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KEF Program Director presents at the Brookings Institute.

Craig Williams

Program Director

Craig is a founding member of the grassroots community group Common Ground and of KEF, and served as Director of KEF until January 2008.

He is a charter member of the Kentucky Governor’s Chemical Material Demilitarization Citizen’s Advisory Commission, and currently serves as co-chair of the Kentucky Chemical Destruction Advisory Board.

Craig also has extensive community organizing experience related to veterans’ programs. He is the co-founder and secretary of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize). He has received several tributes in the U.S. Congress and was presented the John O‘Connor Citizens Achievement Award in 2003.

In addition, Craig is a board member of Blue Grass Tomorrow, a consultant for the Blue Grass Area Development District, a member of the PRISM Editorial Board for Eastern Kentucky University, and recently retired from coaching soccer in several schools and county leagues for over 25 years.

In April 2006 Craig was North American recipient of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. Craig received a BA in Philosophy from Eastern Kentucky University, and in May 2008 was also awarded an honorary doctorate degree in Humanities from the University. Craig lives in Berea, Kentucky with his wife and near his two children and two grandchildren.

Rachel Eppley

Office Manager

Rachel Eppley brings deep values of service and community to the work of KEF and LiKEN.  While she was a chaplain at the Nashville Rescue Mission in TN in the early 2000s, she assisted homeless women with a variety of needs including counseling, housing, and social security. In recent years, she developed a unique ability to integrate care-work with practical problem-solving while home-schooling her children and working in a family business. She received her B.A. and M.A. from Lipscomb University in TN where she specialized in theology. Her family has deep, multi-generational roots in eastern Kentucky. Rachel coordinates core systems in the day-to-day functioning of LiKEN and supports the administrative work of the Executive Director.  She ensures the smooth running of the office and help to improve company procedures and day-to-day operation. She oversees central office functions, supplies, equipment, and maintenance.  She schedules meetings and manages accommodations for lodgers and visitors while they are in the LiKEN House in Lexington, Kentucky. She handles our weekly news bulletins and blogs. Her empathic gifts are helping us to listen to, and to communicate, the diversity of unique and rich stories emerging from our projects.

Dr. Jan Pearce

Technical Consultant

Dr. Jan Pearce: Professor of Computer and Information Science;
Department Chair of Computer Science
: Berea College

The LiKEN Staff are also a great part of the KEF Team.