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You won’t want to miss this conversation…

Global trade is in the spotlight for 2025 and, with such a complicated issue, we want to take a closer look at the role of transportation in the global market and challenges it poses for our national defense. Without the significant contributions of the U.S. Navy to maintain stability and security in the maritime domain, thereby supporting global transportation networks, there is little need to spar over tariffs and trade agreements. As a maritime nation, our Navy protects us at sea alongside our allies and partners, and defends freedom, preserves economic prosperity, and keeps the seas open and free. Seaborne commerce accounts for approximately 90% of total global trade.

Join us this June for KBT’s Annual Mid-Year Luncheon, where we will talk with Rear Admiral Gene Price, USNR (Ret.) and Captain William Hamblet, USN (Ret.) about their naval service at some of the most critical events in recent history and how it has informed their views about the global opportunities and challenges we face today.

Check-in, networking, and coffee will begin at 10:30AM EST, with lunch seating beginning at 11AM. The program will begin at 11:30AM and conclude by 1PM.

Thank you to our sponsor, STANTEC

$100 Government Rate
$125 KBT and/or KAM Member Rate
$150 Non-Member Rate

Invitation Only- Board of Directors meeting will take place prior to the luncheon, beginning at 8:30AM EST.

Our 2025 Mid-Year Luncheon Featured Speakers:

Captain Bill Hamblet, Editor-in-Chief, Proceedings

Bill Hamblet is the Editor-in-Chief of Proceedings magazine and the executive vice president for periodicals, membership, and marketing at the U.S. Naval Institute. First published in 1874, Proceedings is one of the oldest continuously published magazines in the United States, and it is recognized as the home for independent debate for issues impacting the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard and national and global security. 

Bill retired from the U.S. Navy in 2016 as a captain after 29 years as a naval intelligence officer. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (1987), Naval War College, Joint Forces Staff College, and the National Defense University. During his career, he served at sea as the intelligence officer for an FA-18 squadron, a Navy SEAL Team, a Carrier Air Wing, and a Carrier Strike Group. On September 11th, 2001, he was in the Pentagon and helped organize the Joint Staff’s (J2) immediate reaction to the terrorist attack. From 2004-2006, he served as the U.S. naval attaché to Russia. He led the China Division at the U.S. Pacific Command Joint Intelligence Operations Center from 2009 to 2012. His team analyzed the rapid growth, modernization, doctrine, training, exercises, and deployments of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. For his final tour, Bill worked in the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) where he focused on whole-of-government counterterrorism planning for the Middle East. Much of his work at NCTC centered on U.S. and coalition efforts to counter ISIS, foreign fighters, and online extremism. 

During his Navy career, Bill wrote often for Proceedings and served on the editorial board and board of directors of the U.S. Naval Institute from 1993 to 1997.

Rear Admiral Gene Price

Rear Adm. Gene Price was commissioned an intelligence officer in 1986 after
earning his Bachelor of Arts at the University of Louisville. As a junior officer he served as targeteer/analyst during the war in Kosovo, as a watch stander on United States European Command’s Crisis Action Team, and as political advisor for NATO’s Ambassador to Macedonia. Price was mobilized to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in 2003, where he supported Operation Iraqi Freedom as Chief of Iraqi Maritime Analysis, and later led a maritime-focused analysis team in southern Iraq.

Price led Naval Reserve (NR) Naval Forces Central Command 0267, recognized as Navy Reserve Intelligence Command of the Year, and led U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s (USINDOPACOM) Joint Detachment Minneapolis, recognized twice as USINDOPACOM’s reserve detachment of the year. He served in major command at Naval Intelligence Reserve Region Southeast. Price again mobilized in 2011 to Afghanistan where he served as senior U.S. intelligence officer at Region North in Mazar-e-Sharif, and led its Multinational Fusion Center in conjunction with U.S. coalition partners. After redeployment, he was assigned to Information Dominance Corps Reserve Command. Price promoted to flag and was recalled to active duty as Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. Tenth Fleet Deputy Commander 2015-2017. He next assumed command of Naval Information Forces Reserve (CNIFR) in 2017. In 2019, he was re-assigned as commander, Office of Naval Intelligence, and director, National Maritime Intelligence-Integration Office. He returned to CNIFR that same year. In 2020 he was assigned as vice commander, Naval Information Forces. Price was selected as the U.S. Navy’s senior representative for the 58th Presidential Inauguration in 2017 and is a member of the Navy’s Space Cadre.

As a civilian, he is an attorney and Member of Frost Brown Todd LLC, a nationally- ranked law firm, and has been selected by his peers as a member of “Best Lawyers in America”. He and his wife Diane have six children and reside in Louisville, Kentucky when not on active duty.