Lloyd Howell to take over as executive director of NFL Players Association

Lloyd Howell will succeed DeMaurice Smith as the NFL Players Association’s executive director.

The NFLPA’s board of player representatives announced Wednesday that Howell was elected as the next executive director. The NFLPA had announced in the fall of 2021 that Smith planned to depart after serving one more term with the union.

Howell has spent more than 34 years at the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., most recently as chief financial officer and treasurer. He also led the company’s civil and commercial group.

Howell, who didn’t play in the NFL, believes his background at Booz Alen Hamilton should help him in his new role. He noted his “ability to bring teams together over the course of my career.”

“Not everyone is on the same page,” Howell said. “But building a consensus, prioritized list of priorities, galvanizing, motivating, keeping the team informed about progress, adjustments to what we were trying to do, I have a talent for doing that. And I think that’s why it resonated with the board and why I’m here today.”

Howell becomes the union’s fourth executive director. He follows Ed Garvey (1971-83), Gene Upshaw (1983-2008) and Smith (2009-present).

“You don’t need to be a former player to be able to motivate and galvanize a group of people,” NFLPA President JC Tretter said. “We were really looking for anybody that was capable of doing that, and we found a great one.”

The board voted after a search process that was led by the union’s executive officers in conjunction with the search firm Russell Reynolds. The search committee included Tretter, Alex Mack, Calais Campbell, Austin Ekeler, Ryan Kelly, Jason McCourty, Brandon McManus, Thomas Morstead, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Richard Sherman and Michael Thomas. Tom DePaso was the search committee’s legal counsel.

“I want to congratulate Lloyd Howell on his election as Executive Director of the NFL Players Association and to thank DeMaurice Smith for his continued partnership and unstinting work on behalf of NFL players,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Lloyd and his team to continue growing the game and making it better, safer and more accessible and attractive to fans around the world.”

Howell was asked how he could create leverage heading into the next negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement.

“I think, to be frank, I need some time and opportunity to look at all options,” Howell said. “Today, I’m not in a position to say: ‘This is exactly what I’m going to do to create leverage (for) the players. These are the tactics we’re going to use.’ I think a thoughtful understanding of what we did in the past, a thoughtful approach to what I believe and the board believes will be effective going forward is the agenda that we’re going to pursue.”

Tretter said the board had recommended keeping the process confidential when the search began after the announcement of Smith’s pending departure. Tretter said the board also had recommended the executive committee come up with two to four finalists to consider for the job.

He said the need for confidentiality arose because of issues that developed in earlier searches. Tretter recalled how newspapers had endorsed candidates during the 2019 process.

“This isn’t for the media to decide,” Tretter said. “This is for player leadership to decide, as our constitution lays out.”

Tretter declined to specify how many candidates came before the board. Voting members of the board didn’t learn the names of the finalists until this week.