Board Members
Michael Eaves
Chair, EKU Board of Regents
Michael Eaves was appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear in April 2021 to serve in an unexpired term, and was voted to serve as Chair beginning July 1, 2022. Eaves is a partner in Eaves, Olds, Bohannon, and Floyd law firm in Richmond and has been a member of the Kentucky State Bar Association since 1979. Born in 1953, Eaves earned his bachelor of business administration degree from Eastern Kentucky University in 1975 and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Kentucky in 1979. His wife Ava, also an EKU graduate, retired from Baptist Health Richmond as a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator. Mike and Ava have two children; Morgan, who is an attorney working with the Commonwealth, and Jordan, who works in the restaurant business in Louisville. In addition to the full-time practice of law, since 1979 Eaves has been involved in the formation and operation of a local bank, and residential and commercial real estate development in Madison County. During his years in Richmond, Eaves has participated in numerous volunteer and charitable organizations including the founder and primary sponsor of the Pro-Am Golf Classic to benefit the Pattie A. Clay Hospital Foundation (now Baptist Health Richmond).
Laura Babbage
Member, EKU Board of Regents
Laura Babbage, of Lexington, was re-appointed on June 30, 2021, to serve a term that expires on June 30, 2027. Ms. Babbage, a 1981 EKU graduate, is a member of the University’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni, along with her husband, Bob Babbage, class of 1973. After earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Eastern, Ms. Babbage added a master’s degree in international business from the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Business at the University of Kentucky, and a master’s of divinity degree from Lexington Theological Seminary. She went on to serve as chief executive officer for Urgent Treatment Centers of Kentucky Inc., as regional vice president for Women’s Health Partners Inc., and as a chaplain for St. Joseph Hospital and the University of Kentucky Medical Center. In addition, Ms. Babbage is well known throughout the Lexington area for her volunteer efforts, serving on numerous boards, committees and task forces. Since 1994, she has served as a founding member of the Business Advisory Council in EKU’s College of Business and Technology.
Juan Castro
Member, EKU Board of Regents
Juan Castro, of Lexington, was appointed to a six-year term on the Board of Regents in July 2017. Mr. Castro is a Managing Partner at JCC Accounting Solutions, and a founder and Partner at JCC Consulting Group. Mr. Castro earned an MBA degree in 2000 from Eastern, where he served as Director of the Accounting Tutoring Center and occasionally taught lower-level accounting classes. Upon graduation, he worked for Potter & Company CPAs, now Blue and Company. He went on to serve as Vice President of Finance and Administration at Bluegrass Community and Technical College and on the Committee for Equal Opportunity at the Council on Postsecondary Education 2012-16. Mr. Castro also serves as Acting Chair of the Lexington Hispanic Education Association, a non-profit focused on helping Hispanic students set and achieve their educational goals. The Quito, Ecuador, native emigrated to the U.S. when his father was appointed to the Ecuadorian Consulate in Houston, Texas. He earned his bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management from the University of Houston and moved his family to Kentucky in 1994 to work for the Seelbach Hilton hotel in downtown Louisville and then in the accounting department for St. Joseph East Hospital.
Jeremiah Duerson
Staff Representative & Board Secretary, EKU Board of Regents
Jeremiah Duerson, elected by his peers in May 2021 to a three year term as Staff Regent starting July 1st, 2021 and ending June 30, 2024, has worked at EKU since 2004. He is currently the Team Lead for IT’s Information Services and has been in this role since June 2016. Jeremiah has spent the past 2 years as a member of Staff Council where he was the Chair of the Elections and Credentials committee as well as a member of the Policy Committee, and Executive Committee. He attended Madison Southern High School class of 1999, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Berea College in Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science. Jeremiah and his wife Jessica, who works in Alumni Engagement at EKU, have two children and are life-long residents of Madison County.
Alan Long
Vice Chair, EKU Board of Regents
Alan Long, CPA, CITP, CGMA, managing member of Baldwin CPAs, PLLC, in Richmond, was reappointed in September 2020 to serve a six-year term that expires in 2026. The 1979 EKU graduate (bachelor’s degree in accounting) was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University’s College of Business & Technology in 2005. In 2012, he was named by Accounting Today as one of 10 managing partner elite in its inaugural selection. For more than 30 years, Mr. Long has actively served the Kentucky Society of Certified Public Accountants, including a term as president, and received the Outstanding Committee Chair Award in 2003 for his work with the Peer Review Program. He also has been actively involved with the American Institute of CPAs Peer Review Program, twice receiving the AICPA’s Outstanding Discussion Leader Award. Mr. Long was appointed in 2010 to a four-year term on the Kentucky State Board of Accountancy.
