Kemp Gouldin is President and Founder of Because Baseball (https://BecauseBaseball.org), a non-profit that is bringing youth baseball to the greater Middle East region. Starting with Egypt, where thousands of young people have begun playing under its auspices since 2017, the organization is building bridges of understanding with the Middle East across families, communities, and cultures - building connectivity across society.

Back on this side of the Atlantic, Kemp spearheaded Because Baseball’s partnership with the Washington Nationals to create Major League Baseball’s first ever Arab Heritage Night in 2019, building bridges of understanding through baseball in our own backyard.


With more than 15 years of experience at the crossroads of business, policy, and diplomacy in the region, he is a consensus builder who regularly advises individuals and organizations working on international issues.

Prior to his work in the region, he was a fellow at the United States Small Business Administration. He is a US Spain Council Young Leader, a Gabr Fellow, an American Council on Germany Young Leader and was a delegate in the Atlantic Council’s Young Turkey Young America program. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar.