Biography

Some people bring a special energy... a memorable touch... a unique vision, to everything they do. Anyone who has ever worked with Brian Kennedy recognizes that he is one of those people.

Brian is an Army veteran who came to El Paso from Minnesota in 1975 with US army intelligence. As Brian tells it, he pulled a snow shovel out of the trunk of his car, and when people asked "What's that?" he decided El Paso was the place for him.

While serving as VP of Operations for KHEY, he entertained us during our morning drive as a nationally recognized, top country, KHEY disc jockey with the unforgettable "Rio Trio".

A valued voice for decades on boards and committees from Viva to the Historical Landmark Commission, to the Sun Bowl, to Big Brothers/Big Sisters, to the FBI Citizen's Academy... Brian is valued for his ability to see solutions after everyone else has given up.

Brian Kennedy's tenacious vision spearheaded the unique model for a private-public partnership that privatized the Coliseum operations in 2003. From that point forward, salaries at the Coliseum, including Brian's, were paid through Hotel Motel tax generated by out-of-town visitors. From 1998 to 2021, Brian was Director and then CEO, carrying responsibility for the multi-million-dollar operations of the historic El Paso Coliseum and the El Paso Sports Commission. His unique ability to negotiate, skillful business acumen, and promotional and marketing ability made the Coliseum one of the most highly booked venues of its size in the Southwest.

Brian's tenacity, relationship-building, and negotiation skills gave El Paso the United States Bowling Congress Women's Championship in 2011... the USBC Open Championship in 2015, and Conference USA in 2011 and 2014... resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in sports tourism for our community.

His cooperative relationship with Corey Herman, Head Coach of the El Paso Rhinos, gave us a nationally recognized hockey team and a highly popular public skating program.

In 2014, Brian received his multi-disciplinary BBA from UTEP in Accounting, Business, and Border Studies. And then, one afternoon in a casual courtyard discussion with his wife about living without regrets, Brian shared that he had always wanted to be a lawyer. Her response? "Then do it." At the age of 59, Brian took the LSAT and was accepted into the first class of the first hybrid law program approved by the American Bar Association. While fulfilling a demanding day job, he completed law school in the evenings and weekends. He won regional and national negotiation competitions to represent the U.S. at the 2017 International Negotiation Competition in Oslo where he and his partner received their first-place medal at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway. And in 2018, Brian Kennedy fulfilled a lifelong dream, to become a lawyer. He graduated with honors at the age of 62 from Mitchell Hamlin School of Law with his then 86-year-old Mother watching. Today, he has a full-time law practice and enjoys living his dream every day.

Along the way, the El Paso Sports Commission resulted in hundreds of sporting events and made the Coliseum a go-to community building for a full range of youth sports organizations. There is scarcely a kid in sports in El Paso that has not been touched by his accommodating dedication to often-overlooked youth sports.

Brian lectured twice at the National Facilities and Event Expos as a nationally recognized expert in sports events and facility security and has served as a confidential consultant on ingress, egress, and safety over the last decades to two major national sports leagues and the world's leading sports and event promoters in U.S. and abroad. He was called on to put all that experience to use for his hometown during COVID when he was asked to complement UMC's vaccine readiness by designing a throughput process (that ingress, egress thing) at the Coliseum that resulted in over 220,000 lifesaving vaccines.

In 2021, Brian was given the opportunity to see his legacy continue as he mentored new leadership at the El Paso Sports Commission, President Omar Ropele, and VP Beau Bagley who benefited from Brian's four decades of industry experience. In 2022, Brian was honored to be inducted into the El Paso Sports Hall of Fame.

Brian was elected as City Council Representative for District 1 in December of 2022, overwhelmingly winning the vote over 6 other candidates. He ran for office out of a concern for the direction of municipal government: particularly planning for the maintenance and quality of roads, the development of diverse income streams to relieve the burden of property tax owners, and reducing debt.

On January 30, 2024, Rep. Kennedy was elected as the Mayor Pro Tempore.

Brian is married to Dennece Knight. They have made their life together supporting each other's crazy ideas. One of those ideas is that you should leave things a little better than you find them. 

Together they share six children including a therapist, a chef, a counselor, a head of operations at the Spencer Theatre, a soon-to-graduate law student, and a soon-to-be resident in Emergency Medicine.