Kevin C. Dowdell
Acting CEO
Kevin Dowdell, a Washington DC resident, joined Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW) as the Chief Operating Officer in August 2006 and was named Acting CEO in March 2008.

Before joining BGCGW, Dowdell ran a management consultancy and had clients such as the US Tennis Association, a $200MM non-profit; Russell Simmons’ FabTV, a cable TV venture targeted to urban youth; Sports for Life, a non-profit which offers tennis instruction, technology education and theatrical training and, ThanksUSA, a non profit which provides college scholarships for children and spouses of military personnel. Dowdell provided thought leadership and management services in the areas of strategic planning, project management, business development, financial management, fundraising and strategic marketing.

Prior to running his consulting business, Dowdell served as the Founder and CEO of Volume Media, LLC for two years. Volume.com, an entertainment driven online community and shopping site geared toward the 14 to 34 year old urban audience, was wholly owned by Home Box Office (HBO), a division of Time Warner Entertainment.

Before running Volume Media, Dowdell was a Department Head and the VP of Business Development and Interactive Marketing at HBO for six years where he led a cross-departmental team to create “HBO On Demand”, HBO’s industry leading interactive TV service. During this time, Dowdell and his team received a patent for TV interface design. Dowdell’s team also created and maintained HBO.com, Cinemax.com and TVKO.com. Throughout this period, he served on the boards of the Sega Channel (a subscription-based video game service) and Crystal Dynamics (a video game publisher) representing HBO’s respective ownership interests.

Before establishing his career in cable TV, Dowdell was a Senior Consultant at Strategic Planning Associates (now Mercer Management) for nearly five years, where he led teams that solved high-stakes problems for Fortune 500 companies in the fields of telecommunications, financial services, and consumer products.

An active community leader and volunteer, Dowdell co-founded and served as Executive Director and Board member of Arthur Ashe’s Safe Passage Foundation (SPF) for four years. SPF operated both the Ashe-Bollettieri Cities (ABC) Tennis Program, which taught the game of life through the game of tennis in several cities around the U.S., and the Athlete-Career Connection (ACC), which assisted college athletes in obtaining career, oriented jobs. He currently serves as Chair of the US Tennis Association’s National Junior Tennis League. He is an active Board member of the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program and he is a founder and Advisory Board Member for the 15 LOVE inner city tennis program in Albany, NY. Dowdell has also mentored several young tennis players over the years and has supported their development into college and careers.

Dowdell, a Schenectady, NY native, has a B.S.E. degree in Management Systems Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Wharton School of Business. He also attended the London Business School as an exchange student while at the Wharton School.

George Ferris, Jr
Chairman of the Board
GEORGE M. FERRIS JR. has more than 50 years of experience in the investment banking industry. A former governor of the New York Stock Exchange and vice president of the Investment Bankers Association of America (three terms), Mr. Ferris has also served as chairman of The President’s Commission on Management of the Agency for International Development Programs and on the President’s Task Force on International Private Enterprise. He serves on the boards of directors of TCA TrustCorp America and Marshfield Associates, and he serves as a consultant on capital market development for the World Bank and governments in the developing world. He holds a master of business administration from Harvard Business School, a bachelor of science in engineering from Princeton University, and he has lectured on investments at George Washington, Georgetown and American universities.