Kenn Gividen

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Kenn Gividen (born February 10, 1953) is the president of Columbus Marketing Group, Inc., in Columbus, Indiana.

In 2004 Gividen was nominated by the Libertarian Party of Indiana as candidate for governor. He participated in two televised debates, the first of which was aired nationally on CSPAN. Gividen was one of the few Libertarian candidates in Indiana to be supported by a political action committee (PAC).

Gividen is the founder of the Libertarian Writers' Bureau. The service provides weekly op/ed columns to nearly 100 newspapers, most of which are in his home state of Indiana. Gividen is author of The Prayer of Hannah which sold nearly 20,000 copies nationwide. The book was self-published in 2002.

[edit] Biography

Kenn Gividen was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the fifth born of five children. His father, Kenneth P. Gividen, Sr., served as a sergeant in the United States Army during WW II, being stationed in both Germany and Japan.

Gividen was educated in the Indianapolis Public School system through high school. He is a graduate of Tech High School. He is also an alumnus of Liberty University (then Lynchburg Baptist College) where he served as sophomore class president and student body president.

In 1980 he briefly held the position of Moral Majority State Director. In 1983 he and his family moved to Columbus, Indiana where he assumed the pastorate of Fellowship Baptist Church. He held that position for twelve years.

In 1987 Gividen formed a marketing business to supplement his income. Ultimately the business became his sole occupation. He remains president of the company, Columbus Marketing Group, Inc.

A life-long Republican, Gividen joined the Libertarian Party in August, 2002 citing frustrations with the GOP to enact small-government initiatives, reduce taxes and stem government intervention in personal lives. He served a chair of the Libertarian Party of Barthlomew County for over four years and briefly represented the 6th Congressional District on the state party's Central Committee. Believing his usefulness to the Libertarian Party had run its course, Gividen left the organization on amicable terms in January, 2007.