the Kentucky Humane Society, and Yum! Brands.
Allison received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville and a master’s degree from Northwestern University, both in communications.