Joe Natcher, CEO and owner of Southern Foods, Inc., a full-line food service distributor based in Bowling Green, will be the featured speaker in the 2013 Hays Watkins Visiting CEO Lecture Series, sponsored by WKU’s Gordon Ford College of Business.

Joe Natcher

Natcher will speak on An Improbable Journey at 2 p.m. April 4 at the Grise Hall Auditorium. He will share his ingredients for success as entrepreneur with students, faculty, staff and the community.

An active member of the southcentral Kentucky community, Natcher serves as Chairman of the Board of the Commonwealth Health Corporation, on the Board of The Medical Center of Bowling Green, the CHC Free Clinic, and the Board of Directors for the College Heights Foundation at WKU. Additionally, he is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for UniPro Foodservice Cooperative based in Atlanta. UniPro is a 600-member cooperative with total member sales of more than $60 billion.

Natcher holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from WKU and is married to Cheri. He and Cheri have two children, Nan Thomas and Houston.

The Hays Watkins Visiting CEO Lecture Series is made possible from a gift from Hays Watkins, a graduate of the Bowling Green Business University, the predecessor of WKU’s Gordon Ford College of Business. Watkins is chairman emeritus of CSX Corporation, based in Richmond, Va. The Hays Watkins Visiting CEO Lecture Series was instituted in 1999.