By Adam Shiff ’24
Philippe Moggio ’91 is the General Secretary for the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf), one of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) six continental governing bodies for soccer. While Philippe has always had a love for soccer, he did not always see himself working in the industry as a sports executive.
Philippe Moggio ’91 with his wife Jane, son Joaquin, and daughter Tatiana at the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup Final in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Phillippe joined Pine Crest as an Upper School student in 1987. Reflecting on his years as a student he said, “Pine Crest was a fantastic place to spend my high school years. It was a fantastic school educationally and gave me a lot of opportunities to learn, develop good friendships, work with gifted teachers, and because it supported athletics, I was able to compete at the state level. The school was very supportive in all those endeavors, and it was also very competitive in terms of pushing you to be the best version of yourself, enabling you to continue growing at the University that would be the best fit for you.”
Phillippe was a competitive tennis player while at Pine Crest and played number one with the team that went on to win state runner-up in 1991. After graduating, he attended Duke University where he continued playing tennis at the Division I level. On his academic pursuits, he said, “I didn’t know what I wanted to study going into Duke, but I started studying international relations and loved it.”
While he enjoyed his studies, sports continued to be a passion he was unwilling to discontinue. After graduating from Duke, Philippe had the opportunity to become a professional tennis player.
“I played professional tennis, and that was a decision I made coming out of college,” Philippe said. “More than anything, I wanted to continue playing because I was passionate about it and wanted to see where it would lead me. Tennis gave me a lot of opportunities later in life and helped me find my career path when I moved back to the United States after playing professionally.”
The Pine Crest School 1989-90 Boys' Tennis Team
Philippe played professional tennis from 1995 to 1998 and represented Colombia in multiple Davis Cup appearances. Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis.
“Tennis has been one of the most influential aspects of my past,” Philippe said. “It not only taught me how to go about life but also to work hard, focus on what you can control, thrive in a team environment, and learn how to persevere and overcome things together as a team.”
After his professional tennis career ended, Philippe became an investment banker at Banc of America Securities (now Merrill Lynch) and ABN AMRO/ING Barings.
“When I stopped playing tennis, I worked in investment banking in New York, but I knew that at some point I would get back into sports, somehow,” he said.
Little did he know, that role would lead back to his passion again. Philippe explains, “after working in investment banking for 10 years and covering media industries in Latin America, I was recruited for an international role with the National Basketball Association (NBA). I was able to get into that role because of the network and relationships I had established over the years.”
After being with the NBA for six years, Philippe was asked to join Concacaf in 2016.
“This was a good opportunity, seeing that I was always passionate about ‘fútbol’ growing up in Colombia,” he said. “It is a very international sport, and I wanted to be part of that.”
“As a confederation of FIFA, Concacaf governs the sport of soccer, or fútbol, in the 41 countries that encompass the region designated by FIFA,” said Philippe. “There are 41 fútbol federations; each country has their own, and we govern the sport through those federations. Through Concacaf, we run our own competitions to help us fund the activities that serve to develop the sport across the region. We host competitions like the Gold Cup, Concacaf Champions League, qualifiers for the Women’s World Cup, and all the FIFA youth competitions. We also run a lot of developmental activities throughout the region to help our federations grow the sport. As the General Secretary, which is essentially the CEO of the organization, I help lead the organization across all of those areas to continue developing the sport in this region.”
Philippe is passionate not only about Concacaf’s mission in the world of fútbol, but is invested in the role the organization plays in the communities they serve.
“We think the best way to grow the sport throughout different communities and throughout the region is by providing more access to competitions,” he said. “We help create opportunities to compete by funding platforms, creating developmental activities for teams, and training programs for coaches and youth players. In addition, we recruit qualified athletes and coaches from across the region to run coaching evaluation programs and identify new talent.”
Reflecting more on the role that soccer has had in his life, Philippe said, “I have always been passionate about soccer—growing up in Colombia, it was always a part of my life. After I was done playing professional tennis, investment banking, and working with the NBA, working at Concacaf gave me an opportunity to be a part of soccer’s continued growth. ”
Attributing his achievements today to the life lessons he learned at Pine Crest, Phillippe said, “Pine Crest helped launch me into what would be the next chapter of my life—a tennis playing, four-year student at Duke University, and ultimately as a sports executive.”
Philippe’s favorite memories from Pine Crest are related to sports and the long-lasting friendships made along the way. He adds, “even though I was very committed to tennis, I did have the opportunity in my senior year to play on the soccer team, and so the friendships that I developed through sports were great. I think it was wonderful that being on campus facilitated spending significant time outside of classes with your friends, allowing us to really nurture and develop those friendships.”
While reminiscing about his high school years, Philippe remembers, “I didn’t necessarily have a favorite cafeteria food, but I do remember we had a peanut butter and jam cart with a tub of peanut butter and jam, and I probably went by that cart every day.”
Looking back at his younger self, Philippe offers advice for Pine Crest students: “I would tell myself to read more and stay more up to date with current affairs because understanding the world we live in, understanding others’ perspectives, is incredibly useful in life. Sometimes we need to get outside of our own comfort zone to be able to understand others in the best way possible. It is always going to help you to be able to relate better to other people, and that is going to be something you can carry on a personal level through your professional careers no matter what it is that you’re doing.”
Philippe Moggio ’91 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha, Qatar.
Even in the spirit of the current FIFA 2022 World Cup, Philippe is loyal to his work at Concacaf. When asked what he was most looking forward to he said, “I definitely want to support our teams that are representing Concacaf. We have four teams: Mexico, U.S.A, Canada, and Costa Rica. Those are the teams that came out of our qualifiers and obviously, in them doing well, it represents the region well. Working very closely with each of those federations, I have come to know them very well and so I am pulling for them— that is who I want to succeed in this World Cup. I am very hopeful, as they have all worked very hard to put their best team forward, and I am sure they are going to represent well.”