Three distinguished citizens inducted into Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame

Three distinguished Central Kentucky businessmen were inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame in an event held at Keeneland Friday night.

Since 1989, JA has honored regional business leaders not only for their successful business careers but for “improving the quality of life” for the Bluegrass area. Since its inception, the Hall of Fame honor has gone to 75 men and women, honored as role models for youth, for service to community and for achievement in their businesses.

The JA reports that the 2012 inductees were:

Attorney and one-time gubernatorial candidate Terry McBrayer, senior partner of McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie and Kirkland law firm, the 7th largest law firm in Kentucky and is a national firm operating in all 48 domestic states.

For over 40 years, McBrayer has committed himself to public service — from serving in the legislature in the 60’s to various forms of state government service in succeeding state government terms, either as a volunteer or adviser at the highest level of state government. Most importantly, he has a resume of public and community involvement for Lexington and the Commonwealth. His services include chair of the Greater Lexington Chamber of Commerce,Chairman of KEY, Commissioner of the state Economic Development Cabinet as well as a UK Trustee. He also served as United Way’s state government chair, board of the BG Association for Mental Retardation, Board of the BG Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Salvation Army board and the Chandler Medical Center board.

A native of Lexington, Davis Marksbury is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. Since the age of 26, he launched three successful companies to address complex technology challenges in the document publishing industry. He co-founded PDR Information Services in October, 1984 – it was sold to Interleaf Corporation in 1998. He co-founded PDR Advanced Technology which developed StreamWeaver software product – the world leading software for reengineering transaction printing applications at large corporations. It was sold to Pitney Bowes in 1996. In January, 1998, he co-founded Exstream Software which developed Dialogue software product – a software for creating and distributing high-volume personalized business documents. It was sold to Hewlette Packard in 2008.

Mr. Marksbury’s entrepreneurial success is widely recognized and honored. He was a regional winner of the 2003 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and has twice been a finalist for Inc. Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year award. His family foundation gave $6 million to UK Engineering department. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Centre College and the Board of Trustees of the BG Community Foundation. He’s chairman of the Marksbury Family Foundation, managing member of Nextstream Capital and Chairman of the Marksbury Capital Group.

Terry E. Forcht is founder, president and CEO of Forcht Group of Kentucky, 95 separate companies with over 2,100 employees. 1972 is considered to be the starting point to his path in creating his company. That year he opened his first nursing home in Corbin and was also appointed to the board of directors of Corbin Deposit Bank & Trust Company. Forcht Bank has grown into 34 banking centers in 11 Kentucky counties and more than $1 billion in assets.

The health care group is comprised of nine nursing homes, a pharmacy and lab employing more than 1,000 people. His entrepreneurial spirit has also prompted him to expand his holdings into insurance, broadcasting, publishing, web design, data processing services, retail, construction and even horse racing.

Forcht Group of Kentucky is also involved with academics by providing thousands of dollars in scholarships to pay for tuition and textbooks through its partnership with the state High School Athletic Association’s Sportsmanship Award. Forcht Bank was the presenting sponsor of the KHSAA State Baseball Championship in 2008. They were also the sponsor of the Lexington Legends 10th Anniversary season.

Junior Achievement of the Bluegrass has been serving Central Kentucky since 1963. During the 2008-2009 school year, JA reached 17,700 students in Fayette and 10 surrounding counties.

It is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs.