Raiders Hire First Black Female NFL President as Team President

Photo courtesy of https://www.raiders.com/

History has been made in the NFL this week.

The Las Vegas Raiders hired Sandra Douglass Morgan as their new team president Thursday, July 7 and made her debut role as the first Black woman in NFL history to assume the role, according to the Raiders.

“I am thrilled that Sandra has agreed to join the Raiders family,” Raiders owner Mark Davis said in a statement. “Her experience, integrity and passion for this community will be invaluable to our organization. From the moment I met Sandra, I knew she was a force to be reckoned with. We are extremely lucky to have her at the helm.”

Morgan’s new role comes on the heels after interim president Dan Ventrelle left the industry after less than 12 months on the job. Ventrelle said they fired him after bringing concerns from multiple employees to the NFL about a “hostile work environment.”

Ventrelle took over as team president in July 2021 after Marc Badain resigned. Badain had been in the role since 2015, filling the shoes of longtime Raiders president Amy Trask, who had resigned in 2013, according to the Raiders.

“When Mark and I first discussed this opportunity, I was honored and humbled, but I also had a lot of questions,” Morgan explained during her introductory presser Thursday. “It’s no secret that this organization has faced some recent challenges. But I want to be clear: I’m not here to sweep anything under the rug or avoid problems or concerns that need to be addressed.

“The fact is I accepted this role because I believe in the promise of the Raiders, I believe in the future of the Raiders and I believe in this organization’s tenets of integrity, community and, most of all, commitment to excellence. I believe in the Davis family’s legacy of celebrating and promoting diversity in every sense of that word. I believe in this community that we now call home that has embraced this team with open arms.”

“I have been the first in other positions that I’ve held, whether it be city attorney or the Gaming Control Board. I definitely never want to be the last, and I want to get to a point obviously where there is no more first,” Morgan said Thursday. “But as I kind of mentioned in my comments, the impact that this has is not lost on me. I definitely would tip my hat to all of the prior women that were leaders and visionaries, and if I could be an inspiration or help or open doors for any other woman and girl out there, then that’s an incredible accomplishment for me.”