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Churchill Downs Inc. has announced that it is restructuring its organization to facilitate implementation of the company’s new growth-based strategic plan.
 
Under the new strategic plan, Churchill Downs will focus on becoming the leading provider of integrated racing, gaming and entertainment delivered on-site and online.

A new, wholly owned subsidiary is being created to expand the company’s entertainment management opportunities. Steve Sexton has been named chief executive officer and president of the new subsidiary and will be responsible for conceiving, developing, producing, and managing new entertainment activities, including new racing events, concerts and other concepts. 

Sexton joined Churchill Downs Inc. in 2001 as president of Arlington Park Racecourse and has been president of Churchill Downs Racetrack since 2002. He was named executive vice president of CDI in 2006.

The Appalachian Regional Commission has announced a new grant competition for gateway communities that are entry points to the Big South Fork National River and Recreational Area.

The $200,000 “Gems of Appalachia” grants competition is part of ARC’s asset-based economic development initiative in Appalachia, which fosters partnerships between gateway communities and neighboring public land managers to develop the tourist potential of Appalachia’s valued landscapes while protecting their natural ecosystems.

Applicants can request funding to implement a specific project or activity related to natural or cultural heritage tourism, community planning, asset building, recreational development or other activity that will enhance their unique identity as a gateway to the Big South Fork region. To encourage participation in the competition, ARC will host two forums to explore strategies for developing sustainable, asset-based economic development projects. The time and location of these forums will to be announced at a later date.

Non-profit organizations, local governments, public educational institutions, and local and regional development organizations located in McCreary, Wayne, and Whitley counties are eligible to apply for the grants.

Additional details about the grant competition are available at arc.gov or by calling (800) 346-5606.

Industrial Services of America Inc., a Louisville company that buys, processes and markets recyclable commodities and offers programs and equipment to help businesses manage wastes, has expanded into the stainless steel recycling market by purchasing inventories from Venture Metals, LLC.

Venture Metals, formed in 2006, buys and sells scrap metal, primarily in the stainless steel recycling market for super alloys and high temperature metals. The ISA purchase includes approximately $9 million of existing inventory as well as the right to use Venture Metals’ five-acre processing site in Louisville and a three-acre site in Mobile, Ala.

ISA has formed a new division, ISA Alloys, to specifically focus on the stainless steel recycling business.

“Revenues from this new ISA Alloys division are expected to approximate the size of our existing ISA Recycling division,” said ISA President and COO Brian Donaghy.  “Additionally, this deal will provide new locations for building our ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal and recycling businesses.”

Donaghy said the company plans to expand the Venture site into a full-service facility, with stainless steel recycling operations supplemented by a retail center that purchases ferrous and non-ferrous metals and automobiles. ISA’s existing processing and sorting facilities are located on Grade Lane in Louisville, and in New Albany and Seymour, Ind.

Eight of the 16 colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System are cited as being among the fastest growing public community colleges in the nation, according to a listing published in Community College Week magazine.

The listing was based on enrollment figures between Fall 2006 and Fall 2007.
Bowling Green Technical College was first in the 2,500-4,999 student category with a 39.1 percent increase in students. Ashland Community and Technical College was ninth in the same category with a 16.5 percent increase. Hazard Community and Technical College was 22nd in that category with a 12.3 percent increase. Elizabethtown Community and Technical College was 28th with a 10.6 percent increase, while Madisonville Community College and Maysville Community and Technical College were 37th and 47th with increases of 6 percent and 8.3 percent respectively.

Somerset Community College ranked 18th in the 5,000-9,999 student category, with a 12.6 percent increase in the.
In the 10,000-plus student category, Jefferson Community and Technical College was 49th with a 5.2 percent increase.

A reorganization plan at Lexmark International will include cutting or transferring some 160 positions from the printer manufacturer’s Lexington headquarters.

Faced with declining revenues in a weak global economy, Lexmark announced in mid-January that it would be implementing a restructuring plan for the company that would affect 375 positions. The company has a global workforce of approximately 13,800.

Of the 375 positions impacted by the restructuring, 250 will be eliminated and another 125 will be transferred to lower-cost countries. The cuts will affect Lexmark’s supply chain and sales support, as well as the information technology and finance divisions; the company’s sales and marketing team is also being reorganized. Details were not announced as to which divisions in Lexington would be affected.

The cuts in Lexington will bring Lexmark’s employment there to approximately 2,840 people, who are primarily involved in administrative issues and research and development for the company; manufacturing of Lexmark products is handled in Mexico, the Philippines and China.

Lexmark is one of Lexington’s largest employers and the only Fortune 500 company to be headquartered in Lexington.

Toyota has scheduled additional non-production days at its eight North American manufacturing facilities over the next few months in response to high inventory levels caused by slow industry sales.

The number of non-production days varies by assembly line and model. The Toyota plant in Georgetown, Ky., produces the Camry and Avalon sedans and the company’s new crossover model, the Venza.

The production cuts in North America come on the heels of the company’s announcement that it would halt production for 11 days in February and March at its 12 plants in Japan.

On average, inventory of Toyota’s North American-built vehicles ranges from 80-90 days. With the new production adjustments, Toyota hopes to reduce inventory by about half in the second quarter of the year.

“In addition to slowing production we are redoubling efforts to cut costs at each of our facilities. Further actions and sacrifices may be necessary, but we will continue to do everything possible to assure the viability of our plants and protect the long-term employment security of our team members,” said Jim Wiseman, vice president of external affairs for Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America (TEMA).

