“Since the Riverport Authority was created almost 60 years ago, we’ve provided real value to Louisville, the state of Kentucky, and even to the entire nation,” says Steve Miller, who became the authority’s Executive Director in August 2024. “We’re actively shaping the future, not waiting for it.”

To understand where the Louisville Riverport Authority is headed, it helps to understand what it already is. Miller describes its value through three interconnected pillars.

The first is the authority’s two vibrant industrial and commercial parks in southwest Louisville, which are home to more than 120 businesses employing more than 6,500 people. These parks have developed over 2,000 acres of industrial and commercial real estate and continue to offer investment opportunities across available parcels and buildings for sale or lease.

The second pillar is Foreign Trade Zone 29. For businesses engaged in manufacturing and assembly, this can significantly ease cash flow pressures and reduce operating costs. With more than 300 foreign trade zones now operating across the country, businesses facing the complexities of today’s shifting global trade environment are looking more closely at what these zones can offer.

Miller notes that FTZ 29 closed 2024 with record growth across jobs and trade activity, a sign that the zone’s advantages are resonating. In early 2026, Foxconn announced a $173 million investment at its Riverport facility, further underlining the appeal of the park’s business environment.

The third pillar, and perhaps the most distinctive, is the authority’s role as a multimodal logistics hub. Louisville’s central geography within the United States makes it a natural crossroads for freight movement, and the Riverport takes full advantage of that position.

Barge traffic on the Ohio River, rail connections, and truck access converge at the authority’s 300-acre port facility, creating what Miller calls a river-rail-road connection. And sitting just minutes away is UPS Worldport at Louisville International Airport, one of the most significant air logistics operations in the world, adding a fourth dimension to an already formidable freight infrastructure.

“We’re a strategic logistics hub that brings together these various ways to move freight based on Louisville’s central location in the country,” Miller says. “And we are working hard to be an entity for investments in Louisville’s future.”

When Miller arrived in August 2024, he brought with him a career spanning public policy, nonprofit leadership, and state and national politics. He quickly worked with the board to develop a new strategic framework, the Five Pillars strategic plan, which governs the authority’s full scope of operations across its entire footprint. That includes the 2,000 acres near the river as well as an additional 200 acres the authority owns near Dixie Highway in Louisville.

Alongside the strategic plan, the authority secured a federal grant through the office of Congressman Morgan McGarvey to fund the development of a comprehensive master plan focused specifically on the 300-acre port facility, the area where the rail, barge, and truck operations all come together.

The master plan was publicly launched in February 2026. When complete in early 2027, it is expected to serve as a transformational roadmap to modernize the port into a more resilient, future-ready logistics facility. The scope is broad: modernizing marine terminals and road and rail infrastructure; optimizing land use and site readiness; improving environmental sustainability; and positioning the facility to attract advanced manufacturing and logistics operations.

“The master plan is not just about what has been successful over decades,” Miller says. “It’s about the future. Through this master planning process, which is a very comprehensive one, we will position Louisville Riverport to better compete with our peer inland ports regionally for the decades ahead.”

The vision for the modernized facility includes a redesigned port with enhanced barge, rail, and truck integration, and the potential creation of a second dock on the river to expand capacity. Environmental stewardship near the Ohio River is also a core consideration, as is a forward-looking economic analysis to guide infrastructure investments that will need to remain relevant for decades.

Governance is another area where the authority has undergone a meaningful shift. Board member Rick Blackwell, a lifelong South End Louisville resident and former Jefferson County Metro Council member who served for 22 years, describes the change in tone and ambition as substantial.

“My main focus is on it being something that’s for the city and especially the opportunities for the South End,” Blackwell says. “With Steve’s leadership, I think it really has taken quantum leaps in terms of being the authority.”

Blackwell’s perspective is rooted in deep community knowledge. He has watched the Riverport develop from its earliest days and, during his time on the council, worked to consolidate its political representation to ensure more coherent support from local government.

