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Kathy Nelson has come a long way from being a chemistry major in school and wanting to be a chemistry teacher. Born and raised in North Kansas City, and attending Winnetonka High School, Kathy came from a very athletic family. We’re not sure how chemistry got in the mix, but athletics and sports were clearly and eventually going to combine with Kathy’s passion for hard work to make for a powerhouse leader in the Kansas City sports community. 

She and her siblings used to host track meets in their backyard, complete with neighborhood teams, awards, and fully-staged competitions. She played multiple sports in school, attended Truman State University, and following a nudge from a college professor, she started working in radio and television. She held senior management positions with WDAF-TV, Time Warner Cable, and Metro Sports, before she joined WIN for KC as the director of its Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation. She moved into the role of president and CEO of the KC Sports Commission in November of 2011. 

No one, not even Kathy, knew how much of an impact she would have on the local sports scene from behind her desk, and eventually, becoming the face of the Commission. Her professional and civic activities are beyond what we have room to print, but Kathy has served on the Chancellor’s Advisory Board for the UMKC Women’s Center, Convention Management Advisory Authority Board, the Derrick Johnson’s Defend the Dream Foundation executive board, and the National Basketball Hall of Fame steering committee. In 2017, she was named as one of the 20 most influential sports figures in Kansas City. 

Kathy and a large team of people made it possible to secure the NFL Draft coming to Kansas City in 2023, which was a grand win for the city. But her finest moment and biggest trial has been putting together a winning bid to have Kansas City as one of the sites of the FIFA World Cup 2026 tournament. She is a team-builder from way back, and it took all of her skills and persuasion to land the honor for Our Town. Kathy considers herself the “band director” of the whole project. She worked with innumerable groups including county officials, the Mayor, as well as the Chiefs, and human rights groups to  orchestrate a winning bid, and now the time is nearly upon us to greet the teams we are hosting and the soccer-loving guests this summer. From hotel rooms to transportation, to retail and restaurant readiness, it is a massive undertaking. 

While it looks like there are nothing but wins for Kathy, she is quick to point out that she wants her teams to always celebrate the losses. There are so many more lost bids and contracts than there are wins, and her motto is, “It’s never no… it’s just not yet!” She is also quite proud of what the sports world, and specifically the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation have done for the city. “We are a stand-alone non profit with a small staff, and we try to make Kansas City better through sports. We want to give Kansas City a socio-economic lift, keep our city active, and provide legacy programs and advocacy.” She has a list of recognitions more than a mile long, including the 2019 KC Chamber of Commerce ATHENA Award, 2022 MARC Regional Leadership Award, 2020 enshrinement into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, and the national Sports Tourism Executive/CEO of the Year Award in 2018. 

Kathy is on the road more than she is home. As we spoke, she was getting ready for a long-haul few weeks in the air with several different cities and countries on her “to-do” list. As one of only four female sports commission presidents in the country, her speaking calendar is in high demand. She and her husband also have two daughters getting married this year, so it is a wonderful, yet completely hectic time for them. 

Landing the success of bringing FIFA to Kansas City has been a passion project for her, but Kathy is far from done with her work. She has an infectious energy and enthusiasm that everyone around her feels, and from which Our Town benefits. No matter what her next project is, we can count on the fact that it will be done thoroughly, thoughtfully, and with the best intentions of the city at the forefront. 

Featured in the March 21, 2026 issue of The Independent
By Anne Potter Russ