Mark R. Kennedy

CNN's John King observed, "Kennedy doesn't ignore the elephant in the room; to the contrary, he looks it straight in the eye" Mark Kennedy's keen insights derive from an unmatched range of global experiences as a senior executive at Macy's, serving as a U.S. Congressman, advising both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama on international trade, leading George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, and now as President of the University of North Dakota. Kennedy is Founder and Chairman of the Economic Club of Minnesota and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Chatham House in London. Mark believes collaborating is essential to success. While a Republican Congressman, he partnered with twenty Democrats to introduce and lead legislation; more than half of the Democrats in the U.S. House co-sponsored one of his bills and nearly all voted in support of at least one of his initiatives. A graduate of St. John's University, Kennedy received a Master's in Business Administration with distinction from The University of Michigan.