Kathy Nelson gets asked a lot of questions these days, often from people in Europe, in South America and places in between. But one question that made her megawatt smile widen a bit more was about her favorite band.
“It’s the Winnetonka High School Marching Band, of course,” Kathy responds without hesitation. A 1986 graduate of Winnetonka, Kathy played the flute and piccolo, which she still has in a closet of her Northland home.
You don’t know Kathy Nelson? If you did, you would remember. And she would definitely remember you. That’s one of her many gifts – recalling almost every person she has ever met and greeting them with the warmth of a lifelong friendship.
You might have heard that the FIFA World Cup is coming to Kansas City next month. Thank Kathy Nelson for that. She will object and point to people like Clark Hunt, owner of the Chiefs, and Cliff Illig, who previously owned Sporting KC, and hundreds of talented individuals who have worked tirelessly for nearly a decade to bring this once-in-a-generation experience to our city.
But Kathy Nelson, this proud Northlander, has been at the center of it all.
“I was very confident in our message of uniting a region, a united Missouri and Kansas, as we are uniting 11 U.S. cities and three countries in this bid, but I still couldn’t believe it,” she says. “I tell people that we are the heart of America and everything we do is from the heart.”
Kathy is a true-blue Northlander, born at North Kansas City Hospital, educated in the North Kansas City School District and, after graduating from Truman State University, lived in the Vivion Oaks Apartments as she began her career in broadcasting.
She worked at Time Warner Cable, Metro Sports and WDAF-TV. She’s always been competitive and loves sports, so a job with WIN for KC (Women Intersport Network for Kansas City) eventually led to a new job as President and CEO of the Kansas City Sports Commission in 2011. Then her responsibilities expanded as President and CEO of Visit KC in 2022.
“My job is to make sure everyone visiting Kansas City or living here has an opportunity to participate in or watch a vast variety of sporting events and to enjoy all amenities in our two-state community,” Kathy says.
Personally, Kathy loves college basketball. The Big 12 tournament each March at the T-Mobile Center is one of her favorite events. She and her husband Lance also love nothing more than a good day on the golf course or hopping on Lance’s Harley and riding the backroads of Platte County.
“There’s something so peaceful and unique about the Northland,” she says. “We feel we are where we are supposed to be in our lives.”
Unfortunately, this past year or so, she has had little time for golf or any other down time in her beloved Parkville home. She’s on the road and in the air, passport in hand, as she travels around the world answering questions and promoting this place she’s proud to call home. In addition to obligations surrounding the World Cup, Kathy and her team are working to bring events to the metro as far out as eight or ten years.
“We have a great story to tell in the Midwest,” Kathy says. “And now, because of the World Cup, we have an opportunity to welcome people to our area who have never heard of Missouri. In our lifetimes, we will not see an event that will have this impact again.”
The shelves in Kathy’s downtown office and at home are filled with dozens of awards. Among them, a regional Emmy for producing an NFL game, the first woman to win that award.
However, the award that she thinks most reflects who she is as an individual came in 2018. She was invited to participate in a “Dancing with the Stars” fundraiser for Cristo Rey High School.
“The organizers provided us with 20 dance lessons, but I paid for at least 60 more on my own,” she says. “I’m super competitive and if I was going to do this, I was going to win.”
And now, she is Kansas Citian of the Year, an honor bestowed in November 2025 by the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce that she shares with Cliff Illig.
“I couldn’t believe it. Even my husband and girls kept it a secret,” she says. “There are so many people who make this city great and I’m lucky to be surrounded by them.”
After the estimated 650,000 World Cup visitors leave Kansas City in late July, Kathy is looking forward to some well-earned down time. She and Lance will play lots of golf and enjoy dinner at Acre in Parkville, one of their favorite places.
“I simply love the Northland,” she says. “When I see people here, they know me for who I am and not what I do. This is home.”
I tell people that we are the heart of America and everything we do is from the heart.