ABOUT KY ILG
Brief History of the Kentucky
Industry Liaison Group
In the mid 1980’s, the Louisville OFCCP
Assistant District Director, John Monell, contacted the Phillip Morris Company and asked
for assistance in establishing a Liaison Group of manufacturers.
Phillip Morris responded and solicited the active partnership of
Brown-Forman, Dupont, Ford Motor, General Electric, Zeon Chemical, Louisville
Gas and Electric, and the University of Louisville.
During the remainder of the 1980’s the ILG worked very informally with
no dues, officers, or by-laws. Additionally,
its focus was primarily the City of Louisville.
The Louisville group met quarterly and focused on a particular
Affirmative Action topic such as audits or contemporary topics such as
harassment. In its formative stages
in the 1980’s, only on occasion did the Louisville ILG work directly with the
OFCCP.
Because of the loss of several key
contractor participants, the Manufacturing ILG became dormant until 1991 when
the OFCCP office recruited the participation of several HR professionals to
assist in reactivating the group. At that time, an OFCCP Compliance
Officer began meeting with representatives from The Cumberland Bank (Fifth Third
Bank), Capital Holding (Providian Corporation), Humana, Philip Morris, The
University of Louisville and Kentucky Utilities. Representatives from this
core group periodically hosted meetings.
In 1995, the first daylong ILG Contractor Seminar
was held on the campus of the University of Louisville with one hundred forty-four (144)
contractor representatives attending. Participants
were from Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, Ashland and a
number of small communities.
Building on the success of the 1995
conference, the Kentucky ILG began regular, monthly meetings of a steering
committee and focused on delineating a participating core of contractor HR
representatives to ensure continuity. In early 1997, this group developed a set of by-laws, legally
incorporated, and elected a full complement of officers.
Annual elections of officers have continued since 1998.
The progress in the four years from 1995 to
1999 became evident quickly. In 1999 the Kentucky ILG won the National ILG Award for
outstanding state Liaison Group. The continuing focus of the Kentucky ILG has
been on expanding its membership roster, outreach programs and strengthening its
educational offerings. With a
committed steering committee of 22 members and continuity in leadership, the
Kentucky ILG is poised to continue the growth that it has experienced in the
past several years.
