ST. LOUIS — She’s the granddaughter of a local billionaire and now the face of St. Louis’ new major league soccer franchise.
Her name is Carolyn Kindle Betz, granddaughter of Enterprise Holdings founder, Jack Taylor.
As of August 2019, she officially has two jobs.
She has been the President of Enterprise Holdings Foundation, the charitable arm of Enterprise Holdings since 2018. Now, Carolyn is also one of the owners of the 28th MLS team, which was awarded to St. Louis this year.
Carolyn shares ownership of the team with 9 other people including her mom, uncle, aunt, and all the other grandchildren of Jack Taylor. All the grandchildren are girls, making the team the first female-majority-owned franchise in history.
“[Jack] would tell each one of us that we were his favorite granddaughter,” Carolyn chuckled.
But out of five granddaughters, only two went into the family business. Carolyn and her cousin Chrissy Taylor who is President and Chief Operating Officer of Enterprise Holdings.
Carolyn’s career started in college when she failed to have a summer plan and her mother stepped in to help.
“When we turned 16, my parents believed that we should have a job every summer. I was coming home from my freshmen year in college and [my mom] was like, ‘Have you gotten a job?’ and I was like, ‘Oops, no.’”
Carolyn said her mother, Joann Taylor Kindle, urged her to try the management training program at Enterprise. Carolyn said she fell in love with the industry.
She’s been with Enterprise ever since after graduating from the University of Tulsa. Before college, she was a student at John Burroughs school in Ladue.
Years later, Carolyn married a fellow St. Louisan, Adam Betz. Betz is a Parkway South High School graduate and a professional golfer.
“We were set up actually on a blind date,” said Carolyn.
They’ve been married for four years and golf is one of their favorite things to do together. Carolyn’s other favorites include walking in Forest Park and a meal at her favorite restaurant, Charlie Gitto’s.
When asked about her strengths and weaknesses, Carolyn said her best asset is that she is fiercely loyal. She admits her weakness is her tendency to be stubborn.
She also admits her family has some learning to do when it comes to their new financial endeavor. She says the family knows little to nothing about the game of soccer.
“Certainly when I bought [the book] Soccer for Dummies that started a trend in my family,” she said.
But, she says the entire family is learning together.
“We are definitely becoming more of a soccer family,” she said.
Carolyn says she’s starting to adjust to being in the spotlight. She often has fans give her a thumbs up or a wave.
She said, “It kind of just melts your heart because you're like, ‘Wow thank you, you're excitement is why I continue to wake up every morning and do this.’”
