June 5 , 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Martin A. Kish
(502) 491-4737 - Office
(859) 351-8420 - Mobile

Andrew C. Meko Announces Retirement;
Jim LeMaster Named President and CEO of
Kentucky Association of Manufacturers

Louisville – Andrew C. Meko has announced his retirement as President and CEO of the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers (KAM), according to Raymond Zavada, chairman of the KAM Board of Directors. He will be succeeded by James G. “Jim” LeMaster, one of Kentucky’s most respected names in business and government.

Meko will retire on July 31 after an eight-year tenure as the association’s president and CEO. “As much as we look forward to Jim’s arrival, we all will miss Andy Meko’s dedicated leadership,” says Zavada. “Andy has served KAM very well, most recently leading the association through a strategic re-direction that has positioned us for an era of growth and prosperity. For that, we will be forever grateful.

“We would have been hard-pressed to find anyone else in Kentucky who has a better reputation and track record in government, politics and business than Jim LeMaster,” says Zavada. “He truly is in a class by himself when it comes to the public affairs arena.”

LeMaster is perhaps best known for his service as a State Representative from 1976-1994; as majority leader of the Kentucky House of Delegates from 1982-1984; and as president of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kentucky from 1997-2001.

A 1972 graduate of the University of Kentucky Law School, LeMaster most recently was on the staff of the Greenebaum, Doll & McDonald law firm and also was a member of KAM’s lobbying team.

LeMaster also is well-known for being a member of the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team from 1965-1968 when he was part of the “Rupp’s Runts” squad.

LeMaster was chairman of Leadership Kentucky (2003); is president and board member of the UK basketball museum; UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Board Member and 2007 Chairman; and a past executive committee and board member of Greater Louisville Inc.

About the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers

Established in 1911, the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers is the Commonwealth’s only manufacturing trade association. KAM’s mission is to raise the prosperity of all Kentuckians by protecting and growing our state’s economic engine:  manufacturing.  KAM proactively works with elected officials, policymakers, chambers of commerce, other associations, economic development experts, the news media, the general public and its own members to drive results through seven branded initiatives:  ProsperousKentucky (sm), ProductiveKentucky (sm), FreedomKentucky (sm), SmartKentucky (sm), HealthyKentucky (sm), HonestKentucky (sm) and CleanKentucky (sm).  On the web at www.KAManufacturers.com