Joe Kennedy

The Team Co-Founder & Chairman

Joe Kennedy, co-founder and Chairman of The Team, is a lifelong basketball player and coach with extensive experience in both sports and the nonprofit sector. He believes deeply in the power of sports as a force for positive change. Kennedy is the inaugural Director of Athletics and Sports Leadership at the Obama Presidential Center (OPC), where he leads transformational programming designed to empower communities through health and well-being programs, leadership development, career exploration, and relationship-building through sports and play. Under his leadership, the Center will launch Home Court, a 45,000-square-foot athletic center on the Center’s campus. Home Court is designed as a welcoming gateway to the Obama Presidential Center that champions the power of sports to teach young people teamwork, discipline, and the life skills essential for success beyond the playing field.

Growing up in a basketball family, Kennedy’s life has been deeply embedded in sports. A 2007 Northwestern University graduate with a degree in education and social policy, Kennedy was a four-year letterman on the men’s basketball team, served as captain, and was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree for the Wildcats.

His career began in public service as an intern for Senator Obama, later serving as campaign staffer and then special assistant in the Obama White House Office of Public Engagement. While at the White House, he worked with national organizations to advance legislative initiatives. He also played a key role in creating a coalition of major sports organizations to support First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign and coordinated championship team visits to the White House.

Kennedy transitioned into basketball operations and coaching, serving as director of men’s basketball operations at Northwestern and Oregon State, and video coordinator for the Sacramento Kings. He spent seven years as the lead assistant coach at the College of the Holy Cross, helping lead the team to the 2016 Patriot League Championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance. A 12-year coaching veteran, he remains an active member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

In 2022, Kennedy co-founded The Team and became its first executive director. He had previously collaborated with Coach Eric Reveno and Lisa Kay Solomont to launch and grow All Vote No Play, a college athletics movement focused on increasing student-athlete voter participation. Built from the foundation of this movement in college athletics, The Team has developed innovative civic engagement resources for over 400 college campuses nationwide, directly  engaging more than 250,000 athletes, coaches and administrators while influencing NCAA legislation to designate Election Day for civic engagement. Kennedy is passionate about using the platform of sports for good, making civic engagement a priority in athletics, and driving meaningful systems change.