John Mara
Quick Facts
Biography
John Kevin Mara /ˈmɛərə/ MAIR-ə (born December 1, 1954) is the president, CEO, and co-owner of the New York Giants.
Early life
Mara was born in New York City and grew up in White Plains, a nearby suburb. He is the eldest son of Ann Mara (née Mumm) and Giants owner Wellington Mara. His ancestry includes Irish, German, and French-Canadian. He attended Iona Preparatory School in nearby New Rochelle, graduating in 1972. He earned a B.S. cum laude in marketing from Boston College in 1976, followed by a law degree in 1979 from Fordham University. After his graduation from Fordham, Mara was an attorney at Vedder, Price, Kaufman, Kammholz and Day, specializing in labor and employment law and litigation. Two years later, he joined Shea & Gould, where he remained until joining the Giants organization.
New York Giants
Mara joined the Giants in 1991, serving as General Counsel and later as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer until his father's death in 2005, when he assumed the team's presidency. Under John Mara and Steve Tisch, the Giants have won Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI.
Additional work in NFL
Mara has served for 15 years on the NFL Competition Committee, which suggests rule and policy changes to all NFL teams. He is the current chairman of the NFL Management Council Executive Committee. Mara, alongside Steve Tisch and Woody Johnson, brought Super Bowl XLVIII to MetLife Stadium in February 2014.
Personal life
Mara is the third generation of his family to own the Giants. His grandfather, Tim, founded the team in 1925. Tim's sons, Wellington and Jack (John Mara's uncle), inherited the team in 1959, when Tim Mara died. Among NFL franchises, only the Chicago Bears (controlled by the Halas-McCaskey family since 1921) have been in the hands of one family longer than the Giants.
He and his wife, Denise W. Mara, have one son, John Jr., and four daughters, Lauren, Courtney, Christine, and Erin.
He is also an uncle to film actresses Rooney Mara (an Academy Award nominee) and Kate Mara (an Emmy Award nominee). Mara serves on the Board of Directors of Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Harrison, New York and Boys Hope Girls Hope of New York.