2025 Leadership Louisville Luncheon Recap: Visionaries Wanted

Visionaries are wanted, and Louisville is answering the call.

By Holly Prather, Chief Operations Officer,
Leadership Louisville Center | LeadingBetter,
Photos by Daniel Hunt

On September 16, 2025, the Leadership Louisville Center and the Office of the Mayor welcomed more than 1,300 business and community leaders to the city’s largest annual convening of changemakers. The Leadership Louisville Luncheon has always been about rallying visionaries who see possibility where others see challenge, and this year’s theme, Visionaries Wanted, could not have been more fitting. It was more than just a celebration. It was a rallying cry. Together, Louisville’s business, civic, and community leaders committed to being the “someones” who step up, connect across differences, and shape a stronger, more innovative future.

A Call to Action from Cynthia Knapek

Leadership Louisville Center President & CEO Cynthia Knapek opened the event with gratitude for the energy in the room and a challenge to every leader present:

“One of the defining characteristics of real leaders, the kind we call community trustees, is that they have a vision for a better future state. They don’t just see problems. They imagine what’s possible. And most importantly, they are willing to do the work to make that future real.”

Cynthia reminded the audience that Leadership Louisville has been at the forefront of building civic leaders for over 45 years, with alumni shaping nearly every boardroom and initiative in the city. She issued three clear calls to action:

1. Give generously to expand scholarships, ensuring leadership is accessible to all. Thanks to Fifth Third Bank, the first $5,353 in donations were matched.

JOIN THE RIPPLE

2. Nominate visionaries for programs like Focus Louisville and Bingham Fellows, creating ripples of leadership across organizations and neighborhoods.

NOMINATE LEADERS

3. Engage with LeadingBetter, the Center’s talent development brand, to strengthen teams and workplaces with practical, people-centered leadership skills.

INVITATION TO FREE VIRTUAL TRAINING

As Cynthia put it: “When we invest in better leaders, we get better results. And ultimately, a better community.”

Keynote Spotlight: The Promise and Responsibility of AI

The 2025 Leadership Louisville Luncheon keynote panel tackled one of the most urgent questions facing leaders today: How do we harness AI wisely? 

The panel featured:

• Todd Earwood, Co-Founder & Managing Director of HalfCourt Capital, who invests in and advises fast-growing companies.

• Madison Gooch, Vice President of watsonx, IBM’s AI platform, who helps organizations apply AI at scale.

• Virtual insights from Eric Koziol, Partner at Bain & Company, and Karim Lakhani, Professor at Harvard Business School, who offered perspective on global trends and the future of work.

Earwood set the stage by joking that AI stands for “Adept Intern,” underscoring that while AI can handle repetitive work, leaders must provide the context and vision. Gooch emphasized how AI is already everywhere from sports to HR and encouraged leaders to “start small, fail fast, and capture value” to free up time for what matters most.

Together, they broke AI down into real-world applications, answering the questions most leaders are asking:

1. How far behind am I?
   AI adoption is uneven, but it’s moving fast. Earwood encouraged leaders to start experimenting today, reminding the audience that “AI is like an adept intern.” It can handle repetitive tasks, but leaders must guide, manage, and double-check its work.

2. Where is all this going?
   Gooch emphasized that AI is already everywhere—from sports analytics to HR. She shared her personal practice of keeping a “not-to-do list,” using AI to offload low-value work and reclaim time for more important decisions.

3. What don’t I know?
   The panelists cautioned against blind trust, pointing out that even “good people make mistakes” when they assume AI outputs are flawless. Leaders need to vet AI carefully, evaluate the cost of errors, and find low-cost, low-risk opportunities to learn.

How AI Can Help Leaders and Communities

The discussion highlighted how AI, when used wisely, can:

• Free up time for leaders by tackling high-frequency, low-joy tasks.

• Improve community services with faster processes, predictive tools, and more accessible delivery modes.

• Support smarter decisions when treated as a digital teammate rather than an unquestioned authority.

As Earwood put it, leaders should “manage AI like an employee—train it, evaluate its output, and learn its nuances.”

Resources for Visionaries

To help leaders navigate this fast-moving space, the Luncheon program offered a curated set of trusted resources from IBM and HalfCourt Capital, including:

• Free AI & Tech Learning Resources – short courses, credentials, and tools via IBM SkillsBuild.

• Todd Earwood’s curated AI resource library – blogs, podcasts, and newsletters selected to cut through the noise.

The event program was designed as a resource, including an AI Quick Start Guide for Visionaries, where key concepts like AI assistant, chatbots, generative AI, large language models, and prompt engineering were introduced, along with reminders to watch for risks like AI hallucination and bias.

Download event program

The panel’s closing message was clear: AI isn’t just a shortcut. It’s a strategy accelerator when used with curiosity and care, reminding everyone to let AI handle the “no-joy” work so humans can do the connecting, innovating, and leading.

Mayor Craig Greenberg: Innovation at City Hall

Mayor Craig Greenberg delivered an update on Louisville’s progress and momentum reducing crime, improving public spaces, and creating new jobs while spotlighting the city’s investment in AI to deliver smarter, faster government services.

From streamlining zoning and permits to using AI-enabled cameras to detect potholes and blight, the Mayor outlined how Louisville Metro is exploring ways to modernize local government without replacing people:

“This isn’t about replacing our people. It’s about making the ones we have even better at the work they do.”

Greenberg also announced the upcoming appointment of the city’s first Chief AI Officer to ensure AI is used ethically, transparently, and with clear metrics for success.

Additional Voices of Leadership

Several distinguished leaders also shared their perspectives and support:

• John Crockett (LG&E and KU Energy) emphasized his company’s deep connection to Leadership Louisville, with over 100 alumni among their team, and introduced Mayor Greenberg by highlighting his long history of visionary work in Louisville.

• Kim Halbauer (Fifth Third Bank, LLC Board Chair) celebrated the 2025 program graduates and reminded alumni of their lifelong connection to the Center’s mission: to inspire and equip leaders to be better and do better.

• Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman inspired the room with a reminder that Kentucky needs visionaries who can see beyond “the way things have always been” and embrace shared leadership to drive progress.
• David Beck (Kentucky Venues) opened the program by highlighting how leadership is about helping others believe in themselves and celebrated the community’s investment in developing new leaders.