Part One
President John F. Kennedy once said. "The educated citizen has an obligation to serve the public. He can be a precinct worker or President. He may give his talents at the courthouse, the state house or the White House. He may be a civil servant or a senator, a candidate or a campaign worker. A winner or a loser. But he must be a participant and not an spectator."
Those words are on the front page of the Institute for Politics at Harvard University. The Institute, created in 1966, is now led by Northern Kentuckian Trey Grayson. Dan Hurley was joined by Trey Grayson who is back in the area for a visit. Elected in 2003 at age 31, Mr. Grayson served two terms as Secretary of State for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In 2010 he ran for the U.S. Senate Seat being vacated by the retiring Jim Bunning, but was defeated in the party primary by Rand Paul on the wave of Tea Party activism. In January 2011, Mr. Grayson became the Director of the Institute for Politics at the John F. Kennedy school of government at Harvard University.
Part Two
It is fascinating to watch long established businesses and institutions re-imagine themselves. First Financial Bank was founded in 1863 and headquartered in Hamilton, Ohio until 2009. In less than a decade, a bank that had historically been centered in Butler County serving smaller communities in Ohio and Indiana, has transformed itself. Through several key acquisitions that nearly doubled the bank's assets to $6.7 billion, re-focused on the metropolitan regions of Cincinnati, Dayton and Indianapolis.
I am joined now by Claude Davis the president and CEO of First Financial Bank Corporation. Mr. Davis joined the bank in 2004. Prior to joining First Financial, he was president of Irwin Union Bank and Trust in Columbus, Indiana. He and his family live in Hamilton.