He acknowledges that in previous years, the authority’s role was not always well understood or well communicated. “There was always confusion about the role of the Riverport Authority as opposed to the Riverport Business Association and individual businesses,” Blackwell says. “It didn’t come across to the community or to the Mayor’s office as an authority that was really driving economic development for the city.”

That perception has shifted, and Blackwell describes the current board as a group of active participants rather than passive overseers. “This is a board that’s very, very active,” he says. “Steve, to his credit, is not threatened by that in any way. He wants the feedback, seeks the feedback, listens to the feedback, and responds to it. We’re all on the same team.”

Indeed, Miller frames the board-staff dynamic as one of the authority’s key leadership assets. Alongside proactive planning and clear external communication, he says the alignment between staff, board, and community partners is what will ultimately determine the authority’s long-term success.

The timing of the authority’s transformation is not incidental. The global supply chain landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years, and the dynamics at play—tariff volatility, reshoring and near-shoring of manufacturing, the rise of e-commerce, and the rapid evolution of automation and smart logistics—all point toward the kind of infrastructure the Louisville Riverport Authority is working to build.

Miller is closely watching how these trends intersect with the authority’s role. “Both the political decision makers and the business communities are committed toward bringing manufacturing back on shore and expanding it here in the United States whenever possible,” he says. “We’re analyzing the impact of e-commerce and how distribution chains and demand are working. We’re also trying to keep our minds focused on automation, robotics, and how smart logistics are changing the entire global supply chain.”

To serve a facility seeking to modernize its infrastructure with investments that must remain effective for decades, the master plan is being designed not just to address today’s freight volumes but to anticipate how goods move, where they come from, and what kind of infrastructure will be required to handle them in a future defined by technological disruption and geopolitical complexity.

The authority’s proximity to UPS Worldport, one of the most significant global import-export hubs on the planet, gives it an asset few inland ports can match. Combined with rail access, river connectivity, and the regulatory advantages of FTZ 29, the Riverport’s multimodal offering is positioned to become even more competitive as supply chain pressure continues to favor consolidated, flexible logistics operations.

Beyond the strategic and infrastructure plans, the authority has also taken concrete steps to raise its profile in the community. It recently purchased a new building a mile down the road from its previous offices, a more visible location that will allow it to function as a genuine community hub, hosting meetings with Riverport businesses and building the kind of relationships that have historically been harder to cultivate.

For Blackwell, this is as meaningful as any element of the master plan. Having spent decades watching the authority operate largely behind the scenes, he sees the move as symbolic of a deeper cultural shift. “We’ll be able to invite Riverport businesses there to have meetings about how we work together to improve the area, to improve access to the rails, improve access to the river, and make it much more vital,” he says.

The authority’s sense of renewed purpose extends to its advocacy work as well. Miller says the authority has become more aggressive in pushing for both the public funding and the policy environment its infrastructure investments require, a posture the board has actively encouraged.

The Louisville Riverport Authority is, at its core, a special purpose governmental entity. Its six-person board and Executive Director are charged with managing and overseeing a riverport and a set of commercial and industrial parks on behalf of the public. But the authority’s leadership is clear-eyed about the gap between what the institution has been and what it can become.

As the master plan takes shape over the coming months, built with input from businesses and community stakeholders across Louisville and Kentucky, the authority is making the case that a modernized, proactive riverport is good for everyone—for the companies that rely on its infrastructure, for the workers they employ, and for the region’s long-term competitiveness.

“This is the new Louisville Riverport Authority and the new Louisville Riverport,” Miller says. “It’s an exciting time for businesses and government and local leaders to partner with us.”

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“We don’t take them all,” says the Mayor. “They have to be a fit that we feel can help our community. Can we see ourselves forming a partnership with them to advance our community in the future?”

A third-generation resident, Mayor Gregory has devoted much of his personal and professional life to Elizabethtown (often called E-town) and Hardin County. Following a career in law enforcement spanning over 20 years as a Kentucky State Trooper, he entered politics. Successfully becoming Mayor in 2018, Gregory was re-elected in 2022. A determined leader, he has helped to oversee exceptional economic growth and job creation for workers of all ages as well as veterans.

