ReCenter Indiana
Please welcome Don Knebel, President of the Board of Directors of ReCenter Indiana, which includes two separate bipartisan organizations to help move Indiana politics closer to the center and to bring more civility to political discussions. Our Indiana political action committee (PAC) provides financial support to political candidates and political campaigns. The other organization, an Indiana not-for-profit corporation, will support pro-democracy activities such as educating voters about issues and procedures for exercising the right to vote.
ReCenter's Core beliefs:
- People over parties: Like candidates for any job, politicians should be judged on their record, character, and impact on those they serve, regardless of whether they lean left or right.
- Results over rhetoric: Voters deserve to know where candidates stand on issues that matter and how we all can make a difference.
- Patriotism over politics: Our democracy is a precious gift that must be preserved for our children and grandchildren, and we must work together, despite our differences, to protect it.
Donald E. (Don) Knebel earned a degree in electrical engineering from Purdue and a law degree from Harvard. Don retired from Barnes & Thornburg LLP at the end of 2013 after 39 years as an intellectual property litigator. Since 2011, he has been an Adjunct Professor and Senior Advisor at the Center for Intellectual Property Research at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, teaching antitrust law and patent litigation. He was recently recognized as the 2024 Adjunct Professor of the Year.
Don has been active in many civic and charitable organizations. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre since 1986 and is now Chair Emeritus. He served as Civic’s Board Chair from 2017 to 2019, the third time he has held this position, and served as Civic’s interim Executive Director from 2015 to 2016. He was the 2010 Campaign Chair for United Way of Central Indiana, where he is an emeritus Board member. He was the co-chair of the 2013 Classical Fellowship Awards for the American Pianist Association and served on its Board. He was the moderator for the 2013 Ardath Burkhart Leadership Series and was on the Steering Committees for the first Festival of Faiths held in Indianapolis in October 2013 and for the visit of the Dalai Lama to Indianapolis in 2016. He was the founding Board Chair of Center for Interfaith Cooperation. He was the Board Chair of the Triangle Education Foundation between 2017 and 2019 and continues to serve on that Board. He is also currently a member of the Board of Directors of Christel House International and the John E. Christian Family Memorial Trust Inc., which operates Samara, a Frank Lloyd Wright house in West Lafayette, Indiana. He is on the Advisory Committee of the Faith and Action initiative of the Christian Theological Seminary, on whose Board he also serves. He served as the inaugural president of the S. Jay Plager Intellectual Property American Inn of Court and is currently serving as the inaugural president of ReCenter Indiana, an organization seeking to bring the politics of Indiana closer to the center.
Don is passionate about the need for members of all religious traditions to have a better understanding of each other and speaks often to churches and community groups on comparative religion and religious history. He is a frequent international travelers and he speaks widely on topics related to that travel. He writes a weekly column on travel for the Current newspapers. His book, Flushed with Curiosity, includes 101 stories about his travel experiences.
Don has received a number of awards for his civic activities, including “Outstanding Electrical Engineer” from Purdue University, “Interfaith Ambassador of the Year” from Center for Interfaith Cooperation, and the “Cap Henning Altruism Award” from Triangle Fraternity. On November 14, 2019, he was named Indiana Philanthropist of the Year by the Indiana Association of Fund Raising Professionals.
For more about ReCenter Indiana visit: https://www.recenterindiana.org/