Washington Football Team Front Office | Washington Football Team - WashingtonFootball.com

A self-made man and an entrepreneur at heart, Dan Snyder's life is marked by an enduring passion for the people, the team and the community he loves.

Growing up in the D.C. area and attending Washington Commanders (then named the Redskins) games with his father, Gerald, his youth and young adulthood were shaped and inspired by his devotion to the team. Snyder has put his passion into action since purchasing the team in 1999, consistently leading the franchise to new prominence in the community, the business world and the National Football League. Under his leadership, the team has raised millions of dollars for charitable efforts and maintained its place in the top tier of the world's most valuable sports franchises.

A self-made man and an entrepreneur at heart, Dan Snyder's life is marked by an enduring passion for the people, the team and the community he loves.

Growing up in the D.C. area and attending Washington Commanders (then named the Redskins) games with his father, Gerald, his youth and young adulthood were shaped and inspired by his devotion to the team. Snyder has put his passion into action since purchasing the team in 1999, consistently leading the franchise to new prominence in the community, the business world and the National Football League. Under his leadership, the team has raised millions of dollars for charitable efforts and maintained its place in the top tier of the world's most valuable sports franchises.

Snyder, 55, continues to be one of the Washington area's most prominent community leaders and philanthropists. Shortly after purchasing the franchise, one of Snyder's first actions was to create the Washington Charitable Foundation in 2000 to bring together the Washington team and its corporate and community partners to make a positive and measurable impact on youth development in the greater Washington, D.C. region. The Charitable Foundation focuses on the areas of education, community outreach and health and wellness and, since its inception, Foundation programs have given back more than $29 million to individuals, groups and organizations in the community and have made an impact on millions of lives.

During the 2019 season, the Charitable Foundation hosted 115+ in-school workshops and special events for children and their families, encompassing a broad spectrum of efforts that included supporting children's literacy efforts for more than 38,000 fourth and fifth graders through the Read Program, and expanding an innovative in-school health and wellness program for seventh graders by serving more than 12,000 children in four local school districts.

This past year, the Charitable Foundation continued the expansion of its Loads of Love program, which installs laundry facilities in schools and non-profit organizations to directly impact children experiencing homelessness or an unstable living situation, at no cost to them or their families. The goal is to remove a barrier for child attendance and participation in programs and sports by providing them a discreet solution to the challenge of having clean clothes. To date, 80+ schools and non-profit organizations in the DMV area have received funding to open their own Loads of Love laundry center.

Snyder's philanthropy has grown beyond the U.S. In the wake of the devastation in the Caribbean caused by Hurricane Matthew in the fall of 2016, Snyder quickly mobilized to deliver emergency supplies to the region. The efforts began with an air delivery to the Bahamas, and, shortly following a win against Baltimore a day later, Snyder enlisted two Washington Football players of Haitian descent to hand-deliver medical supplies straight from the team's training staff to Hospital Bernard Mevs in Port Au Prince, Haiti. Asked on FOX NFL Sunday about his efforts to team up with his players to deliver aid, Snyder said, "What happened in Haiti was obvious. They were in need."

The trips were just the latest instance of Snyder's larger commitment to disaster relief which included substantial aid following the devastating tsunami in Indonesia and Thailand in 2004, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Following Snyder's 2016 efforts in the Caribbean, Bahamas Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe said, "This organization led by example mobilizing immediately to bring relief to our people who are in need. It is our hope that other organizations will follow the example set by the [Washington Football team]."

Beyond his work with the Charitable Foundation and his contributions to disaster relief, Snyder has provided significant support to Children's National Hospital and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). As a member of the Children's National Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, his support enabled construction of the Snyder Family Emergency Medicine and Trauma Center. He also funded construction of the Daniel M. Snyder and Family Communication Center at the NCMEC. Each day, the Center handles hundreds of calls from around the nation from law enforcement organizations, parents of missing children, runaways seeking help and people responding to the Center's well-known awareness campaigns on behalf of missing children. In May 2014, Snyder and his wife, Tanya, were honored with the Charles B. Wang International Children's Award at the NCMEC's annual Hope Awards Dinner.

In response to the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020 and the subsequent call to action to support the Black community, Snyder donated $250,000 to fund a grassroots effort from the organization to help raise awareness about issues of social injustice in communities in the DMV.

Locally, Snyder made a major impact during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. He worked with the Maryland National Guard to set up a testing site at FedExField for Prince George's County residents, and he donated $100,000 to the Capital Area Food Bank to help underprivileged families during the national health crisis.

Snyder was also the driving force behind Washington Football's donation of $35,000 to benefit the restoration of the historic Ashburn Colored School in Loudoun County following acts of vandalism in the fall of 2016. The single-room schoolhouse, in operation from its opening in 1892 until 1957, served Black students from elementary school through high school. The donation allowed fundraising efforts to exceed their initial target of $100,000.

