Jeff Berding is the President of FC Cincinnati, the professional soccer team he co-founded in the summer of 2015. With its arrival in Major League Soccer for the 2019 season, FC Cincinnati has become the new benchmark for organic growth and community-driven sports interest.

Originally launched as a United Soccer Leagues franchise, FC Cincinnati played three seasons in the USL (2016-18) before being awarded an expansion berth in Major League Soccer for the 2019 season.

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.

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. He chaired the Government Operations Committee and was vice-chair of the Finance Committee.

Berding recently won “Ernest & Young’s 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year Award” for the U.S. Central Region. He will go on to compete nationally later this year.

Berding is a fifth-generation Cincinnatian, born and raised in Cincinnati. He graduated cum laude from Miami University and earned his master’s in business administration with honors from Xavier University in 1999.