Earl Gentry "Ken" Kendrick Jr. (born September 2, 1943) is an American billionaire businessman who is the principal owner and managing general partner of the
National League
National League often refers to:
*National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada
*National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
's
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...
. He became part-
owner with the team's inception in 1995. He has been managing general partner since 2004, overseeing day-to-day operations and acting as the organization's designated representative when the
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
owners convene.
Prior to his position with the team, Kendrick founded Datatel, Inc., a software development company, and served as a banking industry executive in Texas. He has a net worth of $1 billion as of June 2022.
Business career
A native of
Princeton, West Virginia
Princeton is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 5,872 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Bluefield micropolitan area.
History Early history
Princeton was ...
, Kendrick received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from
West Virginia University
West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...
in 1965, Kendrick started his career with
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
.
Three years later, he founded Datatel, Inc., which has become the worldwide leader in the development of computer software for the management of infrastructure technology for colleges, universities and foundations. In 2011, Datatel acquired
SunGard Higher Education for $1.75 billion. The combined companies were renamed Ellucian and were sold in 2015 for $3.5 billion to
TPG Capital
TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm in ...
.
Kendrick also served as President of a Texas-based financial services technology company during the 1980s. In 1989, Kendrick became the principal investor in
Woodforest National Bank in The Woodlands, Texas, which is one of the nation's largest primarily employee-owned banks. Woodforest National Bank, a $9-billion entity with 5,000 employees, is a subsidiary of Woodforest Financial Group.
Diamondbacks tenure
During Kendrick's tenure, the Diamondbacks have won two
National League West Division Championships (
2007
2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year.
Events
January
* January 1
**Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
,
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
), competed in two
NLCS
The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a Playoff format#Best-of-seven playoff, best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Major League Baseball po ...
series (
2007
2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year.
Events
January
* January 1
**Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
,
2023
Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
), and returned to the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...
for the first time in 22 years Under Kendrick's leadership, through equity and debt restructures, the team has eliminated more than $350 million of debt.
During Kendrick's time as Managing General Partner, the
Diamondbacks have hosted an All-Star Game at
Chase Field
Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, is a retractable roof, retractable-roof stadium in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. It opened in 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks season, 1998, the ...
in 2011, and opened a Spring Training facility that is widely considered the finest in all of baseball in
Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
the Magazine rated the D-backs as the No. 6 team in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
in its Ultimate Standings, which gauges success both on and off the field and
Yahoo!
Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...
has referred to the Arizona Diamondbacks as the "best workplace in sports."
In 2020, Kendrick was appointed to the
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...
Board of Directors.
Personal life
Kendrick and his wife,
Randy Kendrick, have two children, Cal and Catie, and make their home in
Paradise Valley, Arizona.
Kendrick also owns Bumble Bee Ranch, providing western lifestyle experiences to children's charities throughout Arizona in addition to the Ironbridge Golf Club in
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Glenwood Springs is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality and the county seat of Garfield County, Colorado, Garfield County, Colorado, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, the ...
.
Baseball card collection
An avid baseball card collector his entire life, Kendrick is the owner of the
T206 Honus Wagner baseball card once owned by
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...
, considered the most valuable trading card in the world. The Wagner card and 34 other iconic and rare baseball cards in Kendrick's collection, titled "The D-backs Collection", were previously displayed at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
In February 2021, Kendrick and several partners including
Larry Fitzgerald, NBA player
Kevin Durant
Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988), also known by his initials KD, is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Durant has won two List of NBA champions, NBA champ ...
and former tennis champion
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 13 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in ...
purchased the parent company of
Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA),
Collectors Universe, an authenticator and grader of memorabilia.
Philanthropy
Kendrick is very active in many philanthropic endeavors, beginning with his role as Chairman of the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation, which has donated over $80 million in charitable giving since its inception.
He also has served on boards for various charities including
Barrow Neurological Institute,
Dignity Health, TGen Foundation,
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Academic health science center, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an O ...
Foundation, and the
Phoenix Children's Hospital. The
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...
elected Kendrick to its Board of Visitors.
In 2016, torrential rains over parts of
West Virginia
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
caused devastating flooding in many counties and Kendrick came to the aid of his home state, setting up a relief program that raised more than $1 million. In 2022, Kendrick pledged $20 million to WVU to expand economics education through the Chambers College.
During the pandemic in 2020, Kendrick guided more than $2 million in charitable donations with a focus on non-profit organizations assisting those in need, while creating a fund specifically for
Chase Field
Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, is a retractable roof, retractable-roof stadium in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. It opened in 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks season, 1998, the ...
gameday staff unable to work during the shutdown.
References
External links
List of Arizona Diamondbacks owners
Kendrick's bio on WVU alumni website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kendrick, Ken
Major League Baseball owners
Living people
West Virginia University alumni
Arizona Diamondbacks owners
People from Princeton, West Virginia
1943 births
American billionaires
Arizona billionaires