Laura Chapman has been named the next Director of Finance and Accounting for Owensboro Municipal Utilities. She will succeed Lynn Holland, who has held the position since April 2013 and whose final day with OMU will be July 31.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to start the next chapter of my career at OMU,” Chapman said. “I feel incredibly blessed to be able to lead a team of talented employees. I am looking forward to continuing to contribute my skills to the organization as I join the leadership team and support our mission to provide reliable and quality utility services to our customer-owners and community.”
Before OMU, Chapman served as senior financial analyst at Louisville Gas and Electric/Kentucky Utility Services Company from 2000 until 2011. She moved to Owensboro in 2011 to join OMU as a senior financial and budget accountant. She was eventually promoted to Manager of Planning in 2021.
Chapman has been active in the community since moving to Owensboro. She is currently chairing the Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center board of directors and serving on the Owensboro Health board of directors, including finance committee vice-chair. Chapman is a past chair and treasurer of the Girls Inc. of Owensboro-Daviess County board of trustees and serves on the executive committee. In addition, she was a member of the board of directors of the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Ohio Valley, where she was Finance and Fund Development Committee Co-Chair from 2016-2018.
OMU has also reorganized its finance department, including naming Kathy Roberts as Manager of Planning. Roberts previously served as the Manager of Finance & Procurement.
OMU also shifted Phytos Neophytou from Manager of Audits, Procurement, & Special Projects to Manager of Finance & Procurement. In this new position, his responsibilities remain relatively the same, without the responsibility of audits for the utility.
“[The Commission] is going to take some time to see how this works,” said OMU Communications and Public Relations Manager Sonya Dixon. “They do have the option to have audits done externally. We have, of course, a year-end audit, but there are also other audits that are done.”
