Cowboys Exec VP & Chief Brand Officer CHARLOTTE JONES ANDERSON may be the "most powerful woman in sports," and "logic tells us that her NFL gravitas alone has earned her" that status, one that "not even Commissioner ROGER GOODELL seems inclined to dispute," according to a profile by Jim Reeves of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. Goodell said, "I’m not in the business of making declarations, but male or female, she’s one of the great contributors to the success of the NFL. She’s a huge influence in the NFL world. She is a star that shines at everything she does." Anderson also is serving as the North Texas Local Organizing Committee Chair for the '14 NCAA Final Four. Reeves wrote all Anderson "ever wanted to do was get out" of the "huge, pervasive shadow" of her father, Cowboys Owner JERRY JONES. Anderson said, "My biggest challenge or point to prove was that I deserved to be there on my own merits, not because of who my parents were or that I might have been born with a silver spoon in my mouth."
THE FAMILY BUSINESS: Before Anderson joined the Cowboys, Jones called "pleading for help." When he "asked her to stay and help him stop the team from hemorrhaging money, she agreed." Anderson: "I never dreamed I would be working for my dad in a family business. I always wanted to prove that I could be successful in my own right, on my own." It was Anderson who suggested that Jones "move the Cowboys’ training camp to Austin, and then turned it into a moneymaking operation." Jones said, "I just told her, ‘Go to Austin.' I said, ‘We’re losing about $1 million a year on our training camp. Go there and stop the bleeding. Make it a positive, not a negative.' She had no further instruction. Next thing I know, we’ve got all kinds of people around the field every day. We have sponsors. She started that the minute she got here." Reeves noted part of her job is "to make full use of AT&T Stadium beyond Sundays with Dallas Cowboys football." Anderson: "It became natural for me to go out and say, we’re about football, we’re about basketball, we’re about great events and the spectacle of entertainment. And how do we pull all of these together to make a lasting impact on the community and on our brand, too?" Goodell said of Anderson, "Do not underestimate her business acumen. She does tremendous work on the not-for-profit side, but she’s a businessperson who understands that side of things better than anyone might believe." Reeves wrote there is "absolutely no predicting where Charlotte Jones Anderson could be 10 years from now." All she knows is that "there’s still more out there, still something to reach for" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 3/16).