Jason Marion
Faculty Representative, EKU Board of Regents
Dr. Jason W. Marion is an associate professor of environmental health science and a proud first-generation college graduate. Marion earned master’s and doctoral degrees in public health from The Ohio State University, specializing in environmental health and epidemiology. He also hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Morehead State University in environmental science and biology. His post-secondary education journey started at Hocking College in Ohio, where he earned a two-year degree in Recreation and Wildlife Management. Marion’s board experience includes service as a 2008 gubernatorial appointee to The OSU Board of Trustees and as a twice-elected student regent on the MSU Board of Regents. Prior to EKU, Marion served 13 years across the Ohio Departments of Natural Resources and Agriculture, as well as the Kentucky Division of Forestry. Marion also served OSU as an infectious diseases fellow and post-doctoral scholar. Marion is active professionally, having served as President of the Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs, and authoring 19 journal publications on preventive medicine, water quality and workforce development. As an EKU educator, Marion has earned honors as a 2017 Critical Thinking Teacher of the Year and 2019 Critical Reading Teacher of the Year.
Paige Murphy
Student Representative, EKU Board of Regents
Paige Murphy, an undergraduate double major in History and Secondary Education from Louisville, Kentucky, was elected by her peers as the Student Body President and Student Regent. Paige joined the Student Government Association upon entering college and being elected as a freshman Senator. She was soon appointed into the position of Committee on Committees Chair and later moved into the Executive Cabinet as Secretary. She currently serves as the Chair of the Kentucky Board of Student Body Presidents and is excited to have a hand in shaping the future of Higher Ed in Kentucky. She is a member of the Delta Omicron chapter of the Kappa Delta Sorority. Upon graduation in the spring of 2024, she plans to enter into a full-time teaching position and begin pursuing her master’s degree.
Edwin Orange
Member, EKU Board of Regents
Edwin Orange is the owner of Three Poplars LLC, a health care regulatory and revenue cycle consulting firm. He was appointed in July 2022 to serve a term ending in June 2028.
Edwin graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor's of Arts degree in Political Science, where he served a two-year term as chair of the Student Senate. He began his career working in the Office of the Governor in 2004, advising the Governor on the appointment of Kentuckians to the Commonwealth's boards and commissions. Subsequently, he worked for the nation's ninth largest cable telecommunications company, Insight Communications as a manager for regulatory affairs. After Insight was acquired by Time Warner Cable in 2012, Edwin founded Three Poplars.
Edwin and his wife Lindsay reside in Frankfort, and they have two children.
Lynn Taylor Tye
Member, EKU Board of Regents
Lynn Taylor Tye, owner of Blue Moon Insurance Agency in Danville, KY, is a 1977 graduate of Eastern KY University earning a BBS in Accounting. She was appointed in January 2019 to serve a term that ends June 30, 2024.
She has enjoyed a varied and challenging career in accounting before purchasing the insurance agency in January 2014. Lynn began her career at the Council of State Governments in Lexington, KY and then focused on manufacturing accounting at General Cable in Lawrenceburg, KY. She then moved back to Danville to take a position at American Greetings Corporation to help decentralize the accounting functions from corporate headquarters to the local level. After leaving American Greetings Lynn worked part time at Robinson, Hughes, & Christopher, CPA's and at The Presbyterian Church of Danville in various accounting positions.
She continues to enjoy the many community service opportunities Danville offers. She currently serves on the Danville-Boyle County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is a member of the Steering Committee for Leadership Boyle County . She was a founding Board member for The Wilderness Trace Child Development Center and has served on the Board of Directors for Pioneer Vocational Services, The Heart of KY United Way where she was awarded the local and State Volunteer of the Year award, The McDowell Foundation, and The City of Danville Cemetery Committee.
Lynn and her husband Tom, who received his MBA from EKU in 1978, live on Blue Moon Farm in Danville.
Ashley W. Ward
Member, EKU Board of Regents
Ashley Ward was appointed to a six-year term on Eastern Kentucky University’s Board of Regents on June 30, 2021. Ward is a partner at Stites & Harbison, PLLC and is co-chairman of the firm’s torts and insurance practice group. He is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been named Lexington’s Appellate Lawyer of the Year several times.
Ward is a native of Fort Thomas, Kentucky. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (‘81) and Juris Doctorate (‘84) from the University of Kentucky. His family ties to both Richmond and EKU led to his interest in serving on the Board. His wife, Julie West, is a native of Richmond and graduate of Model Laboratory school and her mother is an EKU graduate with a degree in Chemistry. Ashley and Julie’s son Christopher graduated from EKU in December 2019 with a degree in Computer Science and their daughter Chloe is currently enrolled at EKU working toward her principal certification, while teaching high school Social Studies in Lexington. His mother also attended EKU.
Ward has previously served as a board member with the Urban League of Lexington- Fayette County and is president of his neighborhood association.