The chair of the COV200 bicentennial celebration and his wife, a non-profit executive turned Covington city administrator; an author and expert on African-American heritage; a Thomas More College professor and educational leader; and a volunteer and advocate for the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame are the winners of the sixth annual Two-Headed Calf Awards, presented by Behringer-Crawford Museum.
The awards, which honor Northern Kentuckians for significant accomplishments in the areas of history, education and community service, are named for the museum’s most notorious and fun exhibit: a preserved, two-headed calf. The calf, which celebrates its 100th anniversary at the museum this year, symbolizes that, very often, true excellence rests with those who demonstrate achievement beyond a single contribution. Just as two heads are better than one, so, too, is the service of the people these awards honor.
This year’s winners are:
Normand Demarais, Founding Partner and Chair, TiER1, and Lisa Desmarais, Operations Director and Interim Finance Director, City of Covington – Service to the Community: Generosity and Vision
It’s a true double-header for the community! Normand Desmarais is the chairman for COV200, Covington’s 2015 bicentennial celebration. He currently serves as co-founder and chairman of TiER1 Performance Solutions and CEO of Xcelerated Learning Dynamics, which has been named to Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest-growing private companies in the US for nine straight years. Desmarais has made a huge community impact since moving to Northern Kentucky in 1994. He serves on many boards and committees, including the Kentucky Commission on Small Business Advocacy, Gateway Technical and Community College Foundation Board of Directors and IT Advisory Committee, United Way 9/11 Advisory Committee, NKY SafetyNet Alliance Advisory Board and Covington’s Mayor’s Advisory Committee. He is a member of the 2006 Leadership Northern Kentucky class. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Fitchburg State College and an MBA in government contracting from Western New England College.
Lisa Desmarais is the operations director and interim finance director for the city of Covington, KY. Previously, she served as executive director of a local nonprofit agency and director of facilities and technology at a K-12 private, Catholic school, following 16 years working in the for-profit sector at companies such as Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young, Fidelity Investments and American Express. A graduate of the Leadership Northern Kentucky Class of 2011, she serves on the board of Faith Community Pharmacy and Covington Partners and is an adjunct professor at Northern Kentucky University. She holds an MPA from NKU and a BS in Management and Computer Science from Rhode Island College.
The Desmarais’ have three daughters, all residents of Covington. The couple recently purchased and begun restoring the historic Amos Shinkle House in the Licking River District.
Theodore H.H. Harris – Service to History: Scholarship and Public Service:
Ted Harris is a leading authority on local and regional African American history. He has published a number of papers on the subject and has contributed to the Northern Kentucky Heritage Magazine, The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky African American Encyclopedia. He also wrote Chapter 5, “From Fettered to Freedom: African-Americans in Covington,” as well as numerous other articles for the Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky.
A member of the first graduating class (1973) of Northern Kentucky State College, he helped start the Northern Kentucky African American Task Force and has been a member of the Kentucky African American Heritage Commission, the executive committee of the Kentucky Historical Society, the board of Behringer-Crawford Museum, and the Kentucky Underground Railroad Advisory Council. He served on the board of the Linden Grove Cemetery (2012) and as auditor for Chapter 88, Vietnam Veterans of America.
A former technical writer for General Electric, Harris served in the United States Navy from 1962-1966 and in the Navy Reserves from 1971- 1979. He contributed an oral history about his military service to Behringer-Crawford Museum’s Vietnam War exhibit.
Dr. Raymond G. Hebert, Professor and Dean Emeritus, Thomas More College – Service to Learning: Academic Excellence and Innovation
Dr. Ray Hebert, in his 41st year at Thomas More College, is professor of history, director of the Gemini Dual Credit Program, immediate past director of the James Graham Brown Honors Program and Dean of the College Emeritus. He spent 14 years as vice-president for academic affairs and dean of the college and 14 as department chairperson of history, international studies and political science. Hebert has also taught/directed more than 20 programs for the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad, mostly in England or Ireland.
Dr. Hebert’s Ph.D. is from the University of Maryland. He has published numerous articles and book reviews with a focus on European history and authored a book titled Florence Nightingale: Saint, Reformer, Rebel? He has been on the advisory board of Teaching History: A Journal of Methods for more than 30 years. Dr. Hebert is the recipient of a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Northern Kentucky Education Council and twice was named “Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Member of the Year.” Also a former BCM trustee, he was recognized by the Thomas More College Alumni Association with its “Lifetime Achievement Award” and by the Northern Kentucky Education Council as a “Champion for Education.”
Joe Brennan, President, Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame – Special Recognition for Excellence
President of the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame, Joe Brennan has participated in and preserved local sports history since the mid-1970s when, as chairman of the Mayor’s Recreation Committee in Covington, he initiated the Great Covington Bicycle Races and installed fields and floodlights for knothole baseball leagues. Former chairman and manager for the Covington Firefighters Knothole baseball and basketball programs, he was inducted into the NKY Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 and elected president in 2004.
In 2003, he initiated the first of five Northern Kentucky sports exhibits at Behringer-Crawford Museum. In 2006, he received the Tom Potter Award for Distinguished Service from the NKY Athletic Directors Hall of Fame and recently was awarded the NKY Sports Hall of Fame’s Bill Cappel Volunteerism Award. In 2015, he partnered with BCM to collect Northern Kentucky sports biographies, interviews and memorabilia to be curated and housed at the museum.
Joe Brennan is a former Covington Commissioner and a 30-year employee of Conrail, and was treasurer and chairman for Cincinnatus Big Four Railway Credit Union, Inc. He also served on the board of the Kentucky Veterans Hall of Fame in 2013, and contributed to BCM’s World War II, Vietnam and upcoming Korean War exhibits.
The 2016 Two-Headed Calf award recipients will be honored at an awards dinner and gala at 6 p.m., Thursday, March 10 at Northern Kentucky University’s Votruba Student Union Ballroom. The event will include dinner, cocktails, free parking, live music, a silent auction and raffles, in addition to the fun awards celebration. All-inclusive tickets are $100 per person or $800 for a table of eight. For reservations, call 859-491-4003 or email Executive Director Laurie Risch at lrisch@bcmuseum.org by February 28.
Past Two-Headed Calf award recipients are:
Community Service – for extraordinary stewardship and generosity.
2011 Alice Sparks
2012 Mary Middleton
2013 Oakley and Eva G. Farris
2014 Ralph Drees
2015 Daniel R. Groneck
History – for contributing to the preservation and understanding of our regional and state history.
2011 Dr. James C. Claypool
2012 Dr. James A. Ramage
2013 John Boh
2014 Jim Reis
2015 Dr. Paul A. Tenkotte
Education – for demonstrating academic excellence and innovative approaches in history, the arts or archaeology.
2011 Judy Sanders, Baker Hunt Foundation
2012 Debbie Brown, Kenton County Schools
2013 T. W. Loring, Ockerman Elementary School
2014 Rick Hulefeld, Children Inc.
2015 Jim R. Hicks, Dixie Heights High School
Special Recognition
2015 Glenn O. Swing Elementary School in Covington for Educational Achievement.
From Behringer-Crawford Museum