Chris Whelan was promoted to her current role in May 2012. She has 35 years of communications experience in the electric and natural gas industry. Whelan currently oversees media relations, internal communications, branding, advertising, customer and digital communications, events, graphic design and web strategy, as well as corporate responsibility and community affairs and the LG&E and KU Foundation.
She joined LG&E in 1995 after more than six years at Texas Gas Transmission Corporation. In her time at LG&E and KU, Whelan has held several leadership roles including a 15-month expat assignment at Powergen in the U.K. where she managed brand and internal communications and new media functions. When German company E.ON AG announced plans to acquire Powergen, Whelan was promoted to manage merger communications strategies with the U.S., the U.K. and Germany. Upon her return to the U.S., she was named manager of Strategic, International and External Communications and served as the primary liaison for international communications activities and communications issues related to key business initiatives.
Whelan was promoted to director of Communications in 2007 and oversaw the internal and external communications functions. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism with a concentration in history and political science from the University of Kentucky.
Whelan is the immediate past chair and board member of the Kentucky Derby Museum, immediate past chair and executive board member of Leadership Louisville, a board member of the Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation, a member of the American Gas Association Communications and Marketing Committee, and a member of Utility Communicators International. She was the 2013 chair of the Kentucky Derby Festival, after holding various leadership positions on the festival board, is a past board president of St. Joseph Children’s Home and a 2009 Bingham Fellows graduate.
