Brendan Kennedy (born ) is an American businessman, CEO and a co-founder of

Privateer Holdings Privateer Holdings is an American private equity company that invests in the legal cannabis industry. Privateer Holdings is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and employs more than 350 people in seven countries. The company is building a divers ...

, along with

Michael Blue Michael Blue (born 1977/1978) is an American billionaire businessman, the managing partner and one of the co-founders of Privateer Holdings, along with Brendan Kennedy and Christian Groh. Blue earned a bachelor's degree in finance from Harding ...

and Christian Groh, and the former CEO of

Tilray Tilray Brands, Inc. is an American pharmaceutical, cannabis-lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company, incorporated in the United States, headquartered in New York City. Tilray also has operations in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin A ...

Early life

Kennedy is the sixth of seven children of a San Francisco family. Kennedy earned a BA in architecture from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1993, an MS in Engineering from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in 1995, and an MBA from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 2005.

Career

Kennedy previously worked at SVB Analytics, an affiliate of

Silicon Valley Bank Silicon Valley Bank is an American commercial bank. SVB is on the list of largest banks in the United States, and is the biggest bank in Silicon Valley based on local deposits. It is a subsidiary of SVB Financial Group. History Silicon Valley Ba ...

, as did Christian Groh. Kennedy is the former CEO of

. In 2019, his total compensation from Tilray was $3.48 million, down from $31.82 million in 2018. According to

Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan (Bloomberg), Duncan MacMi ...

, as of September 2018, Kennedy has a net worth of at least US$2.4 billion. Tilray stock later collapsed and as of February 2021, Kennedy is worth $238 million.

Personal life

Kennedy has two children, and lives in Seattle. He has said that "probably the hardest thing" about becoming rich was telling his in-laws. He experimented with cannabis before founding Privateer Holdings.

References

Living people American billionaires 1970s births Yale School of Management alumni American company founders American chief executives of financial services companies University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Washington College of Engineering alumni {{US-CEO-stub