Guest Speakers

  • Greg Fischer Mayor of Louisville

    Greg Fischer was born in Louisville on January 14, 1958, the son of George and Mary Lee Fischer. He is an entrepreneur, businessman and philanthropist and was elected Louisville’s 50th Mayor on November 2, 2010. He graduated from Trinity High School and majored in Economics at Vanderbilt University. To help pay for his college education, and to finance a trip around the world, Fischer spent his summers in Kodiak, Alaska, as a crane operator helping unload salmon boats. His year abroad, most of it spent in Asia, gave him a global perspective on life and on business. In 1980, he was a founder of SerVend International and co-invented the SerVend ice and beverage dispenser just as fast-food restaurants and convenience stores were proliferating. Along with his brothers, he led the growth of SerVend into a worldwide corporation with more than 300 employees and $70 million in annual sales. SerVend was nationally recognized for business and leadership excellence, being honored with a site visit by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and as a recipient of the USA Today Quality Cup, among others. SerVend was sold in 1997 to Manitowoc, a Fortune 500 company. In 1999, he founded Iceberg Ventures, a private investment firm, and later was a co- founder of bCatalyst, the first business accelerator in Louisville. Fischer has helped create more than 1,000 local jobs and has been an active investor and board member in numerous companies across multiple industries, ranging from MedVenture Technology to Vogt Ice to Stonestreet One. He is a former partner and former CEO of Dant Clayton Corporation, which designs, manufactures and constructs sports stadiums around the country. He is past chairman of the Young Presidents Organization as well as past chairman of the Louisville Science Center, where he helped raise $25 million to modernize the facility. He was a co-founder of Louisville’s Center for Quality of Management. He has served on numerous nonprofit boards with current roles on the University of Louisville Board of Overseers and the Waterfront Development Corp. He is married to Dr. Alexandra Gerassimides, the daughter of Greek immigrants who were uprooted during the Greek Civil War. Greg and Alex met in 1982 at a Valentine’s Day party in Old Louisville. They have four children -- Eleni, George, Nick and Mary.

  • LIEUTENANT GENERAL WILLIAM E. INGRAM, JR. Director, Army National Guard

    Lieutenant General William E. Ingram, Jr. is the Director, Army National Guard. He guides the formulation, development and implementation of all programs and policies affecting the Army National Guard; a force of over 350,000 Soldiers in the 54 States, Territories and the District of Columbia. General Ingram received his commission in 1972 as a Distinguished Graduate through Officer Candidate School, North Carolina Military Academy at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He has commanded United States, United Nations and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Croatia, Macedonia and Kosovo and has taken leading roles in homeland security and disaster response at home. General Ingram previously served as Chairman of the Army Reserve Forces Policy Committee (ARFPC). He served as The Adjutant General, North Carolina for over nine years. General Ingram’s most recent assignment was as Special Assistant to the Vice Chief of Staff, Army.