Frankfort, KY — The Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL) will participate in the first-ever gathering of the leadership of Kentucky’s young professionals organizations on Saturday, October 26 at the Governor’s Mansion in Frankfort. This summit will bring together leadership from young professional groups of Louisville, Lexington, Hopkinsville, Paducah, Somerset, Owensboro, Danville, Elizabethtown, Bowling Green, Covington and Eastern Kentucky.
The leadership of each organization will gather to discuss best practices, hear from some of the state’s political leaders and executives and discuss how to work together to make Kentucky a better state for attracting and retaining young talent.
The summit will include networking opportunities and an opportunity to hear from Keynote Speakers: Joe Craft, President, CEO and Director of Alliance Resource Partners & James Comer, Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture.
“The goal is to bring all Young Professionals together to speak with a unified voice,” says Nathan Haney, VP of Special Projects for YPAL. “Young Professionals are the future of Kentucky and the ingenuity of our workforce. We want to be engaged in the political process. This is our first step in that direction.”
2013 Kentucky YP Summit Agenda:
10:00 – 10:15 Welcome and Introductions
10:15 – 11:15 Breakout Session: YP Group Best Practices
11:15 – 12:00 James Comer
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 Joe Craft – Keynote Speaker
2:00 – 4: 00 Strategy Session: YP Groups Working Together
The event will be live Tweeted using #KYPSummit.
About the speakers:
James Comer, a native of Tompkinsville, was elected Kentucky’s Commissioner of Agriculture on November 8, 2011, and was sworn in on January 2, 2012.
Comer’s passion for agriculture is reflected in his vast amount of experience in the areas of agriculture and business. He is the founder and owner of James Comer, Jr. Farms, a 950-acre beef cattle, timber and hay farming operation located in Monroe County. He also co-owns Comer Land & Cattle Co., a family farming operation which includes his father and brother. Comer was a director of South Central Bank for 12 years. He was the 1999-2000 Monroe County Chamber of Commerce President. Comer is a Western Kentucky University graduate with a degree in Agriculture. While at WKU, he received the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Scholarship and was the Kentucky Future Farmers of America State President (1990-1991).
Elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 2000, at just 27 years old, Comer hit the ground running, passing a record of five bills into law– the most for a freshman member of the Republican caucus in Frankfort.
Joe Craft has been President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Alliance Resource Partners since August 1999 and has indirect majority ownership of our managing general partner. Craft also serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of AGP, the general partner of AHGP. Previously Craft served as President of MAPCO Coal Inc. since 1986. During that period, he also was Senior Vice President of MAPCO Inc. and had previously been that company’s General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer.
He is a former Chairman of the National Coal Council, a Board Member of the National Mining Association, a Director of American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, and a Director of BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: BOKF) since April of 2007.
Craft holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Kentucky. Craft is also a graduate of the Senior Executive Program of the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
About YPAL:
The Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL) was created in 1999 after a study showed Louisville was losing its young people after college graduation to larger cities. Since its inception, YPAL has built credibility as a social and professional organization for young professionals in Louisville and Southern Indiana to be a conduit to connect to their communities. YPAL strives to connect and engage Metro Louisville’s young professionals through community, professional and social opportunities.
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