A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

NKyTribune’s annual roast (of Garren Colvin), fundraiser was big success — and a lot of fun


By Judy Clabes
NKyTribune editor

The NKyTribune hosted its third annual Community Celebration recently, roasting St. Elizabeth Healthcare’s CEO Garren Colvin and showcasing a dozen local, impactful nonprofits.

The event was fully subscribed at the St. Elizabeth Technology Education Center in Erlanger — and the crowd was fully engaged in having a ton of fun.

Foundation Ambassador Terry Foster and Vice President Carri Chandler accept the check from NKyTribune in honor of Garren Colvin. (Photos by Jacob Clabes)

Colvin is the third roastee in the series that previously included retired banker Mer Grayson and retired Toyota executive Helen Carroll.

The NKyTribune is a nonprofit public service newspaper. This fundraiser is its primary public event of the year and is aimed at helping fund the newspaper’s operations.

In addition, the Tribune presented a check for $10,000 to Colvin’s favorite charity, the St. Elizabeth Foundation, designated for the hospital’s new cancer center.

Joining in the friendly — and extremely funny — roast of local-boy-makes-good Colvin were his long-time friend Bob Hoffer of DBL Law, Brent Cooper of the Northern Kentucky Chamber, Trey Grayson, and David Armstrong of Thomas More College.

Bob Hoffer takes the microphone for his turn at roasting.

Over-the-top hilarious MC’s were Terry Foster, TV star (of “Untold Stories of the ER), a professional stand-up comic, and Critical-Care Clinical Nurse Specialist in the six St. Elizabeth emergency rooms, and Cathy ‘Chick’ Halloran, a stand-up comedian, who is a breast cancer survivor and now works at StE’s Women’s Wellness Boutique helping cancer survivors every day.

Joining in the festivities of the evening, Circus Mojo’s Paul Hallinan Miller brought his Bircus Beer to the event — “Ludlow Beer for the Ludlow Guy,” he said.

Surprises during the evening including video greetings from his two daughters, who are away at college, and grand entrances by Father Guido and the Pope.

Father Guido and the Pope

Colvin grew up in Ludlow, joined St. Elizabeth when he was a student at Thomas More College. He was an accountant and spent nearly all his professional career at St. Elizabeth, becoming the “favorite son” when a national search was conducted for the hospital’s new CEO. He took the helm in June 2015.

As leader of NKY’s largest employer he has re-engaged the hospital in the community in a big way and has set an ambitious goal — to make Northern Kentucky the healthiest community in the country.

He took good-natured ribbing from his roasters — a lot of it focused on his athletic career. (He is a big baseball fan and played baseball at Thomas More.).

But in his rebuttal to his roasters, Colvin proved he could give as well as he got — and showed he was a good sport as well.

Top sponsors for the event included Corporex, Thomas More College, Heritage Bank, Turner Construction, DBL Law, Zalla Companies and St. Elizabeth Healthcare.

The NKyTribune presented a surprise gift to Colvin thanks to the talented “Van Gogh of baseball” Gary Cieradkowski, a baseball card artist who lives in Ft. Thomas.

Cieradkowski is a nationally known baseball artist who was commissioned to do murals of Chicago Cubs famous players for the renovated Wrigley Field stadium.

He did a “baseball card” for Colvin and was on hand to present the original, framed image.

Gary Cieradkowski’s Garren Colvin baseball card

A full house enjoyed the show

Thomas More’s Dave Armstrong at bat.

Ludlow beer for the Ludlow guy.

The rebuttal

If you want to support the NKyTribune’s work, you can do so here. All support goes to operations, particularly the hiring of additional reporters to expand the Trib’s coverage of Northern Kentucky.


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