Events News
Samuels Addresses Graduate Students
Bill
Samuels, Jr., president and CEO of Maker’s Mark Distillery, Inc., addressed graduate
students October 5 in Lumpkin Auditorium. He is the second speaker in this season’s Wachovia
Executive Lecture Series, which brings in top executives to impart their wisdom to tomorrow’s
business leaders.
Samuels’ resume indicates he was educated as an engineer, physicist, and lawyer, but it is the legacy of his family’s distillery business – which dates back to his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, for which he is best known. The first formal family business, T.W. Samuels Distillery, was founded in 1840, and eventually sold. The family purchased Happy Hollow Distillery and burned the old family bourbon recipe. Maker’s Mark was established in 1953.
Samuels previously worked for Aerojet General Corp. in Sacramento, California, before joining Maker’s Mark in 1967. He has served as president and CEO since 1975.
Among his proudest moments, he was chosen Kentucky Entrepreneur of the Year in 1995 and 2005, was selected as Louisville’s 2004 Citizen of the Year, and was Harvard Lampoon’s Man of the Year in 2005.
Samuels
serves as chairman of the board of Bellarmine University, on the President’s Advisory Board of
Clemson University, as chairman of the board of the Louisville Chamber of Commerce, and on the
board of trustees of the Jewish Health Care and St. Mary’s Hospital. In addition, he is past
chair of the following organizations: the University of Louisville Board of Trustees, the Kentucky
Chamber of Commerce, the Louisville Area Workforce Development Board, the Kentucky Distillers
Association, and the Kentucky Derby Museum.
| Wachovia Bank Executive Lecture Series for 2007 |
Gail Crouch
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