By Dan Adkins

This year's inductees are Nashville restaurant chain CEO Gregory L. Burns, Fayette District Court Judge Pamela Renee Goodwine and Louisville accounting executive Michael B. Mountjoy.

      The inductees are Gregory L. Burns of Nashville, Pamela Renee Goodwine of Lexington and Michael B. Mountjoy of Louisville.

      “These three exemplify the qualities of character and accomplishment that we hope all students and graduates of the Gatton College aspire to possess.  They have acquired standings and reputations within their professions that most people can only envy,” said Richard W. Furst, dean of the Gatton College.

        Louisville native Burns, 44, is chairman and chief executive officer of O’Charley’s, a Nashville-based restaurant chain with 114 stores in the Southeast and Midwest.  He joined that company in 1983 and served as controller, executive vice president and chief financial officer before being named president in 1993 and CEO in 1994.  He was chief financial officer for the Nashville Banner Publishing Co. Inc. from 1980 to 1983, and was a senior accountant for Price Waterhouse & Co. prior to that.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1977 and his master’s in accounting in 1978, both at UK.

A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Goodwine was appointed by Gov. Paul Patton to fill a vacancy on the Fayette District Court and subsequently won election to the bench in 1999.   Her appointment came after five years working for Wyatt Tarrant & Combs, which she joined after completing her law degree at UK in 1994, three years after earning her bachelor’s degree in management at UK.  Goodwine, 39, has served as chair of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights and a board member of the Central Kentucky Legal Services and the Lexington Arts and Cultural Council.

Mountjoy, 50, is co-founder, president and managing director of Carpenter, Mountjoy & Bressler P.S.C., a Louisville accounting firm.  The firm, launched in 1980, has grown under his leadership to become Kentucky’s largest locally owned accounting and consulting firm, with offices in Louisville, Lexington and Covington and more than 90 employees.  The firm is a past recipient of CPA Digest’s Digest 50 Award for its innovative growth and the Family-Friendly Workplace Award for its personnel practices.  He is a native of Williamsburg, Ky.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting at UK in 1972.

To date, 28 people have been inducted into UK’s Gatton College Alumni Hall of Fame, which was established in 1994 to recognize alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their communities and areas of enterprise.