The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce (NKY Chamber) will honor three alumni from its flagship leadership programs – Encounter NKY, Leadership Northern Kentucky and Regional Youth Leadership – who have made a significant impact in the Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati region.
The alumni will be celebrated during the 2025 Leadership Alumni Awards, taking place on Friday, Aug. 22 at Receptions Banquet and Conference Center-South in Erlanger. The event will celebrate the recipients of three awards: The Ruth A. Eger Leader of Distinction Award, The Leadership Volunteer Impact Award, and the new R. Casey Barach Leadership Award for Entrepreneurship.
“We are honored to be recognizing these three outstanding alumni for the impact they are making in our community, and the contributions they’ve made to our programs,” said Ann Marie Whelan, NKY Chamber Director of Leadership. “These individuals are shining examples of how leadership makes a difference and strengthens our businesses and our region. They are fantastic representatives of our programs, and we are excited to be giving them this much-deserved recognition.”
This year’s Leadership Alumni Awards honorees are:
• Ron Washington, Mayor of the City of Covington (Leadership NKY Class of 2000), is the recipient of this year’s Ruth A. Eger Leader of Distinction Award. Nominated by fellow Leadership NKY alumni, this award recognizes an individual who has made significant, lifelong contributions to the region.
Currently serving as Mayor of Covington, Washington began his career in law enforcement, becoming the first African American police officer in Florence. He later served as Chief Deputy in the Kenton County Sheriff’s Office for five years. While retired, his ranking of “colonel” makes him the highest-ranking Black police officer to serve in Northern Kentucky to date. After his retirement from law enforcement, Washington founded NKY Med Clinic, one of the largest medication-assisted treatment centers in Kentucky, helping aid the fight against heroin and opioid addiction. He received the Covington Education Foundation Person of the Year Award in 2023 and currently serves as a board member for the Gateway College Foundation and the NKY Area Development District. He is actively involved with his alma mater, Holmes High School, as a member of the school’s TEAM Foundation, and as the “voice” of the Lady Bulldogs basketball program. Washington is also actively involved in various boards and committees for the City of Covington and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
• Stacie Strotman, President and CEO of Partners For Change (Leadership NKY Class of 2009), is the recipient of this year’s Leadership Volunteer Impact Award. This award is given to an alumnus of Leadership Northern Kentucky or Encounter NKY who generously shares their time and is accessible to others.
Strotman serves as President and CEO of Partners For Change, a Northern Kentucky nonprofit that provides comprehensive student and family support through mentoring, family engagement, and out-of-school time programming. Prior to this role, Strotman spent nearly 26 years with Covington Independent Schools, most recently as Director of Family Engagement, where she helped grow Covington Partners to a $2 million organization. Strotman has served on numerous boards and committees, both regionally and nationally, including at Notre Dame Academy and the National Afterschool Association. In addition to being a member of Leadership Northern Kentucky Class of 2009, Strotman served as the chair of the Leadership Northern Kentucky Class of 2021 while also chairing the LNK education committee for several years. In 2022, Strotman was honored as an Outstanding Woman of Northern Kentucky, receiving the Helen Carroll Champion of Education Award.
• Dave Heidrich, CEO of Zalla Companies (Leadership NKY Class of 1983), is the recipient of the inaugural R. Casey Barach Leadership Award for Entrepreneurship. This new award honors individuals who have made a lasting impact on our region’s entrepreneurial spirit.
Heidrich serves as CEO of the Zalla Companies, a real estate development and project management company headquartered in Crescent Springs, and serves as Chairman of Level 4 Construction, a commercial construction contractor performing projects both inside and outside of the Zalla Companies portfolio. He is a member of the Board of Directors at Heritage Bank, and is a licensed attorney, of counsel to the firm Dunham Law, PLLC. Heidrich is the Founder and Fund Manager of the NKY Growth Fund, which has invested in more than 18 locally based startups and was a founding board member of UpTech, a nationally ranked startup accelerator based in Northern Kentucky, where he also served as the Investment Committee Chairman for the organization. He has invested and/or held an ownership stake in several local companies, including Synthica Energy, Stewart Iron Works, and Oldenberg Brewery. Heidrich has served on a variety of local and national boards, including LINK nky, Northern Kentucky Convention Center, Leadership Kentucky, Covington Catholic High School, the Northern Kentucky Arts Council, BE NKY Growth Partnership, and more. Heidrich is also a past Chair of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
Tickets for the Leadership Alumni Awards Luncheon are $40 per person, with a discounted NKYP rate of $30. To register or for more information, visit www.nkychamber.com/events. Proceeds from the event support scholarships for future participants in the NKY Chamber’s leadership programs.
To learn more about the NKY Chamber’s leadership programs – Leadership Northern Kentucky, Regional Youth Leadership or Encounter NKY – visit www.nkychamber.com/leadership.
Featured photo is from the leadership event in 2024 (Photo provided)
Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce