Portland Trail Blazers president and CEO Chris McGowan announced on Friday he is resigning from his role with the team, and will leave the position on Nov. 26, 2021.
Executive vice president and COO Dewayne Hankins will be promoted to fill his vacancy.
“After careful consideration over the summer, I have decided to resign from my position as President and CEO of the Portland Trail Blazers organization,” McGowan wrote in a statement released by the team. “I want to thank our amazing staff for their tireless dedication to creating extraordinary moments at the Moda Center and in the community, and especially thank our players who represent everything that is good about Portland.”
McGowan did not offer a reason for his resignation in his statement.
Thank you, @ChrisDMcGowanhttps://t.co/bc34T3qgH8 pic.twitter.com/7HFW9nwLig
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) November 12, 2021
The decision itself comes less than a week after news broke that the Trail Blazers had hired an outside firm to investigate workplace environment concerns, though it is unclear at this time if McGowan’s resignation is directly related.
Both The Athletic and Yahoo Sports had reported the probe stemmed from allegations of workplace misconduct involving Neil Olshey, the president of basketball operations and general manager for the organization.
The Blazers released a statement this statement on Nov. 6.
“The Portland Trail Blazers organization was recently notified of concerns around workplace environment by non-player personnel at the practice facility. In response, we immediately engaged O’Melveny & Myers, an outside firm with significant expertise in this area, to conduct a full, fair and independent review into these concerns and will take appropriate action based on its outcome,” the team statement said.
McGowan had been president of the Trail Blazers since 2012.
— With files from the Associated Press
