Chellgren, who retired in 2002 as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Ashland Inc. after 28 years with the company, is now an adjunct professor and executive in residence at Northern Kentucky University. He also is a director or trustee of PNC Financial Services Group, Centre College and The Conference Board and partner/director of numerous private organizations. He is chairman of the board of the Cincinnati Art Museum, and a trustee of Cincinnati’s Taft Museum of Art, The Greater Cincinnati Foundation and the Institute for Fine Arts.

“I’m pleased and honored to be asked to serve Eastern in this capacity,” Chellgren said, “and I’m looking forward to having an opportunity to work with Dusty McCoy (chair of the EKU Foundation and a former Ashland colleague) and with President Glasser and the Eastern administration.

“I’ve always been impressed with the important role that EKU plays in the Commonwealth … and I hope I can bring some experience to bear on the challenges before us,” Chellgren added.

Chellgren, a former trustee at the University of Kentucky for 11 years and currently in his 14th year as a Centre College trustee, said he’s looking forward to helping with EKU’s first comprehensive capital campaign, which is now in the leadership gifts phase.

“Private support is increasingly important,” he said. “It’s the difference-maker in that drive for excellence.”

Brown is chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Thomas Industries Inc., Louisville, which manufactures and markets pumps and compressors for a variety of applications. Thomas Industries now has more than 1,000 employees at eight manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Germany and 12 international sales offices in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia.

An EKU graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting, Brown joined Thomas Industries in 1976. He also serves on numerous boards of directors, including National City Bank of Kentucky, Trinity High School Foundation and the Kentucky Derby Museum Corporation.

Brown said he was eager to “work with the administration to spread the good news about EKU, to oversee the strategic direction of the Foundation, to work in the community underscoring the mission and the needs of the University while broadly garnishing support and understanding, and to help direct and oversee the endowment and its investments.

“Unquestionably,” he added, “the University has been strong historically in providing a well-rounded education. “A capital campaign is quite important to EKU in order to provide funds outside of government support to allow programs to expand and allow EKU to fulfill its mission.”