Beshear appoints donors who worked for him to UK board of trustees

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear appointed two political donors who have worked for his cabinet to join the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees.

Mitchel Denham will replace Robert D. Vance as a governor-appointed trustee, and Ruth Cecelia Day will replace Paula Leach Pope as an alumni trustee, according to an executive order on June 26. The outgoing trustees’ terms expired June 30 and the new appointees will serve until June 30, 2032.

Day and her husband, James Martin, have donated over $153,000 to Beshear’s campaigns and political committees that support him, according to financial reports. Denham has donated over $22,000 to Beshear’s political causes, the financial reports show.

The gubernatorial trustees who were appointed before Denham and Day donated over $1.6 million to Beshear’s political causes since his 2015 campaign for attorney general, according to the Kentucky Lantern.

It’s typical for Beshear to appoint trustees who have financially supported him and share similar political perspectives because they could make university decisions that he’ll likely agree with, according to Davy Jones, a retired, tenured faculty member and former University Senate member who tracks UK policies.

“A governor across several years can wind up moving the board to their position,” Jones said.

After Beshear criticized UK leaders on social media and in press conferences in April, he has continued to put pressure on the board of trustees and the university’s administration to increase transparency and better support the people they represent, including faculty and facilities workers.

Days before Beshear appointed the new trustees, Jack Richter, a spokesperson for Beshear, said the governor would choose those who share the university’s values.

“Gov. Beshear believes that a trustee’s duty is to provide oversight to ensure that the interests of the university and students are always put first,” Richter said. “Any appointee would need to share those beliefs and value the critical role that the board plays and its statutory responsibilities.”

There are 20 trustees, including 13 appointed by the governor. Seats range from one- to six-year terms depending on how they were elected or appointed, and who they represent, such as faculty, alumni and students.

“With these staggered terms of trustees, every year a few roll off and have to get replaced,” Jones said.

Who are the new trustees?

Beshear appointed Day as the state’s chief information officer when he became governor. She retired in 2024. In this role, she helped deploy information technology services for the state.

She also was the vice president of administrative services at Landstar System, a transportation services company where she managed acquisitions and IT modernization, according to StateScoop, a national IT news outlet.

Day has served on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the UK Gatton College of Business and Economics, and on the university’s Accounting Advisory Board.

Denham was appointed by Beshear as the vice chair of the Kentucky Personnel Board, which oversees legal issues impacting state employees.

He served as a prosecutor in government and public safety matters, and was previously Kentucky’s assistant deputy attorney general. Denham now works at McBrayer PLLC, a Louisville law firm.

He is listed as the treasurer of the nonprofit, First Saturday in May Inc., according to ProPublica’s log of nonprofits. The 501(c)(4) manages Beshear’s Kentucky Derby festivities, according to the Kentucky Lantern.

Day and Denham are two of four new trustees. The other two were appointed by students and faculty.

UK’s student body voted Nick Pace as president of its Student Government Association, so he now serves on the board of trustees, replacing former SGA president and student trustee McKenna Dowell.

Faculty members voted to elect Nathan Vanderford, an associate professor in the UK College of Medicine, to replace Hollie Swanson, whose term expired June 30.

Beshear also is expected to soon fill the seat of Ron Geoghegan, a trustee whose term expires July 30.