Ed Policy Tackles Green Bay Packers General Counsel Job

Meghin Delaney

Corporate Counsel

07-27-2012

At a young age, Ed Policy wanted to make it to the NFL as a player. Early on he realized that wouldn’t happen, so he had to come at his dream from a different avenue. He became a lawyer instead, which now has led him to the starting lineup in the Green Bay Packers back office—Policy has been appointed vice president and general counsel for the Green Bay Packers, a decision announced Tuesday.

“It’s the position I’ve wanted and have been training for all my life,” Policy told CorpCounsel.com.

Policy comes to Green Bay most recently from a job as president of a startup company focused on developing a sports media and entertainment property. (Because the project is not yet public, Policy could not disclose specific details, but he said the work involved creating and developing business models.)

He succeeds Jason Wied, who resigned as Packers GC in January after taking a two-month leave of absence for medical reasons. In a statement from the Packers in January, Wied credited his resignation to a dependency on “herbal remedies.”

Policy’s professional involvement with sports began when he was in private practice as a litigator for Heller Ehrman and Thompson Hine; during his time at both firms, he often worked to take on sports clients, and sports-related projects.

In 2001, he began work with the Arena Football League, overseeing the league’s business and operations. In 2009, Policy was an executive consultant with the NFL, advising senior management in strategic matters.

The new Packers GC officially takes the field on August 1 and says he feels well prepared for the job. “I already have a 360-degree view of the sports law landscape,” he notes. But the Packers do bring a slight twist for Policy: as the top lawyer for the only publicly owned team in the NFL, the GC will need to be ready to deal with the organization’s corporate governance issues.

He is heading out to Green Bay next week and will hit the ground running on Wednesday, with his wife and two young sons—ages four and one—joining him in the Badger State soon after. He says the move comes at an opportune time for his family: “We’ve got two kids now and while we love New York City and have had a terrific time here over the years, the kids will be entering school soon and we’re excited to move to Green Bay for that.”

Policy earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1993 and a law degree from Stanford University in 1996.