_(cropped).jpg) Wright in 2022 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1982-07-12)July 12, 1982 (age 43) Upland, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 212 lb (96 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||
| High school | Diamond Bar (Diamond Bar, California) | ||||||||||||||||
| College | Northwestern (2000–2003) | ||||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2004: undrafted | ||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||
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* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||||||
Operations | |||||||||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||
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Jason Gomillion Wright (born July 12, 1982) is an Americanbusiness consultant. He attendedNorthwestern University in the early 2000s and playedAmerican football as arunning back for theWildcats while earning a degree inpsychology. Wright played as a reserve running back andspecial teamer in theNational Football League (NFL) for theAtlanta Falcons,Cleveland Browns, andArizona Cardinals. He additionally served as theNFLPA representative for the Cardinals during the2011 NFL lockout before retiring.
Wright graduated with aMaster of Business Administration degree from theUniversity of Chicago Booth School of Business. He moved toWashington, D.C., in 2013 and began work for themanagement consulting firmMcKinsey & Company advising companies onworkplace culture. Wright, the first black president of an NFL franchise, served asWashington Commanders team president from August 2020 to July 2024. He is also a business partner with theUnion Theological Seminary,Greater Washington Partnership, andThe Economic Club of Washington, D.C.
Wright was born on July 12, 1982, inUpland, California, and grew up inPomona.[1][2][3] He attendedDiamond Bar High School inDiamond Bar, California, where helettered infootball andtrack before earning a football scholarship atNorthwestern University.[4] He enrolled there in 2000 and played for theNorthwestern Wildcats football team originally as awide receiver before switching torunning back.[5] In August 2001, a teammate at Northwestern, Rashidi Wheeler, died from anasthma attack during practice.[6] Wright later cited the event as a "transformative experience" that strengthened his faith inChristianity.[3]
Wright was named co-MVP of the2003 Motor City Bowl after rushing for 237 yards on 21 carries, and was also named to the2003 All-Big Ten Conference football team.[7][8] He finished his Northwestern career with 32 touchdowns on 487 carries and 577 yards and two touchdowns on 54 receptions. He also returned 31 kickoffs for 828 yards and a touchdown. He left as Northwestern's fourth all-time leading rusher with 2,625 yards, the third all-purpose yards leader with 4,030 yards, and the fourth leading scorer with 210 points.
Wright graduated withBachelor of Arts degree inpsychology from the school'sWeinberg College of Arts and Sciences.[9][10] He was also a member of theAlpha Phi Alpha fraternity and was president of the school'sFellowship of Christian Athletes chapter, being named the inaugural recipient of theBobby Bowden Award by the latter in 2003.[11][12][13]
Wright attended theNFL Combine but went unselected in the2004 NFL draft. He signed with theSan Francisco 49ers after the draft but was released as a part of the team's final roster cuts prior to the regular season. Wright then signed with thepractice squad of theAtlanta Falcons, being released and re-signed several times during his tenure there.[14][3] He was elevated to the active roster in December 2004 and appeared in two games before signed with theCleveland Browns during the 2005 offseason, scoring his first NFL touchdown in a game against theTennessee Titans that year.[14][15]
Wright played for the Browns for three seasons as a backup and third-down back behindReuben Droughns andJamal Lewis until signing a two-year,US$2 million contract with theArizona Cardinals in 2009.[16] He served as a team captain with Arizona and was theirNFLPA representative during the2011 NFL lockout before retiring in July.[17][18] Wright finished his NFL career with 168 rushes for 633 yards and 2 touchdowns along with 72 receptions for 581 yards and 3 touchdowns.[19]
Following his playing career, Wright enrolled at theUniversity of Chicago Booth School of Business and graduated with aMaster of Business Administration (MBA) degree in operations and finance in 2013.[20][21] Later that year he became a consultant for themanagement consulting firmMcKinsey & Company where he advised companies onorganizational culture,workplace diversity, and failure at organizational branding and historical honorifics.[22]
Wright has served on theboard of trustees for theUnion Theological Seminary in New York since 2017, and as co-chair withSheila Johnson on theGreater Washington Partnership's Inclusive Growth Strategy Council since 2021.[23][24] He is also a member ofThe Economic Club of Washington, D.C., andspoke at an event in February 2022.[25][26]
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In August 2020, Wright was hired by theWashington Football Team as their team president to lead their business operations, financing, and marketing.[22] The move made him the first black president of an NFL team in history, as well as the youngest active one at the time of his hiring.[27][21] Additionally, he is only the fourth former player to be president of an NFL team.[22] Wright helped lead the franchise during their controversial rebranding process to become the Commanders in 2022, a name which drew mixed reviews from fans and media.[28][29][30] In 2024, Wright was regarded as a finalist to succeedMark Murphy as president and CEO of theGreen Bay Packers.[31] He stepped down as Commanders' president in July 2024 and remained as a senior adviser with the team until the end of the season.[32]
Wright's family has a history withcivil rights.[33] His great-great uncle, Charles Gomillion, was aTuskegee University professor and the plaintiff inGomillion v. Lightfoot, a landmark 1960US Supreme Court case regardingvoting rights that became instrumental in theVoting Rights Act of 1965.[10][34] Wright was given the middle name Gomillion in honor of him.[33] His paternal grandfather, Harvey Wright, was also an educator and activist who started severalNAACP chapters in Texas.[33] Wright's sister Allison is apublic defender in Massachusetts.[33]
Wright married Tiffany Braxton in 2007; the two met as students at Northwestern.[10] He is close friends withMichael Blake, a fellow Northwestern graduate who later served as the Vice Chair of theDemocratic National Committee from 2017 to 2021. Blake served as an advisor during Wright's transition as Commanders president in the early 2020s.[10] Wright was the recipient of the "Best Hire of 2020" award by theSports Business Journal and was named toBlack Enterprise's "Top 40 under 40" list in 2021.[35][36]
