Meet Robert Kordenbrock 

Rehearsal for Life’s New Executive Director

After an engaged process facilitated by an executive search firm, Rehearsal for Life is proud to introduce Robert Kordenbrock as its new Executive Director. Robert joins Rehearsal for Life as it begins its 30th anniversary, having most recently been the Executive Director of the Fenway Community Center which serves over 45,000 residents of the Fenway neighborhood. 

Robert’s career spans nearly two decades of experience in the education and non-profit sectors with a focus on youth development and corporate social responsibility. He has served as a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools; an AmeriCorps National Teaching Fellow with Citizen Schools in Malden, where he worked with 8th graders to support their social-emotional and academic development; Director of the Red Oak After School and Summer Programs at the Josiah Quincy Elementary School for the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center; and interim Executive Director and a member of the Board of Directors at JP KidsArts. Robert then shifted his focus to nonprofit capacity building and volunteer engagement with leadership roles at Building Impact and Common Impact. Later, at Fenway Community Center, Robert launched diverse program offerings to foster a more inclusive and representative culture at all levels of the organization. In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he led the formation of a coalition of six local organizations to launch Fenway Cares. Robert has also served on several nonprofit boards of directors, most recently as Co-Chair of the Boston Music Project, and is currently involved with the Housing and Development Committee of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council.

“I’m so excited to join Rehearsal for Life and after 30 years, we are stronger than ever,” Kordenbrock says. “I am inspired by its dynamic programs that use process and performance to promote social-emotional learning and social justice to educate and empower Boston-area youth.”

 “We’re thrilled to welcome Robert to our organization,” shares James Benenson, Chair of the Board of Directors for Rehearsal for Life. “We are honored to have someone with his unique skill set and passion for social-emotional learning and look forward to his leadership as we begin this milestone year.”

Robert holds a Master of Business Administration from Boston University Questrom School of Business as well as a Bachelor of Arts, Sociology and Political Science from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a Teaching License, Secondary Instruction from the University of Missouri, St. Louis.

Robert lives in Jamaica Plain with his young family and enjoys taking advantage of all that the Boston area has to offer.