The Washington Football Team announced Tuesday in a release that Tanya Snyder, wife of the team’s owner Dan Snyder, is now its co-CEO.
Tanya Snyder has been the head of the Washington Football Charitable Foundation since 2000, after her husband became the owner of the club in 1999.
“This team is our family’s legacy,” said Tanya Snyder about the decision. “We are at a pivotal point in the history of this team as we work to become the gold standard of NFL franchises. The co-CEO titles reflect our approach to that effort. It is a natural progression, but it’s important to formally recognize the diversity of opinion and perspective that informs everything we do. In my new role, I’ll be positioned to ensure the core values that are central to our philanthropy permeate the entire organization and bring us closer to realizing our goals.”
The appointment comes as the Washington Football Team is preparing to adopt a new name and brand after it dropped its previous name “The Washington Redskins” due to calls from the public for its derogatory connotation involving Native Americans.
Tanya Snyder has become one of the only female CEOs in NFL history, the team emphasized in the release, also noting that the Washington Football Charitable Foundation, under her leadership, raised over $29 million for the DMV community and currently supports around 178,000 people, most of them children.
She also founded the “Women of Washington” (WOW) fan club in 2011, which is “one of the largest and most active women’s organizations in the NFL,” according to the release.
“Tanya is one of the most important figures in this organization, and that has only become more true over the last 18 months as her involvement has deepened,” co-CEO Dan Snyder said.
“Publicly, many know Tanya for her incredible and impactful work in breast cancer awareness and her leadership of our charitable foundation. But behind the scenes, she has had a profound impact on the direction of the Washington Football Team. She was instrumental in our decision to evolve the brand and modernize our fan experience – including the entertainment team,” he added.
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