Leadership Louisville Center

Leadership Louisville Center www.leadershiplouisville.org Welcome to your world-class center for growth, connections and community.

www.leadershiplouisville.org The Leadership Louisville Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to growing and connecting community leaders.

✨ 55 women. One powerful network. ✨Congratulations to the Alice Houston Women's Leadership Program Class of 2026! Presen...
06/18/2026

✨ 55 women. One powerful network. ✨

Congratulations to the Alice Houston Women's Leadership Program Class of 2026! Presented by Republic Bank, this remarkable group of women leaders spent the last six months building confidence, sharpening their leadership skills, and forming connections that will last far beyond the program.

The results speak for themselves:
💗 NPS Score: +84
💗 98% said the program provided tools and competencies that will help them in their careers

As one graduate shared, "The absolute best part of this program is the women and relationship building. That in and of itself made it totally worth it."

Congratulations to the Class of 2026! We can't wait to see the ripple effect of your leadership throughout our community.
Meet our newest graduates:
🔗https://leadershiplouisville.org/2026-alice-houston-wlp/

Know a woman leader who should be part of the next class? Nominations are now being accepted, with applications opening this fall.

🎉 🎉Please join us in welcoming Maria Della Bella to the Leadership Louisville Center as our new Recruitment & Enrollme...
06/17/2026

🎉 🎉

Please join us in welcoming Maria Della Bella to the Leadership Louisville Center as our new Recruitment & Enrollment Manager!

Maria brings years of experience in enrollment strategy, relationship building, and helping people discover opportunities that can transform their careers and expand their impact. She has a passion for connecting people with the right experiences at the right time, and she's already getting to work.

📣 Maria is currently recruiting for the next class of Ignite Louisville, our competitive six-month leadership experience for high-potential professionals who are ready to strengthen their leadership skills, build meaningful relationships across industries, and make a real impact in our community.

Know someone who's ready for more? It might be a colleague, a team member…or even you.

✨ Applications and nominations are open now.

👉 Learn more and apply: http://bit.ly/3SxI0Rv

Welcome to the team, Maria! We're thrilled to have you helping leaders discover what's possible. 👏

Some of the most important leadership lessons aren't about strategy or management.They're about relationships.During our...
06/17/2026

Some of the most important leadership lessons aren't about strategy or management.

They're about relationships.

During our recent RISE session, participants explored the role of social capital, community, and the connections that help us lead with greater confidence and impact.

Thank you to our President & CEO, Cynthia Knapek and Jo Lloyd-Triplett, Director of Programs for guiding powerful conversations and reminding us that investing in ourselves also means investing in the people who support, challenge, and inspire us.

That's what makes RISE so special: a room full of women committed to learning, growing, and lifting one another up.

Learn more about the RISE experience at LeadingBetter.com.

How do you identify which ideas will drive the most impact when there are so many worth exploring?One Ignite Louisville ...
06/16/2026

How do you identify which ideas will drive the most impact when there are so many worth exploring?

One Ignite Louisville team — Team Ripple Effect — figured it out alongside NAMI Louisville's Wellness Wheels, a mobile mental health program serving K–12 youth across Louisville. The program needed funding, visibility, and a clear path to scale — and the team needed to figure out which of those to tackle first.

Using strategic thinking, gap analysis, Predictive Index insights, and stakeholder engagement, they stopped chasing everything and built around what mattered most.

Instead of spreading efforts thin, they focused on:
✔️ A funding strategy with 8+ grant opportunities identified
✔️ JCPS vendor status established
✔️ A media toolkit and brand strategy
✔️ Scalable systems for long-term growth

Strategic focus. Shared leadership. The confidence to prioritize when everything feels important. These are the skills that change careers and positively impact the teams around them.

Nominations and applications for the Ignite Louisville Class of 2027 are open through August 3.

🔗 https://leadershiplouisville.org/ignite-louisville/

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Congratulations, Team Ripple Effect: Caitlyn Barnes, Ian Brandon, Chris Bumann, Danea Cloyd, Veronica Miller, Andrew Walker, and Emily Winkler. Thank you to Encore Mentor Cindy Adelberg.

