Leadership
Leadership
William P. Foley II (Bill) is a businessman and philanthropist responsible for founding, growing, and operating wineries, sports teams, hospitality venues, public and private companies, and charitable foundations.
Today, Bill serves in a variety of capacities for a wide array of business interests. He is the Chairman of the Foley Entertainment Group, which was formed in 2021 and features an array of properties organized in four pillars: Sports, Hospitality, Venues and Foundations. These world-class entities are highlighted by the 2023 Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League, AFC Bournemouth of the English Premier League and the renowned Hotel Californian in Santa Barbara, CA. The breadth of the Foley Entertainment Group’s offerings range from the distinction of Foley Family Wine & Spirits to luxury resorts from Whitefish Mountain in Montana to New Zealand’s Wharekauhau Country Estate.
Bill’s extensive success as a sports industry leader includes bringing the first major professional sports team to the city of Las Vegas and leading the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup in their sixth season – as he boldly proclaimed before the expansion team ever took the ice.
Bill, his wife Carol and their family are active in many charitable endeavors, especially those in support of education, youth programs, hunger and military and first responder initiatives. Among the organizations Bill and his family have founded and lead are the Foley Family Charitable Foundation, the Vegas Golden Knights Foundation and the Folded Flag Foundation.
Some of Bill’s other major accomplishments and roles include:
- The Chairman of the Board for Fidelity National Foundation, Chairman of Cannae Holdings, Executive Chairman of Dun & Bradstreet, and Chairman of Alight Inc.
- A world-class vintner and the founder and managing partner of Foley Family Wines & Spirits – a top-5 luxury wine producer in the United States – and the Foley Food & Wine Society.
- Chairman of Glacier Restaurant Group LLC, the largest restaurant business headquartered in Montana.
- Chairman of Whitefish Mountain Resort, a top-10 ski area in North America.
- Developer of the Rock Creek Cattle Company, a 30,000-acre working Montana ranch, featuring diverse homesteads, a well-appointed lodge for recreation and dining, and an exceptional golf course designed by Tom Doak that has been named among America’s top 100 golf courses by Golf Digest.
Bill is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point with a degree in engineering who went on to serve in the U.S. Air Force, attaining the rank of captain. He earned an MBA from Seattle University and a law degree from the University of Washington. In 2016, Bill received the Distinguished Graduate Award from the United States Military Academy at West Point based on his character, distinguished service, and stature drawing wholesome comparison to the qualities for which West Point strives, in keeping with its motto: “Duty, Honor, Country.”
Tim Bezbatchenko was named BKFC’s first President on June 6, 2024. In his role, Bezbatchenko works with BKFC’s portfolio of clubs to improve and better coordinate player development and recruiting, enhance player pathways and optimize commercial opportunities across the group to deliver on-field success and strong financial performances.
Bezbatchenko has enjoyed tremendous success in leadership roles in Major League Soccer, including the last six seasons as President and General Manager of the Columbus Crew. Bezbatchenko led the Crew to two MLS Cups in four seasons (2020 and 2023), plus the 2021 Campeones Cup and runner-up in the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup. The Crew 2 team won the inaugural MLS NEXT Pro Cup (2022) and back-to-back Eastern Conference championships, while Crew Academy was named the 2023 MLS Mark Abbott Club Awards Academy of the Year. Under Bezbatchenko’s leadership Columbus built and opened its new stadium, Lower.com Field, and training facility, OhioHealth Performance Center.
Bezbatchenko joined Columbus in 2019 after serving as Toronto FC’s Senior Vice President of Soccer Operations & General Manager from 2013-18. During his tenure the club won the 2017 MLS Cup, 2017 Supporter’s Shield, three consecutive Canadian Championships (2016-18) – the first domestic treble in MLS – and was runner-up in the 2018 CONCACAF Champions League. Prior to Toronto FC, Bezbatchenko was Senior Director of Player Relations and Competition for Major League Soccer from 2010-13. Before his move to the MLS, Bezbatchenko served as an attorney for Shearman & Sterling LLP in New York in their mergers and acquisitions group.
Bezbatchenko earned an undergraduate degree in Economics and Leadership Studies from the University of Richmond (2004) and a law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law (2008). He was a two-time NCAA Academic All-America, an All-America for the South Atlantic Region, a First-Team All-Conference midfielder and a two-year captain at Richmond and went on to play professionally with the United Soccer League’s Pittsburgh Riverhounds (2004-05).
Ryan Caswell is a board member of Black Knight Football Club, AFC Bournemouth, FC Lorient and Hibernian FC. Ryan was involved with Black Knight’s acquisitions and / or investments of each of its football clubs. Ryan continues to work with the clubs and their management teams on overall strategy, financial matters and infrastructure projects. Ryan also works with Black Knight on building out a broader and more connected multi-club football model.
Ryan also has seerved as President of Cannae Holdings since February 2023, as Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance from September 2020 to February 2023 and was a Managing Director and Partner of Trasimene Capital from 2020-2024. Ryan has over 19 years of relevant investment and corporate finance experience across a wide variety of industries and transaction types. Previously, he was a Managing Director at BofA Securities where he executed advisory and capital raising transactions. Before BofA Securities, Ryan was an investment banker at Bear Stearns.
Rob Foley is the Chief Business Officer of the Vegas Golden Knights. Foley directs all integration and collaboration between the Vegas Golden Knights Hockey Operations Team and Vegas Golden Knights Business Team. He is responsible for operations management and business development and works with VGK President Kerry Bubolz on contributing to the Golden Knights’ overall business planning and strategy. In addition to his role as Chief Business Officer, he also serves as Director of Scouting Operations.
Foley previously served as Chief Strategy Officer for Foley Family Wines and Epic Wines and Spirits, Foley led long-term strategic planning, revenue management, operational efficiency and profitability initiatives across the Foley Family Wines and Epic Wines and Spirits enterprises.
Prior to his current role with the Golden Knights, Foley served as a Hockey Operations Assistant where he supported all aspects of the Hockey Operations team including administration, analytics, scouting and player development. Foley was instrumental in the planning and execution of the inaugural six-team 2018 Vegas Rookie Faceoff presented by NextGen at City National Arena in September 2018.
Before joining the Golden Knights, Foley was the Director of Operations for Epic Wines and Spirits, where he managed more than 100 brands. Foley also has significant management and sales administration experience in the hospitality industry.
Foley has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Chapman University.
