Brian Rolapp shakes up up PGA Tour leadership adding ex-NFL executives in first hires as CEO

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp on Friday announced a serious shakeup to the organization's C-suite as headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Rolapp has decided to bring in Dhruv Prasad as chief commercial officer and Paul Hicks as executive vice president, strategic communications and public policy.

Both men previously worked with Rolapp in his prior role at the NFL, making his first notable PGA Tour hires a couple of familiar faces.

"Since Day 1, I have been committed to taking the steps necessary to achieve sustainable success for the PGA Tour," Rolapp said. "During my first 90 days in the role, we have identified opportunities to further integrate our teams and add new capabilities to accelerate our growth -- for the benefit of our fans, players and partners. Dhruv and Paul bring specific experience that will complement our existing team and further strengthen key functions within the organization, and Andy and Neera will help further integrate our operations and elevate the Tour in their expanded roles."  

Prasad served as SVP of business development and strategic investments at the NFL from 2022-25 where he spearheaded the media business development division as well as the league's investment arm. He will be responsible for leading various groups within the PGA Tour, such as corporate partnerships, media business development and broadcasting.

Hicks has been a partner at strategy firm FGS Global for the last decade. Prior to that, he worked with Rolapp at the NFL from 2010-15 where he was EVP of communications and public affairs, the same position he will take with the PGA Tour.

With the additions, chief marketing officer Andy Weitz will shed his communications responsibilities while gaining oversight over PGA Tour Studios. Neera Shetty, a member of the Tour's legal team since 2008, now holds the title of chief administrative officer (on an interim basis) while also serving as chief legal officer, a position into which she was promoted in 2024.

The moves will usher both chief administrative officer Allison Keller and chief commercial officer Rick Anderson into retirement at the end of the year. Len Brown, who serves as the chief of global business ventures, will transition to a special advisor to Rolapp.

After spending 22 years with the NFL, Rolapp was announced as the PGA Tour's new CEO in June, and he has hit the ground running. In the first press conference of his tenure at the Tour Championship in August, he announced the formation of a new competition committee chaired by Tiger Woods noting, "The goal is significant change."

While the sports and consumption habits of consumers are different between the NFL and the PGA Tour, Rolapp stated the playbook for success is similar across sports. These hires certainly fall in line with that belief as Rolapp aims to take the PGA Tour to the next level.

"I think a lot of what I learned at the NFL can be applied here. ... The sports business is not that complicated," Rolapp said at the Tour Championship. "You get the product right, you get the right partners, your fans will reward you with their time because they're telling you it's good and they want more of it, and then the commercial and the business part will take care of itself."