The Murray High School (KY) Alumni and Friends Association announces the 2020 Distinguished Alumni recipients, Tim Adams ’79, Dr. Robert Lyons ’85 and Emily Simmons ’98. These honorees mark the debut class of MHS Distinguished Alumni recipients. To view the 2020 MHS Distinguished Alumni video visit: https://bit.ly/341pg1i
Founded in 2017, the Murray High School Alumni and Friends Association accepted nominations in January for the first-ever Murray High School Distinguished Alumni recipients. Following COVID-19 CDC guidelines, the Murray High School (KY) Alumni and Friends Association hopes to present awards to the 2020 Distinguished Alumnus in a ceremony on the campus of the Murray Independent School District during the 2021 spring semester. Prior to this, a video announcement of this year’s honorees can be found on the Murray High School (KY) Alumni and Friends Association Facebook page, and a link on the www.murray.kyschools website.
The following MHS graduates are recognized as this year’s 2020 MHS Distinguished Alumni recipients.
Tim Adams
Tim Adams is a 1979 MHS graduate. Adams is the president and CEO of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in Washington, D.C. The IIF is a research-based industry association of 500 of the world’s largest global financial institutions head-quartered in Washington, D.C. with other offices in Brussels, Belgium; Dubai, UAE; Singapore; and Beijing, PRC.
From 1990-1992, Adams was employed as an economist at The White House in the Office of Policy Development. Credited with working on several Presidential campaigns including Policy Director for the 2004 election, Adams co-founded the G7 Group in 1993, an international financial markets advisory firm. As the former Treasury Department Chief of Staff (2001-2004) and the Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs (2005-2008), Adams also served as a managing director at the Lindsey Group, a global financial advisory firm. From 2008 until 2012, Adams was managing director at the Lindsey Group, a global financial advisory firm.
Adams was awarded an undergraduate (BBA) and two graduate degrees (MPA, MA) from the University of Kentucky, with honors. The MA is from the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Affairs.
Tim and his wife, Jennifer, live in Alexandria, Virginia, and are parents to Tindall, William and Augusta Lee. Tim’s two sisters, Suzanne Adams ’67, and Teressa Adams Van Brickle ’70, are MHS graduates.
Robert Lyons
Robert Lyons, EdD is a 1985 MHS graduate. Lyons recently retired from Murray State University after a 30-year career in public education in K-12 and higher education. Currently, Lyons is a learning specialist with Industrial Training Services in Murray.
Lyons was a teacher and assistant principal at Henderson and Marshall Counties, respectively, and came to the MSU faculty for the school leadership program. He later served as a department chairman and assistant dean in the College of Education and Human Services. Lyons' role during most of his 20 years at MSU was to lead collaborative efforts to provide school districts with exemplary teacher candidates and area teachers with the best possible continuing education opportunities. Contributions to teacher education and continuing education during his time at MSU included the development and approval of the EdD in P-20 and Community Leadership, the Professional Development School model, and the Teaching and Technology Summit.
Lyons has been an active part of the community, serving on the boards of Murray-area nonprofits, as well as on the Site-Based Decision-Making Council and other school committees. He received his BS in Physics, MA in secondary education, and Secondary School Principal certification from Murray State University. He obtained his Doctor of Education in Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Memphis.
Lyons and his wife, Mary Beth, reside in Murray. Their children, Trent ‘16, and Kristen ‘18, both are MHS graduates.
Emily Simmons
Emily Simmons is a 1998 MHS graduate. She joined the staff at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago in Chicago Illinois, in 2018 as a pediatric nurse practitioner in pulmonary medicine. From 2006 until 2018, she practiced in Lexington as a primary care provider for children with medically complex healthcare needs. Since being in Chicago, she co-founded, and serves as the clinical director of the multi-disciplinary Severe/High Risk Asthma Clinic within the hospital. Emily leads a team consisting of a pulmonologist, allergist/immunologist, social worker, respiratory therapist/asthma educator and two pediatric registered nurses. This clinic provides children and teenagers with access to life-saving interventions to gain control of their asthma. Gaining control of asthma allows these families to lead a healthy life with a chronic, potentially life threatening disease.
In March 2020, just prior to COVID-19, Emily and her team were awarded grant funding for use within the clinic. Emily will serve as the lead investigator on a study slated to begin in early 2021, "Identifying, and Addressing Disparities in Care of the Pediatric Severe Asthma Patient" in Chicago. It is the team's hope this research will prove beneficial, not only for the patients currently under their care, but also for other pediatric institutions wanting to establish a high risk asthma clinic in their facility. Currently, Emily and the pulmonary division members are working to fight COVID-19 with pulmonary colleagues from across the world to identify short and long-term lung damage that may occur from the disease. In October 2020, as a result of her work within the children's hospital, Emily was named Advanced Practice Nurse Exemplar for the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
Emily received a BS in nursing/minor behavioral sciences at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa Oklahoma, and completed the master's of nursing, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, at Vanderbilt University.
Simmons is the daughter of Jim and Murdena Simmons of Murray. Her siblings, Jimmy, ‘97 and Sarah, ‘03, are both MHS graduates.
Martha Andrus, chair of the MHS Alumni and Friends Association, congratulates this year’s recipients. "We are so pleased to announce the recipients of the very first MHS Alumni and Friends Distinguished Alumni awards. The alumni association wanted to acknowledge our alumni and give our present students at Murray High School the incentive to achieve their goals, as these alumni have done. We hope that in the near future, we can bring these alumni to the campus of Murray High School and present them personally with their awards.
"The alumni association was established to encourage alumni to assist MHS in meeting the needs of the school and the student body, and we hope to have an event where we can bring our alumni together and raise some funds for our school," said Andrus.
The alumni association urges alumni and friends to visit the Murray High School (KY) Alumni and Friends Facebook page for the 2020 MHS Distinguished Alumni Recipients video announcements and virtual video spotlights on these esteemed graduates.
“An in-person alumni ceremony is being planned for the spring of 2021, provided CDC COVID-19 guidelines will allow an in-person event," said Sherry Purdom, director of the MHS Alumni and Friends Association. “We congratulate each of these recipients for their professional successes, and touching the lives of numerous individuals. Their black and gold roots and successes definitely emulate MISD’s 148-year black and gold tradition, pride, and excellence.”
The 2021 MHS Distinguished Alumni nominations will be accepted in December. Information will be posted on the MHS Alumni and Friends Facebook page.