Forty-eight community leaders selected for Bingham Fellows Class of 2022 – Topic is “Moving Downtown Forward: Adapt & Reinvent”

For Immediate Release

Louisville, Kentucky (January 20, 2022) – From a very competitive pool of candidates, forty-eight community leaders have been selected to participate in the Leadership Louisville Center’s Bingham Fellows Class of 2022. The topic for the 2022 Bingham Fellows will be: “Moving Downtown Forward: Adapt & Reinvent.”  As with every Bingham Fellows program year, the class is made up of a talented group of local leaders with a broad knowledge base and range of experience on the topic. The focus will be on how we can leverage the dramatic changes over the last two years to adapt and reinvent our city center, especially considering the gaps that have been uncovered and how to redefine what downtown can be and do for Louisville. Beginning today, the 2022 Class will consider this area that has been hard-hit by the pandemic and develop strategies to create a more vibrant, resilient, and equitable urban core.

Throughout the program, participants will work in teams on projects that will be revealed to the public at its completion. The Bingham Fellows class of 2021 will be sharing their projects on the topic, “Belonging: Building a Culture of Inclusivity” on March 3, 2022 from 5:15-6:15 p.m. This event will be streamed live virtually and all are invited to attend – register here for Bingham Fellows Class of 2021 Project Reveal.

“Since the program’s creation in 1988, Bingham Fellows have been leading to address critical economic and social issues. For over 30 years, it has been part of the formula to address our community’s most complex topics and unite diverse voices toward action,” said Cynthia Knapek, president of the Leadership Louisville Center. “This program acts as a social innovation accelerator because we bring people with very different backgrounds, opinions, and cultures together under the same tent, we create an environment built on trust, and then we challenge participants to think differently. This class not only carries on that tradition but elevates it and our urban core will be stronger as a result of their work.”

Members of the Bingham Fellows Class of 2022 are (link to photo roster):

Christian Adelberg, Kentucky Performing Arts; Kristian Anderson, Louisville Visual Art Association; Yvonne Austin-Cornish, Ed.D., Louisville MSD; Callie Baumann, Humana Inc.; Julie Benton, &well; Fr. Matthew Bradley, Christ Church Cathedral; Megan Breier, Beam Suntory; Carrie Butler, Transit Authority of River City | TARC; Brian Butler, Stites & Harbison PLLC; Nikki Carver, JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Pai Charasika, Infinity Asset Management; J. Christopher Coffman, Frost Brown Todd LLC; Natasha Collins, LG&E and KU Energy; Prenashee Collins, TBAIN&Co.; Joe Franklin, TEKsystems; Christopher Fuller, K. Norman Berry Associates Architects PLLC | KNBA; LaVeda M. Gipson, PharmD, Aetna; Blake Henry, Kentucky Venues; Hank Hillebrand, Poe Companies; Jill Horn, Brown-Forman Corporation; Christopher Johnson; Louis Johnson, Gresham Smith; Matt Kamer, Bandy Carroll Hellige; Fr. Frederick Klotter, Holy Spirit Church – Archdiocese of Louisville; Steven Kniffley Jr., PsyD, Spalding University; Major Shannon Lauder, Louisville Metro Police Department; Riggs Lewis, Norton Healthcare; MK Lindsey, Weyland Ventures; Emily Yu Liu, Louisville Metro Government; David Lopez, Metro United Way; Andrew McCarthy, Norton Healthcare; Jeffrey O’Brien, Louisville Metro Government; Douglas Owen III, JLL (formerly Cassidy Turley Harry K Moore); Ameerah Palacios, HDR; Brooke Pardue, Parks Alliance of Louisville; Lawrence Portaro, GE Appliances, a Haier company; Charles Benjamin Simmons, Schmidt Associates; Chip Snyder, PNC Bank; Robbie Tindall, Humana Inc.; Nachand Trabue, Bates Community Development Corporation; Sherri L. Wallace, Ph.D., University of Louisville; Christopher Ward, DMLO CPAs; Kathy Mayberry Washington, Simmons College of Kentucky; Johanna Wheatley, Republic Bank | Republic Bank & Trust Company; Drew Wilkerson, Ed.D., Jefferson Community and Technical College | JCTC; Garth Williams, Derby City Gaming; Nicole Yates, Passport Health Plan; and Josh Zik, The Al J. Schneider Company | AJS Hotels.

