GREEN BAY – Ed Policy, the Green Bay Packers chief operating officer, will succeed the retiring Mark Murphy as president and CEO of the franchise next month.
Policy will assume the position during the team’s annual shareholders meeting July 25, after he’s elected to the board of directors.
Policy sat down with the media last week to talk about his new role. For the full interview, click here. Following is an excerpt pertaining to his managing style:
Winning championships, or more specifically Super Bowls, is Policy’s No. 1 priority, followed by making sure the Packers remain in Green Bay and that they work to strengthen the community.
Policy promised not to meddle in what the football staff does. “Certainly, no team needs two head coaches or two GMs,” he said. “Not a lot of change in the way Mark had done that.”
He will meet with general manager Brian Gutekunst, coach Matt LaFleur and director of football operations Russ Ball more often than did Murphy to ensure they are talking to each other.
“What I see the president’s role being in this kind of structure is to be the chief facilitator,” he said. “I see the president’s role as selecting football leadership, guiding them and giving them all the resources they need and supporting them, evaluating them and then ultimately holding them accountable.
“I think it’s important to let them do their jobs. These are exceptional people, all three of them.”
It’s not like they have to get to know one another. Policy was on the hiring committee for Gutekunst as general manager and LaFleur as coach, and he’s known salary-cap guru Ball since both were in the Arena Football League in the early 2000s.
That said, Policy won’t hesitate to change the structure if he needs to. “We’ll do whatever it takes to win football games. If that means changing the structure, we’ll change the structure.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Packers president-elect Ed Policy talks about how he will manage team leadership
Reporting by Richard Ryman, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
