NFLPA elects David White as interim government director

The NFL Players Association late Sunday night elected David White to be its interim executive director, 17 days after the resignation of Lloyd Howell Jr., the union announced.

White is the CEO of 3CG Ventures, an executive coaching and strategic firm, and he serves as the board chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He has extensive labor experience, having served as the leader of the SAG-AFTRA union, with 160,000 members who work in the entertainment industry, from 2009 to 2021.

“I am grateful to the NFLPA’s player leadership for entrusting me with the privilege and responsibility to guide their union as interim executive director,” White said in a statement. “It’s a duty I do not take lightly, and I’m committed to re-establishing trust and ensuring the union is serving its members best. I look forward to working with the entire NFLPA team to protect players’ health and safety, secure their financial well-being, and further strengthen their voice to shape their futures.”

A player from each of the 32 NFL teams participated in a Board of Player Representatives vote Sunday night via video conference after conducting interviews with multiple candidates over the past two weeks, a union source told ESPN.

On the final short list of candidates, there were multiple internal and external candidates, the source said, declining to identify them. Last week, ESPN had reported that a confidential league memo had named five finalist candidates, including three union insiders, and two outsiders. White was not on that list.

One of the union insiders, Don Davis, a former player who is the union’s current chief player officer, was among the finalists the player representative considered Sunday night, a source told ESPN. Another finalist was Charlie Batch, the former quarterback and player rep, a source said.

“We have full faith in David to take the union forward and operate in the best interests of our membership,” NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin said in a statement. “David has spent much of his career fighting for collectively bargained rights in the labor movement and is committed to putting players first in all the union does. We are confident that he will inspire solidarity and provide the necessary stability during this period of transition.”

A “thorough search process for a permanent executive director” will begin soon, Reeves-Maybin said. “This process will continue to be player led, as the strength of our union has and will always lie with our membership.”

White was the only other finalist when Howell was elected in 2023, during the union’s most secretive election process. He attended the two-day election process at a resort in Leesburg, Virginia.