Celebrating 70 years
Mayor Gregory is quick to credit others with Elizabethtown’s ongoing success, including city staff and Andy Games, President and Chief Operating Officer at the Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation (EHCIF). Previously serving as EHCIF Vice President, Andy took over from his father, Rick Games. Serving as President for 25 years, Rick is now Vice President of the Foundation, which was originally formed in January 1956.

All those years ago, the EHCIF launched thanks to some local business executives focused on creating jobs for Elizabethtown. By the early ’60s, the city was recruiting well-known companies like Dow Chemical, Crucible Magnetics, and the Gates Rubber Company. The EHCIF’s mission, it states, is “to create jobs and elevate Hardin County as the top destination for advanced manufacturing, distribution, and industrial companies from across the nation and around the world.”

Another factor behind E-town’s success is vision for growth and prosperity. “We’ve had great leadership forever,” says Games, “and a lot of good Mayors over the last 50 years.” Mayor Gregory agrees and praises James R. Pritchard. Serving as Mayor in the ’70s and into the ’80s, Pritchard and other community leaders spearheaded Elizabethtown’s industrial boom starting about 50 years ago. This saw the city recruiting industry, developing industrial parks long before many other communities, and implementing an Occupational Tax. “They’re the ones who bit the bullet—and got a lot of the political pressure at the time for doing it—but it’s made all the difference in what we look like now,” adds Games.

Location, low taxes, and tailored training
For years, Rick Games liked to say that Elizabethtown was a day’s drive from two-thirds of the United States. On Interstate 65 in the heart of Kentucky, it is easy to get east or west with the Bluegrass Parkway (officially the Martha Layne Collins Blue Grass Parkway), and the Western Kentucky Parkway (Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway), just five minutes from two industrial parks. The city also has the nearby Elizabethtown Regional Airport (EKX), and two major railway lines. “Our central location has always been our calling card,” says Mayor Gregory.

Along with its prime location, Elizabethtown-Hardin County stands out for many other reasons, including low taxes and quality education. Long-established school districts are highly ranked, and the area is home to the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College (ECTC), part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). Offering classes at five locations within Hardin County, Washington County, Grayson County, and Meade County, the KCTCS serves residents in 10 counties.

“Our community college is one of 16 regional campuses within the KCTCS and our campus has been here since the late ’60s,” says Games. Along with courses in accounting, business administration systems, and health sciences, the KCTCS offers classes in air conditioning and refrigeration, manufacturing, mechanical engineering, and other hands-on trades. This includes training for industrial partners and certificates in electrical, welding, plumbing, and more.

“If you come in and need training in something specific to your industry, they will build a program and train your people,” says Mayor Gregory. “Whatever industry comes in, they will work with that industry to develop a curriculum that is specific to them, and they will train their people at our community college. It is basically tailored training.”

Welcoming major players
In late 2021, Kentucky announced the $5.8 billion BlueOval SK Battery Park in Glendale, Kentucky. This saw KCTCS and ECTC build a new, specialized training facility and in May 2024, Governor Andy Beshear was joined by community and business leaders for the park’s ribbon-cutting. The park—home to the world’s biggest battery plants—was slated Kentuckians for thousands of new jobs. The massive facilities opened and started making batteries in January 2025, with about 1,500 employees, but by December, it was announced the facility would close, with the joint venture dissolved.

Although this saw job losses, it revealed the area’s resilience. The facility is now in a reboot, and will see Ford Energy (a wholly owned Ford Motor Company subsidiary) take over the site, which will be used for making U.S.-assembled, grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS). Set to be up and running by 2028, the property will be the home to over 2,100 workers, with a second facility coming online soon after. In the middle of the pandemic, Canadian packaging giant Kruger opened a massive new facility, representing one of 14 different countries with a presence in the industrial park.

