Tim Yessin
Chair, Vice President, Private Client Group
Born and raised in Lexington, Yessin graduated with honors in economics from the University of Kentucky. He has 18 years of banking experience and is currently an Accredited Wealth Management Advisor with Fifth Third Bank in Lexington. Yessin is an NCAA Lacrosse official and serves on several boards associated with the sport. He lives in Lexington with his wife, Jennifer, and two children.
Warren Rogers
Vice Chair, President W. Rogers Company
Warren P. Rogers is a member of the board of directors of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions.
A lifelong resident of Lexington, Rogers received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Kentucky in 1979.
He is president and majority owner of W. Rogers Co., a municipal utilities construction firm. Founded in 1970, the company has built more than 300 water and wastewater-treatment plants mainly throughout Kentucky and Tennessee. W. Rogers is a recognized leader in its industry, employing approximately 200 people.
Rogers has been active in several construction associations, including the Kentuckiana Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. In 1991, he served as the chapter’s youngest-ever statewide president. Rogers also has held several committee chairmanships on state and national levels with ABC. He also previously served on the board of directors of Associated General Contractors of Kentucky.
From 2002 to 2006, Rogers founded and headed the Coalition Against a Government Takeover, a grassroots organization that eventually grew to 13,000 members and was instrumental in preventing the City of Lexington from condemning Kentucky American Water Co.
Rogers is a charter member (1958) of Crestwood Christian Church in Lexington where he serves as an elder. He also serves on the board of trustees of Lexington Theological Seminary. He is married to the former Carol Goggin of Danville. They have two daughters, Jessica and Allison.
Steve Keck
Somerset Recycling Services and Five Talents Financial Group
Steve Keck, who joined the Bluegrass Institute Board of Directors in 2012, is founder of Somerset Recycling Services and Five Talents Financial Group.
Somerset Recycling Services, which Keck founded in 1984, has 105 employees and won the 2012 Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce’sEntrepreneurial Success Story award. He started Five Talents Financial Group, a mergers and acquisition company, in 2009 and is a Certified Mergers and Acquisition Advisor.
He also serves on the board of directors of Global Response Network, an international Christian organization, and is a founding member of The Chapel of Somerset, a nondenominational Christian church.
A 1976 graduate of Western Kentucky University, Keck is happily married with four adult children and six grandchildren.
Matth. Toebben
Director & President, Toebben Construction Inc.
Matth. Toebben is a member of the board of directors of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions.
Toebben was born in 1931 in Lorup, Germany. One of 11 children, he grew up on his family’s 60-acre farm. At age 15, Toebben attended trade school in Borger, Germany, where he studied woodworking. As a 20-year-old, Toebben wanted to start his own business but was too young to take the master exam for certification. As a result, he decided to come to “the Land of Opportunity.”
Toebben, who spoke no English, arrived in America in 1953 with $10 and all his belongings in a suitcase he crafted from plywood. He came to Northern Kentucky, where his sister and brother-in-law lived, and went to work as a finish carpenter during the day and a freelance carpenter at night, saving all the money he could. He also taught himself to speak, read and write English.
In 1955, Toebben married his wife, LaVerne, and started his own business now known as Toebben Companies. During the next several years, his family grew to five children and his business expanded as land was purchased for building homes. The company has experienced consistent growth for several decades.
Best known as a homebuilder, Toebben also believes in giving back to the community, particularly in the area of education. He shares his success with others by being involved with many organizations in Northern Kentucky.
Just as this “land of opportunity” once gave a young German immigrant the opportunity to succeed, Toebben’s generosity of spirit gives others the opportunity to achieve their dreams.
