University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering

Rob Kennedy

[title]

For his leadership in the development, expansion and educational value of C-SPAN, while continuing to utilize technology to convey government and public affairs to the citizens of the United States.

President and co-Chief Executive Officer of C-SPAN

  • BS, Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1978
  • MBA, Finance, University of Chicago – Booth School of Business, 1980

Rob Kennedy is the President and co-CEO of C-SPAN, a position he shares with his colleague Susan Swain. Together, they are responsible for strategy and operations at the nation’s only public affairs cable television network. Prior to being appointed to the position of co-CEO in 2012, he served as C‑SPAN’s President and co-COO and has been C-SPAN’s top financial officer since 1987. Rob is currently active in the cable industry as a board member and Governance Committee Chair for the Emma Bowen Foundation, which creates mentoring opportunities for minority college students at cable, broadcasting, and technology companies. He also serves as Chair of the CTAM Education Foundation, sponsor of the highly-regarded Cable Executive Management Program at Harvard University.

Rob began his career in the cable television industry in 1980, when he worked for Centel Cable Television Company based in Chicago. Rob continued his career as the Vice President of Marketing and Programming at Time, Inc. based in Rochester, NY. From these experiences, Rob brought to C-SPAN expertise at both the corporate and system levels of cable television operations. Rob had an important role to play in C-SPAN’s earliest days when he wrote the first business plan for the start-up cable network. Rob has spent 33 years building and developing C-SPAN.

Rob received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Chicago (2017) and was selected as the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) winner of the Vanguard Award for Programmers (2004), the industry’s highest honor. He has also been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame (2017) and the Cable Hall of Fame (2019).

Current as of 2020.