Managed by the Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation, the area is also home to the T.J. Patterson Industrial Park and the Gil Niceley, Sr. Industrial Park, named in honor of the long-time farmer and furniture store owner. Nicely served in the Army Air Corps and during WWII, he was aboard the Straight Flush, the B-29 aircraft that served as the lead weather reconnaissance plane during the bombing of Hiroshima. “Gil had a lot of history here,” says Mayor Gregory. “He was a great citizen, and we thought that it would be appropriate to continue to name that area after him because of all the things he’s done, not only for the city but for the country.”

Some of the largest manufacturers in the area include Metalsa, which makes truck frames for Ford, and Altec, which manufactures products like telecommunication and electrical utility trucks. And, apart from the County school system, other key employers include Baptist Health Hardin and Fort Knox, a sprawling military base home to about 12,000 individuals and a big draw to the area.

A rich business landscape
Along with large manufacturers, many other businesses are coming to E-town. The area’s sixth McDonald’s is in the works, and the city is home to two Chick-fil-A’s. On the grocery side, there is Publix, and Elizabethtown’s third Kroger’s will be the largest in the state of Kentucky. The city also punches above its weight in hotels, while numerous other restaurants, clubs, entertainment venues, shops, and the Lincoln Trail Area Development District (LTADD) also boost the area’s popularity.

The LTADD encompasses seven counties, with Elizabethtown serving as a hub. Many drive to Elizabethtown for work, and the area sees an estimated daily daytime population exceeding 110,000. And for those wanting to permanently settle in the city, Elizabethtown has seen the creation of several thousand housing units since 2021.

A great place to build a business, Elizabethtown is also building a reputation as a sports and entertainment hub. Opened in 2012, the multi-million-dollar Elizabethtown Sports Park is a sprawling, 158-acre complex with dozens of baseball and soccer fields, pedestrian trails, and more. The Sports Park is a major destination from March to October for anything sports-related in the eastern half of the U.S., with people coming from all over to play baseball, soccer, football, and lacrosse. The area recently hosted about 100 soccer teams and 50 baseball teams, most of them from out-of-state.

To attract concert-goers, construction is underway for a new 10,000-seat outdoor concert venue. Estimated to cost about $40 million, the venue will host between 35 and 50 shows a year. “What we are trying to do is fill the space in between the weekends,” states Mayor Gregory. “So for your Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday crowds, we are bringing people into our city for concerts, while the weekends are usually maintained by the Sports Park. We want people here just about every day of the week, and think the concert venue and Sports Park will be very compatible and complement each other.” Set to open in the first quarter of 2027, the yet-to-be-named venue will be large enough to host big-name acts.

Ranked number one for startup growth in the nation, Elizabethtown is the fastest-growing city in the state of Kentucky. The city’s success stems from extensive planning and solid leadership. “We’ve never had anybody come in and deflate the balloon. The balloon keeps getting bigger, and keeps going up,” says Games. “Jeff has done a phenomenal job for seven years now, and it’s been the case that each Mayor has been a building block on what the previous Mayor has done.”

Quality of life
Along with solid business attraction and retention, Elizabethtown provides an outstanding quality of life for its residents. With robust police and fire departments, 2023 saw Elizabethtown ranked as one of the five safest cities in the United States per capita by the FBI. Public safety remains a top priority.

“I’ve said this a million times over seven and a half years, but if people feel your city isn’t safe or clean, you can’t do the rest of the work,” says Mayor Gregory. “You need those pillars in place as a foundation to build upon. So we work hard on public safety and making sure we keep a good, clean city to be attractive to people who want to come here, so we can do the rest of these things.”

Preparing to run as Mayor for the third time and buoyed by a strong and enthusiastic team, Jeff Gregory welcomes the coming years and looks forward to continuing to raise the profile of Elizabethtown and Hardin County.

The post Strong Leadership and Long-Term Vision<p class="company">Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation (EHCIF)</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.