Appointment illustrates value of KRDA

Published 5:00 pm Monday, August 27, 2018

Gov. Matt Bevin recently appointed Jim Iacocca, president of the Knox Regional Development Alliance, as the new board chairman of the Kentucky Commission on Military Affairs.

His new leadership position with the commission will complement and bolster Iacocca’s influence and KRDA’s value proposition for Fort Knox with the nation’s defense branches and military industry contractors. A retired U.S. Army brigadier general, his four-year term on the state commission provides ideal access, insight and influence.

The commission is an independent advocacy agency tied to the governor’s office.

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Its mandate is pursuing projects and programs that will strengthen the positioning of Kentucky’s military installations with the Department of Defense, while improving quality of life for active duty, reserve and retiree servicemen and women and their families.

These goals align with the KRDA’s three-tier priorities of advocating for new missions and retaining those already at Fort Knox; attracting and retaining defense-related business; and developing more public-public and public-private partnerships to support the post’s missions.

Since assuming leadership duties as Knox Regional Development Alliance’s president and CEO last January, Iacocca has been working hard advocating for Fort Knox and the new and expanded mission potential the post touts.

Throughout a military career of more than 29 years, Iacocca held several leadership roles in the U.S. Army. On post at Fort Knox, he served as former deputy commanding general of U.S. Army Recruiting Command and as former commander for the Army’s 3rd Recruiting Brigade. He also held key leadership assignments at multiple installations including Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with the 82nd Airborne Division, Army Special Operations Command in Afghanistan and Iraq, and on the staff for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.

An asset to his responsibilities with KRDA, these experiences also will serve him equally well with the new state post.

Iacocca is to be congratulated as he takes on his new position of leadership. His ongoing and now expanded work to keep Fort Knox and Kentucky’s other military installations at the forefront of the Army’s and Department of Defense’s plans is critical to Hardin County’s economic viability and Kentucky’s continued development.

The News-Enterprise