JEFF BERDING

FC Cincinnati

Co-CEO

 

Jeff Berding is the Co-CEO of FC Cincinnati & FCC Enterprise President, the professional soccer team he co-founded in the summer of 2015. With its arrival in Major League Soccer for the 2019 season – just four years after its founding – FC Cincinnati became the benchmark for organic growth and community-driven sports interest.

 

Now in its fourth year in MLS, the club is focused on growing its place in the Greater Cincinnati region in its new home, a world-class, privately funded $250 million TQL stadium in the West End neighborhood, next to Over-the-Rhine.

 

Prior to his August 2015 founding of FC Cincinnati, Berding served for more than 19 years as an executive with the Cincinnati Bengals where he led sales and public affairs efforts for the city’s NFL franchise.

 

The hugely successful launch of FC Cincinnati was consistent with Berding’s track record of working to make his hometown a better place to live, work and raise a family.

 

While remaining a full-time executive at the Bengals, Berding was elected to his first term on the Cincinnati City Council in November 2005 and was re-elected in 2007 and 2009.

 

Berding was a leading voice for the business community, and with Chris Bortz, he worked with Reds majority owners Bob Castellini and Tom Williams to create The Banks Working Group that eventually resulted in a dynamic new riverfront community in the city.

 

For more than 20 years, Berding has volunteered with the Chamber of Commerce to study and advance issues that improve the economic environment in the region. He has been awarded numerous civic awards, including a spot among the top 100 leaders in history of the local United Way, the 2006 “40 Under 40” from the Cincinnati Business Courier and was featured at the 2018 Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA’s Annual Gala.

 

Berding is a fifth-generation Cincinnatian, born and raised in Westwood where he attended St. Xavier High School. He graduated cum laude from Miami University, and earned his master’s in business administration with honors from Xavier in 1999. He has three children: Allie, Jack and Grace. With his wife Lindsay, he resides in the city’s Mt. Lookout neighborhood.

 

Past Schützenmeisters

2013

Brian Thomas

55KRC Radio

 

2014

Bob Herzog

Local 12 WKRC TV

 

2015

Chris & Janeen

103.5 WGRR Radio

 

2016

Sheila Gray

Local 12 WKRC TV

 

2017

Catherine Bodak

Fox 19 TV

 

2018

Jessica Brown

Fox 19 TV

 

2019

Jason Statt (StattMan)

B-105 Morning Show

 

2020 Covid 19

 

2021

Michael Flannery

WXIX