Joe Popolo Jr., BC ’89, will serve as the next ambassador to the Netherlands, President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday night in a Truth Social post.
Popolo is the founder and CEO of Charles & Potomac Capital, LLC, a private investment firm that specializes in technology, healthcare, media, energy, and real estate investments. Popolo joined the Boston College Board of Trustees in June 2023 and previously served on the Board of Regents.
In a statement to The Heights, Popolo said he looks forward to working alongside the Netherlands and “building a relationship with one of our nation’s oldest and most important friends and allies.”
“My wife, Chris, and I are humbled that President Trump has announced that he will be nominating me to serve as Ambassador to our very important ally, the Kingdom of the Netherlands,” Popolo wrote. “It will be an honor to represent the United States of America with such a strategic trade and security partner.”
Popolo graduated from BC with a bachelor’s degree in finance and earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1997.
Popolo served as the president of the Freeman Company, which provides live event marketing services, for eight years and as CEO for 11.
“Joe is a successful businessman and philanthropist across many different sectors,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “For over 20 years, he helped transform the Freeman Company into the World’s leading live event brand experience company.”
During the 2024 election cycle, Popolo donated over $800,000 to Trump-affiliated PACs and $250,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC that supports Republican candidates in competitive House races, according to FEC filings.
Popolo serves as the chairman of the board of Pinnacle Live, LLC as well as a board member for Ondas Holdings. He also is a member of the advisory boards for the Jordan, Edmiston Group Inc., Samesurf Inc., and Advisory Research Inc., according to his company’s website.
The Popolo family has extensive ties to the University. Popolo’s father, Joseph V. Popolo Sr., graduated from the Carroll School of Management in 1967 with an MBA. All three of Popolo’s children have attended the University, with his youngest son currently a senior.
Since his graduation almost 40 years ago, Popolo has remained active in the BC community.
He and his wife, Christine Freeman Popolo, also a former BC Board of Regents member, are members of the executive committee for the Soaring Higher campaign, which aims to raise $3 billion for University advancement.
Popolo also established the Popolo Family Edward Connelly Football Scholarship in 2019 in honor of his grandfather.
In 2022, alongside several other alumni, Popolo helped to found the Friends of the Heights, a name, image, and likeness (NIL) collective that allows student-athletes to participate in business opportunities and charitable causes. The collective, which supports over 130 student-athletes across nine sports, announced on LinkedIn that it had raised more than $2.4 million last year.
In May 2023, the Popolo family endowed the executive director position at the Edmund H. Shea Center for Entrepreneurship, naming Jere Doyle, BC ’87, as its inaugural recipient.
“Entrepreneurs, in all their pursuits, drive progress,” Popolo said in a 2023 interview. “The best way to make the pie bigger for everyone is to grow our economy and solve problems, including problems solved by social entrepreneurs.”
Update (Jan. 3, 2025, 2:29 p.m.): This article was updated to include a statement by Joe Popolo Jr.
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