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The Henry Clay Memorial Foundation is pleased and honored to announce that Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech, headquartered in Nicholasville, Kentucky, has been chosen to receive the 2014 Henry Clay Medallion for Distinguished Service.
The Medallion will be awarded to Lyons on Dec. 11 at the Governor's Mansion in Frankfort, Kentucky, during a gala hosted by the Henry Clay Society of Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate in Lexington.
The Henry Clay Medallion recognizes, honors and celebrates individuals of exceptional merit who share characteristics of the life and work of the great Kentucky statesman, Henry Clay. Senators, Speakers of the House, royalty and business visionaries are among the list of distinguished past recipients.
Lyons was selected for his accomplishments within Kentucky as well as for bringing the best of Kentucky to the attention of people throughout the United States and around the world. Lyons founded Alltech in Kentucky in 1980 with $10,000, and it is now a $1 billion company operating in 128 countries with more than 3,500 employees.
Wherever his frequent travels take him, Lyons brings along Kentucky, promoting the region as an ideal place to live, visit and do business. His enthusiasm for the state extends to a number of community and education-focused initiatives, such as the Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition, which annually awards more than a half-million dollars in University of Kentucky Opera Theatre scholarships; a commitment with his wife, Deirdre Lyons, the director of Alltech’s corporate image and design, to construct at least one Kentucky primary school laboratory each year; and an annual Innovation Competition that sets Kentucky university business teams against one another to promote economic growth within the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
In what has become Lexington’s largest annual hotel booking with an estimated economic impact of $7.2 million, more than 2300 people trek into the heart of the Bluegrass for the Alltech International Symposium. The food and feed industry’s premier Symposium typically attracts company executives, governmental officials, university faculty and students, and researchers from over 70 countries.
Lyons is likely best-known, however, for his leadership role in the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™, which brought more than a half-million spectators from all 50 states and 63 countries to Lexington for the 16-day world championship event.
The Henry Clay Memorial Foundation (HCMF) is dedicated to preserving Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate as a National Historic Landmark, museum and educational center. The estate includes 17 acres of the original farm established in 1804 by Henry Clay, as well as original outbuildings and the rebuilt Clay mansion. The HCMF was begun in 1948 when Henry Clay's great-grandaughter and Ashland resident passed away, leaving the estate to the foundation. It was her wish that the estate remain a park-like property for all to enjoy and that her great-grandfather's story of compromise and statesmanship be taught to all. This mission is continued today, educating thousands of visitors from all 50 states and around the world each year.
October 29, 2014 - Alltech
