John K. Mara is in his 21st season with the Giants. The franchise’s President and Chief Executive Officer, he assumed the team presidency upon the passing of his father, Wellington Mara, in 2005. John Mara is the oldest of Wellington Mara’s 11 children. He had been the team’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In his present position, Mara, who joined the Giants in 1991, is responsible for all administrative, legal and financial aspects of the organization.
John K. Mara is in his 21st season with the Giants. The franchise’s President and Chief Executive Officer, he assumed the team presidency upon the passing of his father, Wellington Mara, in 2005. John Mara is the oldest of Wellington Mara’s 11 children. He had been the team’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In his present position, Mara, who joined the Giants in 1991, is responsible for all administrative, legal and financial aspects of the organization.
With team Chairman Steve Tisch, he was at the forefront of the planning and negotiations for New Meadowlands Stadium, where the Giants began playing their home games in 2010 after 34 seasons in Giants Stadium. In addition, Mara, Steve Tisch and Jonathan Tisch, as well as Jets owner Woody Johnson, headlined the bid committee that helped convince the NFL owners to award Super Bowl XLVIII to the new stadium in February 2014.
Mara is a member of the NFL management council’s executive committee and played an important role in negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA. He also serves on the influential NFL Competition Committee, which studies all aspects of the game and recommends rules and policy changes to NFL clubs, as well as the league’s Management Council Executive Committee and the Committee on Workplace Diversity.
Mara has been affiliated with the Giants his entire life. The franchise was founded in 1925 by his grandfather, Tim Mara. Wellington Mara was one of the most influential, respected and beloved executives in NFL history. Since John Mara joined the organization in an official capacity, the Giants have reached the playoffs eight times, won four NFC East titles and played in two Super Bowls, winning one.
Born in New York City on Dec. 1, 1954, Mara grew up in Westchester County in White Plains and graduated from Iona Prep High School in New Rochelle. He attended Boston College where he received a B.S. degree in marketing, graduating with Cum Laude honors in 1976. Mara earned his law degree from Fordham University in 1979 and then began his career as an attorney with the New York law firm of Vedder, Price, Kaufman, Kammholz and Day, specializing in labor and employment law and litigation. Two years later he moved to the Manhattan firm of Shea & Gould, where he practiced until joining the Giants.
Mara serves on the Board of Directors of Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Harrison, N.Y. and Boys Hope Girls Hope of New York.
John and his wife, the former Denise Walter, are the parents of five children: Lauren, Courtney, John Jr., Christine and Erin. They also have two grandchildren, Christopher and Hailey. The Mara family resides in
Harrison, N.Y.
