The entrepreneur, who previously served as Chair of the Kraken’s Executive Committee, becomes just the third woman to attain principal team owner status in the NHL.
Samantha Holloway ascended to the top of the business world, paving her own way as a tech entrepreneur multiple times over. Now, she’s managed to reach to the mountaintop of sports, too.
Holloway joined her father, David Bonderman, as an equal co-owner of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, after first joining the organization as Chair of its Executive Committee in March. In doing so, she becomes the third woman to serve as a principal team owner in the NHL, joining Ann Walton Kroenke (Avalanche) and Kim Pegula (Sabres).
Every background and every story is different, but the general theme remains the same: Sporting organizations around the world are increasingly granting the visibility and equity to women that was so long denied. And while Holloway readily acknowledges the role of her father’s success — he’s a billionaire, after all — she explained to the Seattle times that her journey is her own.
“I made it a point to go out on my own and do my own thing for a long time, start several companies and work within tech as a founder and investor,” Holloway said. “I think there’s definitely some extreme importance in me elevating to this role, and what I can do not only for this organization, but broadly for the sport. And I hope to do that.”
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Who is Samantha Holloway?
- Co-owner of DS Additions, a Denver women’s boutique (2007-10)
- Co-founder and CCO at GoSpotCheck, a tech company helping enterprises organize data collection (2011-2021)
- Co-founder and partner at investment firm 2nd & Filmore (2019-present)
- Co-founder of software startup Hat Labs (2021-present)
- Chair, Seattle Kraken Executive Committee (2022)
Education
- University of Michigan, BA in Psychology.
- University of Denver, MA in Forensic Psychology
- University of Denver, MBA in Marketing
What’s Next?
Keep an eye on Samantha Holloway spearheading a potential NBA expansion team in Seattle one day. Her father is currently a minority stakeholder with the Celtics, and said in 2018 that he’d be in the “thick of the fray” in the Emerald City if and when the day comes.
“I think that the Kraken is a new brand and extremely important to this city and our family, and we need to grow this brand and make a hockey fan out of everybody here,” she said. “As a separate endeavor, we believe this town needs a basketball team as well — or an NBA team, as it has a great WNBA team already. And our family is prepared to work on making that a reality as we built the arena to be able to do that as well.”
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