While Toyota sold more cars and trucks in 2008 than any other automaker, the company recently announced that it expects to post a loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, the first annual operating loss in 70 years.

Faced with $119 million in first-quarter losses, chemical company Ashland Inc. said it plans to rein in costs by freezing wages, cutting more jobs and implementing a two-week furlough program for most non-hourly U.S. and Canadian employees.

James O’Brien, chairman and CEO of the Covington-based company, said that while the acquisition of Hercules Inc. was one of the primary factors in the loss, the purchase was an important step in transforming Ashland into a specialty chemicals company.

“We believe the strategic reasons for the acquisition are sound,” O’Brien said, “however, the current global economic environment has created significant near-term challenges.”

To address the losses, O’Brien said the company is targeting $265 million in cost reductions. Freezing wages and salaries globally in 2009 will save more than $25 million, while the two-week furlough – which will be completed over the next five months – and several other job- and benefits-related actions will generate another $25 million in savings.

The company eliminated approximately 500 employee positions in the last months of 2008 and plans to eliminate another 500 through fiscal 2009. By the end of fiscal 2010, the company will have reduced its global workforce by 1,300, a figure that represents approximately 9 percent of its workforce (excluding Valvoline retail employees).

A University of Louisville alumnus has pledged $20 million to establish the Kentucky Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship at the school’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering.

The gift from Henry Conn and his wife, Rebecca, is the largest individual donation ever made to the University of Louisville – or any public Kentucky university – according to Gov. Steve Beshear. The new center will be named the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship in their honor.

The center’s mission will include promoting partnerships among the state’s colleges and universities, private industry and nonprofit organizations to actively pursue federal research and development resources that are dedicated to renewable energy.

Beshear said he sees the center as an opportunity to harness the various progressive efforts on renewable energy in the commonwealth for a greater objective.

“The center achieves several objectives laid out in my administration’s strategic energy plan for Kentucky, including creating higher quality jobs, identifying methods that allow citizens to be more energy efficient and helping our nation become energy secure,” Beshear said.

Henry Conn is a native of Louisville and earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering and a master of business administration degree from UofL. Conn began his career at Ford and later went on to serve in executive positions with Allis-Chalmers, Siemens-Allis Inc. and TRW Inc. He has co-authored two business books and currently serves as an executive advisor for corporations worldwide and also sits on the Industrial Board of Advisors for the J.B. Speed School of Engineering.

ImagePoint has closed its sign manufacturing plant in Florence, leaving some 180 people without jobs. The Knoxville-based company, which has been in business since 1944, has terminated all operations and is currently seeking buyers for various segments of the company. Approximately 270 employees at ImagePoint’s headquarters in Knoxville are affected by the shutdown.

In a press release, ImagePoint CEO Jim Martin said the nation’s economic problems had taken a significant toll on the company, which has produced, installed and maintained interior and exterior signage for major companies such as McDonald’s, Chase Bank, General Motors, Nissan, Ford, Rite Aid and Chrysler, among others.

In recent years, ImagePoint had taken steps to reduce operating costs. Last year, the company closed its manufacturing plant in Columbia, S.C., and consolidated its sign production in Florence. In the end, however, those measures weren’t enough to overcome the obstacles. “The automotive and restaurant businesses are facing serious challenges,” Martin said. “And these industries represent a major part of ImagePoint’s business.”

Trustees of Lexington Theological Seminary have declared the school to be in a state of financial emergency and say they will use the situation as an opportunity to reinvent the institution by developing a curriculum that stresses effective parish ministry as its primary focus.

Declaring financial exigency allows the trustees to, among other things, end faculty tenure. It also recognizes the loss of corpus on its restricted endowment.

LTS President James P. Johnson said the seminary will focus on creating a new curriculum that will better prepare divinity students for careers as parish pastors. Faculty will develop courses that will merge theological thinking with practical skills in such areas as money management, use of technology and conflict resolution. Many course offerings will be available online and taught at remote locations.

The school’s financial situation has been compounded by “a tsunami of economic disasters that we have not seen in our lifetimes,” Johnson told trustees. An endowment that once stood at about $25 million in July 2007 is now about $16 million, Johnson said. He also said the seminary’s $4 million budget will be cut, meaning reducing faculty and staff positions.

Johnson said LTS continues to meet all its financial obligations but the draw on the endowment must be reduced immediately, forcing the staff cuts.

LTS was founded in 1865 as the first seminary of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and had a fall enrollment of 120 students, most of whom are seeking their master’s or doctorate degrees. It is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools, and Johnson said the association is working with LTS to make sure accreditation is maintained during the transition.

A task force assembled by Gov. Steve Beshear and charged with assessing college affordability in the commonwealth has released its first report.

The 35-page report entitled, Expanding College Access and Affordability in the Commonwealth, presents a number of recommendations to improve college affordability, including:

• Allowing military veterans to enroll at Kentucky public postsecondary institutions at in-state resident tuition rates, even if they hail from elsewhere

• Introducing legislation and/or regulations that promote lower college textbook costs, as well as greater transparency and predictability for students and families with regard to textbook costs

• Providing more direct assistance to help students and families access all sources of financial aid, including the integration of the state’s existing college-access Web sites into one comprehensive, consumer-friendly site

• Convening the state’s economic, business, education and workforce development partners to identify ways to expand innovative workplace education incentives, benefits and programs

• Providing more transparency about what it costs to educate a student
The Higher Education Work Group is a 26-member bipartisan group comprised of prominent business, education, and policy leaders. The group is co-chaired by Lexington businesswoman Mira Ball and Bowling Green businessman Pete Mahurin.