Kevin M. Sweeney, J.D., M.B.A.
Principal
At Sweeney Strategic, we work diligently to provide thoughtful strategic, financial, organizational, and personal guidance to a diverse range of clients.
My professional background, organizational leadership, and client-focused experience extends to helping individuals and families, social enterprises, academic institutions, financial sector firms, and other businesses of all sizes. I have served in various senior leaderships roles in the the social sector, the financial industry, academia, and the law. And as a professor with leading universities, I have delivered practical coursework and team-based, practice-oriented, experiential education programs in entrepreneurship, social innovation, entrepreneurial and corporate finance, the financial sector, and strategy.
Contact:
About Me
Areas of Focus:
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Business Strategies for Firms of All Sizes
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Entrepreneurship (Small & Family Businesses)
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Corporate & Entrepreneurial Finance
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Social Enterprises
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Financial Sector & FinTech
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Corporate Governance
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Experiential Educational Programs
Biographical Details:
In addition to my work with Sweeney Strategic, I currently also teach finance, financial sector management, and entrepreneurship and support experiential and global online education innovation at these academic institutions:
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Lecturer - Finance: Columbia University - School of Professional Studies (2011 - Present)
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Lecturer - Finance, Management, and Entrepreneurship | Director of Strategic Partnerships for Experiential Education: Suffolk University - Sawyer Business School (2021 - Present)
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Lecturer - Entrepreneurship: Babson College - Entrepreneurship Division (2021 - Present)
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Academic Director & Professor of Banking - Financial Services Program: Luxembourg School of Business (2022 - Present)
I previously served as assistant dean of the Barney School of Business at the University of Hartford from 2019 to 2021. Between 2012 and 2019, I was also a full-time professor of practice in finance with the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Business School faculty where I was the director of both the Wall Street/FinTech Project Center and the Pioneer Valley Project Center and the faculty co-coordinator of the WPI FinTech Collaborative. Since 2006, I have also served in a variety of additional adjunct faculty roles in finance, strategy, and law with WPI, Western New England University, and Elms College.
In the nearly 20 years prior to starting Sweeney Strategic Consulting in 2012, I held a variety of executive roles with MassMutual Financial Group, where I was most recently managing director of MassMutual Capital Partners LLC. In that capacity, I led strategic mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, and other transactions worldwide. I also held other leadership positions at MassMutual, including senior vice president, chief operating officer, and regional executive for Europe and Latin America (MassMutual International - MMI), associate general counsel of MassMutual, and lead counsel and chief compliance officer of MMI.
I have a longstanding passion for supporting the critical needs of students, families, entrepreneurs, and other community stakeholders through hands-on social impact. I have worked to address homeownership challenges, small business creation, and elder and family care issues,. And I have led efforts for capital-creation and economic development in New England with a focus on Massachusetts and Connecticut. Here are some examples:.
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As a 2021 encore fellow with the University of Connecticut School of Public Policy, I led feasibility analysis and strategic business plan development for Bridgeport-based Building Neighborhoods Together for an affordable housing-focused Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in Southern Connecticut.
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I was interim president and CEO in 2012 of the nonprofit firm DevelopSpringfield. I set up core operational infrastructure for the organization, and I led a variety of post-tornado neighborhood recovery efforts and other community development initiatives in Springfield, Massachusetts.
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I also served for six years on the Board of Directors of Common Capital, a CDFI for small business funding in traditionally underserved communities in Western Massachusetts and parts of Connecticut.
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I was also an advisory board member of the Business Growth Center (formerly the Scibelli Enterprise Center Business Incubator). The Center's core mission was to guide, educate, and support entrepreneurship and startup businesses in the Springfield, Massachusetts area.
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And I served as president of the board of directors of the Springfield Technical Community College Foundation, an organization committed to creating pathways for career-driven educational opportunities for students.
I have also been a member and have held various leaderships roles (e.g., chairperson) on several corporate boards of directors locally and globally, including international financial firms in Asia, South America, and Europe, the MassMutual Trust Company, FSB, and a U.S. NASDAQ-traded holding company for a Western Massachusetts-based regional bank.
I received my M.B.A. jointly from New York University Stern School of Business, the London School of Economics & Political Science, and the HEC School of Management in Paris as a graduate of TRIUM, my Doctor of Law (J.D.) from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and my B.A. from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst.