Chicago Bears CEO to Step Down After 40 Years in Charge

Chicago Bears helmet
Chicago Bears helmet. Photo by Jason Pohuski/CSM/Shutterstock (9778812jn)

Chicago Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips announced on Friday that he will be stepping down from his role in the franchise at the conclusion of the 2022 season, thereby bringing a 40-year career to an end.

“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,” Phillips announced in a statement released by the team. “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.”

Phillips joined the Bears as the team’s controller back in September 1983, before being promoted to the position of director of finance four years later. In 1993, Phillips was named as the Bears’ vice president of operations—a position he held for six years until being named as the Bears’ president and CEO on February 10, 1993.

Lauded as a “financial expert” by Bears owner Virginia Halas McCaskey, Phillips has played an instrumental role in the franchise’s history, becoming only the fourth person to serve as president in the team’s 102-year existence.

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