The Kentucky State Fair Board named a longstanding Kentucky executive as its new president and CEO.
David Beck, 63, will lead the organization, which governs the Kentucky State Fair and Kentucky Venues, the management agency for the Kentucky International Convention Center and the Kentucky Exposition Center.
Beck has been executive vice president of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation since 1995, bringing four decades of agriculture and governmental affairs experience to the role.
“I’m truly humbled and excited for the opportunity to lead Kentucky Venues,” Beck said in a news release. “Kentucky is thriving like never before, and I look forward to enhancing the properties and working with our partners to market and grow our business to attract even more national and international events.”
His planned start date is July 1, and his contract will be voted on by the Kentucky State Fair Board on April 26. A five-member search committee was created by fair board chairman Mark Lynn earlier this year to review applications and find a permanent replacement for Jason Rittenberry, who resigned abruptly last year.
Lynn served as interim CEO for several months until Don Parkinson, secretary of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet, took on the interim position in January.
“David Beck successfully led a large organization, involved in major state and national legislative regulatory issues affecting agriculture and rural Kentucky,” Parkinson said in the release “He brings a wealth of business expertise to lead the sixth largest convention operation in the nation.”
Beck is a native of Lyon County, Ky., and graduated from Murray State University. He started his career at KFB in the late 1970s as an area field service director.