Kim Pegula

Kim S. Pegula (née Kerr; born June 7, 1969) is an American businesswoman and, with her husband Terry Pegula, one of the principal owners of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). She was also the president of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, the holding company that managed the Bills as well as the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League, in addition to several other minor league sports teams and entertainment assets, under one entity, prior to PSE's dissolution in 2023. By extension she was the president of several teams under Pegula Sports and Entertainment, including the Bills and Sabres. Pegula, Shahid Khan, Zygi Wilf are the only three NFL team owners who were not born in the United States. Early life Pegula was born on June 7, 1969, in Seoul, South Korea. She reportedly has no recollection of her birth name and no record of her biological parents nor any account of her life in South Korea, only her date of birth, a secondhand account of being abandoned in the streets of Seoul at the age of five, and a DNA test that showed that one of her parents was likely Japanese. She was brought to the United States and was adopted by Ralph and Marilyn Kerr on December 30, 1974. She grew up with her adopted family in Fairport, New York, a suburb of Rochester. Pegula participated in cheerleading and the school band, playing bassoon. After following her brothers' footsteps in enrolling at Houghton College, she and a roommate made plans to venture to Alaska to work near a fishing camp upon hearing there was money to be made. Unable to afford the fare, she applied for work at a restaurant in Belfast, New York; while interviewing for a waitressing gig, she met Terry Pegula who was dining at the restaurant. In 1991, Terry offered her a job at his natural gas company and they eventually entered a relationship; they married in 1993. Career Pegula was involved in her husband's company, East Resources, from 1991 to its sale in 2010. Shortly afterwards, the Pegulas purchased the Buffalo Sabres and its two affiliated teams, the Buffalo Bandits of the NLL and the Rochester Americans of the AHL. She influenced the planning and construction of LECOM Harborcenter, a mixed-use development next to the Sabres' arena and part of the revitalization of downtown Buffalo. After the death of longtime Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson, the football team was put up for sale.