Reality began to sink in for Jason Wright in the days after accepting the job as president of the Washington Football Team.
Not only was he becoming the first black team president in NFL history, but he was hired by the organization that was last in the league to integrate, and is in the midst of a transformation in name, culture and identity.
“The pivot in history, given the history of the franchise, is great,” Wright said in a telephone interview on Monday. “I think that it also just shows a way of evaluating talent where the most qualified professional happened to also be black, and that that didn’t prevent them from getting the role is a good signal to just all of us who may not be from the majority population in corporate America or in the global corporate ecosystem.”
Photo: AP
At 38, Wright is the NFL’s youngest team president and would run the organization’s business operations, with Washington coach Ron Rivera maintaining control over football decisions.
“If I could custom design a leader for this important time in our history, it would be Jason,” team owner Dan Snyder said. “His experience as a former player, coupled with his business acumen, gives him a perspective that is unrivaled in the league.”
Hiring Wright is another significant change for Snyder, who has in the past nine months fired president and longtime confidant Bruce Allen; hired Rivera; revamped the front office and medical staffs; bowed to pressure from sponsors to drop the name “Redskins”; and been forced to confront allegations of sexual harassment by members of the organization from former employees.
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