Published 11/9/2008
by Donna Shor
One of D.C.’s busiest women, Kathleen Kemper is a sports enthusiast and tennis mentor known to her fans and pupils (including top politicos and ambassadors) as “Coach Kemper.” Kathy runs a three-ring circus: her tennis life, her myriad activities as head of the Institute for Education, which she founded, and her role as wife to Jim Valentine and mother of their two daughters, Christina and Kelsey.
A non-profit, the IFE began sixteen years ago when Jim suggested some of his business pals and her diplomat and politician friends get together at a breakfast at their home. The mix led to a burst of influential joint activities. The IFE’s invitation-only INFO Roundtable breakfasts, so big they are now held at a hotel, bring together politicians, Supreme Court justices, the diplomatic community, and many of the major boldface names in town.
The IFE organizes programs to promote civility and leadership, and also encourages intercultural understanding among young people.
To find out what she’s up to next, check out “The Hill’s Pundits Blog.” Kathy is one of the bloggers, along with such newsmen as Bob Franken and Bill Press.
We don’t know when she sleeps.
