Jane Chiles
Jane Chiles is the former Executive Director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky. She served in this capacity beginning in January of 1994, until her retirement in June of 2002. The Catholic Conference is the statewide public policy arm of the Catholic Church. Ms. Chiles was recently asked to serve on the Review Board of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Child and Youth Protection and currently serves as the Vice-President of the National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors.
Ms. Chiles has more than 20 years of community activism in both Lexington and statewide with involvement in issues ranging from affordable housing to substance abuse. Her voluntary board involvement over the past twenty years includes 15 organizations and agencies, ranging from Past President of the Junior League of Lexington through the Advisory Boards of Directors of Chrysalis House, the Lexington Public Library, the Volunteers of America and the Florence Crittenton Home in Lexington. She recently completed a three-year term as the founding chairperson of the Lexington Public Library Foundation and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lexington Theological Seminary, an institution of the Disciples of Christ church.
In her service as the Executive Director, Ms. Chiles focused on monitoring the work of the Kentucky General Assembly as it implemented major healthcare reform laws. The broad perspective from which the Catholic Conference monitors this complex issue includes both its effect upon vulnerable populations and upon the ministry of Catholic healthcare which in Kentucky includes 12 hospitals, 14 long-term care facilities and 5 home health agencies. Ms. Chiles served as co-chairperson of Kentuckians for Health Care Reform, a coalition of over 200 organizations across the Commonwealth founded in August, 1993 to advocate for quality, affordable, accessible health care for all Kentuckians.
Ms. Chiles has served on the National Public Policy and Advocacy Committee of the Catholic Health Association, an organization that represents the 1200+ Catholic hospitals and long-term care facilities in the United States. She has been an active participant in the Catholic Health Association's Committee of State Executives and served as chairperson in 1996 and 1997. In June of 1998, Ms. Chiles was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Catholic Health Association. Chiles was elected to a second term in 2001.
Ms. Chiles, a native of Racine, Wisconsin, is a graduate of Loyola University of Chicago with a BA degree in Sociology. She is married and lives in Lexington with her husband Larry, the owner of Jordan-Chiles, Inc. They have three adult sons.