More about the 2022 Topic – “Moving Downtown Forward: Adapt and Reinvent”

A vibrant, thriving downtown creates a place where people want to live, new residents want to move, visitors fall in love, and everyone feels welcome. Some of the best places in the world include a city center where citizens can shop, work, and enjoy cultural and recreational activities, within a short walk or ride.

Louisville’s downtown has had challenges and we now have the opportunity to leverage the dramatic changes we’ve faced to adapt and reinvent our city center. How do we use what the past two years have taught us, the gaps it has uncovered, and the changes it has caused, to redefine what downtown can be and do for Louisville? How can we reclaim and expand the vibrancy that was growing before the pandemic – vitality fueled by amazing new parks, incredible museums and arts institutions, high-end sports facilities, memorable hotels, world-class restaurants, and of course, bourbon?

This will be the focus of the Bingham Fellows Class of 2022 – Moving Downtown Forward: Adapt and Reinvent.

Crisis brings the rare opportunity to rebuild, and Louisville’s downtown has been one of the areas most impacted. We will use this moment to examine our urban core and build a better backbone, allowing our city to grow both economically and socially. We will explore opportunities to adapt and evolve:

• How do we increase foot traffic, not just during games and working hours?
• How can we repurpose vacant office space as the ways we work have evolved?
• How do we make downtown a people-centric place, integrated into the lives of our residents?
• How do we support locally owned small businesses and strengthen our community’s local assets?
• How can we improve mobility, reduce traffic, and expand pedestrian infrastructure?
• How might we create corridors to better connect and increase access to our downtown amenities?
• How can we better address homelessness, prioritize public safety, and turn around perception?
• How will we invest as we rethink the ways in which downtown can serve its people?

Louisville deserves a downtown that inspires excitement and pride. The 2022 Bingham Fellows will focus on these areas hard-hit by the pandemic, to create a more vibrant, resilient, and equitable urban core.

About the Bingham Fellows program:

The Bingham Fellows program is the advanced leadership program of the Leadership Louisville Center. Created in 1988 through a $500,000 endowment from the Mary and Barry Bingham Sr. Fund, the Fellows are social entrepreneurs who have the imagination and talent needed to gather critical resources and create social change. Side by side with peers,

participants work to develop dynamic and innovative solutions to our community’s most pressing challenges. The 2022 cohort will be the 30^th class, and the Bingham Fellows have had an impressive track record of providing community issues with visibility and momentum.

The Fellows don’t ponder what might be. They roll up their sleeves, shine a spotlight on an issue, and put new ideas to work. Their recent impact includes projects such as the West Louisville community development organization OneWest, regular Café Louie conversations with elected officials at Louisville Free Public Library locations, a sustainable model for neighborhood ‘Little Free Libraries,’ and City Champs, a talent attraction and retention program now managed by Greater Louisville Inc. The impact of the Fellows goes back to the 1990s with the creation of The Housing Partnership, construction of the Presbyterian Community Center, growth of local farmers’ markets, and numerous other positive outcomes.

The Bingham Fellows Class of 2021 will present their initiatives focused on the topic Belonging: Building a Culture of Inclusivity on March 3, 2022. Details and register to attend at this link.

ABOUT THE LEADERSHIP LOUISVILLE CENTER

The Leadership Louisville Center is the region’s most valuable resource for leadership development and civic engagement. With a purpose to inspire and equip leaders to be better and do better, it has graduated over 10,000 through its civic programs since 1979. The Center is recognized as a national best practice and is known for its dynamic programming and strong community connections. Programming includes five social impact leadership programs (Leadership Louisville, Focus Louisville, Ignite Louisville, Bingham Fellows and Encore Louisville), leadership skills training courses presented through the Leadership Green Room, and events designed to connect leaders and motivate positive change. Learn more at www.leadershiplouisville.org.

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For more information, contact:

Holly Prather, Vice President
Office: (502) 753-6503
hprather@leadershiplouisville.org