Kenneth R. Kennerly
Executive Director, The Honda Classic
& President & CEO, K2 Sports Ventures, LLC
Kennerly is a 29-year sports marketing industry veteran having focused his career in professional athlete management, corporate consulting, and professional event development, management and ownership. His strategic vision has been in the forefront of the industry bringing creative and innovative ideas to complex business strategies while also assisting in multi-level marketing solutions.
Beginning his career in 1988, Kennerly spent the next 29 years with leading sports marketing companies including ProServ, Inc., Advantage International (now Octagon), Golden Bear International, and in 1996 founded his own firm, IGP Sports & Entertainment. In 2013, after a successful 17 year run, Kennerly’s firm was acquired by IMG Worldwide, the global leader in the sports, fashion, media and entertainment industry. From 2013-2016, Kennerly served as Senior Vice President of the North American Event division and in 2016 resigned to return to his entrepreneurial roots. He re-created his old agency with a new brand, K2 Sports Ventures, LLC.
In 2006, Kennerly was recruited by the PGA TOUR to resurrect The Honda Classic. As part of his vision to rebrand and rebuild the tournament, Kennerly moved the event to PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, and created more than just a professional golf tournament. Capitalizing on the many assets of Palm Beach County, The Honda Classic, over the past 11 years, has become a “must attend” event and in 2017 boasted an increased attendance of over 203,000 spectators, and over $3.5m in charitable contributions for a total of over $16m since the tournament’s move to PGA National. These contributions are donated to over 120 Palm Beach County children’s related charities including the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation as the tournament’s primary beneficiary.
Today, Kennerly, as the President & CEO of K2 Sports Ventures, continues as the Executive Director of The Honda Classic, and most recently acquired the Marathon of the Palm Beaches. Rebranding the race as “The Palm Beaches Marathon”, Kennerly’s vision is to grow the marathon into one of the most desirable races in the US while creating another successful economic impact event for Palm Beach County.
Kennerly serves on multiple boards including DISCOVER The Palm Beaches, Palm Beach County Sports Commission, American Junior Golf Foundation (AJGA), The First Tee of the Palm Beaches, Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce, Palm Beach Gardens Police Foundation, and formerly The Benjamin School. A native of New York City, and a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall and Dartmouth College, Kennerly resides in Jupiter, Florida with his wife Kelly and their two children, Carly and Charlie.
Mike Bauer
General Manager Roger Dean Stadium
Roger Dean Stadium
Mike Bauer is in his eleventh season as the General Manager of Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium and Jupiter Stadium LTD, after earning a promotion from Assistant GM in 2011. Bauer, who is the third GM in the stadium’s nearly 23-year history, is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the 110-acre complex which is widely considered one of the busiest sports facilities in the country.
As GM of Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, Bauer is assigned the unique task of running the year-round complex that is home to six professional baseball teams, numerous tournaments and events and a wide variety of other local and nationally-based activities. Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium is the only facility in the country to host both two Major League Baseball teams for Spring Training – the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals – as well as each team’s Class-A Advanced level Minor League affiliate (the Jupiter Hammerheads and Palm Beach Cardinals). The complex, which includes a 7,000-person main stadium, 14 practice fields and two state-of-the-art clubhouse facilities, is also home to the Marlins and Cardinals’ Gulf Coast League affiliates and is visited by more than 300,000 people every year.
Prior to his promotion in 2011, Bauer served nearly a year as Assistant GM while also taking on GM duties for the Jupiter Hammerheads. He took the Assistant GM position at Roger Dean Stadium after four years as the Executive Director of Palace Baseball for the Class-A Asheville Tourists, located in Asheville, N.C., where he was responsible for overseeing all operations associated with ticket and sponsorship sales, facility management, marketing and media relations, food and beverage, merchandising and guest services. While with the Tourists, Bauer engineered three of the most profitable seasons in the organization’s history, including setting attendance records in 2006 and 2008, as well as implementing numerous ballpark improvements and nationally-recognized marketing endeavors. Under his direction the Tourists achieved both their first radio and television broadcasts, hosted the first concert in stadium history and successfully completed a $2,000,000 renovation to historic McCormick Field.
Bauer spent nearly six years with the Tampa Bay Lightning and St. Pete Times Forum (Now Amelie Arena) before his stint in Asheville, moving up from Suite Services Manager in 2000 to Guest Services Manager to ultimately Front of House Manager in 2003. As Front of House Manager, Bauer managed a staff of nearly 500 while providing guest services for such notable events as the Stanley Cup Finals, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and concerts by acts including U2, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones.
A proud two-time graduate of the University of Florida, Bauer earned a Bachelor of Arts in Management with a Minor in Mass Communications in 1998 and later acquired a Master of Exercise and Sports Sciences degree in 2000. He and his wife Stacy have two young boys, Luke and Chase, and reside in Jupiter.
