STAFF

DAVID LEDFORD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

David became the Appalachian Wildlife Foundation’s first Executive Director in January 2010. He joined AWF after eight years with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation where he served as a Director and Senior Vice President. David’s experience ranges from hands-on habitat work as a Certified Wildlife Biologist to serving as wildlife program director for a multi-nationalpulp and paper corporation, to working as the General Manager of Groton Land Company.

He has extensive experience in conservation planning, collaboration between multiple organizations, lobbying, habitat restoration and developing wildlife management solutions. At AWF he has forged partnerships with government agencies, private industry, universities and other conservation organizations.

David has a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from the University of Tennessee and an M.S. from the University of Georgia in Forest Resource Management and Wildlife Biology. David and his wife Jennifer have been married 40 years and have five children and 11 grandchildren.

Board

Frank lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife Alice. He attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, leaving after his third year in 1973 to join a family business. He moved to Kentucky in 1981 as a Regional Vice President for Project Packaging, Inc. and worked in the telecommunications industry until 2011.

In 1993, Frank founded SpanPro, Inc., which over 17 years grew into four operating divisions in telecommunications systems engineering and design, telecommunications infrastructure deployment, software development and automation technologies, with a total of 300 employees and 600 sub-contractors. In 2008 he founded Conservation Marketing Specialists (CMS), a marketing, project management and fund-raising firm to serve non-profit organizations.

Frank has served on board committees for several national conservation organizations. He was the founding Chairman of the Appalachian Wildlife Foundation in 2009 and is the current Chairman.

FRANK ALLEN, Chair

Geoff was elected to the U.S. House in 2004 and served until 2012. During his tenure in Congress, he held a leadership role within the Republican Conference as a Deputy Whip. Davis served on the House Financial Services and Armed Services Committees until 2008 and then was appointed to the Committee on Ways & Means.

Since leaving the Congress, he has participated in conferences and meetings in the Middle East and South Asia related to advancing economic security, religious freedom and reconciliation. In addition, for the last several years, he has served as a panelist on political-military affairs at an annual Track 1.5 SINO-US Counter Terrorism Dialogue in Beijing China with former senior U.S. Military and Diplomatic leaders.

At age 17, Davis enlisted in the Army and later earned an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Among his later assignments, he served as an Assault Helicopter Flight Commander in the 82nd Airborne Division and ran Flight Operations for the U.S. Army Peace Enforcement mission between Israel and Egypt. Later he assisted in the development and implementation of the XVIII Airborne Corps’ Army of Excellence reorganization concurrently with the Goldwater-Nichols defense reforms. He is a former Army Ranger, Aviator, and Senior Parachutist.

Prior to serving in Congress, Davis had a background in aerospace and technology integration and later led a consulting firm that served Fortune 1000 corporations and specialized in lean manufacturing and systems integration. He has a background in “Big Data” and related Enterprise Resource Planning and Customer Relationship Management Systems. After leaving Congress, he restarted his consulting business and is currently doing a range of public policy consulting.

Geoffrey Davis

Leo lives in Loretto, KY with his wife, Donna Essex. Leo has a degree in Design Engineering from Louisville Technical Institute and is the President and CEO of HEC Manufacturing, Inc. located in Bardstown KY. He is a partner in 2 property investment firms, CEH Investments and Loretto Properties. Leo and Donna enjoy 5 children, Jordan, Erica, Madison, Ethan and Eli. Leo and Donna in addition own 850 acres that they row crop 300 acres, 50 acres of hay, maintain 400 plus acres of hardwoods, as well as Percheron Draft Horses and American Quarter Horses.

Francis (Leo) Essex

A TWO-FOLD VISION

  1. Provide a world-class tourism experience at Boone’s Ridge.

  2. Use the revenue to support regional initiatives in Education, the Environment, and the Economy.