New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp isn’t wasting time shaking up golf’s most prominent professional circuit. In what can only be described as a deliberate and calculated push to reshape the Tour’s future, Rolapp has reached back into his NFL playbook to recruit top-tier executive talent and reorganize leadership. The result? A restructured executive team poised to mirror the NFL’s model of commercial growth, fan engagement, and strategic evolution.
NFL Playbook Comes to the PGA Tour
This week, Rolapp brought on two familiar faces from his NFL days: Dhruv Prasad as Chief Commercial Officer and Paul Hicks as Executive Vice President of Strategic Communications and Public Policy. These aren’t just new hires—they’re structural cornerstones. Both Prasad and Hicks have pedigrees that reflect Rolapp’s confidence in what he calls a “holistic relook” of the PGA Tour. Prasad’s tenure as the NFL’s SVP of Business Development gives him a unique edge in managing broadcasting rights, corporate partnerships, and media monetization—essential assets for a league looking to evolve beyond tradition. Hicks, meanwhile, brings nearly two decades of high-stakes communication experience, including a term at FGS Global and, before that, a pivotal role at the NFL in public affairs.
Veteran Leadership Steps Aside for a New Era
But these appointments also mark the end of an era. Longtime Tour veterans Rick Anderson and Allison Keller are set to retire by year’s end, making way for a leadership team that is firmly aligned with Rolapp’s forward-looking vision. In addition, Andy Weitz will now serve as Chief Marketing Officer, while Neera Shetty will oversee administrative functions on an interim basis, solidifying an internal reshuffling designed for streamlined integration. Len Brown, formerly Chief of Global Business Ventures, will become a special advisor to the CEO—another signal that the organization is concentrating power and expertise under a tighter, more focused strategy.
From Legacy to Innovation: Rolapp’s Vision Takes Shape
What Rolapp is engineering goes far beyond a few job changes—it’s a strategic overhaul. At the Tour Championship in August, he made his intentions clear: build the best competitive golf model in the world. And central to that ambition is a model of constant innovation—something he believes the NFL excelled at. “You get the product right, you get the right partners… then the business part will take care of itself,” he noted. That mantra now becomes a guiding principle for the PGA Tour.
Rolapp’s message is unmistakable: the days of incremental change are over. With these bold personnel moves and a clear roadmap ahead, the PGA Tour is signaling that it intends to operate less like a traditional golf league and more like a dynamic sports entertainment brand, fueled by data, driven by partnerships, and backed by proven leadership from America’s most commercially successful sports league.