The Ignite Louisville Leadership Challenge is the live application lab where the program curriculum gets put to work. Real nonprofit partner. Real organizational challenge. Real deadline. Six months of learning, tested in the real world.

Presenting Sponsor | Norton Healthcare
Community Acceleration Teams Sponsor | Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana

How do you build external momentum when the inside isn't aligned yet?That's a common organizational blind spot — fixable...
06/11/2026

How do you build external momentum when the inside isn't aligned yet?

That's a common organizational blind spot — fixable, but not always easy to address. Recognizing that moment and knowing how to lead through it is one of the many skills the Ignite Louisville curriculum develops.

One Ignite Louisville team — Team Rise Up, 502c(3) — put that skill to work alongside Blueprint502, a Louisville nonprofit navigating a major rebrand. Using facilitation tools and communication frameworks from the Ignite curriculum, they built internal clarity first — then took the story to the city.

The team created and led:
✔️ An internal brand workshop to align staff around a shared direction
✔️ A city-wide campaign reaching 650,000 impressions
✔️ A fundraising strategy that secured $42,000+ in donations
✔️ Systems to sustain growth beyond the program

Internal clarity. Strategic communication. Leading alignment before activation. These are the skills that make teams move faster, and organizations go further.

Nominations and applications for the Ignite Louisville Class of 2027 are open through August 3.

🔗 https://leadershiplouisville.org/ignite-louisville/

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Congratulations, Team Rise Up, 502c(3): Jake Ackley, Mariya Baker, Kiri Mitchell, John Purcell, Gerel Richey, Jessica Snyder, Treneice Walton, and Adam Wilkinson. Thank you to Encore Mentor Ginger Wallace.

The Ignite Louisville Leadership Challenge project is the live application lab where the program curriculum gets put to work. Real nonprofit partner. Real organizational challenge. Real deadline. Six months of learning, tested in the real world.

Presenting Sponsor | Norton Healthcare
Community Acceleration Teams Sponsor | Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana

What changes when you stop assuming and start listening?One Ignite Louisville team — Team Fellowship of the Flame — foun...
06/09/2026

What changes when you stop assuming and start listening?

One Ignite Louisville team — Team Fellowship of the Flame — found out alongside The Dot Experience at the American Printing House for the Blind. The challenge: build a complete volunteer program from scratch for one of the most accessible museums in the world — with no existing program, no dedicated staff, and an opening timeline beyond the program.

Using adaptive leadership, human-centered design, and storytelling tools from the Ignite program, they went beyond the brief — meeting members of the blind and low-vision community directly and letting those conversations shape everything they built.

The team created and led:
✔️ A full volunteer program built from scratch
✔️ Accessibility-focused training grounded in real community voices
✔️ University partnerships for long-term volunteer pipeline
✔️ Redefined the volunteer role from docents to Connectors — a decision shaped directly by community listening

Human-centered leadership. Asking better questions. Listening to the people you're building for. That skill shows up in every project, every team, every stakeholder conversation. That's what Ignite Louisville develops.

Nominations and applications for the Ignite Louisville Class of 2027 are open through August 3.

🔗 https://leadershiplouisville.org/ignite-louisville/

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Congratulations, Team Fellowship of the Flame: Steven Cull, Nicholas Curtis, Lindsay Duncan, Laina Foushee, Dustin Gilchrist, Samantha Jackson, Abby Miles, and Andreas Wokutch. Thank you to Encore Mentor Angela Howard Thompson.

The Ignite Louisville Leadership Challenge project is the live application lab where the program curriculum gets put to work. Real nonprofit partner. Real organizational challenge. Real deadline. Six months of learning, tested in the real world.

Presenting Sponsor | Norton Healthcare
Community Acceleration Teams Sponsor | Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana

Meet Rev. Dr. Jamesetta Ferguson ✨Senior Pastor. Community builder. Visionary leader.Through her leadership at St. Peter...
06/04/2026

Meet Rev. Dr. Jamesetta Ferguson ✨

Senior Pastor. Community builder. Visionary leader.

Through her leadership at St. Peter’s UCC and the founding of MOLO Village, she has created spaces that empower individuals, strengthen neighborhoods, and drive real impact across Louisville.

