Sam Kennedy was promoted to Senior Vice President/Sales and Marketing in 2005 after joining the club as VP/Corporate Partnerships on March 25, 2002. The Brookline, MA native was among the first executives that Red Sox President/CEO Larry Lucchino brought with him from the San Diego Padres, for whom Kennedy had worked six years. Since joining the Red Sox, Kennedy and his staff have increased sponsorship revenue by more than 250 percent, premium licensing revenue by 160 percent and the season ticket base by 30 percent. The club has sold out 307 consecutive games at Fenway Park since May 2003, and has set attendance records in each of the past five seasons. Beyond the numbers, Kennedy has been a key contributor to the club’s revitalized marketing effort. For example, the popular giant flag that drapes the Green Monster on special occasions was his idea.
Kennedy oversees sponsorship (sales and service) and tickets (sales, operations and service). In 2003, he helped conceive and execute the successful sales and marketing plan for the new “Legends Suite” at Fenway Park, the Dugout Seats innovation, and new tasteful advertising positions above the Green Monster. In 2004 Kennedy secured a long term partnership with Anheuser-Busch that was instrumental in the creation of the new Right Field Roof seats at Fenway. In 2005 he was charged with developing the sales and marketing plan for the new club seats at Fenway Park set that debuted in 2006. Kennedy also secured long term naming rights deals for the EMC Club and the State Street Pavilion at Fenway Park. He also serves as Chairman of the Boston Red Sox Diversity Committee and the club’s marketing liaison to Major League Baseball.
In an effort to diversify New England Sports Ventures’ business interests, Kennedy helped create Fenway Sports Group in March 2004 with his longtime colleague, Mike Dee. Dee and Kennedy have built FSG into a well respected national sports marketing agency in just over two years. Kennedy has assisted in recruiting and hiring all senior FSG executives as well as taken on responsibility for all sales related to FSG’s properties (including Boston College Athletics, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the Deutsche Bank Championship and consulting services). Additionally he works with Dee on all day-to-day business operations, including budgeting and the long-term strategic plan for the company.
Prior to joining the Red Sox, Kennedy was the Padres’ Executive Director/Corporate Partnerships and Broadcasting. Originally hired as an account executive in 1996, he tripled sponsorship revenues from 1996-2001. Kennedy oversaw the sale of signage at Qualcomm Stadium (home of the Padres, Chargers, Super Bowl XXXII and other events), virtual advertising, promotional programs, broadcast media and print advertising. He also played an integral role in securing financing and developing the sales and marketing strategy for the Padres’ new downtown ballpark, Petco Park, conceived by Larry Lucchino. Before joining the Padres, he sold radio advertising for WFAN 660AM and WABC 770AM in New York.
Sam attended Trinity College in Hartford, CT, where he played baseball and earned a degree in American Studies in 1995. At Brookline High, he was a classmate and baseball teammate of colleague Theo Epstein. In 2004 Kennedy was sworn in as a board member on the Massachusetts Governor’s Committee for Physical Fitness and Sports. Sam and his wife of eight years, Amanda, reside in Wellesley, MA with their three-year-old son, Jimmy and two-year-old daughter, Ally.
Kristin Bernert is the Vice President of Team Business Development for the WNBA.
MODERATOR
Tom Davenport holds the President's Chair in Information Technology and Management at Babson College and is responsible for the overall management of the Institute for Process Management. His most recent book, Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning is available on pre-order.
In 2003 he was named one of the Top 25 consultants in the world by Consulting magazine. He is also an Accenture Fellow, and in 2003, he was the the Academic Director of the Information Work Productivity Council, a research consortium of seven technology firms. He directed research centers at Ernst & Young, McKinsey & Company, and CSC Index, and most recently, what used to be called the Accenture Institute of Strategic Change.
He has written, co-authored or edited ten books, including the first books on business process reengineering, knowledge management, and the business use of enterprise systems. He has also written hundreds of articles and columns for such publications as Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Financial Times, Information Week, CIO and many others.
