YPAL Wraps Up “Wish I Knew” Series

The Young Professionals Association of Louisville will host its sixth “Wish I Knew” series event on July 10, 2013, at the Green Building (732 East Market Street) from 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m.  The event is the last installment of the six-part series in which YPAL’s Advisory Council Members will share lessons they have learned over the course of their careers. PNC Bank and Northwestern Mutual are sponsors of the series. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased through registering for the event. 

During this installment, Chris Brice, Chief Marketing Officer for The Kentucky & Southern Indiana Group at Northwestern Mutual and Cynthia Knapek, President of Leadership Louisville Center, will share lessons they have learned and give insider tips from their years of experience. They will also discuss transferring skills such as moving from field to field, moving up in ones organization and unconventional career moves.

Past event speakers have included Donna Mitchell (Northwestern Mutual), John Kurnick (Yum!), Mike Moll (PNC Bank), Tom Monahan (Business First), Vernon Foster (University of Louisville), Gil Holland (The Green Building), Tray Cockrell (Humana) and Cathy Tang (KFC Corporation).

About the speakers:
Brice serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Northwestern Mutual – The Kentucky & Southern Indiana Group.

A native New Yorker and young teacher back in 1992, Brice moved to Louisville after graduate school at Duke University to teach history and coach at Kentucky Country Day School (KCD). After two years at KCD, he worked as general manager for Maker’s Mark Products where he was responsible for coordinating the first catalog featuring Maker’s Mark promotional items. Brice joined his family’s business, Superior Printing Ink Company, in 1996. He established a branch office in Louisville to service printers in the Ohio Valley region and he served as the national accounts manager. Brice also headed the re-branding effort for this eighty year-old company. Brice returned to KCD as Assistant Head of School for Development in 2000. During his tenure at KCD, Chris led a variety of initiatives related to the external affairs of the school, including fundraising, alumni relations, parent relations and admissions. Brice joined Northwestern Mutual in April 2009.

Brice has volunteered extensively in the youth services sector of the Louisville community. His volunteer efforts are now focused on supporting the soldiers and families of a U. S. Army Special Forces battalion stationed at Ft. Campbell, KY. Chris, his wife, Sarah, and their two children (Lilly and Wilder) are all proud Louisvillians.

Knapek (BF ’09, LN ’06) has been an active civic leader in Louisville for 20 years.  In 2012, she was named President of the Leadership Louisville Center, only the fifth director the organization has had since its founding in 1979.

Before joining Leadership Louisville, she was Executive Director of Brightside, an innovative public private partnership that works to build civic pride in the community and keep Louisville clean and green. Knapek was named to Business First’s Top 40 Leaders Under 40 in 2001 and recognized as Today’s Woman’s “Way to Go Woman” in 2006. Knapek was a founding member and the first President the Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL).  She is a graduate of the Bingham Fellows Class of 2009 and of Leadership Network in 2006.

Knapek is active in several community organizations, having served on the boards of the University of Louisville Alumni Association, the Mayor’s Commission on Public Art, the Visually Impaired Preschool Services (VIPS) Board and on the advisory board for the Young Professionals Association of Louisville.

Knapek has a Master’s degree from the University of Louisville.