Kelly Burton – Rugby 7’s

Kelly fosters and promotes relationships between the Las Vegas community and USA Sevens Rugby Tournament and International Festival and its wide variety of stakeholders. Kelly focuses on community outreach, strategic partnerships, integrity matters, public relations, sponsorships, donations, local government relations, and international dignitary relations. The largest outreach program is the HSBC USA Sevens/Clark County School District Adopt A Country program, which impacted over 15,000 students during the last school year and set a World Rugby Legacy Program participation record for the Series.

An Iowa native, Kelly was a cheerleader and University Athletics Ambassador at Drake University. She moved on to the University of Denver College of Law where she worked with the University’s Athletic Department Senior Women’s Administrator on development, game production, and Title IX projects. Kelly spent her law school summers in the UNLV Athletic Department assisting in the preparation the NCAA Probationary Progress Report and other compliance matters. After relocating to Las Vegas to serve as an Athletics Development Officer at the University, she transitioned into private practice. Her practice included business litigation, business and estate planning, public and private finance, sports, Tribal law, and gaming. She eventually left law to raise her two daughters. During her tenure as a stay-at-home mom, Kelly volunteered for a number of wonderful local organizations, including the Green Valley United Methodist Church, P.E.O., and the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation. Through her volunteer efforts, she discovered the USA Sevens Adopt A Country Program and helped implement that program into her daughters’ school.

That scattered and convoluted journey led Kelly to become the Strategic Partnership Director for USA Sevens in 2013, the position she still loves today. Kelly still volunteers with many wonderful local organizations. She lives in Henderson, Nevada with her husband and two teenage daughters.