Monday, June 30, 2008
Just two weeks on the job, Adam Knapp stops between meetings, his attention diverted to the rapidly disappearing desk in front of him—the one that became fertile soil for a stockpile of papers, reports and notes a little quicker than he had planned. “I mean, look at this,” Knapp says, shaking his head at his filing system, not his workload. “This is always the challenge when you’re constantly going on different tracks at the same time.”
Knapp’s tenure as CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber began after the start of the legislative session, which means he spent the bulk of the spring meeting hundreds of stakeholders from across the chamber’s nine-parish region. But he didn’t just press flesh at the Capitol; his office produced weekly editorials to summarize mountains of research, and highlighted the bills and funding priorities that matter most to the region’s economic success. The documents, called Strategy Paper, were posted online and handed to legislators.
“I realized we needed to translate all the good work BRAC had been doing into action items that we can do today to advance the region,” Knapp says.
Since taking the job his golf game has suffered, and his soccer team rides him for missing games. The 34-year-old former deputy director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority is putting in tremendous hours at BRAC, and makes sure to spend his time away from the office with his wife of one year.
Age: 34
Hometown: Lake Charles
Title: CEO, Baton Rouge Area Chamber
Knapp’s first flush was not without good fortune. A week in, Albemarle announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters to downtown Baton Rouge.
His quick start and his young age have earned Knapp comparisons to Bobby Jindal. Like the governor, “It’s a trend that’s happening around the state,” Knapp says. “There are a lot of young people truly passionate about being a voice and bringing new ideas to public policy.”
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