Billy Kennedy

Strategic. Creative. Bold.

Work Experience

Honors Engagement Coordinator – American Physical Society

College Park, MD | Mar. 2025 – Present

  • Serve as primary point of contact for honoree communications, including financial documentation, event logistics, and program inquiries.
  • Assist with the planning and execution of in-person meetings, including the 2025 LeRoy Apker Awards finalist meeting and the 2026 Global Physics Summit.
  • Work alongside two colleague to develop a strategy for implementing artificial intelligent tools and processes to APS workflows.

Senior Operations Associate – Spark Point Fundraising

Washington, DC | Jan. 2024 – Feb. 2025

  • Conducted outreach, research, and cultivation for 216 professionals for the Black Women Spark Change blog series.
  • Optimized new business process, bringing in 42 prospects valued at $1.4 million and onboarding 2 new clients valued at a combined $67,000.
  • Streamlined client onboarding, reducing average onboarding time by 33%.
  • Enhanced reporting workflows for Operations team.
  • Assessed and researched new business leads daily, comprehensively reviewing organizational missions and budgets and making recommendations for next steps to executive leadership.
  • Executed communications to business prospects on behalf of CEO.
  • Assisted with drafting and publishing monthly newsletters distributed to a mailing list of 1,000+ recipients.
  • Participated in internal DEI committee, optimizing internal systems for equity and organizing quarterly educational presentations and discussions on topics of equity.
  • Served as internal liaison for all staff travel and logistics, including 10th anniversary party for 74 guests and 15 staff members from 10 states.

Operations Associate | Mar. 2023 – Jan. 2024

  • Assisted in three hiring processes, reviewing 60+ applicants per round and optimizing hiring processes for efficiency and equity.
  • Managed client work (agenda preparation, note-taking, task management, client support, data analysis) for 10-15 client projects, maintaining a 100% on-time record for all work.
  • Completely rewrote internal client primer, creating a centralized resource hub for questiosn related to current and historic client projects and facilitating staff onboarding.
  • Proactively identified and addressed scheduling conflicts and overdue tasks in weekly staff meetings.

Digital Capacity and Parent Engagement VISTA – Turning the Page

Washington, DC | Feb. 2022 – Feb. 2023

  • Coordinated resource dissemination, maintaining a weekly posting schedule and managing parent interactions.
  • Assisted in end-of-year fundraising campaign, raising over $26,000 from 64 unique contributions.
  • Planned and implemented social media (Hootsuite) and email marketing campaigns (Constant Contact).
  • Conducted monthly audits of social media and digital marketing efforts, improving campaign ROI by 21%.
  • Provided educational and material support for over 50 low-income families with children.

Community HIV/AIDS Outreach Coordinator – Peace Corps

South Africa | Jan. 2020 – Mar. 2020

  • Facilitated small group discussions (12 students, ages 13-15) on safer sex, SMART goal setting, and HIV/AIDS using PEPFAR evidence-based criteria.
  • Achieved an intermediate-low understanding of the Tsonga language after 2 months of intensive study.

Research Assistant – University of Maryland Department of Government & Politics

College Park, MD | Aug. 2019 – Feb. 2020

  • Conducted research on contemporary extremist political movements for political scientist Dr. Vladimir Tismăneanu.
  • Developed an original research project examining far-right environmental rhetoric in the context of social anxieties.
  • Received an A+ grade in the program’s Topical Investigations class.

Research Analyst – Center for Political Accountability

Washington, DC | May 2019 - Aug. 2019

  • Provided preliminary research on 125 S&P 500 companies for the Wharton School’s 2019 CPA-Zicklin Index of corporate political spending and corporate governance policies.
  • Traced connections between S&P 500 companies and election-related expenditures to trade associations, tax-exempt organizations, 527 groups, and directly to candidates.
  • Measured corporate political contribution policies and corporate social responsibility metrics with respect to corporate political transparency and disclosure.

Policy Research and Advocacy Intern – Amara Legal Center

Washington, DC | Jan. 2019 - May 2019

  • Updated Amara staff weekly on updates in case law and legislation as they relate to criminal justice reform, human trafficking, sex work, domestic violence, and similar policy areas.
  • Conducted research on the voting patterns of 52 members of the Virginia State Legislature with respect to human-trafficking related legislation in order to target organizational lobbying efforts.
  • Conducted research on 10 human trafficking nad sex work-related laws before the 2019 Virginia State Legislature to determine whether Amara should take an official stance on them.
  • Organized a monthly conference call for the Virginia Coalition Against Human Trafficking, an alliance of eight nonprofits in Virginia working to pass human trafficking legislation in the state.

Canvasser – Fund for Equality

Washington, DC | May 2018 - Aug. 2018

  • Raised over $250 per day to build membership base for the Human Rights Campaign, consistently exceeding fundraising goals.
  • Educated diverse members of the public on the Equality Act, a Congressional bill that protects LGBT rights.

Education

Master of Arts in International Relations – University of Maryland

College Park, MD | Expected May 2028

Bachelor of Arts, Goverment and Politics (International Relations) – University of Maryland

College Park, MD | Dec. 2019

  • Honors and Awards: Dean’s List (four semesters); Angelo Bardasis Fellowship (May 2017, May 2018); Iota Iota Iota National Honor Society; Lavender Leadership Honor Society

GVPT Undergraduate Research Assistant Program

Aug. 2019 – Dec. 2019

  • A highly competitive semester-long program that pairs students with faculty members in order to develop a unique, original political science research project.

Federal Fellows - Political Engagement and Advocacy Concentration

Aug. 2018 – May 2019

  • A selective year-long academic program combining a fall political advocacy seminar taught by experts in the field with a spring internship.

Leadership & Volunteer Experience

Director of Networking – Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Washington, DC

Washington, DC | Apr. 2023 – Present

  • Increase member engagement by 53% and doubled organizational partnerships.
  • Achieve 95% participant satisfaction among networking event attendees.

Social Media Manager – Aug. 2021 – Apr. 2023

  • Boosted social media reach by 35% and follower count by 10%.
  • Improved content performance by 20% through data-driven adjustments.

Youth Coach – International Rescue Committee

Silver Spring, MD | Sep. 2020 – Feb. 2021

  • Assisted in assembling lesson plans to administer to students and keep them on track with their assignments and goals.
  • Kept records of academic performance and applied this information to address areas of improvement for individual students.

Peer Leader – University of Maryland Health Center

College Park, MD | Aug. 2019 - Dec. 2019

  • Collaborated with four other peer leaders and Health Center leadership to create a series of interactive workbooks to educate students on sexual health, mental health, substance use, and harm reduction.
  • Assisted in writing, producing, recording, and editing Any Questions?, a monthly educational podcasts.

Sexual Health Peer Educator – Aug. 2018 – Feb. 2019

  • Facilitated eight or more hands-on presentations for students at UMD on topics of sexual health and general wellness per semester.
  • Collaborated with Director of Sexual Health to create outreach programs related to sexual wellness.
  • Distributed safer sex supplies to students while educating students about their proper use and disposal.
  • Advocated for sex-positive attitudes in a manner that respects the diverse identities and experiences of UMD students.