KAM Government Team

… over 260 years of combined government, legislative and regulatory affairs experience – unmatched in the Commonwealth – protecting your business climate.

Jim LeMaster, President/CEO KAM - A graduate of the University of Kentucky law school, he probably is best known in many parts of the state for his accomplishments on the basketball court. Playing under the legendary Adolph Rupp, he was a member of the famous “Rupp’s Runts” squad that nearly won another national championship for Kentucky in 1966.

Following UK Law School, he was elected State Representative in 1976 and served for 19 years. He served as Majority Floor Leader for two terms. From 1997-2003, he entered the business world and served as president of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Kentucky. From 2004 until this past June, he practiced law with Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, primarily in the area of Governmental Affairs.

But beyond his sports, business and legislative career, our new president has a heart for giving something back to Kentucky. He has tirelessly volunteered and served on a number of boards: Leadership Kentucky, U.K. Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, Greater Louisville Inc., and the U.K. Basketball Museum, to name a few.

Jitter Allen’s 30 years of experience in working with state government began with two terms as State Representative for Kentucky’s 95th Legislative District, where he served as Vice Chairman of the Natural Resources and Chairman of the Federal Surface Mining Subcommittees and a member of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, Appropriations and Revenue Committee, and the Kentucky Democratic Executive Committee. He left the legislature to serve as Principal Assistant for the Cabinet for Human Resources under Governor John Y. Brown. He then served Governor Martha Layne Collins as Senior Administrative Assistant and liaison with the General Assembly. Following the Collins Administration, he joined KAM as director of the association’s Frankfort operations. He specializes in general business issues.

Carl Breeding serves as General Counsel to the KAM board of directors and is a legislative agent for the association specializing in environmental and governmental affairs. Named to “The Best Environmental Lawyers in America” guidebook by Woodward/White, Inc. in 2001, Mr. Breeding is a key leader of the KAM Chemical Industry Council. He has served as chair of the Kentucky Bar Association’s Natural Resources and Environmental Law Section (1994-95) and has served with the Governor’s Groundwater Advisory Committee, the Air Toxics Advisory Panel, the Brownfields and Voluntary Cleanup Program Focus Group, the Risk Analysis Regulation Development Advisory Group, and the Kentucky Water Quality Standards Review Panel.

Rusty Cress serves as Executive Director of the KAM Chemical Industry Council and is a legislative agent for the association specializing in environmental regulatory and compliance and governmental affairs. Mr. Cress has served as chair of the Kentucky Bar Association’s Natural Resources and Environmental Law Section (1998-99) and is the association’s representative for on-going meetings of the Clean Air Act Task Force. Three times a year he publishes the KAM/CIC membership publication, ChemTrends, and is a frequent speaker on environmental and regulatory issues.

Greg Higdon’s 21 years of experience with the Kentucky Legislature began in 1983 with his election to the Kentucky State Senate representing the far-western 1st Senate District counties of Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman and Trigg in the Kentucky Senate from 1982 to 1991. Mr. Higdon was elected majority whip of the Kentucky Senate in 1991, served as chairman of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Com­mittee and served on the Legislative Research Committee, the administra­tive arm of the General Assembly. His other committee assignments included economic development, tourism, energy and earthquake preparedness. Mr. Higdon was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet in 1991 by Governor Brereton C. Jones, and served as the governor’s legislative liaison with the 1994 General Assembly. He joined KAM in 1994 as director of workers’ compensation and economic development programs and became a contract lobbyist in 1998.

Donna Brown is a legislative agent for KAM specializing in health care issues. Ms. Brown served as the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities for eight years. She was a citizen lobbyist in Frankfort for seven additional years, working with environmental, conservation and nursing home legislation.

Mike Shea is the KAM government affairs’ team consultant on public relations issues and assists in advocacy for industry issues. Mr. Shea has worked closely with Kentucky's most prominent political figures, including five years as Special Assistant to U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and Senior Policy Advisor to Kentucky State Senate President David Williams and the Senate Republican Caucus. His success with polling and marketing has proven time and again to be remarkably successful and includes the winning strategies in the historic campaign to merge Louisville and Jefferson County and the campaign to pass Constitutional Amendment #2 updating corporate law in Kentucky.

Bert May, issues coordinator for the government affairs team of the Greenebaum Doll & McDonald law firm, has joined the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers. Prior to joining Greenebaum, May spent the last nine years lobbying the Kentucky State Legislature for the Kentucky League of Cities. May served as President of the Kentucky League of Cities in 1995. Prior to joining the Kentucky League of Cities, he spent thirteen years as Mayor of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky.

Kelly Shasky, Consultant, Government & Public Relations,provides a full range of services to her clients which include Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations. She served the Minnesota 2nd Congressional District as outreach coordinator and was later named Finance Director for the Congressman’s reelection efforts.