Mayor Kathy O'Nan
Special guest
Kathy Stewart O’Nan has served as the Mayor of the City of Mayfield since January 2019, and until the night of December 10, 2021, the most difficult issue that she had faced was guiding the City through the COVID-19 pandemic. But on that evening, an EF-4 tornado swept through the city leaving hundreds of citizens homeless, demolishing the entirety of the downtown central business district including every city government building, and claiming the lives of twenty-four (24) in Graves County. Although no training exists to prepare one to lead a city through a crisis such as this, Mayor O’Nan is confident that with time and the extraordinary efforts by the strong people of Mayfield, her city will not only recover, but will emerge a better place in which to live, work, and raise a family. Prior to serving as mayor, Ms. O’Nan taught US History and served as the Chairman of the Social Studies Department at Mayfield High School for over twenty (20) years and during that time served on the Mayfield City Council for sixteen (16) years. She moved as a newlywed bride from Sturgis, Kentucky, to Mayfield in 1976, and chose to remain there to raise her two (2) daughters following the death of her husband in 1987. She is a graduate of Lambuth University, Jackson, Tennessee and received a master’s degree from Murray State University. She is a past president of the Lambuth University Alumni Association and of the Graves County Public Library Board of Trustees. She currently serves on the Kentucky League of Cities Executive Board of Directors, the Graves County Economic Development Board of Directors, the Purchase Area Development District Board of Directors, and is a member of the First United Methodist Church where she was the Children’s Choir Director for forty-two (42) years.
Notable Awards
- Phoenix Award, Small Business Administration
- RISE Award, KLC
- Community Impact Award, GCED
- Named a Kentucky Colonel by Governor Andy Beshear
- 2022 Woman of the Year, Mayfield-Graves County Chamber of Commerce
Speaking Engagements
- Keynote Speaker at Governor’s Safety and Health Conference and Exposition
- Women’s Leadership Conference
- Women’s Summit, Kentucky Chamber
- 2022 KRTA Conference
- KLC Conference Keynote Speaker Panel—disaster preparedness/recovery session
Mayor Kathy O'Nan has been a guest on 1 episode.
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Leading in Disaster │Mayor Kathy O'Nan
January 5th, 2024 | 28 mins 51 secs
disaster recovery, economic development, economic resiliency, mayfield kentucky, women in economic development