Team President Set to Retire
Baltimore Ravens president Dick Cass will retire following 18 years with the team, and longtime sports executive Sashi Brown has been named successor, owner Steve Bisciotti announced Friday. The transition becomes effective April 1.
Brown will assume the exact responsibilities currently held by Cass, overseeing all business areas of the organization, including finances, budgeting, non-football personnel, corporate sales, operations, communications and business ventures. He is expected to join the Ravens in March.
DICK CASS OVERVIEW
Throughout his 18-year Ravens career, Cass, 76, made an indelible impression while guiding every facet of the organization. When Bisciotti became the team’s majority owner in 2004, his first hire was naming Cass as president. For the nearly two decades since, Cass has provided a wealth of business knowledge, legal and negotiating expertise, philanthropic principles, and a calm and consistent leadership style.
Under his direction, Cass helped create the organizational culture for which the Ravens are known today. Most recently, he led the organization through challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic and worked at the forefront of the team’s social justice reform efforts, engaging local and federal legislators to enact policy change. With roots deeply entrenched throughout the Baltimore community, Cass has overseen countless initiatives with the goal of creating better opportunities and circumstances for those most in need. An impactful presence on the board of the Ravens Foundation, Inc., Cass has also served on boards for the Greater Baltimore Committee, Kennedy Krieger Institute and Baltimore Community Foundation.
Understanding the value of creating a world-class gameday experience for Ravens fans, Cass has spearheaded multiple M&T Bank Stadium improvement/enhancement projects, reaching investment levels over $200 million. Through these efforts, the Ravens have consistently ranked among the NFL’s best in gameday experience, as recognized by the annual Voice of the Fan survey. Cass also led the construction and subsequent expansion, at a total cost of more than $90 million, of the Ravens’ Under Armour Performance Center, which continues as one of the NFL’s best office and practice facilities.
Since his 2004 Baltimore arrival, Cass has helped guide Ravens teams that have won five AFC North titles, clinched 10 postseason berths, appeared in three AFC Championship games and won one Super Bowl (XLVII in 2012). During his tenure, Baltimore has produced the NFL’s fifth-best overall winning percentage (.586), including the league’s third-best mark at home (.713).
Prior to joining the Ravens, Cass spent 31 years (1972-2003) as a partner at D.C.-based law firm Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering. He served as chairman of the firm’s Business Transactions Section and was a member of its Management Committee. Some of his significant contributions to WC&P included: counsel to the Independent Commission of the US Olympics Committee (2003); counsel to the owner of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets during the team’s relocation to New Orleans (2002); counsel to Steve Bisciotti in the purchase of the Ravens from the Modell family (2000 and 2004); counsel to the estate of Jack Kent Cooke in the sale of the Washington Redskins to Daniel Snyder (1999); counsel to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in the acquisition of the team and Texas Stadium (1980s); and advisor to the NFL in connection with the Collective Bargaining Agreement that brought free agency and a salary cap to the NFL (1992-93).
Born in Washington D.C., Cass graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton in 1968 before graduating from Yale Law School in 1971. He and his wife, Heather, have two children: a daughter, Courtney (Ryland Sumner), and son, Willy (Madelaine), and three grandchildren.
SASHI BROWN OVERVIEW
For the past three years, Brown, 45, served as president of Monumental Basketball and as a special advisor to the Office of the CEO at Monumental Sports & Entertainment. He oversaw various operations for the Wizards, Mystics and Go-Go, including research and information systems, technology, equipment, communications, finance, facilities, security and player engagement. Additionally, he led Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s venue operations.
Brown has also accrued 13 years of NFL experience, including five seasons (2013-17) with the Cleveland Browns, where he served two years (2016-17) as executive vice president of football operations. In that role, he was responsible for developing the organization’s short and long-term visions and strategies, in collaboration with its ownership group. He also oversaw Cleveland’s scouting functions, roster management and salary cap.
Originally hired by Cleveland as its executive vice president and general counsel, Brown worked in both football and business capacities. Upon his arrival, he was responsible for overseeing the roster and salary cap, in addition to directing the team’s football administration functions and player contract negotiations. On the business side, his duties included insurance and risk management, licensing and intellectual property issues and litigation and stadium matters.
Before joining Cleveland, Brown spent eight years (2005-12) as senior vice president and general counsel of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was involved in both football and business operations, which included playing a key role in helping negotiate the naming rights deal for EverBank Field.
Brown began his career as an attorney at the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering (WilmerHale). He represented clients in a variety of matters, including sports-related transactions, venture capital and private equity deals, as well as mergers and acquisitions.
Brown has a longstanding history of civic involvement, having served on the boards of directors for the Cleveland Browns Foundation, Cleveland Development Advisors, Jacksonville Housing Authority, Jacksonville Museum of Science and History and the MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation. He is currently on the board of trustees of Hampton University.
A Boston native, Brown earned his bachelor of arts degree (mass media) from Hampton University in 1998 and a juris doctorate degree from Harvard Law School in 2002.
Brown and his wife, Paige, have two sons (Robeson and Ellison) and a daughter (Zora).
