PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

Nelson Cooper IV
Vice President, Relationship Manager, Corporate & Institutional Banking, PNC; Co-Founder, Pittsburgh Hardball Academy

Seattle native Nelson Cooper was raised by a single mother alongside his godmother and grandmother; he counts all three among his most influential mentors.

They got him into baseball, with his mom scraping together every dollar for sports-related expenses. Cooper, who’s naturally outgoing and a problem solver, now is dedicated to repaying the many cheerleaders who helped to pave his way.

He’s building a more inclusive landscape both at PNC, where he first interned in 2015, and with the nonprofit Pittsburgh Hardball Academy, which he co-founded in 2020 with Brian Jacobson and serves as its executive director. The primary mission, he says, is to serve Black youth, who remain significantly underrepresented in baseball.

At the same time, the academy aims to address the broader opportunity gap for City of Pittsburgh kids from families with low-to-moderate backgrounds. The organization now serves more than 350 children.

“I would love to be known as someone who was genuine about helping others succeed,” he says.