ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — A month after Brittany Bowlen rejoined the Broncos as their Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, President and CEO Joe Ellis says she has "a really good future ahead of her" and has put herself in position to eventually become the team's controlling owner.
"She has distinguished herself as the one child that we're looking at to possibly take over for her father's role," Ellis said Monday. "There's a lot that goes into that, and there would need to be some cooperation from everybody in the family for that to happen, no question about that. But so far, really good — everything that people told me about Brittany, whether it was at the NFL, at Duke or at McKinsey, her supervisors, her peer employees. It's one month, a lot of work to be done, but so far everything kind of rings true, and I'm really pleased."
Bowlen, who holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Business Administration from Duke University, first worked for the Broncos as a business analyst in 2015 and has also worked for the NFL's league offices and the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
She returned to the organization in early December in this role, focusing on five main areas: stadium development, fan experience, business analytics, workplace culture and industry best practices. Though her work on these projects is just beginning, Ellis said she has already been an asset to the company.
"That's pretty much her role for the next several months," Ellis said. "It's really pleasant to see her back here working. She's ingrained herself really well with the staff and she's got a real opportunity here. I think the biggest thing for her, in my conversations with her, was to make sure that she came in and earned the respect of everybody and got to meet people and they got to meet her. This first month, she's done a terrific job. I expect that to continue."
Ellis said that the next steps for Bowlen will not include an immediate trip to any NFL ownership meetings, and her focus will instead remain on the work she's been tasked with in her position.
"We're not going to rush to owners' meetings quite yet, because she's got a lot of work to do," Ellis said. "… She's got a really good future ahead of her, whether she succeeds her father or not. She's very comfortable in her own skin and very confident, very intelligent, hard-working, unassuming, not trying to have the Bowlen name get her anything in particular. And as I've said, she's really integrated herself well here in the first month."
While the Pat Bowlen Trust hopes to keep ownership of the team in the Bowlen family, Ellis admitted that a sale of the team is still a possibility because of ongoing litigation.
"It is an option," Ellis said. "We've told the beneficiaries that because if Brittany were to succeed and take over for her father, everybody else is going to have sign off on that, most likely. That may not be a requirement, but it's going to be necessary, I think, moving forward from a trustee viewpoint. That's why a sale remains a possibility, I think, given the circumstances we're in."
