Joe Popolo, Jr. '89 joins BC Board of Trustees
Joe Popolo, Jr. '89, founder and CEO of Charles & Potomac Capital, LLC, a Dallas-based private investment firm focused on technology, healthcare, media, energy, and real estate, was elected to the Boston College Board of Trustees at its June meeting. A former member of BC’s Board of Regents, Popolo began his four-year term that month.
After graduating from Boston College with a bachelor's degree in finance, Popolo later earned an M.B.A. in finance and economics from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in 1997, where he received a Dean’s Award of Distinction.Â
Following graduation from Booth, he helped transform the Freeman Company—a leading global event agency offering a complete solution for exhibitors, corporate events and trade shows—into the world’s leading live event brand experience company. As its president for eight years and CEO for 11, Popolo and his team tripled Freeman’s size to $3 billion in revenue, expanding the agency into new services and geographic markets, while leading 7,500 employees in 25 cities on four continents.
Popolo is currently chairman of the board of Pinnacle Live, LLC, a premium in-house audio-visual company; a board member of Ondas Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of technology platforms that digitize industrial and government operations; and he sits on the respective advisory boards of the Jordan Edmiston Group, Samesurf, and Advisory Research.
Popolo’s family is inextricably linked to BC. His maternal grandfather, Charlestown’s Eddie Connelly, dreamed of playing football at the Heights, was accepted in 1929, but due to family struggles, was forced to decline; however, he sent two of his seven children to BC: Helen `67, and Edward, Jr. `72. Popolo's father, Joseph V. Popolo, Sr., earned an M.B.A. from the Carroll School of Management in 1967.Â
The children of Joe Jr. and his wife—Christine Freeman Popolo, also a former BC Board of Regents member—Katherine (Kit) '20, and Joseph (Buck), III '23, each hold a bachelor’s degree from CSOM—while their youngest , Connor, a CSOM senior, is expected to graduate in 2025.
“Boston College is a special place to our family,” said Popolo, an Eagles football season ticket holder, who was presented with the John P. Curley 1913 Award, which honors an outstanding volunteer and supporter of BC Athletics, in 2018.
In a nod to his grandfather, Popolo established The Popolo Family Edward Connelly Football Scholarship in 2019, and reflecting his entrepreneurial bent, the Popolo Family Executive Directorship endowment was announced in May 2023. Jere Doyle '87, who has led the Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship since 2015, was named the inaugural recipient.
“Entrepreneurs, in all their pursuits, drive progress,” said Popolo when the award was announced. Citing Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, Popolo noted: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress relies on the unreasonable man.”Â
Chris and Joe Popolo currently serve on the executive committee of Soaring Higher, BC’s $3 billion fundraising campaign launched in September 2023, aimed at bolstering the University’s highest, most strategic priorities, and enhancing its standing as a great, Jesuit, Catholic university.
In addition to his BC philanthropic commitments, Popolo serves on the executive board of the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University; he co-founded and serves as a director of the HALO Initiative for Catholic Education in Dallas; and is a Patron of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, which promotes, restores, and conserves the museum’s collection and buildings.Â
In 2022, Popolo and several BC alums founded the Friends of the Heights, a fan-driven and alumni-led name, image, and likeness collective supporting BC student-athletes.