Dive Brief:

• The NFL has named Christine Dorfler as its new CFO, effective May 1, the League Commissioner Roger Goodell announced. 
• Dorfler is leaving her 20-year post at NBCUniversal, where she most recently served as CFO for NBC Sports Group since 2019, according to her LinkedIn profile. The newly-minted finance chief is succeeding Joe Siclare, a league veteran having served in variety of senior leadership roles since 1992, and who has acted as its CFO since 2011. 
• “I’m honored to join such a world-class organization and team at the NFL,” said Dorfler in a statement included in the Tuesday release. “I learned the NFL’s impact firsthand at NBC and look forward to working collaboratively as the league continues to push boundaries in media and business.”

Dive Insight:

At her CFO post, Dorfler will lead the finance and league strategy functions with the league's leadership team, its 32 clubs, and business partners, according to the release. 

Dorfler takes the financial helm of the league on the heels of some major controversies this past season. 

Between sexual harassment claims, injuries bringing into light concussion protocols and events like Texans coach Levie Smith’s termination highlighting discrimination against black coaches, the NFL has drawn criticism for years.

Siclare, the league’s outgoing CFO has been with the NFL for three decades, serving as CFO from 2011-2022. Throughout his tenure, Siclare has had a central role in collective bargaining agreements, league and stadium financing, and league strategic and financial planning, the statement said. 

Dorfler will become one among several women in the NFL’s executive team — Cathy Lanier, senior vice president and chief security officer, Renie Anderson, executive vice president and chief revenue officer, and Dawn Aponte, vice president of labor finance — and few female coaches. In 2022, the NFL made a statement via Twitter saying “all NFL teams will be required to have a diverse person (female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority) on staff as an offensive assistant in 2022, according to reporting from NBC, which is also Dorfler’s former employer.

Prior to her new role as finance chief of the league, Dorfler spent the bulk of her career at NBCUniversal, taking the financial helm of NBC Sports in 2019. Before that, she had experience at GE under a financial management program role and also served in the U.S. Army as a Captain in military intelligence from 1997 to 2001.