Ron Geoghegan | Board of Trustees

Offices/Positions Held on the Board:

Finance Committee, Member; Nominating Committee, Member; University Health Care Committee, Member; and UK Research Foundation Board, Board of Trustees Member.

Term:

September 3, 2020 to July 30, 2026

Ron Geoghegan retired from his government relations career in September 2019, after spending eleven years as a Strategic Partner with the McCarthy Strategic Solutions in Frankfort, following 30 years with South Central Bell/ BellSouth/ATT, as the Senior Public Affairs Official for Legislative and Public Affairs in Kentucky.

As chief lobbyist for BellSouth Kentucky from 1987 to 2007, Geoghegan represented Kentucky’s largest telecommunications company before federal, state and local officials. He developed cutting-edge public policy initiatives for the legislature, including direct lobbying, messaging, grassroots activities, political action committees, third-party support and coalition-building. These efforts led to the passage of a series of major telecommunications industry deregulation bills.

Further, Geoghegan has a long history of statewide leadership in higher education, science, technology and innovation. As chair of Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education, Geoghegan played a key role in garnering support for sweeping educational
reform set forth in the 1997 HB 1.

From 2001 to 2019, he served as chair of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation, which focused on designing and successfully implementing creative initiatives in talent development, economic development and scientific research.

He is the former chair of the St. Catharine College Board of Trustees, and the Public Policy Forums of the Kentucky State Chamber of Commerce. He also co-chaired the Kentucky Initiative for Advanced Placement in Math, Science and English.

A member of the Charter Class of Leadership Kentucky, Geoghegan served on its board for several years. He served on the Board of Governors at the Speed Art Museum and the Executive Committee of the Olmsted Parks Conservancy and was a member of the Commission on the Future of the South.

As a long-time member and elder of Beargrass Christian Church, he has held several leadership positions including Board Chair.

Geoghegan holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Kentucky and an M.B.A. from Bellarmine University. He and his wife, Mary Leslie Land, have one son, Joe, who lives with his spouse, Ana Cedillo, in Manhattan.