“Kentucky has really become a very progressive, innovative state.”

Humana has changed a lot since it began life in Louisville in 1961. We started off as a nursing home company, then in the 1970s went into the hospital business, and by 1994, we had reinvented ourselves again as a health-benefits company.

The move has been rewarding. Revenue soared from $2.3 billion in 1994 to $14.4 billion in 2005, with projections for 2006 revenues to exceed $21 billion. In 2005, we announced a major expansion and the hiring of 1,400 new employees. We’re now Kentucky’s largest public corporation and among the nation’s top five health insurers.

We chose to expand in Kentucky for a variety of reasons – not just because we were already based here.

Those reasons included Kentucky's central location, the quality of its workforce, and the improvements the state and local governments have made in its public schools. We were finally swayed by the sizable tax credit the Cabinet offered us via the Kentucky Jobs Development Act.

We like what we see going on in Kentucky. I’m impressed by the affordable air travel here, the excellent entertainment options, the rebirth of downtown Louisville and its emergence as a biotech center, and the strong leadership we see both inside and outside state government.

Kentucky has really become a very progressive, innovative state. The commonwealth has done a very good job retaining talent and young people. The brain drain that we used to hear so much about – we’re overcoming that.

Jeff Bringardner
President of commercial operations in Kentucky
Humana Inc.