Kevin Konopasek (pronounced like Coo-No-Pah-Zick), former Indiana Director of Athletic Performance, was hired as the University of Kentucky’s Director of Strength & Conditioning and Athletic Performance for Women’s Basketball on June 26, 2024. He enters his third season with the Wildcats’ women’s basketball program in 2026-27.

Konopasek arrived in Lexington after spending 11 seasons at Indiana University, including the final eight seasons with women’s basketball and men’s and women’s swimming.

In that position, Konopasek has helped the women’s basketball program reach six postseason appearances, including five NCAA Tournament bids and the 2018 WNIT Championship. He aided in the efforts of 31 All-Big Ten honorees and 19 All-America selections, including All-America First Team honoree Mackenzie Holmes and WNBA lottery draft pick Grace Berger. The Hoosiers have won 20 games or more in all eight seasons of his tenure.

Moreover, he has worked with the Indiana men’s and women’s swimming program, guiding greats like Olympian and four-time NCAA Champion Lilly King and seven other Olympians at the 2020 Tokyo Games, including Blake Pieroni, Zach Apple, Annie Lazor and Michael Brinegar who all competed for Team USA. He has also trained athletes from six other nations during their time at Indiana who competed at the 2020 Olympic Games in Marwan El Kamash (Egypt), Vini Lanza (Brazil), Tomer Frankel (Israel) and Bailey Andison (Canada).

Konopasek’s time with swimming has also seen the men’s and women’s programs combine for seven Big Ten titles as well as 101 All-Big Ten First Team honors.

In the summer of 2014, Konopasek completed an internship at EXOS, formerly Athlete’s Performance, in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Throughout his internship experience, Konopasek was able to train athletes from the NFL, NBA and U.S. Military Special Forces. He also assisted the Argentinian National Rugby Team train for the World Cup and SOCOM tactical athletes prepare for the Warrior Games.

Konopasek received his master’s in kinesiology with a focus in applied sport science from Indiana University in May 2015. Prior to Indiana, Konopasek received his undergraduate degree in movement and sport science from Purdue University in May 2013. A native of Griffith, Indiana, Konopasek and his wife Kali have one son, Paxton, and one daughter, Parker.

Dr. JonRobert Tartaglione is a psychologist and behavioral scientist. He's worked with leadership teams at organizations like McDonald's, Visa, Nintendo, Boys & Girls Clubs, and more and holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Cambridge.

His work focuses on the question: "What moves people to think, behave, or decide differently?" He is the Founder and CEO of Influence 51, a specialized consulting firm that equips clients with academic insights on the science of influence, persuasion, strategic communication, and change, with the goal of developing more effective leaders and building smarter strategies.

Nell Derick Debevoise Dewey (aka Nell 3D) is a leadership strategist, keynote speaker, and Forbes Leadership contributor who helps ambitious, big-hearted leaders build success that feels as good as it looks. As founder of a certified B Corporation and creator of the Lead in 3D™ framework, she works with leaders across Fortune 500 companies, global nonprofits, and universities to subtract what's draining them and amplify what actually works.

Nell's approach draws on psychology studies at Harvard, nearly a decade of nonprofit leadership from Rome to the West Bank to Mozambique, and, perhaps most transformationally, equine-assisted coaching, which taught her what no leadership course could: that presence isn't a soft skill, it's the whole game.

Her Substack, Subtract to Succeed, is a laboratory for systematic subtraction and the basis for a forthcoming book. She lives between Greenwich, Connecticut and Big Sky, Montana, with her husband, two bernedoodles, and visiting adult step-kids as often as possible.

www.nell3d.com