Journalist, Author and Entrepreneur
Kevin is the author of The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back, a family memoir written with his daughter Hannah. He is currently working on a second book that will take readers behind the scenes of the 1996 Olympic bombing.
Kevin was a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal from 1981 to 2000. At the nation’s largest newspaper, Kevin covered Wall Street and two presidential administrations; he later became the Journal’s National Small Business Editor. Since leaving the paper, Kevin co-founded two media companies and consulted with such organizations as the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Kevin is a graduate of Northwestern University. He serves as board chair of Year Up Atlanta, and has been a board member of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity for 12 years. He has thrown out the first ball at a New York Mets game, and flown on both Air Force One and the NASA zero-gravity aircraft called the “vomit comet.”
In 2006, at the urging of then 14-year-old daughter Hannah, Kevin and his family embarked on a philanthropic project to help Ghanaian villagers build a better future for themselves. The story of The Power of Half has been featured in The New York Times, CBS Sunday Morning, People and Oprah magazines.
In recent years, the Salwen family has built, along with a social worker colleague, a schools initiative that helps students in impoverished communities recognize their power to improve their lives.
Fellow: Joan King Salwen