Former Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins is Baptist Health Paducah’s new Foundation Executive-in-Residence.
In a release, Gov. Collins said she is excited to work with “old friends” to improve health in western Kentucky. She will participate in community initiatives and events and work to develop donor relationships and partnerships for the foundation.
Gov. Collins is Kentucky’s first and only female governor, serving from 1983 to 1987. As governor, she focused on education and economic development. Baptist Health Paducah Foundation Director of Advancement Roy Lowdenback says he previously worked with Gov. Collins when they served together at Georgetown College. Lowdenback says the foundation’s health education initiatives at area schools attracted Gov. Collins to the Paducah position.
Gov. Collins is a Shelby County native. Before her term as governor, she served as a clerk of the Court of Appeals and the Kentucky Supreme Court and as lieutenant governor with Gov. John Y. Brown. Since her time as a public servant, Gov. Collins has served in leadership positions for several institutions of higher education, including St. Catherine College, Georgetown College, University of Louisville School of Business and the International Business and Management Center at the University of Kentucky, her alma mater. She was named to the UK College of Education Hall of Fame in 1990. She has also chaired the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Authority and the Southern Growth Policies Board.
The Baptist Health Paducah Foundation was officially established in 2009.
