Austin FC Adds Austin Investors David Booth and Garheng Kong to Ownership Group
For Austin FC supporters, the club’s latest ownership move brings two more Austin residents into the group helping shape the future of the Verde & Black — including one who has been sitting in the stands at Q2 Stadium as a season ticket holder since the venue opened.
Austin FC announced Sept. 4 that David Booth, founder and chairman of Austin-headquartered Dimensional Fund Advisors, and Garheng Kong, founder and managing partner of HealthQuest Capital, have acquired non-controlling minority stakes in the Major League Soccer club from Pixiu Sports.
The transaction does not change who controls Austin FC. Chairman, Majority Owner and Founder Anthony Precourt retains majority ownership and operating control, while Pixiu Sports and the club’s other existing owners remain part of the ownership group. Precourt will also continue serving as Austin FC's governor on the Major League Soccer Board of Governors, with Matt Hulsizer remaining alternate governor.
What does change is the mix of experience around the ownership table. Booth brings decades of investment management experience and a personal connection to Austin FC fandom, while Kong brings a background spanning healthcare investing, medicine, science, engineering and corporate governance.
“On behalf of our extended ownership group and our League, I am pleased to welcome David, Garheng, and their families to Austin FC,” Precourt said. “As our Club and community continue to look to the future, their investment will support our continued growth and evolution. David and Garheng bring fresh perspectives and complementary expertise to an established ownership group that remains deeply committed to Austin FC and the City of Austin.”
David Booth Brings Investment Experience — and a Connection to the Stands
Booth is best known as the founder and chairman of Dimensional Fund Advisors, the global investment manager headquartered in Austin.
His career in finance stretches back to the development of some of the earliest index investing strategies in the 1970s. Dimensional, which Booth began as a small business operating from a spare bedroom in his Brooklyn brownstone, has since grown into a global firm managing more than $1 trillion in assets.
Booth earned degrees in economics and business from the University of Kansas before receiving his MBA from the University of Chicago. His philanthropy has also left a major imprint on both institutions. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business bears his name, and his support of the University of Kansas has included what the university has described as its largest gift.
Sports have been part of Booth's life well beyond the business world. He served as an usher at University of Kansas football and basketball games as a boy and remained a longtime sports supporter.
His connection to Austin FC is similarly personal. Booth is a longtime Austin resident and has held Austin FC season tickets since Q2 Stadium opened for the club's inaugural MLS season in 2021. According to the club, he views sports as a way to bring people together and maintain community connections.
That local connection stands out as Austin FC enters its next chapter. The club has grown quickly from an expansion franchise into one of Austin's most recognizable civic and sports institutions, with Q2 Stadium becoming a regular gathering place for supporters from across Central Texas.
Garheng Kong Adds Healthcare, Investment and Board Leadership Experience
Kong's route into the Austin FC ownership group comes through a different corner of Austin's business community.
He founded HealthQuest Capital in 2012 and serves as managing partner of the healthcare-focused private investment firm, which provides growth capital to companies working across the healthcare industry.
A physician, scientist and engineer by training, Kong has spent more than two decades investing in healthcare companies and has helped lead more than 40 companies through initial public offerings or merger and acquisition exits, according to Austin FC.
His board experience reaches across healthcare, education and the Austin community. Kong serves as vice chairman and lead independent director of Labcorp and has held board roles with organizations including Smith & Nephew, Xeris Biopharma, IKS Health, Duke University Health System, the Duke University Board of Trustees, Dell Children's Foundation, UT Medicine, the UT President's Commercial Advisory Board and the Austin Healthcare Council.
Kong earned undergraduate degrees in chemical engineering and biological sciences from Stanford University while attending on an athletic scholarship. He later earned an MD, PhD and MBA from Duke University.
His background in athletics also predates his investment career. Kong was a nationally ranked volleyball player and remains an avid sports fan. He and his wife, a physician and board-certified cardiac electrophysiologist, have three children.
Local Investors Join Austin FC at an Important Point in the Club's Growth
The addition of Booth and Kong comes as Austin FC continues evolving both on and off the field.
Austin FC began MLS play in 2021 as the city's first major league professional sports franchise, with Q2 Stadium establishing a permanent home for top-level professional soccer in Austin. The stadium and the club's St. David's Performance Center were completed ahead of that inaugural season.
The organization has also been adjusting its leadership structure. In August, longtime club president Andy Loughnane was elevated to chief executive officer, giving him day-to-day oversight of both business and soccer operations. Austin FC described the move as part of a broader effort to unify its executive leadership as the club moves into its next phase.
Against that backdrop, adding two Austin-based investors gives the ownership group additional connections to sectors that have helped define the city's modern economy, from investment management and entrepreneurship to healthcare and life sciences.
For supporters, however, the key distinction is straightforward: this is an expansion of the ownership group, not a change in control.
Precourt remains Austin FC's majority owner and chairman, while Booth and Kong enter as minority investors. The club did not announce a change to its operating structure in connection with their investment.
What the New Austin FC Ownership Stakes Mean for Supporters
Minority ownership transactions generally happen well beyond the view of supporters watching from the stands. In this case, the people joining Austin FC's ownership group already have substantial ties to the city — and, in Booth's case, to the matchday experience itself.
That makes the announcement more than the addition of two names to an ownership roster. It puts two Austin residents with long records in investing, business leadership and civic involvement into the group backing a club that has become part of the city's identity in just a few seasons.
Austin FC has not indicated that the transaction will bring immediate changes for fans, matches or Q2 Stadium operations. Instead, the club is positioning Booth and Kong's investment as part of its continued growth and long-term development.
For a fan base that has watched Austin FC move from an idea to a packed stadium and a fixture of the local sports landscape, the latest ownership additions represent another step in the club's still relatively young story — this time with two more Austinites taking a seat at the ownership table.
Stay tuned to My Neighborhood News for more Austin FC news, Q2 Stadium updates and developments affecting sports and entertainment across the Austin area.
Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.
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