Snyder's support has also extended to the military community. Under his leadership, the organization created Salute, the team's official military appreciation club, to coordinate the team's decade-long military appreciation initiatives into one comprehensive, year-round platform. This first-of-its-kind program in the NFL serves, supports and thanks the military community by hosting a variety of events, including pre-game parties for military members, re-enlistment ceremonies at both team headquarters and FedExField, military appreciation events and more. Additionally, in February 2016, Snyder partnered with the Gary Sinise Foundation to break ground on a new, specially adapted smart home for Capt. Luis Avila, a veteran and Washington Football fan who was paralyzed during his time in the U.S. Army.

In 2010, Snyder was honored by Beacon House, a non-sectarian, neighborhood-based organization that supports at-risk youth and families of the Edgewood Terrace community in Washington, D.C., during a community celebration to dedicate the football field at Edgewood Department of Parks and Recreation Center. That same year, Snyder was presented with the Youth For Tomorrow's Distinguished Leader Award in recognition of his years of support for the organization's private, residential school and counseling center in Bristow, Va., which has provided year-round care for more than 900 homeless and at-risk children ages 11-17 from Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. In announcing the award at YFT's annual Burgundy and Gold Banquet, Hall of Fame Washington Football Coach Joe Gibbs, who is also Founder and Chairman of Youth For Tomorrow, said, "Dan Snyder began his support of the kids at Youth For Tomorrow long before I ever considered returning to coach the team in 2004."

Beyond his charitable efforts, Snyder is prominent in the affairs of the NFL, where his expertise in the fields of marketing and media has been recognized with appointments to the Media Committee, the Business Ventures Committee, the Digital Media Committee (for which he serves as Co-Chair), the International Committee, the Stadium Committee, the Hall of Fame Committee (which oversees the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio) and, separately, as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Washington Football team, which continues to be ranked among the world's most valuable sports franchises on Forbes magazine's annual list, remains at the forefront of NFL marketing and business organizations. Since buying the team, Snyder has launched a highly successful retail arm, with several Official Team Stores in Virginia and Maryland, as well as mobile units for home games and other events.

Snyder and Washington Football moved their annual Training Camp to Richmond, VA in the summer of 2013, hosting the team's training sessions at the brand-new Bon Secours Training Center. During the team's inaugural three-week stay, more than 165,000 fans attended walkthroughs and practices. In addition, Washington Football's community outreach included more than 5,000 kids impacted by the Charitable Foundation's Play 60 and cheerleading programs, as well as 200 high school coaches invited to a concussion clinic held by the team.

In June 2012, Snyder and the Washington Football team reaffirmed their commitment to the Commonwealth of Virginia, announcing that the team will retain its corporate headquarters by improving its Loudoun County training facility. In the years since, Snyder and the team have made annual improvements to the Inova Sports Performance Center at The Park, including upgrades to the weight room, athletic training facility, locker room, hydrotherapy stations, media availability areas and in-house cafeteria.

During Snyder's 20 seasons as owner of the team, 27 different Washington Football players have earned a total of 53 Pro Bowl appearances, nine have been named All-Pro and 13 draft picks have been selected to the All-Rookie Team. In addition, five players, Darrell Green, Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Champ Bailey and Jason Taylor, have gone on to induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The team's wholly owned stadium in Landover, Maryland., FedExField, boasts seating capacity for 82,000 people, and Snyder continues to spearhead efforts to improve the fan experience. Since purchasing the team, Snyder has invested more than $100 million in improvements to the facility, including high-speed escalators to the upper deck, updated signage, more than 1,000 flat-screen TVs in concourses and other areas, as well as the League standard-setting Owner's Club East and Owner's Club West private luxury suites. In 2010, the team installed two new video boards – 30 feet high and 100 feet wide – in each of the end zones at FedExField. The screens feature state-of-the-art high definition LED displays and are triple the size of the previous end zone video displays. The team also enhanced the fan's gameday experience with all-new game clocks, play clocks and other in-stadium video displays.

Over the last several years, Snyder and the entire Washington Football organization have launched efforts to enhance FedExField's guest experience. Among recent successful improvements have been an increase in the number of stadium gates and new parking plans to reduce congestion and welcome fans in and out more efficiently. The team also upgraded Wi-Fi throughout the stadium, created better access to enhanced game day features on the Washington Football team mobile app and provided complimentary access to the Red Zone Channel via NFL Mobile for season ticket members.

Snyder was Founder, Chairman and CEO of Snyder Communications, Inc. and was the youngest CEO of a New York Stock Exchange company at the time. From its launch in 1985, the company grew to a global organization of 12,000 employees with 77 offices in 17 countries and more than $1 billion in annual revenues. The company's client base included 200 of the Fortune 500, to which it provided targeted marketing solutions, including advertising and marketing services. In March 2000, the company was acquired by the French marketing firm Havas for more than $2.3 billion, at the time the largest such merger in the history of the advertising/marketing industry.

Snyder is Founder and Chairman Emeritus of inVentiv Health. Additionally, Snyder is Founder and Managing Member of the Board of Red Zebra Broadcasting, LLC, which operates radio stations in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia airing Washington Football broadcasts, popular national radio shows and local programming. Snyder is active in a variety of other private business ventures, both as an investor and as an advisor to management. He is a frequent invitee to share his experiences and views with business organizations nationwide, and he is enshrined in the Greater Washington Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Snyder and his wife, Tanya, have three children and live in Maryland.