Carly Patterson ”wants to know people” and to feel that customers are “like family.” Riley-White Drugs and Healthcare, then, became a natural fit for her as a place to continue her career as a pharmacist.

The Warren County native became the fifth pharmacist on the Riley-White professional team in January. She believes this is the proper environment for her to use her education and her people skills.

Dr. Patterson did her undergraduate studies for two years at the University of Kentucky and one at Western Kentucky University. Then she obtained her doctorate in pharmacy from Sullivan Pharmacy School in Louisville.

She began working as a pharmacy technician part-time at a Kroger store in Lexington in 2007. She has continued working at different Kroger stores ever since, first as a tech and then as a pharmacist in Bowling Green.

She was doing that when Donnie Riley, one of the owners of Riley-White, contacted her to see if she was interested in coming to work for Riley-White.

“When I was completing my degree, I did a rotation at the Graves Gilbert Clinic. That’s how he knew me,” she says. Riley-White operates the Clinic on the ground floor of Graves Gilbert with Riley the principal pharmacist there.

“I wasn’t looking for a change, but the more I thought about it, the more I said to myself, ‘I don’t know what there isn’t to like’ about working for an independent family pharmacy.”

Carly says she realized how loyal customers can be to a locally owned business when she went full-time for Kroger in Bowling Green. She asked her husband Alex’s grandmother to switch to Kroger as her pharmacy, but the grandmother said she was happy with the locally owned drug store she has used for many years.

“What does that say about family and loyalty?” Carly realized.

That grandmother is Harriet Downing, the lovely matriarch of the Downing family of Bowling Green. She is the widow of retired Western president Dero Downing. Her grandson, Alex Patterson, is Carly’s husband and marketing manager of the Glasgow-based Gillie Hyde Auto Group.

Carly Patterson can be found at Riley-White’s Russellville Park Square location most days, but occasionally she works at the Graves Gilbert Clinic so that Riley can be at the Russellville store.

Other members of the Riley-White pharmacy team are co-owner Jerry White, David Guion and Lindsey Flanders.

Speaking of Business on The LoJo

Eight First Southern National Bank Team Members recently successfully completed First Southern’s Emerging Leaders Program. Two of them, Misty Bromm and John Brett Reynolds, are Logan Countians.

The others are Lisa Clark, Tyler Cain, David Grigson, Heidi Middleton, Joda Norris, John Brett Reynolds, and Suzanne Short.

Rusty Clark, president of First Southern National Bank and a former Russellvillian himself, stated, “This group of Emerging Leaders is proof that First Southern’s future is bright. We’ve spent the last year developing deeper relationships, learning from one another and growing personally.”

First Southern National Bank’s Emerging Leaders Program is a 12-month leadership program developed by the bank to grow and invest in team members who show exemplary leadership qualities. Participants are individually selected by members of the bank’s leadership team based on ability, potential and existing leadership qualities. Through the year, Emerging Leaders are challenged to complete many tasks including team building activities, individual and group community projects, personal and professional goal setting all while studying leadership philosophies of various leaders inside and outside of the company.

The program is led by Rusty Clark and Vice President, Marketing and Retail Delivery of First Southern National Bank, with assistance from Russellville’s Major General Jerry D. Humble, Retired General, United States Marine Corps. It is designed to build leadership qualities and skills, along with encouraging future and current leaders to develop stronger relationships with one another.

The 2015 Emerging Leaders Group joins a growing number of First Southern Team Members who have benefited from this program. The eight graduates hold various positions at the bank:

Misty Bromm, Teller, Logan County – Bethel

Lisa Clark, Loan Analyst, Lincoln County – Stanford

Tyler Cain, Loan and Business Development, Madison County – Richmond

David Grigson, Loan and Business Development, Lincoln County – Stanford

Heidi Middleton, Branch Manager, Pulaski County – Somerset

Joda Norris, Customer Service Operations Manager, Lincoln County – Stanford

John Brett Reynolds, Loan and Business Development. Warren County – Bowling Green
Suzanne Short, Trainer, Garrard County – Lancaster