Dr. William Kapfer Named Compete Sports Network’s 2025 Person of the Year at TEAMS ’25
When the TEAMS ’25 Conference convened this October at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, the spotlight shined on a leader who’s spent his career proving that inclusion isn’t just good business — it’s essential business.
Dr. William “Bill” Kapfer, global head of supplier diversity ,community engagement at JPMorganChase, was honored as the 2025 Compete Sports Network Person of the Year, presented in partnership with Northstar Meetings Group and American Exchange. The award recognized a lifetime of work dedicated to creating opportunity, access and equality across both business and sport — values that lie at the heart of Compete Sports Network’s mission of Sports For All™.
For more than a decade, Kapfer has been one of corporate America’s most effective advocates for supplier inclusion.
At JPMorganChase, he leads a global strategy that brings the firm together with business and community organizations that ensure small businesses and women-, minority-, veteran-, LGBTQ-, and disability-owned businesses have meaningful opportunities to participate in the company’s multibillion-dollar supply chain.
Under his leadership, the firm became the 28th member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable, a network of corporations dedicated to driving supply chain excellence by leading, influencing and setting the standard for supplier inclusion globally.
“Representation in sports and business is about more than participation — it’s about belonging,” Kapfer says. “When brands invest in inclusion, they invest in the future of sport itself.”
Kapfer’s philosophy is deeply personal. Growing up in Warwick, New York, he learned the principles of inclusion and respect while helping in his grandfather’s grocery store. “It taught me that business works best when everyone feels valued,” he recalls.
That early lesson evolved into a remarkable career. After earning a Ph.D. in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University, Kapfer spent more than two decades in publishing and media, holding leadership roles with American Express Publishing, Hearst and Condé Nast. His ability to merge storytelling with purpose helped brands communicate inclusion long before it became a corporate imperative.
Kapfer’s influence extends beyond boardrooms and balance sheets. In 2012, he helped Lexus become one of the first national brands to sponsor inclusive sporting events, a groundbreaking move that opened the door for corporate partnerships with organizations such as the Sin City Classic and the Gay Polo League. Those relationships have endured for more than a decade, helping create sports spaces that are not only welcoming but genuinely representative of the world we live in.
“Dr. Kapfer’s leadership demonstrates how inclusion can shape industries, inspire communities and transform the business of sport,” says Eric Carlyle, SDLT, founder and CEO of Compete Sports Network. “His work reminds us that Sports For All™ isn’t just a vision — it’s a shared responsibility across every level of sport and society.”
The Compete Sports Network Person of the Year Award, powered by Northstar Meetings Group and American Exchange, was presented to Kapfer on Oct. 15, 2025, at TEAMS ’25 by Clay Dickey, founder of the Black Softball Circuit. Following the award ceremony, Compete Sports Network Sports Organizers celebrated at the Rocky Mountain Collective Rooftop Party, where industry leaders gathered to honor Kapfer’s ongoing work to expand opportunity in both business and sports.
For Kapfer, inclusion isn’t a chapter in his story — it’s the narrative that connects them all. From his family’s grocery store to one of the world’s largest financial institutions, he’s built a career on the belief that access changes everything.
As he accepted Compete Sports Network’s highest honor, his message to the industry is simple and powerful: progress isn’t about who gets invited — it’s about who gets empowered.
And in that sense, the business of belonging has never looked brighter.
