Washington hires former player as NFL’s first Black Team President

Jason Wright, a former NFL running back turned business consultant, has been named the new president of the Washington Football Team, the team announced Monday. He is the first African American to hold such a position in league history.

At 38, Wright, who played seven seasons in the NFL and has worked for the past seven years at McKinsey & Co., the international consulting firm, is also the youngest team president in the league. As a consultant, he has helped reshape government agencies, industrial companies and institutions of higher learning.

Wright has no experience working at an NFL team, though he was his team’s union representative for two years heading into the lockout in 2011. While responsibilities can vary from team to team, club presidents typically oversee all business operations and sometimes look after the football side of the franchise, and report directly to the owner.

“This organization is going through wholesale transformation on multiple fronts,” Wright said in a phone interview. “This is going to be a very challenging but exciting time.”

Wright will be joining Washington at a, particularly fraught juncture, becoming the latest new hire by the team’s owner, Daniel Snyder, who is in the process of overhauling his foundering franchise. Wright replaces Bruce Allen, the longtime club president who was fired at the end of last season.

After resisting pressure for more than two decades, Snyder last month abandoned the team’s longtime name, the Redskins. The club is in the process of selecting a new name and logo.

Wright admitted he “was not the greatest player in the world” but that as a lesser-known player, he had time to talk to team business personnel and learn about marketing, public relations, finance and other aspects of club operations.

The NFL has been repeatedly criticized for the lack of diversity in its management ranks. While about 70% of the players are Black, there are only two team owners of colour. While the league has increased the diversity in its executive positions at its headquarters, the record of its teams has been spottier.