the bears emailed this to me. credit to anyone willing to read all of this:
Quote:
BEARS PRESIDENT AND CEO TED PHILLIPS TO RETIRE AT CONCLUSION OF
2022 NFL SEASON
Phillips' NFL executive career spans 40 seasons with one of the
NFL's charter franchises
September 2, 2022
Chicago Bears President and Chief Executive Officer Ted Phillips has announced he will retire from his role atop the organization at the conclusion of the 2022 NFL season.
“I have been truly blessed with the honor of working for the Chicago Bears for 40 seasons and look forward to leading the team through the 2022 season. I appreciate the support of the McCaskey family and to be involved in overseeing this amazing growth of the Chicago Bears through the years, is a dream come true,” said Phillips. “Every day has been a true pleasure and being surrounded by so many talented and wonderful people has made my job richly rewarding on many levels. I will always bleed blue and orange and forever be proud to be a part of the Chicago Bears family.”
“He started out with us as a financial expert. Anything that he was ever asked to take care of, he came through and did it very well. We’ve been very blessed to have him,” said Bears owner Virginia Halas McCaskey.
“It’s difficult to put into words how much Ted has meant to the Bears and our family. The faith that Virginia and Ed McCaskey placed in him by naming him President and CEO of the Bears has been rewarded many times over,” said Bears Chairman George H. McCaskey. “He’s the best boss I ever had, and when I became his boss, he handled it graciously, as he has so many other situations. He is held in high regard by his peers around the league, and deservedly so. We are lucky to have had him here as long as we did.”
The search for Phillips’ successor is underway and will be announced by the Bears in the coming months.
A trusted and valued member of the club for nearly 40 years, Phillips was named team President & CEO on February 10, 1999. He is only the fourth person to serve as president in the organization's storied 102-year history, and the first outside the Halas-McCaskey family following Michael McCaskey, George "Mugs" Halas, Jr., and George S. Halas.
Since taking on the leadership role, Phillips has insisted on attention to detail and smooth execution at every level of the Bears operation. He has solidified the long-term stability of the Club, while staying keenly focused on bringing a 10th championship to the NFL's premier franchise.
Phillips has revitalized both the business and football operations by hiring high character, intelligent and driven individuals who share common goals and philosophies on how to build a consistent winner both on and off the field.
During the 2021 season, Phillips restructured the front office in an effort to further promote the club's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts by adding a Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This newly created position provides executive leadership and guidance to develop and implement a comprehensive DEI strategy across the organization.
For nearly four decades, Phillips has shown effective leadership skills by empowering his executive staff to create an environment of collective responsibility in running the day-to-day operations of the club. Phillips is involved in all critical decisions of the Bears and continues to strive to make all aspects of the Bears organization the best in the NFL. Always insisting on a team-first attitude, Phillips surrounded himself with individuals who fit the organization's character, culture, and values. That team dynamic was crucial in the Bears return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 21 years following the 2006 campaign.
Under Phillips direction, the Bears completely transformed the spaces the organization operates out of both in the city of Chicago and at Halas Hall in Lake Forest. The Bears relocated staff members based out of Soldier Field to a new downtown office space in 2018. The new office space, located at 123 North Wacker Drive, allows Bears staff members to work in the heart of the city, where they are closer to partners and will have workspace that will allow for stronger collaboration and future growth.
In 2012, Phillips oversaw a Halas Hall renovation project that added over 30,000 square feet to the team's headquarters, which opened in 1997. The renovations included additions to the weight and training rooms, an upgraded locker room, additional meeting spaces and offices, and a new event center which features a broadcast studio and conference space.
Then from 2017-19, Phillips oversaw an additional renovation and expansion to Halas Hall, which was completed in August 2019. The expansion is highlighted by a sparkling 162,500-square-foot football operations addition to the already-existing 143,000-square foot facility and a 30,600-square-foot remodeling project on the northeast side of the building. The project, which broke ground in January 2018, has completely transformed the look and feel of the entire facility. Position meeting rooms and the draft room doubled in size, while coaches' offices increased by 50 percent, allowing for improved collaboration. A 3,250-square-foot players' lounge was created, along with a 1,700-square-foot player locker room that now includes a barbershop. The coaches/scouts locker room was also expanded and now includes a sauna and steam room. The weight room increased in size by 2,000 square feet, while the equipment room, recovery space and nutrition/fuel station doubled in size. A 13,000-square-foot indoor turf space was also added, among many other amenities. Additionally, two new football fields were built to the east of the Walter Payton Center in 2018. The new fields allow the Bears to spread out the field use over four fields throughout the offseason and during in-season practices. That project also added a training slope, a storage facility and a small practice viewing suite, much like the existing viewing suite used at Halas Hall for corporate partners and other VIP guests.
Phillips' other highlights include creating and continuing a strong customer service mentality throughout the organization, returning the Bears training camp to Illinois, and presiding over five division championships (2001, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2018) after a decade-long drought.
On the field, the Bears training camp site returned to the State of Illinois in 2002, turning out in record numbers on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill., a site they used through the 2019 preseason. The Bears began utilizing their newly renovated facilities in Lake Forest when training camp returned to Halas Hall in 2020 and have held training camp at the team facility each of the last three seasons.
Phillips' leadership was also key in negotiating a new home for the team at Soldier Field. Following an upgraded renovation in 2003, it not only made the club more financially competitive, but it also helped provide the best fans in professional sports with many new stadium amenities and improved the overall gameday experience along the lakefront which has been critical in creating a great home-field advantage.
Phillips served as the Bears Vice President of Operations for six seasons starting in 1993. Recognized for his many years of handling the Bears contract negotiations and team finances, Phillips has recently served on both the NFL's CEC Executive Working Group and the NFL's CBA Player Benefits Plans Committee, and is currently the Chairman for the NFL's Employee Benefits Committee. Phillips also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Bears Care, the philanthropic arm of the Chicago Bears, and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
Before becoming Vice President of Operations, Phillips served as the Director of Finance from 1987-93. Phillips joined the Bears staff on September 28, 1983, as the team's Controller, a position he held for four years.
Prior to joining the Bears, Phillips was employed as an auditor and tax accountant with the international accounting firm Ernst & Whinney (now Ernst & Young), from 1979-83. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1979 with a degree in business and accounting. Phillips earned a Master of Marketing and management degree from the Kellogg Graduate School at Northwestern University in 1989.
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