GUEST SPEAKER: Meredith Knopps
TOPIC: Tenacity in Leadership
WHERE: Cugino’s: 1595 N Hwy 67 Florissant, MO 63031
WHEN: Thursdsay April 24, 2025 – 11:30AM-1:00PM CST
Meredith Knopp is a US Army Veteran and International Best-Selling author, who today is responsible for making sure nearly 500,000 people in eastern Missouri and southwestern Illinois are fed each year. As President and CEO of the St. Louis Area Foodbank, Knopp oversees an organization that provides more than 50 million meals annually for individuals facing food insecurity.
Before joining the Foodbank, Knopp was the Senior Vice President of Programs and Operations at The Mission Continues. During her six and a half years there, she helped design and launch new programs to empower more than 25,000 veterans to leave a lasting impact on their communities in addition to awarding 2,000 community service fellowships to post-9/11 veterans nationwide.
Prior to her role at The Mission Continues, Knopp served as Senior Vice President for Junior Achievement of St. Louis. Her four years of nonprofit leadership there followed five years as a General Manager in large-format retail. She also served seven years with the United States Army during which time she rose through the ranks to become Captain, Company Commander and Senior Project Officer.
With the dedicated partnership of nearly 600 hunger-relief programs and local agencies – including soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and residential programs – we are responding to hunger in communities across 26 counties in Missouri and Illinois – last year distributing over 52 million meals in the bi-state region.
Since opening in 1975, and with the tremendous support and generosity of this community, the St. Louis Area Foodbank has grown to become our region’s largest food distribution charity dedicated to feeding those in need. Together, we are feeding people and working to address the root causes of hunger for lasting impact every day. Our Vision is simply A nutritionally secure Missouri and Illinois and our mission is: Building a stronger bi-state region by nourishing people, empowering communities, and transforming systems.
The St. Louis Area Foodbank was honored to receive the BBB Torch Award for the first time in 2019. In late 2020, Meredith was named one of the top 25 Most Influential Businesswomen in St. Louis. In 2022 the Foodbank was recognized by Feeding America for Excellence in Community Building and by FOCUS St Louis during their “What’s Right with the Region” awards for Demonstrating Innovative Solutions. In both 2023 and 2024 Meredith was named a St Louis TITAN 100 Leader in recognition of her contributions to the community and was inducted into the St Louis TITAN Hall of Fame on April 24, 2025. The Foodbank recently received awards from both Pathfinder Church as a 2023 the “Light of St Louis” winner and Feeding America for “Living our Values” as part of the Midwest Region Disaster Cohort. They are also a winner of the “Best in Bridgeton” award for the past 3 years (2021-2023). Most recently they received a National award from Feeding America for the innovation and partnerships locally with Amazon, that translated into creating a National program, benefitting food banks across the country.
Meredith was born and raised outside Detroit, Michigan, and today lives outside St. Louis with her husband of over 21 years, Ken and their daughter, Abigail.
