Michele Roux serves as chief operating officer of Hartford Athletic, Connecticut’s professional soccer team in the USL Championship. She also serves as president of the Green & Blue Foundation, the club’s nonprofit, which has donated more than $1.5 million to Connecticut communities and distributed over 30,000 tickets to underserved families.
Since joining at the club’s founding in 2019, she has grown the youth academy from fewer than 25 to more than 425 families and launched Connecticut’s first pre-professional women’s soccer team. In 2025, Hartford Athletic won the USL Jägermeister Cup — the club’s first championship and Hartford’s first title in 25 years.
What have been your biggest professional accomplishments so far?
What makes me most proud is the team we’ve built and what we’ve learned together. Winning takes so many pieces firing at once — our 2025 Jägermeister Cup was a testament to that.
Our fan base continues to grow year over year with record-breaking sellouts. We’ve grown our Youth Academy exponentially, solidifying our position as a family first product while developing pathways for girls to play pro.
What’s the next big goal you want to accomplish professionally?
My focus is on elevating Hartford Athletic to Division 1 while launching our W League women’s team in 2026. Expanding the Green & Blue Foundation’s community impact through neighborhood event programming, like bringing a local farmers market to the venue, is equally important.
What’s one of the biggest professional challenges you’ve overcome?
Twelve years ago, a young single mom without a college degree was looking to provide for her family. There was no roadmap into professional sports — every opportunity was earned through relentless work, beginning in direct mail. That grit carried us through building Hartford Athletic from scratch during a pandemic.
How are you involved in the community?
As president of the Green & Blue Foundation, our programs have donated over $1.5 million locally, including STEM & Soccer Education Days reaching thousands of students. Coaching my daughter’s basketball team and serving as guardian for a young adult with developmental needs round out my community work.