Meka White Morris joins Bears as EVP of revenue, chief business officer
The Bears on Thursday hired Meka White Morris to serve as the club's executive vice president of revenue and chief business officer. Morris, who comes from the Minnesota Twins, will utilize her deep passion for sports and extensive sports business experience to help the club evolve to the forefront of the NFL's evolving landscape.
Story by Gabby Hajduk
Meka White Morris grew up in Boston with a family that held a rich sports history. As a young girl, she watched her brother Brian White play professional football and lacrosse, eventually making it to the NFL with the Patriots. Morris saw the impact her father, Celtics legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Jo Jo White, made in the 1970s.
Morris went on to be a track & field athlete at the University of Kansas, but at the time, opportunities for women in sports beyond coaching and competing seemed few and far between for her. However, she knew she wanted to wake up every day and work in a field she loved, and over the last 20 years, she has been able to find and chart her own path within the sports industry.
"For my family, sports were always at the forefront in everything that we did," Morris said, "competing, winning, perseverance, picking yourself up when you've lost and work within a team to get the best out of every person? That's exactly what it takes in the front office. It's a collection of people using their gifts to propel an organization forward so it can be its best.
"It takes a village. It takes everybody doing their part. And that is very akin to what it takes to succeed on the field. The connection between those two is so relevant and poignant for me, and the ability to use that as a linchpin for my career has been a gift."
In her new role with the Bears, Morris will work closely with President & CEO Kevin Warren to oversee various aspects of the organization's business operations. Her duties will include managing corporate partnerships, optimizing revenue streams and leading strategic planning initiatives to further elevate the Bears' brand presence and financial health.
"First and foremost, who wouldn't be excited to join a team that's in the position that the Bears find themselves in on the field?" Morris said. "I think it is a paramount offseason for the Bears and tremendous things are ahead. This offseason, coupled with Kevin Warren's leadership, the McCaskey family's unwavering commitment and all that the future could hold, makes this, I would argue, the best opportunity in sports. I just feel honored and super blessed to be a part of it and believe in the Bears' bright future, not just for the team on the field, but certainly the business at large."
Morris most recently served as the Twins' executive vice president and chief business officer. She earned the promotion in November 2022 after starting out as the club's first-ever senior vice president & chief revenue officer in August 2021. Her key responsibilities included aligning and advancing the organization's revenue-generating platforms – inclusive of Twins baseball and Target Field, but also expanding beyond the ballpark and traditional industry boundaries.
Prior to her job with the Twins, Morris served as chief revenue officer for Tappit, a global payment and data ecosystem for events, sports stadiums and venues. Throughout her extensive sports and entertainment career, Morris has held sales and marketing-focused leadership positions for LEARFIELD, Legends Hospitality, Live Nation Entertainment, the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets), Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Cavaliers.
"Meka is a passionate, transformative leader who will have a massive and positive impact upon the Chicago Bears," Warren said. "Meka has developed an industry reputation of building strong relationships in an organic manner, leading teams to success built upon integrity, creating an environment of accountability and driving revenue in a creative and transparent manner. Meka is hard working, curious, innovative and bright, and we are thrilled to welcome her to the Chicago Bears. I am grateful to our chairman George H. McCaskey and the entire McCaskey family for providing me with a platform to hire Meka for this critically important role that will positively impact the Chicago Bears franchise."
Over the last year, Morris has built a relationship with Warren after meeting him at Tony Dungy's Uncommon Awards dinner in Minneapolis last spring, when Warren was presented with the prestigious honor.
The pair briefly connected at the ceremony then stayed in touch over the next several months, meeting a couple times when Warren was in Minnesota or Morris visited Chicago.
"He had been an executive in Minnesota with the Vikings, in particular, an African American one, and I was just looking to pick his brain on how he navigated some of that during his tenure," Morris said. "In true Kevin fashion, he's always open to coaching, mentoring and supporting anyone in the business that's looking to him for guidance and advice, and that's what he was to me.
"I had no clue that – almost a year later – I'd have the privilege of joining him on this opportunity at the Bears. Meeting him was sort of by happenstance, but I think it's all for a bigger purpose, and it just so happens this was the purpose all along."
In addition to teaming up with Warren and elevating her career at the Bears, Morris is equally as excited to start a new chapter of life in Chicago with her husband, Shaun.
"We've always enjoyed Chicago," Morris said. "And obviously the Bears are a pinnacle franchise, not just in Chicago, and not just in the NFL, but in sports. They are a marquee franchise. So, to be able to couple those things together – a city that we can both love along with an opportunity to be a part of something as epic as what the Bears are and will continue to be – just feels like a marriage made in heaven."
