Kevin Best
UNC Communications
Class of 1993
Kevin Best (UNC ‘93) serves as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill senior director of media relations, a position he has held since May 2023. Best is a senior leader on the University’s communications team, which works to set the culture and operational decisions of the department. He and his team are responsible for successfully planning, executing and evaluating a comprehensive strategic media relations program that promotes Carolina’s mission and work as a leading global research university.
Best, who spent 20 years in the UNC athletic department, recently completed his 13th Olympic Games in Paris as a member of Olympic Broadcast Services (OBS). OBS produces the live television, radio and digital coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and represents the needs of the worldwide rights-holders. Best oversees a team of approximately 25 freelance workers at his assigned venue, assisting rights-holders with their broadcast coverage.
Before returning to Chapel Hill in 2023, he spent six years at the Atlantic Coast Conference as the Senior Associate Commissioner for Communications where he was responsible for the media operations for the conference’s 27 sponsored sports. He handled the day-to-day communications aspects of ACC Football and oversaw media operations for the annual ACC Football Kickoff (media day), ACC Football Championship Game, ACC Operation Basketball (media day) and ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament.
During his 20-year stint in the Carolina athletic department, he served as the Assistant Athletic Director for Communications, serving as the primary spokesperson and media contact for football.
Best earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina and has also worked in the Sports Information Offices at the University of Georgia and University of Nebraska.
Best and his wife, Natalie, have two children – Davis, a freshman at the University of Tennessee, and Sydney, a sophomore at Broughton High School in Raleigh.