Member - KRS Investment Committee
Member - KRS Actuarial Subcommittee
Elected by Kentucky Employees Retirement System members - Term expires March 31, 2026.
David Adkins serves as the executive director/CEO of The Council of State Governments, a non-partisan organization of all of the state and territorial governments of the United States, headquartered in Lexington.
Prior to joining CSG, Mr. Adkins was a partner in a Kansas City area law firm, the founding executive director of The Community Foundation of Johnson County, Kansas, and vice chancellor for external affairs at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City.
Beginning in 1992, Mr. Adkins was elected to four, two-year terms in the Kansas House of Representatives where he chaired the Taxation and Appropriations Committees. He also served one, four-year term in the Kansas Senate where he chaired the Reapportionment Committee and was vice chair of the Ways and Means Committee. Appointed by Governor Bill Graves, Mr. Adkins served as Chair of the Kansas Youth Authority. As a legislator, Mr. Adkins was elected chair of the 11-state Midwestern Legislative Conference.
Mr. Adkins earned degrees in Political Science and Law from the University of Kansas where he served as student body president and was the first KU student named a Harry S. Truman Scholar.
Mr. Adkins is a member of the University of Kentucky Martin School of Public Policy and Administration Board of Visitors and was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. Mr. Adkins was named the Leadership Kansas Alumnus of the Year in 2011.
As an elected trustee, Mr. Adkins works for the members of KERS. He believes every retiree should expect and receive excellent customer service from their retirement system and be confident that the benefits they have been promised will be delivered. Mr. Adkins works with his fellow trustees to build on pension reforms enacted in recent years to improve the long-term viability of KERS.
Mr. Adkins and his wife, Lisa Ashner Adkins, live in downtown Lexington. She serves as the president /CEO of the Blue Grass Community Foundation. Their daughter, Nell, attends Smith College.