Governor Kay Ivey on Thursday officially launched her Inaugural Committee and named Dr. Cathy Randall and Jimmy Rane as its co-chairs who will oversee the festivities surrounding the January 14 inauguration.
“I am excited to officially launch the Inaugural Committee, which will be led by Dr. Cathy Randall and Jimmy Rane,” Ivey said in a press release.
She continued, “Cathy and Jimmy have embodied a spirit of service, in both their professional and personal life, and they have played a major role in the fight to keep Alabama working. I am proud to call them both longtime friends, and I am grateful for their willingness to lend their expertise and support as we prepare to usher in a new era for Alabama.”
Randall is chairman of Tuscaloosa-based Pettus Randall Holdings LLC and former chairman of Randall Publishing Company. She currently serves on the Alabama Power Board of Directors and is the former longtime director of the Computer-based Honors Program at the University of Alabama, where she earned two Ph.D. degrees. Among many other board positions, Randall also served as director of Alabama Girls State, where she first crossed paths with Ivey.
Rane (also known as “the Yella Fella”) is the cofounder and CEO of Great Southern Wood Preserving. Since 1999, he has served as a trustee at Auburn University, where he first met Ivey while earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Rane also received a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University. While residing in Abbeville, Alabama, he actively works to raise money to fund college scholarships through the Jimmy Rane Foundation.
Both co-chairs are members of Yellowhammer Multimedia’s Power and Influence List.
Ivey at the same time announced several of her key campaign staffers will serve on the inaugural committee, including:
- Mike Lukach, executive director
- Debbee Hancock, communications director
- Anne-Allen Welden, finance director
- Julia McNair, deputy finance director
- Julia Pickle, director of ticketing
- Jonathan Hester, director of events and production
- Lenze Morris
- Ryan Sanford
- Henry Thornton
More information about the inaugural theme and events will be announced in the coming weeks.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
