Kentucky Nonprofit Network (KNN), the state association of nonprofit organizations, has elected new members and selected its 2024 slate of officers for its board of directors. New board members include Mason Dyer, president of the Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities (AIKCU), attorney Elizabeth Ann Johnson of Stites & Harbison PLLC and Tawanda L. Owsley, chief marketing and development officer for Hosparus Health. Newly elected officers include Jeffrey L. Ashley, founder and president of Ashley Rountree and Associates, and attorney Eileen M. O’Brien of Osborne Family Law.
A 19-year veteran of AIKCU, Mason Dyer has served in many capacities in the organization including vice president of public affairs and external relations and information and director of communications and research. Previously he served as program manager for Junior Achievement (JA) of the Bluegrass. He previously served as a member of the Advisory Board for the Kentucky College and Career Connection Coalition.
Elizabeth “Betsy” Johnson is a member at Stites & Harbison’s Lexington office, where she concentrates her practice in health law, focusing on regulatory matters impacting both providers and payors. Kentucky’s former Medicaid Commissioner, her diverse background includes serving in both legal and policy roles in state government and the private sector. She previously served as president/executive director of the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities/ Kentucky Center for Assisted Living and serves on the American Health Care Association Legal Committee.
At Hosparus Health, Tawanda Owsley leads the organization’s $24 million People of Compassion comprehensive campaign. She has headed the American Red Cross’ Bluegrass Chapter, was market director of philanthropy at KentuckyOne Health and served as director of major gifts for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Her past board experience includes the Transit Authority of River City, Greater Louisville Inc., the Leadership Louisville Center, the Louisville Urban League, Lexington Children’s Theatre, Commerce Lexington and the Lexington Transit Authority. She was selected for the Leadership Louisville Bingham Fellows Class of 2021
Jeff Ashley of Ashley Rountree and Associates, a KNN board member since 2019 and KNN’s new board vice chair, has 30 years of fundraising and nonprofit experience. He previously held the positions of Spalding University’s vice president for university advancement and director of major gifts for the University of Louisville’s “Challenge for Excellence” campaign. Currently, he serves as the board chair for the Regional Cancer Center Corporation, the University of Kentucky National Alumni Association Board of Directors and the Twisted Pink Board of Directors.
New board secretary Eileen O’Brien has been with Osborne Family Law (formerly Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC) since 1981, where her practice focuses on insurance, employment law, product liability and personal injury as well as family law. The organizer of the firm’s Women in Business Conference each autumn, she currently serves as treasurer for the Kentucky Bar Foundation Board and president of the boards of the Chrysalis House and the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. O’Brien was a member of the KNN board from 2013 to 2020 and rejoined the board in 2022.
Additionally, Sarah H. Jefferson, vice president and cash management director of Traditional Bank, was re-elected as KNN’s board chair and Judy Simpson, director of finance for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, was re-elected treasurer. Both joined the KNN board in 2020.
KNN was founded in 2002 and exists to strengthen and advance the Commonwealth’s nonprofit organizations, which are essential to vibrant communities. KNN provides quality education, sharing of best practices and resources, time and money-saving member benefits and a unified public policy voice for its more than 1,000 members statewide.
Kentucky Nonprofit Network 