Bears Hire Big Ten Commissioner Warren as Team President

Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren speaks during Big Ten NCAA college basketball Media Days on Oct. 12, 2022, in Minneapolis. Warren has spoken to the Chicago Bears about the vacancy at the top of the organization and is a candidate to become the team’s next president and CEO, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn, File)

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By Associated Press

January 12, 2023 at 4:29 PM UTC

Updated on

January 12, 2023 at 5:41 PM UTC

Chicago (AP) -- The Chicago Bears hired Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren as their president and CEO on Thursday, bringing him back to the NFL to help lead a founding franchise after three years running one of college athletics' marquee conferences.

Warren, who replaces the retiring Ted Phillips, becomes Chicago's fifth president and the first from outside the organization. He goes from becoming the first Black president of a Power Five conference to the first for the Bears. He is the team's second president that was not part of the Halas-McCaskey family tree, joining Phillips.