Kevin Flannery
President, Churchill Downs Racetrack
Senior Vice President, Churchill Downs Incorporated
Kevin Flanery was named the 13th president of Churchill Downs Racetrack on July 13, 2009. He also serves as a senior vice president for Churchill Downs Incorporated.
Flanery joined Churchill Downs in December 2005 as vice president of national public affairs and was promoted to senior vice president of national public affairs and communications in March 2008.
During his career, Flanery held important state government posts. He served as secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky from January 2001 to December 2002 and as deputy secretary of the Cabinet between June and December of 2000. In that role Flanery served as the Commonwealth’s chief financial and procurement officer and led the Office of Finance Management, which controls the Commonwealth’s debt and investment portfolio. Flanery also had oversight of the Department of Facilities Management, which designs, builds, operates and maintains state facilities. Part of his statutory responsibilities included serving as chairman of the Consensus Forecasting Group, which determines revenues available for appropriation by the governor and legislature of Kentucky.
Flanery’s experience in state government extends to Kentucky’s Transportation Cabinet where between October 1996 and May 2000 he served as deputy secretary and legislative liaison. In that post, Flanery managed all administrative functions for the Transportation Cabinet and served as its primary legislative strategist. An attorney, Flanery also served as the Transportation Cabinet’s executive director for the Office of General Counsel between February and September of 1996 where he served as chief administrative and legal officer.
Prior to joining the Churchill Downs team, Flanery served as president and chief operating officer of Hagan Properties.
Flanery holds a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Bellarmine College and a juris doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law.
John Asher
Vice President, Racing Communications
John Asher, vice-president of Communications at Churchill Downs, has worked in the Thoroughbred racing industry as a journalist and a publicist for more than 20 years.
Asher joined Churchill Downs in January 1997 and has served in his current position since March 1999. In that position he oversees communications and public relations efforts at Churchill Downs, the home of the world famous Kentucky Derby and the flagship operation of Churchill Downs Incorporated.
As a radio journalist at WHAS-AM and WAVE-AM in Louisville he earned five Eclipse Awards for "Outstanding National Radio Coverage of Thoroughbred Racing" and several other awards that recognized his coverage of the horse industry. His work on other issues earned recognition that included a National Headliner Award, a Scripps-Howard Award, and honors from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Radio & Television News Directors Association and the Kentucky Broadcasters Association. The Associated Press honored Asher as the "Best Reporter" in Kentucky Large Market Radio seven times.
He was recognized in 2003 as "Public Relations Practitioner of the Year" by the Western Kentucky University School of Journalism and Broadcasting.
The native of Leitchfield, Ky. is a graduate of Western Kentucky University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism.
Asher is a past president of the Turf Publicists of America and serves as vice-president of Kentucky Thoroughbred Media.
Asher is a member of the board of trustees of WLKY-32's Spirit of Louisville Foundation, which oversees the annual Bell Awards; the board of directors of the Kentuckiana Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, on which he serves as vice president of communications; the boards of directors of the Western Kentucky University Alumni Association and the Catholic Education Foundation; and the Presentation Academy board of trustees.
Raymond V. Lehr Jr.
Vice President, Track Superintendent
For evidence of the respect accorded to Butch Lehr as the track superintendent at Churchill Downs, one need only to hear what others in the racing industry say about his care of the main track and turf course at the home of the Kentucky Derby.
The Jockey's Guild, which represents the nation's jockeys, noted the safety of Churchill Downs' dirt and turf courses when it named Lehr "Track Superintendent of the Year" in 1997. In early 1998, racing officials in Dubai brought him to Nad Al Sheba Race Course to consult on the care of the sand track that is home to the $6 million Dubai World Cup and the training base for the powerful international racing operation known as Godolphin Racing.
Lehr oversees the crews that care for the 1-mile dirt oval and the 7-furlong turf course over which such graded stakes races as the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks, Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, the Stephen Foster Handicap and the Clark Handicap are run each year. Since 1988, the Breeders' Cup Championship has brought the best horses in the world to run over Lehr's tracks an unprecedented five times.
Lehr began his long affiliation with Churchill Downs in 1967 when he took a job with the track's backside crew. He learned his craft under renowned track superintendent Thurman Pangburn, who appointed Lehr as assistant track superintendent in 1976. Lehr was appointed track superintendent in 1982 and has overseen several major projects, including the resurfacing of Churchill Downs' dirt track, the construction of the $3.2-million Matt Winn Turf Course, the design and construction of the training track, and a 500-barn stabling area at Churchill Downs Sports Spectrum.
David Sweazy
Vice President, Operations
When David Sweazy was named director of operations at Churchill Downs in 1996, someone told him that he would be making more decisions in a single day than the mayor of Louisville. Sweazy's assessment of that prediction is short and simple: "They were right," he said.
Now vice president, operations, Sweazy oversees all of the day-to-day activities that contribute to the smooth operation of the sprawling racing plant that is Churchill Downs, America's most famous racetrack and the home of the Kentucky Derby. Prior to being appointed the track's director of operations in 1991, Sweazy had concentrated his activities in the area of mutuels, and his expertise helped Churchill Downs quickly become a major force in the growing simulcasting segment of the racing industry.
Sweazy's affiliation with Churchill Downs dates to 1968, when he served as a pari-mutuel messenger at the track on Kentucky Derby Day. He joined Churchill Downs on a full-time basis when he was appointed mutuels manager in early 1988. His background in mutuels prior to joining Churchill Downs included mutuels work at Thoroughbred, Standardbred, Quarter Horse and Greyhound tracks.
Scott Graff
Vice President, Finance
Scott Graff was appointed vice president of Finance at Churchill Downs in Feb. 2005. In that post he oversees all financial activities in the home of the Kentucky Derby, including payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchasing, and financial reporting. In this role, Graff ensures that the Company is in compliance with local, state and federal regulations.A native of Cedar Grove, N.J., Graff joined Churchill Downs as controller in 1999. He is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, where he earned both a bachelor's and master's degree in accounting. Prior to joining Churchill Downs, Graff served at the Louisville office of PricewaterhouseCoopers from 1994-99 during which time he obtained his CPA certificate and rose to the level of senior accountant.Graff is a graduate of the Leadership Louisville Ignite program and has served on the boards of the Kentucky Society of Certified Public Accountants and of the Center for Women and Families.
He lives in Louisville with his wife, Michele, and their two children.