There are a number of different committees that help the business of the NFL move forward. There's the Competition committee, the Chairman's committee, the Health & Safety Advisory Committee, the Finance committee and scores more made up of NFL owners and high-ranking executives, who are charged with improving the business of football.
When it comes to Detroit Lions team president Rod Wood, there might not be a more perfect committee for him to be a member of than NFL Investment committee.
It's a position the NFL asked Wood to join shortly after the Ford Family and owner Martha Firestone Ford made him team president.
"It's the committee that's responsible for overseeing the pension plans, the 401k plans for the players," Wood said. "That started after last year's league meeting. They made new committee assignments, so I've been to four or five of those meetings since then."
For the eight years prior to his appointment as team president, Wood worked closely with the Detroit Lions organization and the Ford Family in his role as President and CEO of Ford Estates.
From 1999 until his appointment at Ford Estates in 2007, Wood was executive vice president of wealth management for the Wilmington Trust Company in Wilmington, Del.. Wood directed the company's entire wealth management business nationally, and he managed the personal trust, financial planning, private banking, investment management, family office services and sales functions for the wealth advisory business of Wilmington Trust.
"As I've gotten more involved in the league – bouncing ideas off of the league office and vice versa and things – I've become a little bit of a resource to them in certain ways and vice versa."
He's certainly become a resource for New York Jets owner and Investment Committee Chairman Woody Johnson.
"Rod is a tremendous asset to our committee," Johnson wrote of Wood in an email to detroitlions.com. "His intellect along with his vast, diverse experience in the investment sector adds to a tremendous group of talented people."
Fellow investment committee member D. Cal McNair, the Houston Texans Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, wrote in an email to detroitlions.com that Wood's proven track record in the industry will help continue to grow the game.
"Rod Wood's business acumen has made him an instant asset to the investment committee," McNair wrote. "He brings a proven track record in wealth management over three decades in the industry that will be help us continue to grow the NFL and the game of football. I've enjoyed getting to know Rod and look forward to working with him for years to come."
Wood has overseen the Ford Family's investment to reshape the Lions' business operations in order to improve the franchise's ability to compete on and off the field.
He's overseeing $100 million in renovations at Ford Field and quickly moved to implement upgrades at Detroit's Allen Park practice facility after taking over.
"Well, I think it's been a good year and a half," Wood said at last month's league meetings. "We've made a lot of progress I think, starting with the changes we made on the football side and I think hiring Bob Quinn was a great addition to the organization and the team that he's built underneath him.
"Then I think on the business side we accomplished a lot. A lot of work on the stadium, you know, getting the Wi-Fi fixed, the plans for the renovation this summer, revealing the new uniforms, adding cheerleaders – there were a lot of things that were big additions to the fan experience."