💜 Hear her story at 100 Wise Women on June 26!
🎟️ https://leadershiplouisville.org/100-wise-women/

Presented by JPMorganChase

How do you move from understanding a problem to actually solving it, while the clock is running?One Ignite Louisville te...
06/04/2026

How do you move from understanding a problem to actually solving it, while the clock is running?

One Ignite Louisville team — Team Paw Patrol — closed that gap alongside WAGS Pet Therapy, an all-volunteer nonprofit bringing pet therapy to 100+ facilities across Louisville. The challenge: rising visit demand, a volunteer pipeline that wasn't keeping up, and nearly half of new volunteers not making it past orientation.

Rather than planning in a vacuum, they applied communication strategy, storytelling, and systems thinking to diagnose the real challenge — then split into two workstreams, one on recruitment and one on retention, and tested their solutions in real time.

The team created and led:
✔️ A fully redesigned onboarding and volunteer experience
✔️ A social media strategy launched and tested live
✔️ A membership roadmap and recruitment toolkit
✔️ Sustainable systems handed off for long-term use

This year's Ignite Louisville Leadership Challenge winner. 🏆

Speed to ex*****on. Testing and iterating in real time. These are the skills that separate good ideas from real impact.

Nominations and applications for the Ignite Louisville Class of 2027 are open through August 3.

🔗 https://leadershiplouisville.org/ignite-louisville/

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Congratulations to Team Paw Patrol: Lori Andriot, Abigail Fletcher, Christina Mudd, Janet Patterson, Austin Taasaas, Trent Taylor, Jonathan Vest, and Alison Voit. And thank you to Encore Mentor Beth Dlutowski for guiding this team through the work.

The Ignite Louisville Leadership Challenge project is the live application lab where the program curriculum gets put to work. Real nonprofit partner. Real organizational challenge. Real deadline. Six months of learning, tested in the real world.

Presenting Sponsor | Norton Healthcare
Community Acceleration Teams Sponsor | Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana

We’re excited to welcome Rob Thomas as the new Director of Marketing for the Leadership Louisville Center and LeadingBe...
06/03/2026


We’re excited to welcome Rob Thomas as the new Director of Marketing for the Leadership Louisville Center and LeadingBetter!

Rob brings a strong background in brand strategy, communications, audience growth, and strategic storytelling across nonprofit, media, healthcare, consumer brands, and professional development organizations. In his role, he will lead marketing efforts that help expand awareness, engagement, and enrollment across our leadership development programs and events.

Before joining the Leadership Louisville Center, Rob served as Marketing Director for Protect Environmental, leading national growth marketing initiatives and data-driven campaigns across multiple U.S. markets. His career also includes leadership roles with WHAS11, the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, and Brown-Forman Corporation.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee with a degree in Marketing and a Cornell University certificate in Marketing Analytics, Rob is passionate about building brands that inspire action and strengthen community connections through leadership.

We’re especially excited that Rob already knows the power of our mission firsthand as a graduate of Leadership Louisville and Focus Louisville.

Please join us in welcoming Rob to the team!

You're already leading. Ignite Louisville helps you lead at a higher level.You're the person people rely on. The one tru...
06/02/2026

You're already leading. Ignite Louisville helps you lead at a higher level.

You're the person people rely on. The one trusted with important work. The one teammates turn to for direction. The one figuring out how to move projects and people forward.

But many professionals reach this stage of their careers without ever being formally developed as leaders.

Ignite Louisville was built to close that gap.

This competitive six-month leadership experience brings 50+ high-potential professionals from across Louisville to strengthen the skills that matter most: communication, influence, strategic thinking, collaboration, and leading through others.

Participants immediately apply what they learn through a live consulting project serving a local non-profit and gaining practical experience while building relationships across industries and sectors.

Since 2004, Ignite graduates have gone on to lead organizations, serve on boards, and make a lasting impact throughout the Louisville community.

The connections, perspective, and confidence built in this room can shape a career for years to come.

Applications and nominations for the Class of 2027 are open. Deadline: August 3, 2026.

👉 Apply or learn more → https://leadershiplouisville.org/ignite-louisville/

Presenting Sponsor | Norton

Address

707 W Main Street
Louisville, KY
40202

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+15025610458

Website

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