Brynne Kennedy

Brynne Kennedy (Brinn-Kennedy; born February 28, 1985) is an American entrepreneur, author, software company CEO, startup policy leader, venture capital investor, and Board director. 
An internationally recognized entrepreneurship, gender equality and talent mobility revolution expert, Kennedy has founded several leading companies in the work-mobility space, including Move Guides, the first cloud-based system to help multinational companies manage and move global talent, and Polaris Global Mobility, which she later merged into Topia, one of the world's leading HR enterprise software companies.
Kennedy is currently co-founder and managing partner of Los Angeles-based venture capital firm BCP Ventures and sits on the boards of six companies. 
In 2020, Kennedy ran for US Congress in California's 4th Congressional District, but lost in the general election.
==Early Life and Education==
Kennedy was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to Katherine Shanahan, a store owner, and Alan Kennedy, a professor at Berkshire Community College. A gymnast from an early age, while attending Yale University Kennedy became an NCAA Division1 collegiate gymnast, four-time NCAA Varsity letter winner and two-time Ivy League champion before graduating from Yale with a degree in History. She later told Women's Health, "Throughout childhood and college, gymnastics taught me hard work, tenacity, and maturity." In 2014, she earned an MBA from London Business School, with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Management. In her early career, Kennedy lived and worked in the US, Europe and Asia, and speaks five languages, including Mandarin Chinese.
==Congressional Candidate / Politics==
In 2020 Kennedy received the Democratic nomination for Congress in California's 4th Congressional District with a platform championing the private sector, entrepreneurship and bipartisanship, receiving the endorsement of former US President Bill Clinton and Emily's List, among others. She lost the election to incumbent Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), but brought visibility to bipartisan policies for innovation. Had she won, Fortune noted that she would have been the first female tech founder to serve in US Congress.
Kennedy is the founder and CEO of Innovation Nation, a Washington, D.C.-based PAC endorsing and supporting political candidates who are leaders in innovation policy and champion startup agendas.
==Business Ventures==
Kennedy started her investment banking career in Asia, working at Lehman Brothers and advising Delhi Land & Finance Ltd. (DLF) on one of the largest IPOs in India's history, and the redevelopment of Indira Gandhi International Airport. In 2012, she founded and became CEO of Move Guides, a talent mobility cloud platform helping HR teams move their employees around the world. Kennedy said that she founded her first talent mobility company after experiencing first-hand the challenges of global relocation, moving from Asia to London to start her MBA, the promise of which "unraveled when I arrived to an apartment with no running water, heat or Internet."
After the company grew to 17 offices worldwide, Kennedy predicted in a 2016 interview with Global Mobility Insider that the global market for human resources mobility management would grow to $200 billion, with a software value of $15 billion, by 2023. In a November 2016 "Squawk Box" interview on CNBC, Kennedy stated that Move Guides was born of necessity from an increasingly mobile and remote workplace. She urged women to take more risks as entrepreneurs and to consider careers in politics to make a difference, noting that "Hillary Clinton inspired a lot of female leaders and despite not becoming president, she opened up a new dialogue."
As Move Guides CEO, in 2017 Kennedy acquired Teleport and Polaris Global Mobility and merged the two companies into a new HR enterprise software company, Topia Mobility. Kennedy also launched a philanthropic initiative, Mobility4All, which provides a portion of revenue and employee time to assist individuals fleeing poverty and conflict by moving to new locations.
Kennedy co-founded BCP Ventures, with venture capitalist Roger Lang to invest in transformational technologies that reinvent foundational industries. In a Hub Culture television interview at the 2023 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Kennedy said BCP would be focused on disruptive technologies in food systems, sustainable energy, smart infrastructure and wellness, responding to challenges like food security, emissions reduction, human and resource consumption through unique innovations and decentralization, leading to "clean energy transition" and a path to net zero by 2050" that she said would require "a complete transformation of our global energy supply and technology, a total rethinking of our geopolitical landscape and roughly $100 trillion in investment over the next three decades."
Kennedy sits on the Board of Directors of several companies, including Caban Systems, which makes renewable batteries for telecommunications providers; Greyscale AI, which uses hardware and software using A-I and x-ray vision technology to identify food contaminants; Elite Measurement, which sells technology replacing oil and gas equipment to reduce carbon emissions; Pratexo, which powers smart electrification and energy grids; Ryp Labs, which sells labels, satchels and coatings to protect fruit and vegetables from premature rotting, extending the shelf life of fruit and combat food waste; Aquaprawnics, which raises pathogen-free shrimp without antibiotics, pollutants or other harmful inputs, and Task Human, which provides mentorship, sales coaching and human expertise for employees through video calls.
==Writing Career==
Kennedy is the author of "Flat, Fluid, and Fast: Harness the Talent Mobility Revolution to Drive Employee Engagement, Accelerate Innovation, and Unleash Growth" (McGraw Hill, 2019), which focuses on how companies and policy makers can more effectively navigate remote and distributed work.
==Personal==
Kennedy lives between Geneva, Los Angeles, and the Berkshires. She has run dozens of marathons and half marathons, climbed Kilimanjaro, and is an avid Berkshire arts supporter. 
==Additional Reading / Media==
* "ASIA-PACIFIC FAMILY OFFICES POISED TO LEAD WORLD IN CRYPTOCURRENCY INVESTMENTS" 2021 Camden FB article featuring Kennedy's comments on cryptocurrency. 
* "Congressional Hopeful Brynne Kennedy on Rebuilding an Economy where ‘Everyone Can Thrive’" July 2020 Katie Couric Media article.
* "Bee editorial board interviews Congressional candidate Brynne Kennedy" December 5, 2020, Sacramento Bee endorsement video. 
Category:1985 births
Category:People from Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Category:American entrepreneurs
Category:Author
Category:Investors